It's been a while since I've done a real update. Well, my first year of college is over in a week and boy has it been a trip. I didn't do as much artwork as I thought I would but I feel like there is a lot of creativity inside of me that's going to explode soon. This summer I have a plan layed out that will [hopefully] give me a lot of uninterrupted time to sink my teeth into a lot of creative projects.
Maybe I'll update later with some pictures of thing's I've done this year, shoes I've painted, etc. Or maybe I won't. Livejournal just isn't what it used to be.
If you want to keep in touch and see my latest shoes and stuff, add me on Myspace. Also, although I don't put up a ton of photos very often, I now have a Flickr account.
I leave you [for now] with a video from the Grandma Party Bazaar, an event we had here in Orlando with local artists, vendors, hairstylists, back scratchers, tee-pee-makers and all sorts of interesting people who make or do all sorts of interesting and artsy things. I set up a little stand with my friends and I spread the word about CHOOSE YOUR SHOES with free buttons and catalogues with pictures of shoes I've painted. I also sold paintings, photos, and other junk. It was a great time and I can't wait for next year. If you live in Orlando (or nearby), definitely check it out next year.
They interviewed me and my friends, so keep an eye out for a CHOOSE YOUR SHOES cameo.
I saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs last Friday. I thought it would be really cool to make shoes for Karen O, so I e-mailed a bunch of people and posted some entries in YYY comunities, and someone in a YYY community found me a picture of Karen where you could see her shoe size (8) so I was actually able to make her the shoes. They were scheduled to play an acoustic set in a record store before the actual show, so it was my perfect opportunity to give her the shoes. Well, they changed the time of the show and i missed it. So I ended up giving the shoes to a Hard Rock employee who said she would give them to the tour manager and she promised me they'd get to Karen eventually. I probably should have just kept them and handed them to Karen on-stage because I was so close. I may never know if she got them or not, but I sure hope so.
I was in a big rush and I didn't get any good pictures of the shoes before I handed them off, so this is the best I have. There is a lot of symbolism in them, because I didn't want to make them all about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (think about it, if you were Karen O, would you want crazy YYY fan shoes? Not really, right?). The cat eludes to the whole Coco Beware thing, the spears and battle flags refer to the song Warrior (and the South Korean flag represents her heritage). The snake is kind of like a dragon guarding treasure.. that shoe sort of represents fame and wealth and lust, etc. A lot of it is just random, too, so I'll shut up now.
And here is a video of Karen crawling across the stage:
If any of you went to the YYY shows this weekend or are going to see them in the near future, pay attention to her shoes for me!
Remember that double-exposure project I talked about a long time ago? Well, the results from the first part are in.
For my part of the project, I just went around and took pictures of trees, flowers, etc.. things that I thought would look interesting when overlayed onto other images. I wasn't really trying to take "good" photos, just getting some colors/shapes that I thought could be potentially interesting. I took each frame on a different exposure setting, some under- and some over-exposed, just so I could see what worked best in the end. I then sent the exposed roll of film to _squidink, and she took her own pictures over mine and developed them.
Well, in the end, my images seemed to dominate hers in almost every frame. Also, there seems to be a lot of chemical stains and defects caused by the actual processing of the film and not the negatives themselves. Most of the bright red/yellow drips and splatters are chemical stains. I actually like them though.
Next time I do this, I will definitely under-expose my images a lot more to make sure that the other person's images come out more clearly. I think for a first experiment, though, some of these are pretty cool.
So anyway, here are the results from my collaboration with _squidink:
EDIT// I submitted some photos to the Jones Soda Co. for their labels, and none of them won, but they used one of them for the banner at the top of the site. Check out the flash banner at the top, or click here for a screencap. I thought that was pretty cool, even if they didn't give me any credit or notify me at all.
semi-self-portrait (i had some help) polaroid instant b&w slide film (manipulated) => orthochromatic transparency (negative) => b&w print circa earlier this year
Last January, I went to a place near my home called Flamingo Gardens. It's a zoo/sanctuary for animals that are native to Florida. I went a little nuts and took five rolls of film while I was there, and I never got all of them developed, but these have been sitting on my hard drive for quite a while and I've been meaning to post them.
They were all taken with my Nikon N65 and really expired Fujifilm. I had to use a telephoto lens on most of them since I couldn't get very close to the animals (and some of them were behind fences, so I had to blur that out). The one at the top is my favorite shot. My other favorites are labelled in bold.
i did these shoes for katherine, a long-time friend. the symbols include: an ankh and crucifix with headphones, baby bats (the blue parts play tricks on your eyes, but they are there), a rose, the letter K, stars, a yin yang, and the bauhaus logo.
for six days last week i worked at a woman's house, painting a chest of drawers for her kids' bathroom. its pretty unique, she loved it. i'll post pictures soon. but anyway that's what i've been up to lately.
college on wednesday!
