Thursday, May 26, 2011

Some Things Michaela Made

This is going to be my last post on Yellow Bicycle Blog. Because, if you haven't read, I'm indecisive. I get bored easily. And I want it to match my personal website. At the time, I was sketching out one that focused on my animation & film & video work, thus Yellow Bicycle Films. But now I want to show much more than that. And I want it to be open. Just, ya know, some things I made. So head on over to my new blog:


There will be a new post tomorrow, but for now, I embedded all my old posts on there. It's not completely set up yet (I lost a lot of time yesterday being stranded on a friends porch during a thunderstorm/tornado deal--not gonna lie, it was awesome) but it's enough to get you started.

Now I gotta go sew some penguins. I'll be adding more items to my Etsy shop tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Things That Did Not Happen Today

  • laundry
  • sewing pocket friends
  • finishing up this new blog of mine
  • resting my knees
Because I decided to go sit on a friend's porch and eat popcorn. Then it started raining. Then thunderstorming. Then there were tornado sirens. So we got pizza and beer and waited for it to calm down.

So I could theoretically sew up some pocket friends before sleeping, but I'm exhausted, and I would much rather leave that for tomorrow.

Four weeks until Nicholas comes to Cleveland.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Don't Read This If You're About To Go To Bed And Would Prefer Not To Have Terrible Nightmares

Nicholas and I are on very different schedules. He works at 7am or something ridiculously early. I work at noon. He likes to go to bed at 10:30. I like to go to bed at (ideally 1:30 but realistically) 2:45. And since we live so far away, we try to talk to each other as much as we can. Which means about a half hour or so around 9:42pm every night. Then I call him to say good night and he mumbles a couple incoherent statements. And in the morning, he calls me to say good morning at some ungodly hour.

So today, when Nicholas called me and I did my best to be less than comatose, I didn't expect anything other than the usual "[greeting] [weather update] [plan for the day] [sweet sentiment of sorts]." But today he was especially excited. I'm talking, I-almost-got-out-of-bed-instead-of-going-back-to-sleep excited (almost). What did he have to tell me that was so exciting?

[Stop here if you really don't want nightmares.]

Today started like any normal day. He got ready for work. He put his boots on. He ate breakfast. Twenty minutes later, he leaves and stops at the gas station at the end of his street. While pumping gas, he feels something in his shoe.

[I'm warning you to stop. I will not be held responsible from consequential insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder.]

He figures it's a pebble or something moving around. I know. A pebble. But when you find out what it was, you'll see why this is so astounding. So he doesn't think much of it, and continues pumping gas. Then he feels it again. He figures, Hey, I've got time. So he unties his boot, and as soon as he removes it...

[THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE!]

A freaking COCKROACH flies out!

How you can put a shoe on without feeling a cockroach in it is beyond me. (His excuse is that they were steel toed boots.)

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow

What I accomplished today:

  • Worked at the library
  • Embroidered some wonderful characters
  • Worked on my Etsy (besides just making things for it)
  • Read parts of really awesome craft books
  • Worked in my sketchbook
  • Realized that my poor little bicycle desperately needs new break pads
  • Worked on this new blog of mine
  • Photographed some of my embroidery work
  • Worked on my personal website
  • Talked to Nicholas
  • Worked on advertising my Etsy shop
  • Roasted marshmallows over my kitchen stove
  • Worked.
What I better get done tomorrow:
  • Wake up at a decent time
  • Get some cereal
  • Sew some Pocket Friends
  • Work at the Library
  • Do LAUNDRY!!!
  • Finish up stuff for my new blog
What I need to get done Thursday:
  • Launch my new blog
  • Photograph Pocket Friends
So that Friday I can:
  • Update my shop
  • Work at the library
  • Possibly roast marshmallows over a real fire

Monday, May 23, 2011

Goodbye Bonnie & Clyde


This morning I found out my Bonnie & Clyde pocket friends were featured on this awesome Etsy Treasury list! I still haven't had any sales, but I just put items in my shop on Friday, so things will take time. But I'm especially excited about this treasury because I love Bonnie & Clyde! In high school, I wrote a [20 page] research paper about the duo and their transformation from criminals to pop culture icons and romanticized legends. I actually enjoyed the entire process of writing that paper. Especially reading through websites about them that featured banjo MIDI music in the background. Ha! But I think it's fascinating that I was interested in that kind of thing because now a lot of my work concerns the transformation from individual to character. So if you're a big fan of Bonnie & Clyde, too, then head on over to my shop and buy the pocket pack!


