If I wasn't clear, or just from Wyatt, the titles of my pictures are not final. "Corn" will not be the name of one of my pieces.. Also, the two pieces I've been working on are not in the same group. Hope that clarifies things..

I just can't pull myself away from this piece. I even might keep it on its own...

Here's what I think is the final version of "So Lonely"...

Let me know what you think.



and "Corn"

Ok, some (new) stuff.. (really they're just more refined). Still they're 2 different series.

Religion series:




This one I'm going to change the words to "sorry" or "I'm sorry" or something to that nature.

Now, the growing-up series:



There you go.

Ok, so last time I was just messing around, but now I've edited the "corn" picture. Thoughts? I need to switch from piece to piece to keep myself interested, so sorry about the craziness. This piece is about childhood...



I thought that the older one had more balance, but the corn took away from the depth of the original photo... Which is better?

Here's some corn.

Gwyn, I like corn.

Ok, so I've been playing around... I'm not really sure if this is close to done or just the beginning...


Thoughts?

I know, I don't post like I should.. Both of my majors have to do with computers, and I spend 5 hours a day in front of a computer, but I still don't like to talk randomly (like facebook..). So, anyway about what I plan to do this semester. I am finally starting to plan my wedding. As I am going through all the hoops I have found that religion is starting to play a big role. I have been raised catholic. I spent 13 years in catholic schooling and went to church with my father every Sunday. I still go to church with my dad when I'm home. But the problem comes when deciding how to get married and what to do. The catholic church is very specific about how marriage is to happen. My fiancee was raised catholic (he spent 3rd grade and up with me in catholic school), but he doesn't really believe it. I understand his point of view, he questions the church's rules, like dogma (whatever the pope says is truth and is part of the catholic faith). One of the rules that the catholics believe is that when there is at least one catholic in a marriage, then the children must be raised catholic. I don't have a problem with this, my mother is not religious, my father did everything in that field. My fiancee does not have a problem with raising our children catholic, but all the rules bug him.

So.... My first work will be about religion and rules. There was a reading in church 2 weeks ago:

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.
—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,
do not eat without carefully washing their hands,
keeping the tradition of the elders.
And on coming from the marketplace
they do not eat without purifying themselves.
And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,
the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,
“Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders
but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”
He responded,
“Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.

“From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The idea is that rules should not control your faith. My work(s) will be centralized around this idea....

More to follow.

Alright, I've thought about this semester a lot.... I know, I've had all summer to think, but it's always been hard for me to pick a topic. This is my last semester in computer art, so I need to start focusing my work for my senior show. After much thought and debate I would like to work with text again. The images I've done in the past with text were some of my favorites. I'm going to start by studying some artists that as work with text. One of my favorite artists is Jenny Holzer. She not only works with text, but also addresses social issues. Here are some of her pieces:

:





And she works in very public places. I like the boldness of her work, and I would like to replicate the feeling that her work brings.

I guess now I have to find out what I'm going to do....

So, I got no work done this week. I saved my time on Thursday and Friday afternoon to print, but then things got all messed up. I knew that something was wrong with my arm on Tuesday, but I ignored it and hoped that it would fix itself. But by Thursday my arm still hurt, so I went to see the nurse and told her I thought I had a clot in my arm. The bugle and the pain was not really convincing, since my arm was not discolored. But after some persuasion, she agreed to order a test for a clot anyway. So, on Friday afternoon I got to visit the hospital. When I got there the technician even told me that she didn't expect to find a clot, that I was too young, and again my arm wasn't cold or discolored. But to her surprise, and none to mine, she found one right where the bugle was. Then I got to walk over to the emergency room and get pumped full of blood thinners. Luckily they only kept me for 2 hours and sent me home with some prescriptions. I will have to be on blood thinners now for a few months, but one more medication is nothing to me. While I was in the ER they did some blood work, and as I asked they did test my kidney functions. And, to my disappointment, my kidney functions are not getting better, they're not even staying stable, they are getting worse.... I guess I knew that, I mean I haven't really been feeling better, but I still hoped that all the medication they've been dumping into me would have done something. Well, something other than raise my blood pressure so that I got a blood clot... So that's my life right now. Tomorrow, or I guess this morning, since I couldn't sleep, I am going to a programming competition. This one is smaller than the last one I went to in the fall, but I think it still should be fun. Google reps will be there, and I hope that if there are less people, then maybe I'll get noticed more... Well, I hope we do well and that the drive (to Pittsburgh) and back in one day won't kill me.

Ok, so I haven't done much work at all... I did take some amazing pictures on vacation and I should have them tonight to show. Anyway, it seems that my health is going from day to day. Sometimes I feel great, and other times I feel like crap. Some nights I sleep like a baby, and others I don't sleep at all, just stare at the clock all night. I know that this is mostly from my medication, but it still upsets me. I'm so frustrated because my blood work didn't change, even after 2 weeks of steroids. I guess that I should be patient, but it's really hard to be patient waiting to find out how long you have to live. If I don't start responding to medication in the next month, then my chances of losing my kidneys go way up. Right now the doctors keep telling me that the medication should help and that I should regain functioning in my kidneys, but what they aren't saying is that if the medication doesn't work, then I'm going to go into kidney failure eventually. It could be in 5 or 10 years, or it could be in a few months. So now I'm playing the waiting game, which is frustrating.... This week, when I'm up to it, I will start mono printing and hopefully, if they turn out well, print some more pictures. I know that the printing has nothing to do with my flash project, but I need to do something different, I don't feel like everything that I do in one semester has to have the same theme.