as soon as i get settled in college and clear up some other art-related obligations, i should start painting shoes again. i plan on doing one or two pairs per week, to support myself. i also have a paypal account now, so the process will be easier and faster. i wont be using ebay, because the last (first) auction i held ended with one bid, at $20. i was disappointed. most likely, i will post a pair of blank shoes and a price, then ask for the first person to paypal me and then i will customize and mail them. sound good? i think so.
i probably wont be updating for a while, but hopefully there will be a lot of good art to come, once i am in school and [hopefully] developing my art skills further. im excited.
this is my munny warhol! for those of you who dont know what a munny is, check out kid robot. originally i was just going to use paint, but then i started looking at other peoples customized munnys and i got way too excited about it. i got some super sculpy clay and gave him a face (i havent ever really sculpted anything, it was scary, but i think it turned out really well), and used synthetic monster fur for the hair. everything else is acrylic paint sealed with varnish. oh, and mine didnt come with any good accessories, so i made the banana and camera for him. i really like how he turned out! all he really needs is a pair of glasses. i actually spent a really long time making glasses with a wire armature and everything, but they look ridiculous on him :( i might try to get the actual munny glasses, or i might buy some baby sunglasses from the dollar store.
next i want to make a munny me..
here are some pictures of the whole process and the finished munny: ( chronologically )
p.s. remember that double-exposure project? well the first roll was sent out a few weeks ago. expect photos soon.
This will be another shoe auction, but this time they're already painted. These are women's size 8 (they run a little large, so they fit like 8.5/9)
Bidding starts at $35.00
The auction ends Sunday, July 23 at 12:00 (noon) TOMORROW.
+HOW TO BID: The first person to bid will comment on this post with the price they're willing to pay (presumably $35.00). After that, if you want to bid more for them, REPLY TO THE PREVIOUS BIDDER'S COMMENT with a higher price (this is so that they recieve a comment e-mail and are aware that they are being outbid). The bidding increment is $5.00, meaning if someone bids $40.00, you must bid $45.00 or more.
+SHIPPING Winning bidder pays $7 shipping (US). If you're not in the US, we'll figure out how much it'll cost to ship to you.
+RETURNS No returns, sorry.
+PAYMENT I will accept money orders and personal checks, and depending on how much they end up selling for, concealed cash as well. The winning bidder will mail me the payment, and I will ship the shoes when I receive it.
+ANY QUESTIONS? Do not comment on this post with questions, please. The only comments here should be bids. If you have any questions, e-mail me: goatcouscous@gmail.com
i held an auction for a blank pair of shoes in my journal a little while ago. delegatej won, and she said she liked seagulls, cherry blossoms, and the colors teal, white, and gray. my original idea was to just have seagulls on both shoes, but it didnt look right to me, so i put manta rays on the other shoe. i think theyre a nice compliment to the seagulls, and she did mention the color gray. i just hope its not too hard to figure out what they are. the colors are much nicer in real life, i did a wash on the whole shoe with different shades of teal, blue, and green. anyway, here they are:
kara and i finally exchanged shoes/money. she had already seen them online, but she agreed that they look a lot better in real life. sorry for the sort of crappy picture, i took it with my camera phone.
also, i got my score from my AP portfolio. i got a 3. at least i passed, i guess.
danielle leigh would like to have my shoes sold in her store in NY. she wants 36 pairs. i have to call the buyer in L.A. first, but this could be really cool. im excited!
i posted a new header thing in my journal. it has some pictures and some "guidelines" for this journal. check it out.
i finally have a pair of my own shoes! i started off with black shoes this time. not a good idea, it made the painting a lot more tedious (i had to paint the same thing over and over to keep the black from showing through), but ive been looking for my size in white forever and i couldnt find any. this pair took me about two days, but since i get distracted a lot, i would say it was only about five hours of actual work. overall, i like them, but there are a few parts where i just got lazy and i dont like the result.
the imagery is just a bunch of stuff i like and references to other stuff i like, such as the banana and dollar sign (andy warhol), the knives (the band, the knife), the snake being cut up (yeah yeah yeahs), the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42 (the show LOST), a peppermint (the white stripes), goldfish (im in love with fish), and then some random stuff like a tooth and bones and a key and ants and lightning. well, you can see for yourself.
oh, and if you havent added me on myspace yet, do it.
EDIT// CUSTOM SHOES: i have 20 or so pairs of shoes in various sizes, but im not sure how i should sell them. im not just going to let people email me for shoes, that proved to be a little chaotic. the comment auction didnt work that well, either. i dont have an ebay account, but that looks like it might be the best way to sell them, just auction off the blank shoes and let you guys decide what i should put on them for you. or, i could just design the shoes with whatever i want and sell them. what do you guys think?
i made a myspace account to promote my shoes. i'm really picky about who i add on my regular myspace, so this one is for all of you to add me. so yeah, go do it. click the myspace thing to see my profile (which is still really bare).
ALSO if you have bought shoes from me, please send me a picture of you wearing them so i can put it on my profile. besides, seeing people wearing them makes me happy.
p.s. if you think this means i might be taking custom orders online again, you might be right.
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