# data[].attributes.body
I was excited to see that we were visiting with the artist who was collecting the hair that we had a sneak peek of during one of our previous visits. I think my favorite part of Lim’s process was material exploration. The different ways he was experimenting with how to form the hair into blocks was intriguing and I look forward to seeing what he ends up with.

# data[].attributes.body
What I took away from this studio artist visit was the concept of having a ritual before creating art. For years now I've heard teachers and professors talk about getting yourself into a creative mindset before making your artwork. And what I've been constantly told to do was essentially the practice of art skills rather than a ritualistic approach. Seeing Hing's ritual where he burns his own handcrafted candles really changed my perspective on what a creative ritual could be. By burning the candles Hing transforms his studio space into a zone of possibilities and creation. In turn, by doing so it changes the person's mindset, rather than having the space be a studio where he comes to work he allows himself to have a space of creation instead. This has sparked my interest in creating my own artist ritual. For now, I can see it can be much more than just practicing my skills as an artist.

# data[].attributes.body
In our last Studio Visit we got to learn about Lims artistic process. The way he explained on how he goes about creating his works and the ideas implemented in structuring a solid piece was very captivating and inspirational. His candle ritual is very interesting as well. It shows how something simple as lighting a candle can’ set the mood for the start of an artwork. Over all, when observing the materials used for his work, it was really strange but yet appealing to see how something out of the ordinary can be created into a conventional art material. his overall unfinished works still hold a strong significance in cultural and connectional aspect.

# data[].attributes.body
For my theme I chose to work with the word Power. I’ve taken this word into consideration by means that I want to continue working with words/themes that are relatable to everyone, or have some sort of reflection. I strongly believe that power applies in many ways in the real world and I would like to demonstrate the meaning through a possible display of sculptures or digital art. Would be great to work with a new medium

# data[].attributes.body
After leaving Hings studio I felt very inspired. I found it fascinated how he found a way to make connection through his materials for his sculpture. The idea of using hair and leaves to represent DNA and the connection of the land of what used to be Chinatown is genius. I found his exhibition topic super interesting. As Hings was talking a bit about the history I was also surprised to know that Santa Ana used to have a Chinatown. I've lived in Santa Ana my whole life and never had any idea. I also loved the fact that he shared his studio ritual with us. His studio and process seemed to be reflective of what we try to practice in our own class.

# data[].attributes.body
The studio visit was very enjoyable and it was nice to see an artist who takes a different approach to their artistic process. I liked how he described following an idea rather than starting with a material. The ideas led to creating a project with new materials one wouldn’t usually think of, like hair & wax. This makes the creative process more flowing  & natural without being confined to a pre thought out material that could be limiting to the creative process. For the hair, he was very persistent in obtaining the material & having to ask different salons for hair to use which seems so anxiety inducing to face rejection. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the smaller hair creations, like Hings said that hair is an extension of our being & they felt very alive in a way.

# data[].attributes.body
I was so impressed with the artist's thought process. From the brainstorm wall, to the studio ritual I was truly inspired by Lim's calm and inventive nature, the visit was engaging and wise. I was proud of the class for asking great questions and really responding to the work. I can't think of a better timed studio visit!

# data[].attributes.body
I am figuring out how to make shaped canvases and thinking about the implications of painting within a shape and what shape means. I am thinking actively about the relationship between shape (flat) and form (3-D).

# data[].attributes.body
I remember seeing the pile of hair the first time we were there and I'm so glad we finally got to talk to the person behind these interesting ideas! seeing an artist being truly multidisciplinary and doing everything for their ideas is incredibly interesting to me and I hope to emulate that in my own practice in the future.

# data[].attributes.body
Seeing the artist’s studio, with varying objects and materials, left me with a sense of exploration and wonder in every part of his artistry. As Hings Lim began to explain what his art was about, from previous projects to upcoming projects he’s working on, I discovered that whatever idea you want to get across can be achieved; it just needs as much love and thought. I’m learning that I want something to be said but don’t know what that particular thing is, whether it’s more personal or societal, but I now know I will have to think it through. Another reminder from this visit is that it takes lots and lots of time to get to the right idea. I always feel like my time must be spent doing the most I can, and any time wasted is awful or pathetic. But artists like Lim take years to figure out their craft, to get to the right projects and concepts. I need to remind myself that it’s not wasted time but rather progress and betterment of myself as an artist and as a whole.

# data[].attributes.body
I feel like the hair stuff was pretty weird, but I think that’s what really made this artist’s work interesting, because it’s different and unique. Hearing his story about going to salons and asking for hair made me appreciate artists more because of moments like these that they have to go through, it takes dedication and courage. I also like how the artist’s work looked different from each other, kinda shows us different ways of his thought processes.

# data[].attributes.body
Our final studio visit was an interesting one as Lim's work was very compelling to see up close and in the flesh, especially the hair installation. It was so interesting to hear about the abundant thought processes and flow the project creatively took to land on such an idea that is very vulnerable for both the artist himself and also the people involved such as the hairstylists and also the people's hair that Lim is collecting. Another thing that fascinated me from the visit was Lim's own studio ritual which is the routine of burning the candle and how for this ritual you can physically see every time that is spent in the studio and it encapsulates every time a creative process has takenshape in some way or form. The ritual is a creative process/piece in it of itself and that blew my mind and inspired me to eventually reach a point where my art can flow so naturally and be produced so organically from the universe!

