My friend is about to turn 21. I made this image to go on the invite to her birthday gathering, and I think I'm justified in giggling every time I see it:

Paper Doll

So, I like paper dolls. I mean, studying costume design, I suppose it's natural. However, I'm tried of all the thin, idealized bodies the dolls have, so I made this one:

I realize it's still idealized, but at least it's not the idealized form we see all the time, right? ...Right? Herm.

And if she looks familiar, it's because I referenced one of my favorite paintings (and by referenced, I mean blatantly copied):

I love my town

The Portland Mercury recently blogged about some youth journalism made in part by a friend of mine. The videos remind me of how much I love Portland, and also make me want to own chickens. Because I'll take any excuse I can get to have another pet. I also want to volunteer at CHAP, an organization that brings kids to art, and when that's not possible, brings the art to the kids.

I live in an impressive city.

You can watch all the videos here. (My friend worked on the first video. In case you were wondering. And of course you were.)

I do not want to sleep. Why sleep when I could paint?

Summer

It is hard to work during the summer. I am unmotivated to do anything that originates outside myself. So here I sit at Starbucks (yes, I have heard Starbucks is evil, but they have wifi now and don't care how long you hang around) with my black tea. I have work to do. I have a paper to finish. I've been working on it since early July, and it only has to be four pages. That's time management for you.

The reason I've been working on it so long is as follows: Whenever I sit down to work on it, something distracts me. Like the internet. (Perhaps wifi isn't such a good thing.) I started out looking at Pixar's website. Anyone know how to become a concept artist? Their website doesn't delve into that and they don't leave any e-mail adresses. After that dead end, I found myself looking for tea houses in the area. (This tea thing is becoming an obsession, and I'm not that fond of the tea they serve at Starbucks. Apparently there's a tea house on Alberta. There's also a paint-your-own-pottery place up there.) And now I'm blogging: Sending words out into the ether. At least I'm typing something.

I appreciate this, though I have perhaps become too comfortable in being alone. There is joy in company and that is something of which I should remind myself, especially over the long summer.