Also, I wanted to post some of the photos that I'd like to use to print on. Hopefully tonight I can get them editted and printed so that I can start the printmaking process.

Ok, so I was told to blog about my fat clothes shopping spree. Since I'm on steroids, I will gain weight. There is no way around it, well, unless you had really strong free will. Steroids make you constantly hungry. Even when my stomach feels like it's going to explode, I still want to eat more and I can never feel full. Because I knew that this would happen, I went shopping online while I was in the hospital for some clothes. I think I got some good deals from Gap and Old Navy, and hopefully I will have enough clothes for my spring break trip. Last time I went on a cruise while I was on steroids, I gained 2 lbs. per day and I couldn't fit into my pants after 3 days. So this time I not only got pants that are one size too big, but a got a pair that is two sizes too big. I hope this will fix the problem so that I will have clothes that fit. I still need to get dress pants, which is that hard part, because I only need one pair, but I'm not sure what size to get them in. I have to order pants online because I need petite sizes, so I will have to wait for the jeans to arrive and then pick a size for dress pants and have them overnighted so they come in time. I know it seems like something small, but trust me, it's frustrating when you wake up in the morning and realize that your clothing choices for the day are pants that you won't be able to button or the one pair of pants you still fit into, but you've worn for the past 3 days. Yea, fat pants!

My weekend was fun... I had a kidney biopsy on Thursday and spent the day in the hospital recovering. I came back on campus on Friday so I could take a math test, then went back home to house sit. My parents left for vacation on Friday morning and I was to watch the farm animals and the cat. At 8:30pm I got a call from one of my doctor's partners telling me to go to the hospital immediately. So I freaked out and went with my fiancee to the downtown Columbus hospital where a bed was waiting for me. I knew that I had kidney damage, but it was hard to understand why I had to go right away. Well, it turns out that it was good that I had to go right away, because the damage doesn't seem to be completely permanent. If scar tissue builds up in your kidneys, then that damage is irreversible. Luckily I have very like scar tissue, so the doctors wanted to start treatment as soon as possible, so that I don't build up scar tissue. So, I spent Friday night through late Monday afternoon in the hospital. I was put on super steroids through IV and got poked with a needle every hour. So, that was my weekend... Now I will wait for some more test results to continue treatment. I will be on steroids for awhile, so watch out, because I'll be beefing up. Hopefully by spring break I'll be on some other drugs and I'll be good to go on vacation.

Well, anyway, I might add some mixed media stuff this semester. Last year I did some printing in Drawing II. I'd like to make some photos on the computer and then print over them. I know this is a long process, so I don't think I'll do very many, but I feel like I need to do something different.

So my semester hasn't been going well. Since winter break I have been in pain and no one could tell me why. This week I finally saw a specialist and was told that my kidneys are shutting down. Currently I have 34% function of my kidneys. Both the doctor and I believe that my childhood kidney disease has returned. When I was 5 I was diagnosed with an autoimmune form of kidney disease. After a year of drugs the disease went into remission. Well, I guess now it's back, and I think I caught it too late. At this point I can just extend the life of my kidneys. If I respond well to the drugs, then I could last 5 years before I need a transplant. There is a chance that this all could be caused by something curable, but it's not very likely. On Thursday I will have a kidney biopsy to confirm that my disease is back. I'm sorry if I've seemed tired or distant.... There are a lot of things that I'm feeling now. I want to blame the doctors who ignored my blood tests that showed a year ago that something was wrong. I also want to blame myself for pumping drugs into my body and hurting my kidneys. Then I feel like I'm letting my family down, because my mom is still sick, and I shouldn't be also. I don't want to be a burden on my family. How can I ever ask my brother to give me a kidney if he's still in college? What happens if I can't finish college?

Well, on a lighter note I'm super itchy. It's a symptom of my dying kidneys... But it makes me crazy! It's like having mosquito bites all over. Ahhhh!!!

I'm the first to post on the "new media/craft" topic, so I'm sorry if I get some things wrong. I really think that there has to be a middle ground between doing as little work as possible and spending years on one piece. Now, there has to be some consideration for the media that an artist is working in also. One painting could take as long as 10 digital pieces. But, I don't think that just because you can, that you should spend 5 minutes on a piece, or five years. An artist should have a goal and should work towards that goal. I also think that every art piece should take into consideration the audience that will see it. There is always an audience, whether or not one is wanted. So a piece should take so medium amount of time, achieve some goal of the artist, and have some intended (or unintended) audience. Another personal thought of mine is that no art piece should deprive an artist from the necessities. This means that if an artist has to work so hard on a piece that they loss sleep for days (we've all lost sleep working on a piece, but this is not the same) or if they can't afford to eat or have a home, then it is too much. If an artist spends so much time on an artwork that they can't eat or sleep or live under a roof, then it is too much. This also takes into account if an artist is not working for the audience that will be seeing the piece. An artist can make hundreds of pieces, but if they are not intended for the audience that sees them, and the artist suffers for it, then it's not worth it. Don't take me wrong, I know that it can be hard to sell work or get a paying art job, this is not what I'm talking about. If an artist can't sell their work, but their shows do well then that's okay, but if they can't sell their work, because it's not for an audience or the audience that sees it, then maybe they're getting something wrong.