# data[].attributes.body
Hings Lim is an artist who seems to mix socio-economic concepts with unconventional media to comment on the interconnectivity of things. As I was reading all the Padlet posts about Hings Lim, it is evident that the artist is big on using unconventional materials, such as human hair, to make an artwork that will comment on the interconnectivity of people and buildings as they connect culturally, socially, and in time. Even though time passes and changes things, such as buildings, the people and communities that lived and are living there will always be interconnected. It also seems that the artist is not afraid to take on unconventional materials to make his work if that's where his thought process leads him and believes it is the best way to convey a theme or concept.

# data[].attributes.body
I wasn't able to make it to the Hings Lim studio visit, so I decicide to do a studio ritual and write a small report about Hings Lim. For this studio ritual, I decided to make a very funky, fun, and colorful background to reflect the Harajuku-like fashion that you can see in the pictures that I showed. I also wanted the color scheme to mimic the colors on their clothes.

# data[].attributes.body
It was really cool to see how his thought process works, that he acts on his ideas, and he lets them lead him to some strange projects. Some of the things he said that I think his work really embodies is that his art is project based, not materials based, and “art is an act of thinking.” It was clear that he trusts himself enough to take on unconventional materials if that’s where his thought process leads him.
That’s something I would like to work on. I want to be more willing to use unusual materials I find inspirational, instead of getting caught up on how risky it feels.
Something else he mentioned was getting into a creative head space by finding something that relaxes his body and mind. For him it’s burning his candles or taking a shower.

# data[].attributes.body
I found his definitions really interesting because I’ve never heard these concepts described before. I wish I got a screenshot of his definition for post-memory, but between what I got written down and what I remember it was something like “a relationship that people of subsequent generations bear to the trauma of their forbearers” from hearing stories about their life experiences. At first I thought he just meant generational trauma, but after thinking about it more, it’s more about how people process and internalize what we know about our parents/ancestors lives.
It makes me think about how so much of our class is interested in creating art representative of our family members and culture. When we hear repeated personal stories from our community they become memories that are personal to us too, and we carry the weight of them.
He talks about object and places also holding these memories (animism). One of the points I found most interesting about this is that we create some of these objects intentionally to hold memories. I was also really intrigued by the idea of these objects being able to “die” or be “brought back to life.”

# data[].attributes.body
Today's final studio visit was quite interesting. I was a bit uneasy about seeing the piles of hair on one table and on the wall. I was intrigued by the table that had the piles of leaves. Hearing about Hings Lim's process for this upcoming exhibit was really interesting. To hear about the history of Chinatown in Santa Ana, the concepts for the piece, and seeing it in progress was really cool. I loved that despite the language barrier with the employees/owners of the hair salons, he was able to begin working with them and obtaining the materials needed for the artwork. I also loved that he is planning to invite them for the opening. To use this material to recreate the tower from the original Chinatown sounds like a unique way to tell the history of the area as well as combine these two communities/cultures. I learned that you shouldn't let obstacles stand in the way of you creating art. Whether it's a language barrier, being seen as the outsider, or even having no clue what to do, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

# data[].attributes.body
The piles of hair really caught my attention when we first walked into the Hings Lim’s studio. It struck me as odd and a bit uncomfortable but that alone made me just keep looking at it and wondering more about what Lim was going to do with it. When he spoke about how he saw the hair as an accumulation of past events and the ghost of people who come and go it really seemed interesting and something I would love to see when he finalizes his work. I didn’t get to take a photo of the things he made with the hair but I saw the hair in a shape of a canvas frame and some cups and other shapes made with some sort of liquid solution with the bundles of hair. Hings Lim’s work really made me realize that as an artist we have to let our minds run wild and follow our impulse to create and collect items that have something to share to the world. Accumulating ideas and going through different methods of how to challenge ourselves and create things is one of the best things to being an artist with the technology we have today.

# data[].attributes.body
For today's artist visit, there was a lot of exploration of using a theme to branch into different project ideas and material usage. I learned a lot from how Lim used the idea of memories and branched out into many different materials that are usually not related to said theme. I saw how dedicated to interacting with the community he is through his research on all the hair salons nearby the Chinatown parking lot. He had many of them marked down and a list of all the hair salons nearby as well. This studio visit actually brought me back to the personal item project way back at the start of the semester since I learned to use objects that are not usually associated with art. I learned a lot about branching different material to a theme even if it may not seem related. Also there was a good viewpoint on looking at everyday objects as art components.

# data[].attributes.body
Hings Lim

using memories to influence his art, time

Collection of hair to rebuild china town (towers)

vision board of china town structures

Culture

Identity

Tourism

Using the hair collected by the community to rebuild a tower of identity.

Also, my perspective of viewing Lim’s work was mainly identity. Seeing this project reminded me of occupations that immigrants/refugees took. Salons, donut shops, restaurants. Low paying jobs were offered to refugees and minority groups. Especially my grandparents when coming here to America from Cambodia, their friends owned donut shops.

