Showing posts with label Jennifer Lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jennifer Lewis. Show all posts

October 20, 2008

My life in a hamster wheel

Hamster Wheel 3D Pictures, Images and Photos
Ever feel like this? I do.
This weekend, I took a much needed break to attend the Fort Point Open Studios. Fort Point is a community of live-in studio spaces for artists. My friend Jen was one of the artists who opened their home/studio up for people to view and purchase her work. My husband and I couldn't stay very long (he had to work later that afternoon), but it was nice to stroll around and see what other artists are working on. Plus, I bought this awesome print from Jen. I love her work.
It made me really miss illustration life and creating my own paintings (in fact, I have 3 mail art pieces that have been sitting in my studio for over a week, waiting to be finished up and mailed out. Sorry MAA. I'll get on it, I promise!). School has absorbed every ounce of free time I have. In fact, spending that single day on something other than homework threw my entire weekend into turmoil. Now, I'm really far behind on the huge list of things I need to get done for classes Wed/Thurs. I somehow have to find time to do all of them in the little time I have after work. This is why having a life is absolutely not an option while I'm in school. I should've known I'd pay dearly for a second of down-time.
To compound my troubles, I have officially upgraded my old PC with clunky 100 year old design programs to a new Mac with new programs. Sounds fantastic, right? Not so much. My new Mac can't read any of the homework I previously created on my PC. That typography project I've been working on for the past 3 weeks? Yeah. I had to re-do that last night. And...come to find out, my scanner is not compatible with my new Mac. The scanner company has zero drives available for it. I have to get a new scanner. Of course, I find this out by trying to use my scanner for homework. I can always order a new one, but in the meantime what the heck am I supposed to do this week? Looks like I'll either have to head over to my mother's house or try to sneak a scan at work.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Mac. It's a beautiful piece of equipment. I just wish I'd been able to afford it this summer when I could've a) had time to figure out how to work the thing b) had time to update my scanner and other equipment and c) had not started massive projects on my PC then had to switch over. I could continue to complain about how busy/miserable I am, but I think I should wrap it up now.
Hedgehog Update:
I got so many wonderful caring e-mails on my last post regarding our beloved hedgehog's terminal cancer...so I thought I should keep all of you updated on his health. Baxter has been accepting his pain medicine. Or...he did for the first couple days. The vet flavored it with honey and he was really enthusiastic about lapping it up (he even tried biting the dropper!). This Saturday was a different story. He wouldn't take any of it. His swollen foot is still awkwardly rolling under him, and he just seemed like he couldn't get comfortable on my lap. He kept poking his head out of his little sleeping bag and looking at me confusedly, then going back in to sniff and circle around like a dog trying to find a good spot to lie down. Poor baby. I think this week, we'll switch over to his winter fleece-lined sleeping bag since it's been getting cold here already. Maybe I'll buy more crickets, drip the medicine on them, and see if Baxter will accept it that way.

January 22, 2008

Technical Difficulties (and Miorats!)

I didn't post yesterday because I was bogged down in technical difficulties. First, I didn't know what to blog about. When I finally decided that I wanted to profile some of my favorite Etsy shops, I had no idea how to go about getting a hold of the code for their "mini". For those of you not hip to the Esty lingo, the Etsy Mini is the lovely shop pic/link/profile that you can post on websites. Mine is on my sidebar off to the right.
The general consensus on the Etsy forums was that I should e-mail my favorite sellers, ask if they'd like to be profiled on my blog and if so, request their mini code. However, the prospect of writing to people I don't know, waiting for a reply, a code, and probably having to wrangle up some interview questions was simply too much for me. All I wanted to do was a quick blog! This was starting to require serious amounts of work. I promptly gave up.
Today I've figured out how to post someone else's mini on my page, but I've also decided to take the easy way out. I'll be profiling Etsy artists, however I'm going to use a bit of nepotism to do it. (Sorry to my favorite sellers, I'll get to you later!)
These two artists are fellow Etsians, but they're also good friends of mine from college. I'll probably profile one today and one tomorrow. I know they wouldn't mind and I'm not afraid to e-mail them!

First meet Jen:

Etsy
Buy Handmade
miorats

Jen's a fellow Illustration grad. She doesn't have a ton up in her Etsy shop, so I would highly suggest linking here or here to see more of her work. What I love most about Jen's work is how she's created a world that is so distinctly her. Her illustrations are full of glowing translucent color (hard to believe they're acrylic and oil paintings) and often include collage elements from foreign newspapers collected during her travels. At first glance the cuteness of an image will draw you in. But once you're there, you're assaulted with something extremely creepy or uncomfortable. For example, "Aw, what a sweet illustration of a kitty...HOLDING A SEVERED HEAD???" Haha. I love it. I bought this painting from her last Christmas. It's in my studio and it makes me happy. Go check her out...and stay tuned for another profile tomorrow!