leaving the nest

i guess i'll have to put my dreams of becoming a broadway star on hold for now.

the wait is finally over-- i received my official offer from Google to join them in Mountain View, CA as a new web designer/illustrator. i receive the documents in the mail by the end of the week and while i'm very excited (and flattered, and grateful), there's obviously a lot to deal with in light of this news.

living arrangements:
finding an apartment is difficult. finding an apartment with another person (whom i haven't yet found) on the other side of the country is significantly more difficult. i'm looking to live in san francisco...which is expensive. i have about two weeks to straighten this out...but i'm praying that another RISD alumnus finds him/herself in the same situation so i have a trustworthy roommate.

personal ties:
it's obvious i'll be leaving my family, but they will always be family. i also have to leave all of my friends AND my colorblind senior color technician behind. making a new set of quality friends is difficult. it took me 22 years to find mine. i hope i'm not 44 when i find a good group on the west.

recent purchases:
while in italy this past winter, i invested in a new pair of beautiful italian leather boots. how will i ever wear them on the west? this is surly my biggest problem.

in any case, i was supposed to revisit my painting this week, but craigslist and facebook have suddenly taken over my life. here is what i managed to do last wednesday night:



wish me luck...or send me leads on an apt haha

Colorblind Senior Color Technician

started drawing up a new piece yesterday and did the digital color sketch today!



this one should be a lot of fun...and a major pain in the ass with all those circles. i don't know why i want to paint them by hand.

Beloved Drone

so i'm back from my trip and i finally managed to sit and finish this painting yesterday! i'm having a problem with acrylic lemon yellow...it's much more electric/cold than oil lemon yellow. i know i should just mix in some cadmium yellow but i can't bring myself to do it. i also work at night under a very warm lamp so that off-sets the color when i'm working. bleh, whatever. i'll be more careful next time.

other than that, i'm relatively pleased with it.



i think i should offer a comment regarding my choice of imagery (since almost everyone finds this fairly creepy). the decapitation is a bizarre symbol of affection-- by disembodying the cherished person, i eliminate everything about him/her that is material/physical/irrelevant, and therefore represent only exactly what matters to me (the intellect, the personality). the bees actually made its way into this painting b/c i really wanted to work with hexagons-- however, the mouthful of bees hints at the use of the beloved object as a hive, or more frankly, a "home." the use of the word "drone" in the title, however, is just my joke with the subject. it's sarcastically condescending, but that's how we roll.

anyway, i'm still waiting on a response from a job application so i'm trying my best to not get antsy. in the mean time, i think i'll start another painting today...either about a friend's color blindness or the abominable snowman hehe.

haitus!

i'm about to take a week off with me ma and disappear, but before i go i have a slightly blurry photo of the progress i made after a couple hours of painting today:



i really enjoy where it's going but i must vanish for now. ciao everyone :D

My Dear, Beloved Drone

working on a new painting (which may or may not seem to have representations of known persons)! here are some images from my process:







the last digital color key is what i will (supposedly) work towards...generally speaking. i've already deviated from that though haha. i never really stick very close to my original plans. anyway, i'm trying really hard to stay away from turquoise...but i'm not making any promises.

in other news, here's the final photograph of "Cecilia"

Oh, Cecilia and Beloved Drone

i took a few days off this past weekend to celebrate independence day in MA with my second family (:D), but now i just want to get this thing OVER WITH!



i tried my best to fiddle with a poor quality photo-- i'll photograph it again in daylight. anyway, here's a few things i learned while working on this piece:

1. drawing type is very difficult
2. keeping the original shape of your type after 4 layers of paint is even more difficult
3. acrylic is not well suited for type, that is why i have the computer
4. i want a pangolin of my own

think i'll start a new painting tonight...i want to narrow my palette this time.

thanks to everyone for the feedback :) (and please, no comments on the kerning)

update:

actually started the next painting!



i realize that this is ANOTHER beheading piece...i assure you that i'm not more-than-reasonably-mentally-unbalanced! i'm just really attracted to this theme for some reason...probably b/c a lot of beheading tales involve some kind of sexual conquest and romance.

Cecilia Process

thought i'd post an image of Cecilia in progress:



i managed to find an old sheet of hot press paper from freshman year (score!)...so that was exciting since i've been working on cold press all year. anyway, so far it's in watercolor and acrylic...but i anticipate having to dive into some gouache for the type-- which is incredibly tedious to work on.

i also realize that this is pretty far from the first color studies i posted. in actuality, i've been fighting this piece on the computer for a few days before i finally decided to just attack it in real life (thank god). there are so many more possibilities with real media...not to mention significantly more control over my palette. as a side note-- the photo i took is a little off in terms of color accuracy. i'll shoot it again in daylight when it's done.