# data[].attributes.body
Something I found interesting about what Lim is working on in his studio currently is this idea of rebuilding the original Chinese towers that stood in front of the old China town/area found in Santa Ana that burned down in the 1900's and was never rebuilt. His theme seems to revolve around seeing how time kind of goes in loops and how realities can co-exist at the same time. He plans to use cut salon hair to re-create the form of the tower to represent those families that made up the town and the culture they surround themselves with. He also feels there is a connection to memories through the hair of people who live in Santa Ana (around where the town once stood) in present day. I took a lot from this visit because there are similarities in how I want work with my theme of the effects of bi-cultural. Taking identities from two cultures and blending them together!

# data[].attributes.body
The artist's practice is very mindful in thought to where facts and information are the key elements to honing down to a finalized artwork that is finished or never finished. What I learned from the studio visit was that sometimes art is never finished and is a performance piece like this one almost similar to how a painting may never be finished, just the artist decided to stop one day or could/didn't want to add more.

# data[].attributes.body
For my project I wanted to focus on the theme of identity. I wanted to explore the ideas that makes up my experience like who am I, how do I exist in relation to humanity, the way I was raised, and how I view myself. I have an idea for one project, but unsure how to execute all the project.

# data[].attributes.body
I started my mind map with the word “control.” I decided on this theme while looking at my portfolio. Most of my paintings are in watercolor which, depending on the artist, requires either letting go of control to let the paint move organically or trying to keep control of the water. I tend to paint very detailed and have a hard time allowing my mediums to go where they want.

“Control” branched out into tactics of control and results of lack of control. So far I am most interested in the relationship between control and anxiety.

# data[].attributes.body
I broke my rules for this one because when I saw the barbie bride I knew what color palette I wanted. This week was more of a collage or mood board than my past studio rituals. My inspiration for the colors and home decor was the 90s Father of the Bride movie.

# data[].attributes.body
For day 8 of studios ritual, I decided to use a locker lock and trace the outline to create this unique shape background. Working with its unusual shape did become quite challenging but eventually managed to make a bunny using the intricate lines. Over all this one was a very fun one considering the object used to work with the negative space.

# data[].attributes.body
For my mind map, I wanted to focus on the theme of self-identity. There are five categories that I focused on, which are being Mexican-American, a first-generation college student, my interests, my socioeconomic status, and being a sister. I feel like every identity is bittersweet, as it has its pros and cons, and I would like to make a piece or pieces about that conflicting feeling.

# data[].attributes.body
For day seven I decided to work with oval shapes. This one was a little tricky to work with but my end result ended up being this silly looking scorpion. I think overall the drawing turned out like a doodle but I definitely had fun making this. The shapes definitely had my eyes circling back and forth around the page but it was what gave me the insight of doing the scorpion tale.

# data[].attributes.body
For my mind map, I wanted it to center around a theme of childhood. Looking more into the aspects of a child's mind on how they view careers, having fun, as well as just living life. Because I want to take some aspects and "grow them up". Into something that is more in tune with adults. Such as how children view the aspect of careers where they set goals of high achievement, and how might that look if adults thought the same way.

# data[].attributes.body
For the mind map, I wanted to think about the idea of Fate. The strings that connect us to other people and bind us together. I want to explore the idea of luck and spirituality, and see how the newer generation responds to these themes.

# data[].attributes.body
For my mind map, I chose the main theme of companionship as salvation. After the last project, I knew I wanted to progress with my previous theme with my dog, Amigo as the subject with three separate loop animations. I also want to take Kimby’s advice and try to animate them traditionally with crayons. To be honest I found this mind map to be difficult to work with as I feel I don’t have the emotional vocabulary or maybe a mental block that makes it difficult for me to describe my feelings through words. Instead I used the sketches of amigo to explore different memories that I treasure that I could animate.

# data[].attributes.body
For my mind map I chose to use identity as my overall theme. I have a few three dimensional ideas that I might want to move forward with. I thought of trying to make the piece interactive but I am not exactly sure how I would want to execute. I am thinking if I want to write another song, but uncertain. But I do want to take the time to just play with materials that I haven't worked with, that I would like to try.

# data[].attributes.body
Unfortunately my mind map, I wanted to focus on the theme “Power of Tradition” and revolve it around my grandma, who passed away from cancer in 2017. She was someone who I really looked up to, and I feel that making a map based on all of her special qualities is an amazing way to show my love for her.

# data[].attributes.body
For this mind map exercise, I decided to stick with the theme of the effects bi-culture has had on my family's lives and on myself. I decided to word vomit everything I felt could be connected to my overall theme and then came up with material concepts that I could use to create my 3 final pieces. I think I have some rough draft ideas, but still need to finalize them!

# data[].attributes.body
I did a word association of the word activism and the people, feelings and concepts that come with activism. It shows how rich the subject and I'm excited to keep making more stuff like this in the future! But first to figure out holograms...

# data[].attributes.body
The overall theme for my mind map is centered around the meaning behind the word focus and what that means to me as an artists. I want to get into the while “in the zone” patterns we find ourself drawing or when we doodle in class we end up making a strict lines that don’t seem to mean any significant purpose. I want to play into the fact where I want to place myself back when I was younger where I would doodle these patterned lines and use them in a way to represent being in the zone. I also want to try furthering the lengths of my weaving paper that I’ve been doing for my studio rituals into my final work. Also using threading techniques that I’ve learned has helped me better understand how far my focus can go creatively.