I've been told that I need to find a tread that links all of my work together. In my mind I've always done whatever I've felt like at the moment. I don't really link my artwork together because I feel like that will make it bland. I guess I could link my work by the style that I use. I like to work in the cartoon-look, like it was made in paint. Eventhough it may look like a cartoon, I still want it to be an accurate representation. It took me three hours to make my squid and have him swim across the page. I studied pictures of squids and their movements. I guess I'm a little nuts.. I like to be exact. I don't know how this links my work.. I am a computer science person at heart and I want my art to be like my programs - simple, yet solving the problem (on in art telling the story). Well, I'm getting close, but I think it will take me awhile to really figure out what the professor want to hear from me...

And, to cheer me up, a picture of the farting cat:

So here's some Flash that I've been playing with..... but Blogger won't let me post my video. Instead, I give you a sceen shot:

I thought I should let you all know how my mom is, well since that was my whole focus last semester. As of today, she has three chemo treatments to go. She seems to be in good spirits and is happy that she's so close to the end. Last week, when it was really icy, she slipped and fell on the steps outside work. She dislocated her shoulder falling and she had to be in a sling all week. This weekend she said it still hurt, but at least the sling was gone. Yesterday was my dad's birthday, so I went to the shelter and bought him a cat. In the fall our last cat died in the living room right in front of my mom and dad from a heart attack. After that my dad threw away all of are cat stuff. He got rid of the litter box, the left over food, and even the bowls that we put food and water in. What I really wanted to do was get him a dog, because he's always wanted one, but my mom hasn't ever allowed us to have one. I tried my best to convince my parents that they would really like a dog, but in the end my dad said that with no one home during the day, he didn't want to leave a dog at home. So, we compromised, he said he would think about a dog when he retired (which may be soon - within months - because he works in the failing banking industry), and everyone agreed that a cat now would be okay. So, I went to the shelter looking for an adult male cat that was friendly, silent, and would sit in my lap (a male because females are bitches, no kitten because it would be too much work for my dad, silent because my parents cannot handle loud animals, and obvious everyone wants a cat who will sit in their lap). I found a pretty white and cream colored cat that rubbed against my legs. When I put him in my lap he curled up and put his head on my hand. I was sold. So I spent an hour filling out the paperwork and getting him into a box and in to the car. Once I got him home he jump out of the box and preceded to run around the house exploring every room. As he was doing this, he was meowing the whole time. My dad and brother (who was also home for the weekend) came into the kitchen, where the cat had stopped and was meowing none stop. Soon the cat had befriended my brother and followed him around the house all night. I went back to school that night. Tonight my dad called me to tell me about all the happenings of his new cat. First, all night it farted on whoever's lap it sat on. Then it meowed all night and tried to sleep in the bed with my dad. In the morning my dad went to church and when he came back he discovered that that cat had crawled under the blanket on my parents bed and peed in the sheets. A side note, since my mom's arm has been hurting she's been sleeping in a chair instead of in the bed. So, since the cat peed in the bed, and knew where the litter box was (he had even already used it) my dad put him outside. I was told not to let the cat outside until the snow melted, because it would not be able to sniff its way back home. But my dad maybe wanted the cat to go away, so he put it outside. After an hour and a half, my dad had hoped that the cat wandered off, but he returned triumphantly. Now my dad says that if the cat acts up again, he'll put it in the barn to be a barn cat. But I know that if the cat really does like my mom as much as he says it does, no matter how many times my dad puts the cat in the barn, my mom will just let it back inside when she's home sick, so that she'll have a friend to sit with her.
So, there you go on my update... I am working on a flash video for my project... I guess you can see it in class, or at our critique.

So, my first blog post comes a little late, but it's taken me awhile to decide on my proposal. This semester I would like to create some kind of interactive environment. I think that this will be made in HTML and Flash. I don't know if I want it to be a web site, or just a program that plays on a computer. I really like the idea of making an under water environment. I would like to have interactive Flash pages and HTML pages. I think I will also have small Flash videos, but I'm not sure if I want them to just play, or if they should be part of the interaction (i.e. when you click on a fish or something, then a short video will play). During break I got some stationary and scrap booking paper that I would like to use as textures. I really like the way South Park and other animations look where everything looks cut out of paper and has texture.

Anyway, my final goal is to incorporate this environment into 3D. This semester I am studying 3D graphics in one of my CS classes. I would like to eventually make a 3D environment that you could interact in as well as the 2D Flash videos and interactions.