In other news, I'm incredibly indecisive. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before. Like the last time I switched my blog from Lovelier Thoughts to Yellow Bicycle Films.  So in case you haven't figured it out, I'm planning on switching to a different blog. I'll embed all of my old posts, of course, and include a redirect link from this site. I'm really hoping this will be the last time I do this. When I switched to Yellow Bicycle Films, I was planning on making a website for Yellow Bicycle Films, rather than Michaela Lynch (since I was bitter that MichaelaLynch.com was taken). But since then, I've decided that a) I don't really want to make a living doing animation and video, and b) SomeThingsMichaelaMade.com is totally available. I would rather make a living making things, or being an art director or event stylist or window display designer (basically make things aesthetically consistent and absolutely marvelous), and use my hard earned cash to fund my animation projects, which I would then submit to film festivals. And of course continue to make other art, too. I figured if I switched to Some Things Michaela Made, it's completely open and there would be no expectations. Not just video. Not just collage. Not just embroidery. Anything. And I think I need that right now. So get ready for a switch. I'll try to make it easy on you. But it's probably coming later this week. Sorry for any confusion!

#thisbetterbethelasttimeiswitchblogs

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Golden Cat Studios!

You'd think the semester wasn't over based on the amount of work I've been doing. Well, and if you exclude the fact that I get plenty of sleep every night. Last week was insane. It was filled with making awards, making blogs, making pocket friends, making t-shirt designs, making bonfires, and finally putting my Etsy shop up!


I've been wanting to get one up for months (like 7), but I'm always so busy. So since it's summer, I have plenty of time to make things, and I have been doing plenty of that. I'm hoping that my shop eventually catches on, because I would love some extra [tuition] money.


Right now, I have some pocket friends, custom embroidery portraits, and blog design packages in my shop, but I'll be adding more shortly. I also set up a blog for Golden Cat Studios, where you can even suggest ideas for pocket friends. Check it out here.

And because I wasn't busy enough... Yesterday was the Pop Up Pearl street fair in Old Brooklyn from noon (or 9:15 when we got there) til 7, where my friend Debbie & I handed out [absurd] awards all day. So while scoping out recipients, we walked up and down the street all day. And of course it was the first beautiful day in Cleveland in a long time, so we both ended up with some color.

After handing out awards, we caught some of Teenage Grandpa's performance (great band name, right?), then headed over to the Hessler Street Fair, because it's been awhile since we've seen hundreds of hippies in one concentrated area. It was wonderful. We ate funnel cake and kettle corn and looked around for awhile.

And then, because we hadn't done enough yet, we went to East Coast Custard for a delicious summer treat. There was also a bonfire, but I decided I was in the mood for sleep.

I'm hoping to start posting more regularly on here now that I've taken care of a lot of things. Let's also shoot for a regular sleep schedule. It's harder than it sounds.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Turning Heads

So school ended, and while I planned on either hibernating or just being comatose, that has not been the case. Which I'm totally ok with. I've been working on developing a consistent sleep schedule (sleeping every night!), and making something great every day. So after BFAs finished, this was my first big project.


At commencement each year, there's apparently a musical interlude. But this year, the plans fell through, and they didn't have a performer. So it was suggested they use a sound piece created by a CIA freshman with noisemakers his class made out of old card catalog cards. But they couldn't just play an mp3...so they asked me to make a video! I had a very short amount of time to work on it, and it had to be during my shift at the library (so I'd get paid!). So I spent 20 hours on it total. (I am totally efficient.)

At first they asked for a slideshow of pictures, showing the class with their noisemakers and other events that took place in the library. But the kind of slideshows I prefer are analog. So I used that as an aesthetic starting point and went from there.

