5 weeks left.

I'm gonna miss these fine people over the summer. At the same time, I'm ready for freshman year to be over. The warm weather makes me want to be back home on the lake. 

(This is a shot from our trip to the abandoned warehouse on the canal yesterday)

color prism

A classmate of mine lent me a pair of rainbow glasses that dissect white light. I got some interesting shots by placing them over my camera lens.

Jim

Done in 2 sets of 20 minute poses. The goal for that class was to make something more abstract and atmospheric but I like the way this came out. 

One Year (whoops)

I haven't been on here in quite a while. I tried moving my art blog to Tumblr (I like the freedom you get with designing your layout) but it eventually disolved into more of a personal blog. It's hard to avoid silliness on that site. I'm also growing frustrated with my Flickr because I'm not satisfied with most of the work I have there but I can't bring myself to delete them all.

From now on I'm keeping my Flickr to show progress, my Cargo to display my best work and this blog to both display work and describe my process.

A lot has happened in the year (yikes!) since I last posted here. I failed to find work last summer but was able to relax and spend time with friends and family before leaving for college. The summer was almost too long as RISD doesn't start until 3 weeks after most other schools. However I met a group of other freshman online in early August and we bonded through video chat, so I didn't feel entirely alone when I arrived at RISD. Most of the group has stuck together and they have become great friends of mine.

My first semester was very difficult. Having gone to the pre-college program I was expecting to be thoroughly challenged, but I still struggled. My biggest problem here is that I work more slowly than most and one week is usually not enough to get a finished product that I'm proud of. The fall -> winter months were definitely a transition period for me.

(strangely enough, my 3D studios have been my favorite classes while drawing has been my least favorite)

After winter break, RISD starts a 6 week program called Wintersession where your schedule is reduced to 1 - 2 classes a week. I took one class in Illustration - collage. I was the only freshman in the class, which was very intimidating at times. Strangely enough the upperclassmen were much gentler in their critiques than other freshman. I guess over time students are more rational and constructive with their input. I enjoyed Wintersession because it allowed me time to put more care into my work and walk away with some good pieces.

The winter flew by quickly and I was terrified of starting my spring semester after becoming so adjusted to one class a week. BUT to my relief my new schedule was dramatically easier than the last one. The lack of anxiety has allowed me to clear my head, improve my work and also do other projects in my free time.

My body of photography has exploded in the past year. It astounds me how quickly that little hobby of mine turned into a full-blown passion. I can't stop for over a week or two without getting restless. Hopefully someday soon I can feel comfortable enough with my work to really call myself a photographer - but until then I'll keep on working.

Now there's just over a month left of my freshman year. Crazy how quickly a year flies by. And to top it all off, I'm illustrating a children's book over the summer! I didn't think I'd get an opportunity like this for years to come and I'm beyond excited. The book will be written by Lauren Strob and is aimed to be released by the 2012 holiday season.

Figure Studies, 2011. Charcoal on bristol board.

Last weekend, I went to a figure drawing session at the Kimball Jenkins art school in Concord. It's been a while since I've drawn a live model so i thought it would make for good practice. These are my most successful, I think. The one on the far left was from a 20 minute pose and is my favorite out of all of them. The other two were more rushed. The figure seated in the middle is my least favorite, which is a shame since it was such a good pose. I think it's the face that throws me off - I was in such a hurry to finish that I made a clumsy, last-ditch effort to finish before time was up.
(In the last one the model is holding a peach that I decided to render with a red pen)

RISD Housing

I'll be living in Homer Hall again - I was hoping for either Nick or East, but I'm excited nonetheless. My roommate is a Miss Abby from Missouri.

EDIT: Got to talk to Abby and several other of our neighbors in Homer - Abby's awesome, and they all seem like a nice group. RISD takes different types of artists and puts them together by personality and interests. I was placed in a 'performing arts' section, which will be great since I was in a theater-centered group through much of high school. This is all making me even more excited to go back there where I felt so at home with everyone I met. Our floor seems to be mostly guys so far, though - I hope a few more girls show up.

Fluency, 2010. Mixed media, 10' x 14'
From my junior year. Created as an escape from a stressful AP project.

Apparition, 2009. Ink, 8' x 8'
From my sophomore year, something that began as a doodle but I ended up liking it a lot..

The Harbor, 2010. Gouache paint, 10' x 45'
The project: A representation of an 'altar,' or certain place that is significant to you. For this I chose a spot on the Boston Harbor, on the compass that looks out into the bay and towards the airport. Although I was largely raised in New Hampshire, much of my family still lives in the Boston area and the city is a very dear place to me. Whenever my family and I are in town for a visit, we stay at the Marriot next to the aquarium. The compass is a short walk from here and for years I have enjoyed walking up and down the harbor and stopping in this one spot. I decided to use gouache as I don't usually use paint and I love that it has the softness of watercolor but is still opaque. I chose not to use references and worked only from memory.

When I first finished this, I wasn't very proud of it. I felt that I had made it to be too simple and that it was not recognizable as Boston. However it was very well received by my teachers and friends, which surprised me. Sometimes I do regret not using references, but I think I benefited from working with the simple elements from my memory and not worrying about the small details.