# data[].attributes.body
For my mind map, I decided to use the word remembrance as an expanding point to explore more about what underlying consistent theme there seems to be within my art. Although I could've easily just used the word culture as my starting point because that definitely is the strongest and most obvious consistency there seems to be with my work, I wanted to start with a different word to see if that would allow my ideas to expand further and think in a different lane. And I would say taking this approach did help. I actually worked backwards for this mind mall and immediately started flowing with concepts if what my next works can be and then from there tried to find a word for it all. I just found this easier for some reason. I landed on the word remembrance because I feel that with this word, I can still explore all aspects that show up within my work such as culture, identity (of ancestors and leading to myself), why my culture is so obsessed with death and how deeply integrated it is and whether it's a good or bad thing, and how I chose to deal with these concepts and how I honor them. I feel excited for this last project and hopefully my artworks are successful and come into fruition

# data[].attributes.body
I centered my Mind Map around the theme of Identity, taking on my ideas from the previous project. I really enjoyed exploring that theme, thinking about the different parts of my identity, and just having a more personal attachment to my work. The four related themes to my identity are culture, family, sexual orientation, and body. For each branch, I wanted to include some sketches of figures/objects that I associate with each branch. Family, I think of my grandparents. Culture includes the pan dulce, the Virgin Mary and some candles, and a little street in Jalisco with the church towers. Body is a sketch of me and my thoughts on my body. Sexual orientation focuses on myself as a gay man, specific my boyfriend and my hope for marriage. As for materials, I think I'll lean into both digital and traditional media, specifically acrylic if I'm working traditionally.

# data[].attributes.body
My mind map started with the same theme from my previous project, perceive as I believe it’s a very versatile starting point. Before I began, I knew I didn’t want to draw on a blank white page, so I decided to mess with my watercolors beforehand with one of my favorite color pallets. After drying, I got my trusty gel black pen and came up with whatever came to mind. I brainstormed a few artworks I could continue, but nothing specific or concrete.

# data[].attributes.body
While going down my list of themes from the last series, the word that stood out to me most was nature. My whole life, but this past year especially, I’ve been really taken with the idea of mortality and our place on this earth. I think that this theme will allow me to further explore these concepts and investigate why I’m drawn the way I am. The mediums I’m most drawn to for this project are ink, linocut, paper assemblages/puppets, and painting.

# data[].attributes.body
My mind map ended up being more text heavy since I started with all the ideas and wrote them all down before I did any sketches. I based my sketches around my subthemes and ideas for those themes. I wasn't sure what to draw into my mind map so I chose to do little drawings related to each subtheme. Some of the drawings are connected to the media or material as a brainstorming sketch. I decided to connect everything together with drawings of hands since that is mainly the body part I used the most to explore with in this class. The different colored backgrounds are there to highlight the different subthemes connected to the larger theme.

# data[].attributes.body
I wanted to base my theme around my identity. Some themes I branched out into sub-categories were: culture, friends/family, time, music, and aesthetics. I collaged together the artwork that I found the most interesting. I am hoping to create a series of digital artwork and turn them into physical items. (Prints or Stickers). I want to focus the most on portraits; I am the most interested in portraits, but adding some of my interests like fish/animals, colors, and aesthetics can enhance the artwork.

# data[].attributes.body
I centered my mind map theme around communication. I chose this theme because I felt like it was the most accurate word that describes my body of work being in design. I tried to outline the different ways a person could communicate. I drew arrows to try to make connections between the topics to see how these methods intersect and what they could look like.

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio ritual, I wanted to do something in the spirit of Halloween. I saw this image of two scientists with a dramatic expressions and decided to make a piece based on a mad scientist. This is why I doodled things you can find in a chemistry class.

# data[].attributes.body
My second drawing I did for ritual.

# data[].attributes.body
For this weeks ritual I did two drawings I didn’t have a specific song of the day, my playlist was just on shuffle so I ended up just doodling as I went. I was a little stumped today so I gave myself a slight the,e since Halloween is coming up by drawing a cat as well as illustrating a little character and how I feel like my brain Has been lately.

# data[].attributes.body
For my studio ritual today, I worked with color pencil and decided to make an abstract piece. The song that came up on my Spotify was "my boy," and I was immediately inspired by the primary colors seen on the album cover.

# data[].attributes.headline
Day 7: Blues de la Llanta- Three Souls in My Mind

# data[].attributes.subject
Day 7: Blues de la Llanta- Three Souls in My Mind

# data[].attributes.body
This week's shuffle got me the 70s spanish blues rock song "Blues de la Llanta" by the mexican rock band Three Souls in My Mind. A blues rock song to its core so for this design I leaned into that late 70s rock aesthetic with Ramones influence. I also looked into the photo of the band members that captured the look I was aiming for. I used this design to play a bit further with his face by exaggerating his features like his eyes and size of his chin. Hoping by exaggerating his features, I could sell his personality of a nonchalant independent explorer, constantly on the road.