Sidenote: animating those heads has been on my To Do list for over almost 2 years.

So here's the finished piece!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

What's Making My Room a Mess Today:

Alright, here it goes. Why my room is messy today. These are all the things I have out (and yes, I'm working back and forth, using all of them).
  • sewing machine
  • embroidery hoops galore
  • basket of fabric
  • linoleum blocks
  • Speedball carver
  • gold ink pad
  • gold paint
  • dissolvable fabric
  • typewriter
  • colored pencils
I'm making some marvelous things...

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Behind the Scenes of Marvelous Things!

In case you were wondering, Marvelous Things That Should Have Happened In 2001 was made completely by myself. What do I mean by that? I mean I came up with the idea. I set up and ran the lighting and video equipment. I made all the pieces for the set (technically Mia helped me paint the cats gold last summer). And I sat there for hours, with all the pieces in a circle around me, picking up one piece after another, and hoping they got in the shot. I shot it over and over, and just prayed that by the time I filled my mini DV tape, I had one decent run. And then I edited it. Obviously this is the kind of thing you should have an assistant for, but for now, Yellow Bicycle Films consists of me and Mia when she's around to help. And, you know, she's not even in kindergarten yet, so some tasks are a little advanced for her. Anyway, here are some behind the scenes photos to give you an idea of what I was dealing with.

It was set up on a desk in the studio. And everything takes place in my lunchbox.

I used a series of library books I had laying around to hold the backdrops in place and help balance the curtains in the beginning and end.

Everything was laid out in a circle around my feet and then put down on the other side after they went through. Then I rearranged them and did another shoot. A million times.

There they are. The golden cats. Or, as Bill & I referred to them, the Astro Cats. (Not to be confused with the Catstronaut.)

Speaking of CATSTRONAUTS! In my lunchbox.

This is the mess I had been living in.

Library books about the Old West.

Pieces from my set.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Marvelous Things

This semester I didn't do as much animating as usual. Most of my work was developing a thesis for my BFA year (which starts in three and a half months--yikes), 16mm film, video, and fiber based works. But I did make this gem of a piece. I've been [mostly jokingly] saying that this is the best art I've ever made. Haha! Seriously, though, I feel happy everytime I watch it. It's based on [how bored I was while watching] Stanley Kubrick's 2001: a space odyssey but more...marvelous. It's basically a visual inside joke. If you've seen the movie, chances are, you'll agree.


But if that isn't marvelous enough for you, watch my little sister's reaction to the video! (Yes, I video taped my computer screen, but as soon as she said, "Holy cow! Is that a cat in outer space? What were you thinking!?" I knew I had to.)

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Pink Pig & Pink Ukulele

Fun Fact #1: CIA likes pigs.
Fun Fact #2: I like pink.

This is Josh. He draws cows and stuff.

This is Scott. He likes when tables line up with ceiling tiles.

This is Scot, Vanesa, and me. Sometimes we don't sleep.

This is Vanesa and Clare. Sometimes they find everything ever funny.

This is Vanesa. Sometimes we race on inflatable obstacle courses.

This is Fran. Or Amanda. Sometimes she's in my animations.

CIA has this annual end of the year shindig to celebrate not dying of sleep depravation. Hooray! It's called the Pink Pig because, supposedly, at one point, and maybe still, they roasted a pig. I've never seen a pig, but as a vegetarian, I don't often go looking for one. Anyway, a bunch of art kids take a bus (yes, yellow school bus; I know, AWESOME) to a place where people don't get almost hit by cars every day, aka, a lovely county park area, for free food, free beer, and free inflatables. How can you go wrong?! Well, depending on the order of your activities... But let's make good choices, kids.

So last night I got back from said pig roast, left my studio around 10pm (so early!), went home, and stared at my mess. After completely emptying my studio & fibers locker into my room, there is no floor, no bed, no desk... Well, it's bad. It's just pigment and fabric and lunchboxes and spray glitter and all sorts of stuff. After staring at this mess last night, I decided the best thing to do was go to bed. Haha.

Today I helped install work in the Coventry gallery, where we're having a show for the art education program I was a part of this semester. I'll share more Tuesday when we finish hanging the work.

