The freshness of a life

This is a little painting I made on my schetchbook on November 13.
I like it! It's fresh and expontaneous.

On a different note, I will be studying really hard for the next couple of weeks. So... I need to Gogh study :)

I made it!!!

This two days have been crazy!!! I've been really busy, but I've survived. Thank God for everything.
I had only a couple of hours of sleep last night and today I'm all hyper (that happens when I'm tired for real). I had an iced mocha this morning and it was too sweet, plus I had a chocolate donut. That gave me a suger-rush. Yeah, just like the one I intented to give to the MADDay volunteers.
It was ridiculous. For a second, I considered the possibility of having sugar erased from my life... completely. BUT This world it too insane to do that... I'm serious, sugar can be found everywhere and there is nothing we can do about it. I guess we, as humans, are comdemned to have surgar-rushes as part of our lives. Ok, now THAT'S non-sense. I better get to business... I'll get to class... on time! for a change :)
Although, I know it won't make any difference since my professor enjoys taking role every single time class meets. That takes him a good ten minutes of my precious time, because is a class of about 120 people.
Well... I'll get going now.
Ciao!

Good times

I talked to my friend (in ES) last night, she called me -that was a big surprise- and she said she's not coming to visit her dad this year. Last year, around Christmas time she came to CA to visit her dad and I went to visit her. We went to San Francisco and many other places. We had a good time and I fell in love with San Francisco!!!

I really liked Valencia and I have great memories of my friend's b-day, we spent the afternoon at a cafe in downtown Valencia. It was nice.
So many memories, so little time, so much school work, so many responsibilities. Life is awesome.

Yo - frida study

Yo - frida study
Originally uploaded by aquarelita.

Gouache on paper.
I made this study in my sketchbook for Spring 2004. I took the idea from Frida Kahlo's journal and I loved it. I changed it a little, the colors reflect more my personalily.
Bright!

I'm using this new picture posting server, and I find it really good. I'll see if I can post some more of my art work (it'll have to be from my sketchbook, since I'll have to scan it at the lab).

I should be studying...

I have so many freaking things to do, yet I'm wasting my precious time writing this. I've read things about weblogs... some people think they are a good way for people to express themselves, but others say that blogs can be 'dangerous' (to some extent) since people are free to post whatever they feel like posting.
I read an article on a Student Affairs website, one of the cases discussed was one in which someone wrote really bad things about his/her boss... what if the boss reads the post? what if you read it? should you let the boss know about it?
People tend to get really personal, maybe I've been too personal! (hey, I'll check all the posts one day to see if there is anything I wouldn't want others to know).
Anyway, what I was going to say about blogs is that they are one more distraction.
I should start a new sketchbook/journal instead of keeping this blog... maybe I should start on the new sketchbook and keep the blog at the same time... maybe I should go back to study WLIT, and Art History, and Media and Society... or maybe focus on the other 10 things on my to-do list.

Make it happen!!!

Whenever your day is not going well and you feel like it's going to be "one of those days" this is what you need to do:
Get an iced mocha and make things happen.
I've come to the realization that I can be my worst enemy, my toughest judge, and my largest obstacle.
If you feel limited... think about it, 'cause it might be just you.
Did this post make any sense at all?

"Enamorarse puede ser a veces una desgracia, pero nunca un crimen" - Alberto Masferrer

"I still love art and life very much"
- Van Gogh

"Mi billete de a diez"

El sábado pasado fui a la casa de uno de mis tios y como siempre, surgieron memorias en medio de la conversación. Mi tio nos contó como el siempre quería andar impresionando a las muchachitas :)
"Yo tenia un billete de a diez" dijo mi tio, y nos contó como siempre iba a la tiendita donde estaba la dulcinea que le gustaba. Y compraba gaseosas para él y para sus amigos; y los noventa centavos que salian en total los pagaba con un billete de a diez, para impresionar a la susodicha :)
"Y cuando tenia la oportunidad, me conseguía noventa centavos y conseguía otro billete de a diez para ir a la tienda el día siguiente".
Nos reimos mucho y yo dije la frase "yo tenia un billete de a diez" sería un buen titulo para un libro, y mi mamá dijo que sería mejor "Mi billete de a diez".