# data[].attributes.body
For the first time, I finally took up the second half of my creative ritual, which includes other forms of medium, only when I felt confident with my watercolor techniques. For the past studio rituals, I had found absolute satisfaction from every piece created, with the process and finished work. However, today’s ritual left me with a sense of questioning and almost incompleteness as I began the process. The piece’s inspiration came from the new sweatshirt I wore from Over the Garden Wall; I felt delighted by the fall colors and wanted to reflect this onto the page. Even so, no real creative juices came, so with the slight urge to ink that emerged, I ran with it and continued the fall theme with differently shaped leaves. With my standard Sharpie pen and thinner gel pen, I focused entirely on the inking process, having very flowly, excentric line work. And with that, I felt satisfied and proud of my piece, ready for the holiday and chilly season to come.

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio day, I used the dry brush method to create circular strokes and patterns with the ink. I found this method to be very relaxing as I wasn't too stressed or worried about the marks or the strokes that I was making. Since it's supposed to have a more textured and scratchy feel to it. As for what I saw while making these marks, the first thing that came to mind was paralysis demons that people claim to see when they experience sleep paralysis. So I depicted monstrous faces within a black background. I feel that the contrast here really adds to the dark and nocturnal tones of the subject. It also adds places of visual rest within the work through the use of contrast between the black and white.

# data[].attributes.body
For today’s studio ritual I felt very uneasy and sick. I attempted to express the emotional and psychological torment I’ve been feeling by using a multitude of strips and weaving them together. I wanted them to convey a sense of limited vision of what is underneath and make the drawings feel scrambled and completely unreadable from meaning. The weaving almost covers the entire base of the page with constrained and tightened strips. After I was done with this I could help but notice how easily it flowed all together like a piece of cloth. Liked that my scrambled feelings were able to conger up this piece and I feel interested in making a longer/bigger version of this weaving method with different colors.

# data[].attributes.body
For this ritual, I wanted to create something more free flowing and something that would need to see any ugly stage before becoming pretty. I focused on color and chose pink, yellow, green and gray acrylic paint, which I watered down. When cutting out images, I guess I unintentionally chose similar colors! I used watercolor to create that mixing pattern in each application of paint, going back and forth between acrylic and watercolor.

# data[].attributes.body
Today was a moody and pretty stressful day for me so as a result the ritual lead to a really gloomy piece. In my drive today I found a set of clouds that seemed like a pair of hands trying to cover the hills below them. In a sense I tried to recreate the imagery but with a more abstract sense since it is based off clouds. Part of me feels like I should aim for more contrast since the image feels too light.

# data[].attributes.body
Today I decided to do a digital sketch for the my first studio ritual and also illustrate an object as my chosen color even though it’s not it’s typical form. When I started looking up refrence photos for my sketch I had no Idea why I kept drifting towards cameras, later on I realized that it’s probablly because I’ve been meaning to get out my camera set up so I can photograph pieces from last semester and this semester but I haven’t found the time yet (how funny are brains, lol).  I typically don’t do digital sketches unless I am using them as a template for Illustrator or Photoshop so this was a familiar and unfamiliar process for me. I was able to have a lot of fun after I stopped worrying about getting the proportions perfect and allowing myself to be true to my messy illustration style.

# data[].attributes.headline
Studio Day Archive # 8: Trader Joe's Bag

# data[].attributes.subject
Studio Day Archive # 8: Trader Joe's Bag

# data[].attributes.body
For today's ritual practice, I chose to draw my bag! I wanted to focus a lot on the folds of the bag and draw this loose. I chose 6 colors for today's drawing. Considering my practice last week, I want to keep the color palette of 6 colors. Eventually, I want to continue adding more colors as I go! I think more colors to the drawings would make it more interesting; choosing two base colors of lights, medium tones, and darks helps me map out these drawings.

# data[].attributes.body
Today I went the feeling of being overwhelmed by everything that is going on in my life. When I get really overwhelmed I end up ultimately wanting to shut down and stare at the blank wall. I did not take this piece past the sketch as I felt as though it was really fitting for the feeling that I am trying to convey. I also felt that if I did try to touch this with color I would just end up messing it up and loose the meaning of the piece.

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio Day, I went digital again and decided to do a little meeting between two strangers at the aquarium. Had some fun with this, I wanted something simple and sweet, two different people enjoying the sea life in the tanks but also each other. I loved adding the colors and overall just letting myself have fun.

# data[].attributes.body
I decided to go with a artist instead and just listen to the songs they made as a playlist so for this, Skeler. I went with black and yellow making more small icon like designs. The bottom right I messed up so i just covered it with black and put a stroke of yellow.

# data[].attributes.body
For my studio ritual today, the feeling I located was excitement. I decided to paste city scenes together because I’ve been going to LA often. I have been going to so many concerts this semester and I will be going to another one on Halloween! When driving over there, especially driving back, I see the city from out the window and it looks nice!

# data[].attributes.body
I’m back! After a very dramatic pause I am geared and ready to go with my latest creature which is this beautiful ghost doggie. I wanted a droopy dog that still finds a way to perk up despite being literally dead. I am also now allowing myself to use multiple shapes for my sculpts. If anybody has a name for this spooky baby I am open to suggestions!

