About the survey you just took...

If you didn't see it, somehow, I posted up a survey for my English class. If you'd like you're still welcome to take the survey, what I'm about to tell you won't skew the results or anything...

First off I'd like to thank everyone that answered, for answering! And if you didn't answer...well...I still like you.

If my intro to it put you off I'm sorry :P I posted it to Livejournal first I have no patience for that place anymore so that's what happens when you fuck with me too often--you get PUNCHED IN THE EYE.

All that aside, let me tell you exactly what this is for. In my English class I'll be working on a research paper for the rest of the semester. As you may have garnered it's got something to do with religion/spirituality and medicine right? Close.

The purpose of the survey was to explore my options. Unfortunately at that time I'd not yet narrowed my topic down to something concrete. The survey questions were composed of all the paths my research took--looking at alternative medicines, prayer, religion as a mental illness, etc. Everything I asked, I researched. I know right.

I wanted to judge reactions to figure out which path I'd go down. What would be more interesting? What would I be able to successfully argue? Would I be able to get behind this? What people are behind this option? I had a very awesome 9th grade English honors teacher that told the class, even if you don't agree with the argument, if you can write it do it. And that certainly is time-saving advice if slightly...unethical in a way. To me.

So I put the survey up on Facebook, LJ, and here because I know you guys (and even if I don't that's okay) and I wanted to see your answers to help me along with my paper. I'm not going to use anyone's answers as quotes and as far as I'm concerned you're all technically anonymous so you're not party to any plagiarism. I don't think. I decided early on that I'm a little tired of the "let's keep religion out of medicine!" because frankly there are other options to go over, and judging from the answers I've gotten I'd say the lot of you say the same. So I know it's a little weird but again thanks to everyone that answered, you've saved my ass and maybe my grade. As for what I actually decided to go with, I'm going to look more into usage of alternative/traditional medicine in complement with modern cures. This takes all that silly religious element out because if I focus on that there will BE no paper. Y'all know me...

This also works much better because I have to do a proposal in December. A proposal for...research. As you can see, it never ends.

BIIIIIG Art dump = AP Art portfolio

Maybe I didn't finish everything I wanted to this year, but I busted my ASS (like, I don't even know what I'm sitting on) for this shit. And I think the majority of it came out awesome. That's right, I said it, judges can't tell me shit.

I forget the dimensions for everything, but let's just say most of it was pretty large scale.

Here's some of the most decent of the decentest :P

"Feet of the Saint", plaster and stuffing.







"Ponder", clay & olive green glaze I think.







"Behold!" aka Dr Strange :P plaster, shoe polish, acrylic & tempera paint, wood







"Eggs" plaster and wax






"Guardian", mixed media


That's enough for now...I think I'll do a second entry a little later.

Love my waaa~aay

I really like Psychedelic Furs :D but, with most bands I like, it seems I'm only attracted to the singles and a few obscure tracks :/ but nothing wrong with that right?

What have I been doing...messing around with my school-themed short stories, tinkering around with a new novel. I wanted to get in the habit of doing short stories, not even just to master it but to get out of the long-ass rambles I usually do :P recently I just felt like it though, and recently started a...a thing involving all kinds of funny intrigue and cannibalism. And by "funny intrigue & cannibalism" I mean NOT funny intrigue and cannibalism. I've written a story about cannibalism before and I think it's funny to see how similar they are, especially concerning mythology and themes of love, shite like that.

I usually describe my stories as "funny" no matter how gruesome they are, because sometimes you just get to a point in life where everything is just...silly! Silly, I said! I wonder if that's how Stephen King feels sometimes when describing the plots of his horror-fantastique tales :P I bet they're silly to him.

Moving from that rather forced mention of Stephen King, I finally read Pet Sematary after seeing the movie enough times to recite. Not the pants-wetting terror/cheesy hilarity of the movie but in some parts it came damn close...I won't do a reviewlette of it, really, but let me just say one needs patience to read it like most King novels...

And now I'm not comfortable walking around the house by myself, thanks.

There's this new show on Comedy Central, Lewis Black's Root of All Evil. The premise is basically Lewis Black doing what Lewis Black does, in the guise of a sort of mock court in which Black passes judgment on popular culture, deeming SOMETHING every night to be the root of all evil. I didn't really want to watch it because it seems to me Lewis is becoming a bit of a one trick pony. He's funny as hell and obviously does more than rag on pop culture, but everyone and their grandmother does that nowadays because, somehow, in the 21st century it's just become so...EASY. I guess what separates Lewis Black from, say, VH1, is the fact that he's funny and intelligent. I guess.

I tried to get into it last night but meh, I wasn't really paying attention. And I can only hear so many Paris Hilton and Youtube jokes in one month before I start stabbing my eyes out with things.