En fin, me encanta como las memorias dan color a la vida.
Qué sería de nosotros sin los recuerdos???

Wise Words

"Sometimes when you have an idea you should do it... 'cause sometimes you don't have any ideas."

I heard this from one of my art instructors and felt like I needed to share it.
Link

Reverse Foreshortening

Fore·short·en ( P ) (fôr-shôrtn, fr-)
tr.v. fore·short·ened, fore·short·en·ing, fore·short·ens
1. To shorten the lines of (an object) in a drawing or other representation so as to produce an illusion of projection or extension in space.
2. To reduce the length of; curtail or abridge.

Foreshortening
\Fore*short"en*ing\, n. (Fine Arts) Representation in a foreshortened mode or way.

Tonight, in my drawing class we worked on this technique. It was fun... but I didn't do it right.
You're suppossed to look at the model and draw whatever is closer to you larger than what is further away... this kinda makes sense to me, but you have to do a little exageration.
So anyway... I tried.
And I thought I was doing it right... but my drawing was looking funny so I asked someone in my class if the piece looked weird to her, and she said "well, I think the head and the upper body are a little big". No prob... I thought... I'll just keep trying.
But then... it really looked weird to me, so I said to my professor "Hey, I think this is way too funny, could you look at this for a sec?" and he said "Of course it looks weird... you made the feet so small and the leg!!! And look how huge the head is... YOU DID REVERSE FORESHORTENING!!!"
And then my classmate and I couldn't help but laugh!
Then my professor was picking on me... he said "you can make that you signature style! You can draw a bunch of women with huge heads and little legs and feet... you'll make millions!"
Well... there are some things that are just not meant for me.
I'll keep trying, though!!!

On another note... the sunset was amazing today!!! It looked a little like this:

Can you feel it?

About iced mochas, my artist’s finger nails and other matters.

It’s really cold outside.
The frozen grass lets me know that the new season will not wait anyone.
A nice gesture from a friend lets me know that life is sweet; it will always be that way!
Yes, life is sweet... despite of all the insanity of this world, happiness is real and can be reached by anyone who wants it and is willing to accept the challenges and responsibilities that it entails.
But before I get all poetic I need to get back to my not-so-relevant-to-anyone-else post… I wanted to talk about iced mochas and something that happened to me last Tuesday. I was studying in the coffee house as usual and I thought of getting myself an iced mocha, then the thought of having to pay almost $3 for my so-wanted iced mocha struck me. Then I thought “hmm… what if I spend my lunch money on the iced mocha” and I did it… of course it was worth it. I never like what I have for lunch anyway! I'd get to the food court and think “what sounds good for lunch?” and the answer is always a “nothing” that follows a relatively long period of time (I’m talking about 5 secs here). So I’m glad I had that iced mocha… I’m trying to reduce my caffeine intake to just one iced mocha per week, but it’s really hard! Like today, a friend treated me to one... how could I ever say no to an iced mocha?!
Another thing that I wanted to discuss in this absurd weblog was my artist’s nails. Yeah… my finger nails never look good ‘cause of the charcoal, acrylic, graphite and everything else that gets on them each day. I know that my not-very-attractive nails are just one more thing to get used to when one attempts to be an artist. However, I put some clear nail polish every now and then… but when my friend says “hey… your nails look nice… how come?!” that is an indication that I need to pay more attention to my appearance so people won’t get surprised when I look a little nicer than usual.
And well… that’s it for now. No more comments.Thank you to all my readers and I hope you are enjoying these pointless weblog.

My Inner Artist

Your inner artist is Vincent Van Gogh!

You and Van Gogh share a very important thread – an unusually strong passion for your pursuits. Okay, so maybe you never chopped off your ear (which is a good thing), but it wouldn’t surprise us if you get excited by all your ideas and feelings. And you need an outlet! Whether you pour your emotions out in theater, the wood shop, on paper, or through exercise, you’re unstoppable when new thoughts come to mind! Maybe you were the kid in class who was always doodling in his notebook. Or perhaps you picked up the flute in college and never looked back. Or maybe you’ve developed a strong voice to stand up for your causes. But whichever magical channel you’ve found, keep at it. You’re at your best when you unleash your passionate force on the world.