# data[].attributes.body
Today I created a logo for a for a kitchenware company. I was inspired by the colorful dishes from an 80's magazine. I originally wanted to make a clean and elegant brand but as I was playing with the design it turned into a more youthful and playful approach. This is something I've noticed to be a pattern in my work. Something that I struggle with in my designs is trying to come up with names for these concept companies. In the future I might try working with existing brands and branding them in my own style.

# data[].attributes.body
For todays studio day, I decided to get more detailed in drawing the human face. In order to help me, I looked up online a step by step on how to do it, and that helped me get started. I think more artists need to utilize the internet when drawing because we are given this tool to enhance our ideas and techniques. It can only help us in the long term.

# data[].attributes.body
For today’s ritual, I decided to do something in the spirit of Halloween next week. I took my ritual time to experiment with different ideas and mediums. Originally, I was going to make a print and I was in the process of making this and going through with it, but I didn’t like how it ended up turning out. The details of my image got lost and the print just looked muddy and illegible. But because of the end result of this, it inspired me to continue with messy experimentation. I took the printing ink I had left and covered a page in this. Because the colors were black and red, it made me think of blood. Additionally, while rolling the ink paint in my sketchbook, there were patchy spots which I decided to embrace, which is what also led to making a piece that is inspired by a hand that looks like it is pressed against a bloody window and is trying to escape. I printed my own hand on the paper with white paint and kept layering the handprint with thicker coats of acrylic paint. To add more layering to this piece, I finished it off by dipping red paint at the top of the page and letting it drip naturally. Overall, this piece was very soothing to make as I eventually let the flow take over and got messy with the piece which I enjoyed because I am usually very organized and precise with my work. I think it's very spooky >:) !

# data[].attributes.body
Switched it up today. I’ve been obsessed with wrangler jeans lately. I kept that as my main focus and just let my mind wander. I like the idea of abstracting a pair of jeans by stretching the legs out to be ridiculously long.

# data[].attributes.body
Using new mediums today for the neurodivergent technique

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio day ritual, I decided to work with no color. I usually work with color and multiple medias but today I only worked with a 2b pencil. I had a very limited pallete as I only worked with bland and muted colors. The reason as to why I chose to only work with a 2b pencil and dull colors is becuase that's all a student sees when they are testing. When testing, a student feels like just another number in the education system. I know I felt like a robot when I went through rounds of testing. Standardizing testing season is a very stressful time for a student and that's what I wanted to convey through my marking making. I decided to put two kids playing because that's what kids are supposed to do. Standardized testing is introduced as early as elementary school which I personally believe should not happen.

# data[].attributes.body
I was looking around my house for something to cut up and found a trader joe’s news paper that had cool halloween illustrations.
The color next up from my color pallet was red, so I painted the whole background with that red. I drew the spiderweb with a white crayon and built up watercolor layers on top of it.

# data[].attributes.body
I forgot to post this one! I used crayola markers and a spray bottle to make this one. I never thought to use markers like this until i saw my nephew pouring water on his marker drawings, and I really love how the ink spreads.

# data[].attributes.body
for this artist day i found it hard to get out of bed, but i ended up doing something small and going to the thrift store in hopes of finding more photography books or various items for mixed media projects. i wanted to focus on values while using just blue and some purple. this ritual i used colored pencils, micron pens and oil pastels!

# data[].attributes.headline
Day 6: Lunch Meat- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

# data[].attributes.subject
Day 6: Lunch Meat- King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard

# data[].attributes.body
This week’s studio ritual, I got Lunch Meat by the Aussie psych rock band King Gizzard and for my artist’s date I bought a matcha latte from Tierra Mia and went to the TSU to draw. Earlier in the week, I got access to a great resource, a character’s values wheel. It’s a color wheel meant to represent human values in the context of how those values affect how the character relates to the exterior world. For this drawing, I used this wheel to help design character and have their values show through their gestures and expressions. The three main values I chose based on the song were stimulation, hedonism, and humility. The garage/surf rock sound of the song placed stimulation and hedonism as their primary values resulting in them being the jester archetype.  Wanted to lean into the their expressive and attention grabbing nature. I wanted the humility value to show itself through the welcoming air she has and the acceptance of others that shines through their abrasive and energetic reactions.

# data[].attributes.body
Today I cried. I haven't been feeling my best lately. The troubles of world around me and at large has me feeling like my psyche walks on two broken legs. I have to keep walking, I know that and I don't intend to stop it just get hard sometimes. I didn't make any art today but I showed up to class both in zoom and in person which is big. I even washed my car today. Today for my artists date I chose to do what I can and I feel that it was enough.

# data[].attributes.body
For my studio ritual I felt like drawing some fish with oil pastel and then I glued on some newspaper to outline the figures. After that was dried I folded the paper and then made some wavy cut outs so that when I weaved the pink strips into the folds it would show that shape off a bit. Today I felt content and at peace so I used pink to resonate that feeling and the fish is just a little animal study of the sockeye salmon. They have such an odd mouth but at the same time I think there one of the most coolest looking salmon out of all the other salmon species. 10/10 best fish.

# data[].attributes.body
Today, I wanted to use the techniques I’ve been practicing in my life drawing class, and draw a head sculpture. I also focused on outlining the shadows and what parts parts of the sculpture were darker and lighter. This is such a hard concept that I’ve been having trouble grasping, but I feel overtime, I’m definitely seeing improvement in my drawings.

