Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Alabama, Arkansas.

Kidding. Just Arkansas. Many props to Edward Sharpe for writing me a personalized homesickness anthem though...

Because we are carefree, unattached college students, my friend Bridgette and I up and ditched our Spring break plans to drive home to Arkansas for a week. It was a good decision, despite the fifteen plus hours in the car each direction. A quiet, kinda lazy Spring break was all I could handle / afford this year. And Arkansas in early Spring is so worth it, check it out:

Yes. We have chickens.
Attempting some trendy food photography on St. Patrick's Day...I just dont think Corned Beef is all that photogenic.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

"There are No Mistakes in Art."

Artsy Fartsy ramblings ahead, watch out.
Voila some spring break work that got finished this week:
And another in progress:

"Digital Fine Art" is one of the classes I'm taking this semester. I know. In what world / major but mine are you required to take a class like that. Please console any jealousy with the thought that I'll never make any money. But see folks, despite my major, I'm a bit of a skeptic where computers and art cross over.

There are so many computer applications out there that allow you to slap a filter on a photo, step back and call yourself an artist. Seriously, its easy to do and in some cases pretty convincing. In the past its been a bit hard for me to consider mousing around on a screen true "art" the same way taking a paintbrush in hand might be.

I wanted to give this class a shot though, and so far I haven't been too disappointed. Photoshop CS5 offers an impressive amount of painting and brush options, with really great blending capabilities like you would be capable of with watercolors. What I've done so far has been fun, easy, (maybe a little TOO easy) and artistically satisfying.

My complaints? Once I finished that top orange-y portrait, the thing I found most disturbing was the lack of mistakes, brush strokes, rough edges. The undo button takes care of any line that seems out of place.

The art teacher I worked with in St. Louis always would always tell the kids: "There are no mistakes in Art." I love that. Its so true. Stuff you first view as "Mistakes" really become part of your creation and the way you express it.

Anyway. Sorry for the sermon. Any art history majors out there wanna school me on the true nature of Art?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Partying.

What can I say...I like to take pictures of people having a good time. I was looking at older posts and realized I never posted photos from this year's trip to the Hofbrau House for Katey's Birthday. Technical Note: as my camera gets older and more beaten up, I tend to lay into the editing a lot heavier to make up for the lack in quality.

Anyway. Hofbrau has so much atmosphere.