Let's see...nothing new going on with the Art front, other than I may just turn in my portfolio half-finished because I'm sick of working on it. Without too much backstory, being told to constantly modify shit and make things "more 3D" is starting to get on my nerves, I'm still getting no critique, and basically all my work is due the 14th. That's right, next week! I really shouldn't be giving up on the home stretch but I'm just fucking tired. I partially regret the class and I really do regret deciding to do 3D AND doing a portfolio :/

So, whether my work's done about the 13th or so or not, I know I'm done. It's really not worth messing with my mental state for 80-some odd dollars...

Hmm...I guess that's about it...I've been awfully sleepy lately. Eventually I'd like to try out the new Blogger draft features, especially the timed posting :D But I'd really rather wait until the bugs are all worked out...

Even, even MORE artjunk

And yet ANOTHER wild display of badassery.

I haven't blogged in a while (wow, a whole week), not much to say other than whining :O which means not much interesting to say. Some topics flitted through my mind but in the end I decided to just wait until I had something worthy.

And I don't! So, I present to you more art shite. Please enjoy it. This is more stuff going towards my portfolio, I think I'm finally close to finishing stuff up. And not a moment too soon, I've only got a couple of weeks :/

Here's a little comparison set because I got crazy with the editing in Photobucket: same picture, one's a little clearer and I tried to clean up the background for emphasis. Either way, I still had the wrong settings on my phone when I took it because I'm clueless. It's something I call "Dryad" for now, spelling not totally correct :P It's a styrofoam mannequin head (like one of those wig holders) with sticks coming out from the top; the sticks on the side are just surplus I guess, they're not attached.

Here's another side by side...the first one is the shoddy edit, it wasn't like it was a fantastic picture before. This one has actually changed a lot, but I did this in December. I call it "Worlock" like the Skinny Puppy song because whenever I see it I hear it :/ it's kind of like a self portrait now and a bit of a portrayal of what I think of as Hell or the gates of Hell maybe. It's got some Inferno quotes on it but I think I'll get rid of those by covering them up because it seems so cheesy now. The back panel is actually really cool too, but now I've got stuff sticking out and it looks more...freakish I guess. And there's more collaged elements. I think this one is also close to being finished. And never mind the doorknob, it's actually bigger than it looks (about 3 or 4 feet, it comes about to chest level for me and I'm not that tall :P). When I photograph it again I'll make sure to do so in a blank area and at an angle to emphasize height.

Anyway, that's all for now. I think my next blog will be about how antioxidants are in everything. EVERYTHING goddamnit.

More fun with wax!

This is the semi-beginning of my new skeleton project. I'm trying my damnedest to make me some Dia de los Muertos skeletons. First I think I'll make some miniatures just because I really need some smaller pieces, then we'll try to get bigger.

Anyway, here's skeleton man first:

Skeleton man, skeleton man, does whatever a skeleton can :D He's on some aluminum foil drying, or rather hardening. I didn't really know if the foil would work but so far it has! He doesn't look skeletony right now and the quality of the photo sucks once again (still a little better than my digital camera :/) but once I start carving him it'll look better.

And here's my wax set up (for right now, until I get some sense):

That's some hardening wax in a skillet right now. The holes are where I cut out the parts for the skeleton. I had the wax boiled down in a pot first, then poured it on to the aluminum foil sheet (yeah, good ol' fashioned tin wrap) and let it harden. I was wondering if I could make molds from the foil but I don't think so as it's pretty thin. I found it easier to just carve the wax while it was still a little soft and pliable. It's lookin' good :D viva los muertos!

Also, befor I melted the wax down I hit it with a little spray-on Crisco (like Pam, but...Crisco). I think that helped. I didn't want the wax getting all stuck to the bottom of the pan. It also made the wax kinda...greasy but that was to be expected :P I can deal with that when it dries.

We're on a looow budget.

Ooh, I spoke to an old friend last night :O

You may not know that I've recently gotten into sculpture...there's much that I've been up to:

_{Brekkie brek.}

Now you're probably thinking, "Of all the retarded pictures to take, wtf were you thinking?"
Well...here's a hint: that's not milk in that bowl. Give up? Give up?

It's wax :D the quality being what it is, what you're looking at is a glass bowl with cereal and hardened wax & a plastic spoon. Neat idea eh? Eh?

These are some hands I sculpted...well, it's plaster gauze that I wrapped around hands. From left to right: my mom, my dad's, my teacher. I basically made casts of their hands (and my dad's arm) and tried to unite them...artistically. With a red thread, which can signify a number of things of course: fate, martyrdom, blood relations, anger, etc. The arrangement still needs some work but its getting there.


That's about it for now...all I have finished that I'd like to display anyhow. Fun times! I've had so much fun sculpting :O I'm working on a portfolio right now that should contain at least 20-some even FINISHED pieces by...April. April! ;_;