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio day, I used a water bottle bottom as well as the cap to make imprints and impressions on the page. I found this item kind of difficult to use with the ink because of how similar the impressions were to each other. Since most of the shapes I was able to make were very circular. And the first thing that the patterns reminded me of was a variety of flowers. So I designed a bouquet of wildflowers. Also since the objects that I was depicting were flowers I didn't really want to add too much heavy contrast between them. Because when I think of a flower I think of light and delicate and I didn't want a dark background to overway the image.

# data[].attributes.body
I became fascinated with watercolor, but I still use only one color, black with another color, which makes it simple to see and understand. I'm still going with doodle-like icons or small designs, but multiple of them.

# data[].attributes.body
For today’s studio ritual I decided to visit a friend! This is her dog Pi (pronounced Pae) and what’s interesting about her dog is that she does not like males. I used to visit my friend almost everyday but haven’t in a long while because I got busy with school. Visiting her makes me feel complete because I used to be here all the time and now I’m back.

# data[].attributes.body
I was on a very dark airplane today flying across the US after the morning zoom. I had to improvise on the fly. I started thinking about returning to Chicago which is the city with the largest Greek population outside of Athens. So I was playing with Greek letters and thought about turning them into bezel text and started drawing diamonds which are my comfort doodle forms. I lovde the geometry and the simple optical illusion. It was really relaxing to draw on the plane and zone out.

# data[].attributes.body
For today's ritual, I changed up my medium and chose to go digital! I don't usual do digital drawings but I wanted to give it a try for today. I chose to give myself more structure and went for a landscape this was a place that I saw driving past the freeway and for some reason really wanted to draw it, and I wanted to add little blimps onto the landscape to make it a bit more interesting. As I was drawing it reminded me of studio ghibli type of art which was the music that I was listening to today as I was creating. This was a pretty fun piece to make along with playing with a different type of color palette that has more range and as well as diving into a different type of art style!

# data[].attributes.body
For today's solo artist day I decided to switch up my environment and try romanticizing my life by going to a coffee shop near campus. Recently, I've been trying to prioritize working on my design portfolio. Since this was on my mind, I wanted to create a logo for myself that I could incorporate into my portfolio website I was going for a monogram type logo using my initials "SB." In my first few attempts I was trying to get a feel for how the letters would interact. I attempted to work in different styles to see which I liked best. In the end, I really liked how a few of these turned out and I can't wait to put them into illustrator.

# data[].attributes.headline
Studio Day Archive #7: Red (Yes, Another Blue's Clues Drawing...)

# data[].attributes.subject
Studio Day Archive #7: Red (Yes, Another Blue's Clues Drawing...)

# data[].attributes.body
Yes, yet another Blue's Clues drawing. As you can tell, it's not my finest work, but I really just wanted to have fun and get something down without having to worry about what it was going to look like. Today, I got some pretty heavy news from my doctor, and it was all just very serious, and I hated it. So, after I had some time to sit and absorb everything that had been thrown at me, I started working on my studio ritual for the day. I started thinking about my first memory of having the urge to draw. This transported me to five-year-old Alyssa sitting in front of the TV, watching Blue's Clues, and seeing Steve drawing in his "Handy Dandy Notebook," so why not draw that? At the end of the day, it's not something I'll be putting in my portfolio, but I had fun, and it helped me forget about everything else for a little while.

# data[].attributes.body
For today I went with Kobe of the first images that popped into my head. It is a feeling of how I was damaged by the religion that I grew up in. I wanted to limit where I put color to make it feel like it was draining away slowly in the picture and also create a feeling of unfinished. The reason for that is because even with the damage I am still fighting and want to see what is there in color

# data[].attributes.body
For my studio ritual today, I decided to work with gouache paint because I wanted the black to really stand out because it was the only color that I used. The song that came up on my Spotify was "Manuel Santillan, el Leon," and I was immediately inspired by the group's silhouettes. I think the matte finish makes it look much better. The design is actually a close up of the bassist in the middle of the album cover.

# data[].attributes.body
The inspiration for today’s creative ritual came from the previous project, more specifically, the last piece made. Though this piece was the most frustrating and time-consuming, the result gave me the most satisfaction. For that reason, it left me with a desire to explore what precisely did I enjoy. After thinking it through, the color palette of blues and browns and the concept of aged or vintage stood out to me. So, with a few brushes and watercolors, I started making squares, similar to how the sown piece had patches of various fabrics. From there, I enjoyed my usual free play with the ritual, finishing with multiple stains of light blues and dark browns as I associate aged things with coffee stains.

# data[].attributes.body
For this studio Day, I decided to stray away from the usual advertisements and lean into my theme that I did for project 2. I ended up creating a little self-portrait with a few of my favorite types of Pan Dulce. I went digital for this one and I had a lot of fun with it.

