Ah, the new year. I've got a whole list of projects to finish, projects to start, and all sorts of new crafts to learn. Unfortunately my list of ones to finish is growing quite long.

To finish in 2005:
- The quilt. Its pieced, basted, and in the quilting hoop. Waiting patiently for me to remember it and come finish the rest of the quilting.

- The fountain. After an frustrating incident with some glue that I thought was waterproof (oh, but it wasn't!), I tossed this project on the backburner until I could look at it again without seeing red.

- The curtains. When we moved into the new apartment, I made some great red silk drapes for the front bay window. They've hung up there for months now, but only one is hemmed at the bottom. I hid the other behind the Christmas tree. :)

Things I want to to do/make in 2005:
- Silkscreening. Unfortunately I've ordered a silkscreening kit from a bumbling idiot of an eBay seller, who has sent me the wrong item not once, but TWICE. I'm considering tossing in the towel and just heading over to my local Plaza Art and (re)buying the supplies myself. I really want to play with making some simple cards and wrapping paper.

- Sewing. I want to make flannel pajama bottoms! And do more things for the Month of Softies.

- Seed starting. I got a hoarde of new seeds and starting supplies for Christmas, and I want to get started with them!

- Planter boxes. I have tons of ideas for making inexpensive, contemporary outdoor planters swirling in my head, mostly involving blue builders foam. Of course none could be as cool as the one my brother made me for Christmas, but a girl's gotta grow her flowers somewhere!

Posted by katybeck at 10:42 AM | Comments (2)

Earlier this week, without much ado, I started taking a class at our local community college. Its called Fundamentals of Design, and meets twice a week for 2.5 hours until the middle of May. I signed up for the class in the hopes that I would a) learn new things, b) have a productive environment in which to produce quality work, and c) be motivated to do work outside of class that will move me in a more creative direction career-wise.

It was a little strange to be back in a college setting again. I felt old, even though it really hasn't been that long. And I felt like a freshman again, trying to find my way around a maze of new buildings and hallways, and not really knowing anyone yet. Of course , the massive power outage that had the entire campus - save the building where my class was - bathed in darkness didn't help me much! Hopefully tonight I'll be able to explore some more.

Our first class session started out pretty well. My instructor was very very nervous, and kept losing her train of thought and jumping from topic to topic without ever getting a full sentence out. But she calmed down towards the end, and I started to like the ideas she was expressing about design and the creative process.

Our class is studio-based - meaning that we'll be creating a lot of artwork in a variety of mediums over the next few months. We'll be working only in black and white (color gets its own semester), but we get to work with everything from charcoal, acrylics, gouache, india ink, plaster and clay. I spent today's lunch break geeking out at my local Plaza Art Supply shop, stocking up on Bristol board and paint brushes (all brushes 50% off - wahoo!). I even splurged on a second art tackle box to keep everything organized.

I can't wait to start playing (uh, I mean working. yeah.) with all of it!

Posted by katybeck at 04:41 PM

What? They're owned by the same company? How can you tell?

Posted by katybeck at 11:39 AM

We just purchased this lovely coat rack organizer thingy (from Hold Everything) for the wall next to our front door. As it stands now, coats and gloves and scarves usually get draped on the first available surface (currently the couch) and everything starts to look messy.

I am, consequently, in high organization mode. Over the long weekend I did the upstairs bathroom (lovingly nicknamed the Scary Yellow Bathroom, thanks to our landlord's stellar lack of paint-picking ability) and my office. Now my attention turns toward the studio.

I've got tons of lovely work space, but I'm already learning that I need more storage space. Specifically, storage for large flat pieces of paper. I'm currently on the hunt for ways to make such storage for myself and avoid paying hundreds of dollars (and sacrificing valuable floor space) for a flat file.

Any suggestions?

Posted by katybeck at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)

The paper snowflakes I put up for Christmas are looking especially nice as a backdrop to the real stuff.

Posted by katybeck at 02:13 PM | Comments (1)

Tonight I worked my fingers down to little stubs, and my eyes are just about ready to keel over and give up the fight.. I have to turn in a few drawings and assignments for class tomorrow, so I've been busily sketching away. If I were even a smidge less tired I'd take a picture of some of it just to make this entry more interesting. Alas, I have chosen comfort over content, and the pictures will have to come another day.

My design class is still as challenging as ever. I've settled on gouache and india ink as my current favorite mediums. I enjoy our classwork, but I'm having major issues with the sketchbook that I'm supposed to be working in each day. I have fundamental difficulties with sketching just for the sake of sketching - I need some sort of problem or objective or reason to be sitting there, attempting to capture something on paper. Otherwise its completely boring to me. If I liked creating art for arts sake, I'd have enrolled in a fine arts class.

(Don't get me wrong - I have the utmost respect for people who have the patience and the discipline to really perfect the craft of drawing or painting. If I could concentrate on it long enough I might eventually attain that level of skill, but its a looong way off.)

I'm not really sure how I'm going to be able to find more things to draw from in my house. It'll be easier once the weather is nice and I can go outside or journey down to the museums. But right now - there are only so many compositions a girl can make with the items found in her kitchen! :)

Posted by katybeck at 09:45 PM | Comments (2)