Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.: GIF
Showing posts with label GIF. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GIF. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Me Oh My Oh May

Hi past everyone,

This month has been absolutely crazy with moving.  I don't even know where to begin!  We're almost finished cleaning out the rental and have been living at the new house a couple weeks now.  I haven't written in a while because I've been busier than almost any other time in my life (excepting the semester I tried to work two jobs!) and without internet for most of the month.  Life without internet can be frustrating at times, such as when I feel like writing, but hopefully I can make it a couple more weeks until evil old Time Warner finishes installing cables in our neighborhood.  The date keeps getting pushed back, so I'm not sure how much I believe them anymore with each new date they name since they originally said May 5th.

I've been rereading books I own, and working on painting the new house (and repainted at the rental too!), packing doing lots of organizing as we've moved things.  I can't wait to have everything sorted and in place the way I like it.  It's been a rough past month and a half, but we are so glad to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We got our refrigerator Friday, and while there have been some issues with getting everything in out home contract completed in a reasonable amount of time I have I hopes that all will be done soon.  We're down to 1. internet, 2. a mailbox (they haven't installed the cluster ones yet!), 3. getting the last few window screens, 4. getting a hole in our screen porch patched, and 5. getting in the 2 light fixtures that were backordered installed in our bathroom.

As of last Sunday we're done with the rental, and it already feels fantastic!  Sure we have a house full of boxes (many from my parents since they boxed up bits of my childhood and I get to sort through it all.  Between trips to various coffee shops for internet I'm getting bits done here and there.  I'm eager to get things unpacked and start new routines in my house and studio over the next few weeks.  My goal is getting into habits that help my health and productivity.  So I'd like to establish some portion of daily and weekly schedules, so I can be writing or making art when I'm most productive mentally and starting my days in a way that helps me be more productive rather than wasting time.  It's a tall order, but I'm up for the challenge.

In that vein I'm also going to try making a capsule wardrobe for the first time.  You can read more about the definitions of a capsule wardrobe at blogs like Unfancy and Project 333.  I'm looking at staring mine officially today and have about 18 pieces picked so far, but I still need to finish my unpacking.  Some blogs are in the camp of counting accessories and jewelry, some aren't.  Personally I'm going to count any cloth items, but not jewelry.  I think I'll probably end up with about 33 pieces for summer, but will probably go with 35 for the other seasons.  However, we'll see.  I still have a lot to decide and would rather have less items than I would more.  I've also found that many people doing this kind of capsule wardrobe aren't using bright colors or wearing plus sized clothing.  So this should add some interesting quirks to my capsule!  I look forward to sharing the results with you all, but for now here are some shots from the past couple months as we've been watching our house be built and moving in.


I've got a couple more posts in the works, but it's been slower going than usual with the lack of internet.  So for now I'll be testing out some productivity apps - Asana, Balanced, Remember The Milk, and Toodledo.  And hopefully get in some reviews of them in an upcoming post.  I look forward to catching up with all of you soon (with internet at home perhaps)!

Love,
Lydia

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Days 80-86

Hi folks!

Here's the animation of the book you've all been waiting for, and yet it's a GIF, and that's why it looks funky.  I kind of like the funk though.  Tell me what you think!

It loses some detail in the transition, but you can still make out some of the most important parts.  And it was pretty fun to make, which along with it having a lot or personal meaning made it really rewarding to me.  And now there's yet another new project from The Art Assignment that you're all able to participate in, it was just posted today - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slCnZzsETVM

I don't know what I'll be doing for that one yet, but I'm definitely going to doing it.  In fact I think I might even incorporate it into some of my upcoming art lessons that I'll be teaching!  I actually just got off the phone with someone about it; I'll be teaching their teenager, focusing on drawing mostly.  So I'm really excited about that, and am already getting ideas for a first lesson pulled together.  If you have any particularly fun activities you feel were good for your learning project, please feel free to share them with me!

See you tomorrow!
Love, Lydia

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Day 79

Hi everyone,

Today is the photo post I promised!  So, between all the ice and stormy weather we've had I've been working away.  First up a quick glance at the view of the latest ice storm from my studio window.

The biggest project that I've been working on in the past week is creating an art book.  The idea for it was sparked by a video series call The Art Assignment, which is put together by John Green (yes the author and YouTube guy) and PBS.  Episode 3 is what mine is based on (you can check it out Here on YouTube), and it's called Intimate, Indispensable GIF.  The premise, in short, is to focus on something that is at the core of who you are and indispensable to you.  For myself I decided that was essentially memories.  So I'm looking at my own experiences, connections, and relationships in a handmade book.  I took step by step photos of the process:
The folded piece is a simple cardstock sheet that makes the interior pages of the book.  Because it folds out rather than having turning pages the images expand beyond the space of their containment the more you open it.  From there I measured the folded up page size and cut thicker matte board slightly larger (1/8 in on each side) to create the framework of the cover.  The the outer covering is cut 3/4 in larger on each side with 1/8 in between the spine and front/back cover boards.  I got the instructions for creating this from Bookworks by Sue Doggett.
Next I made some wheat flour paste by mixing 1 cup water and 1 rounded tablespoon wheat flour, and heating it (you can make it in the microwave using 30 second increments, stirring inbetween each).  I then cut darts in the corners of the cover paper and pasted it down.  Then I measured the inside dimensions and cut an inner lining paper 1/8 in smaller than the cover as shown and used the paste to add it to the inside cover.  As I was working on each section of this I was also working on the various pages of the book.
Here are a couple on in progress shots.  Note the empty top corner of the lefthand set of pages, for reference of which page will be pasted to the book.
 Here are the completed components right before I assembled them with the paste.  Once I had them pasted together the entire book was placed closed under some heave books as shown below.  (One of the great uses for textbooks after college!)

Tomorrow I'll be taking photos of the finished book to create the GIF from.  The process of opening and showing each page of the book should make a great little animation.

Now for a couple other pieces I've mentioned being in process, but haven't shown:
This is the piece I've been working on for Healing Ceilings, a group that encourages making art on ceiling tiles so cancer patients here in Raleigh have something other than blank ceilings during treatments.  I have a second tile, but there's no paint on it yet so it doesn't photograph very well.  This piece still has a Celtic knotwork border to be added along with the roots and background sections.
This canvas is a household project I started to cover a particularly ugly fusebox adorning our hallway.  It's essentially an under painting that I'll be applying collage elements and other details to.

Beyond all that there's the Bianca piece, a half dozen tiny collages, the seashell still life, and some other solid colored under paintings I've prepped for collages.  All the ones that are worthwhile have been shown.  I anticipate having a couple finished pieces to share next week.

So, lots of things coming along and tons to look forward to over the next few weeks.  Thanks for reading!

Love, Lydia