# data[].attributes.body
For today's ritual, I decided to do something more lowkey and went to a coffee shop to just sit down and draw and take time to relax. My medium of choice today were markers because they've been in my pencil pouch but I haven't used them yet. I decided to spend this time experimenting with the colors I had available and focused on messing with both practicing my calligraphy and not using pencil and just going straight with the medium without worrying about the outcome. I felt like the markers and the colors that I had were telling me what to draw, so this was very freeing and I had a great time doing this :•)

# data[].attributes.headline
Studio Day Archive #7: Water Spray Bottle

# data[].attributes.subject
Studio Day Archive #7: Water Spray Bottle

# data[].attributes.body
For today's ritual practice, the object I chose was a spray bottle that I use for watercolor and gouache paint! Since it was an artist's date, I decided to work on this piece at my work desk; I had more access to objects around me. I worked with something clear because I love the idea of reflections and transparency. However, with the practice of color, it deems the image to be more abstract.
The color palette was inspired by the spooky season and Halloween aesthetics. I chose yellow hues as my base, then I chose wildcard colors like lime green and purple to enhance the image. Drawing away from monochromatic and making polychromatic!
I went in with a fine ink marker to create line marks and texture around the drawing. I love this technique because it helps elaborate the movement of lines that I made with the markers!

# data[].attributes.body
After leaving the artist visit that day I felt very inspired. After seeing how they merged different mediums together to make a cohesive story I had a clearer vision to what I could make for my own project. This particular part of the installation was the most appealing to me. I loved how the artists used a fence to create a barrier between the paintings and the viewer. This added element really reinforces the artists central theme. I also thought the reasoning for the paint color in the background to be so interesting. I was blown away to know that the color is the most chosen for home exteriors. This detail is subtle but so powerful.

# data[].attributes.body
For day 5, I got What’s Going On by Takehiro Honda, a jazz cover of the Marvin Gaye song. This jazz rendition of the song takes me to an early 70s jazz scene in NY with the smooth and subdued bass line and Honda’s piano subbing in for Gaye’s vocals. When the chorus of the song begins, it’s as if you can hear the lyrics being played through the piano. As for the design, I went with a heavy influence from the 70s Harlem fashion sense, drawing from figures like Angela Davis and Kathleen Cleaver. While the Afro is an iconic hairstyle of that era, I also chose to experiment with a few different hairstyles.

# data[].attributes.body
I really enjoyed getting to see this stage in the process of setting up a gallery show. It’s not every day that you get to hear and see the creative vision directly from the artist. I chose this piece as my personal favorite just due to the scale. I love how much space the piece is taking up. They managed to turn a painting into a dimensional object and I just felt that it held so much more weight. I like the rest of the show a lot too, and I feel that the artists really let us into their process.

# data[].attributes.body
The work that really spoke to me was this visual poem. I didn’t understand it at first but after the explanation I realized I could tackle this space in any direction. I started on the outside and tried to find my way in and around areas to get somewhere welcoming but you quickly realize there is no where that welcomes you. The square is isolated and surrounded by inaccessible areas and it’s really thought provoking. The way the words are separated can make your experience better as well because you can just from space to space in any directing and the phrases will still relate to each other. Innovative in my eyes, I haven’t seen much work like this.

# data[].attributes.body
Today's studio visit was very refreshing. It was not only nice to meet a team of artists who regularly collaborate, but also to meet two individuals who are so respectful and socially aware of the space they occupy while attempting to create art that circulates around the struggles minority communities face to this day.

# data[].attributes.body
Todays Studio visit was very informative and knowledgeable. It was great two hear the speakers talk about there take in art as artists and researchers and over all talk about there process and development to there works. I found it very amusing that both have different artistic background but are yet able to collaboratively work great together to create well developed pieces. It was great ti see that a lot of their work shown relatively focused on community as a whole as it caught my attention when they mentioned “What is a true American?” It made me think how great we’d be as a community people would put grudges and differences aside. Over all it was great to learn how we as artist can improve our approach and application to our own works, how research is important and works great as collective ideas. The image about was the one that really caught my attention as it reflects on community and cultural background where I feel many of us can possibly feel a connection or relate to these works.

# data[].attributes.body
Today's studio art visit at Grand Central Art Center was a very exciting and eye-opening experience! The topic that was constantly being brought up throughout our discussions was this idea of creating art as a collective. I found this very interesting and thought-provoking because it centered around collaboration. This concept of having an idea and finding others with skills to help execute it, was really fascinating to me. The reason why I found this so interesting was because going to school and being an art major, were constantly taught about solo artists and their words. Sure they may have been part of art movement groups that developed new techniques. Yet we hardly ever speak of artists who collaborated with each other and see their artworks that they created together. So this concept of collaboration is very refreshing. And brings with it a  new light into how my future works could be influenced as well as improved upon. Through the use of networking and creating a community around my art.

# data[].attributes.body
This work really caught my attention when I walked into the studio a bit late but I’m grateful I was still able to make it. I don’t know if the amazing collaborated artists said anything else about this work but I’ll say what I’ve gathered. The green and cleanly cut grass reminds me a lot of those videos about people wanting to pull away from the boring commercial green grass to make it have more biodiversity to help native animals around their area to have places to rest and feed in. The dark illustration framed by white picket fence posts sort of gives me surrealist vibes just because of the out of usual way it’s placed but that’s what I think is the most important part of the piece. It’s a way to make people second guess what it’s about and wanting to dive deeper into their mind on what it all means. For me I think it means about how we limit ourselves in our own picket fence. Makes it feel unwelcoming and restrictive for a painting that should be on its own wall not in a fence where the viewer has to crane there neck a bit to view the painting itself.