After arting all day (it's a verb), I decided I wouldn't sleep until my room was clean. Well... There's a floor now! And part of a bed! I'd say that's fair, right? Then again, I was hoping to start rotoscoping tomorrow night.

In case you couldn't tell, I've been procrastinating (because I have time for that now!). By writing this blog post. By updating facebook. And by playing my pink ukulele. Maybe it's time to go back to that.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Semester Summary

Wait, what?

Let me tell you what it's like to be an art student (that is, a dedicated one, not one of those apathetic do-nothings). You start the fall semester super excited to see everyone, super excited for your new studio space, super excited for your new classes, and thinking you have lots of ideas. Two weeks in, you realize your ideas are inadequate, and you begin to question everything ever. Three weeks in you're incredibly stressed out about finishing projects. Four weeks and your teacher announces that you're halfway to midterms. Five weeks in and you've developed a dependency on your sketchbook. Six weeks and you're working on your midterm project. Seven weeks and you're ready to collapse, running on 2 hours of sleep. Eight weeks and you're a zombie, finishing midterms. Nine weeks and your liberal art teachers remind you about that big paper you have due in what feels like plenty of time. Ten weeks and you're super stressed out again. Eleven weeks and you have a countdown to the end of the semester. Twelve weeks and everyone's planning their finals. Thirteen weeks and you change your idea for your final. Fourteen weeks and you freak out about the amount of time you have left for finals and you change your idea again. Fifteen weeks and you don't sleep. Sixteen weeks and you just go non-stop.

Then there's this thing called hibernation. It's when you promise to visit your long-lost family that you never have time to communicate with. But you get home and realize you're nocturnal. It's 3am and your mother asks you why you're not asleep. Clearly she doesn't understand that at 3am you're just starting to create something epic with Shrinky Dink and a BeDazzler. At 8am she's wondering why you're still asleep. And at 9 am and later at lunchtime. Four weeks of this seem like plenty of time, not enough time, and too much time all at once. More or less, you end up wishing you could go back to your studio where all your "real" supplies are.

Then Spring Semester starts and you again have lists of ideas. And your classes are awesome. Week two you realize that none of your ideas will fit into any of your assignments ever. Week three and you're already super stressed. Week four and you're avoiding all-nighters like the plague. Week five and it dawns on you that you haven't slept normal amounts since high school. Week six and you're getting ready for midterms. Week seven and you're trying to figure out your spring break plans, and the rest of your life. Week eight and you show something for midterms. Week nine is spring break, which means time to work on your portfolio and applying for internships and sleeping if you're that fortunate. Week ten and your teachers start talking about finals. Week eleven and the phrase "Spring Show" makes people excited. Week twelve and "Spring Show" makes people cry. Week thirteen and you decide that you should reward yourself with a beer for each all-nighter pulled. Week fourteen and you realize that not only do you not have time for such "relaxing activities," but that you would also be an alcoholic. Week fifteen and you realize that finals are next week. Week sixteen and you somehow still have work, even after finishing finals, like cleaning out your studios. And then it stops.

That's it, it just stops. Technically, the next week is BFA week, where you see the thesis projects the seniors worked on all year. Which means, if you're a senior, you're crying non-stop. Or so I hear. And imagine. But for the rest of us, we have all this junk we've lugged home from the studio occupying all the floor space of our rooms, and that's just discouraging. And we don't know what to do besides clean, which we really don't want to do. And when you finally clean (maybe I'll do that next week...), then you're really out of things to do. There's thoughts of making "art for fun," that doesn't always plan out to the scale you have in your head. And the next thing you know, your summer's over, and all you have to show for it is twelve sketchbook pages and an animated tea party.

One day, I will develop a healthy sleep schedule. But not until a year and a week from now. And maybe a while after that. You see, there's this thing called Grad School I've been thinking about...


Edward Hopper / Bolex 16mm / 1960s Viewmaster / normal amounts of sleep / terrifying four year old / green screen / leg warmers aren't warm enough / fort / Mia & owl / things I love / Cindy Lou Who's / Antarctica / pink ukulele / Easter candy / golden cats / standard supplies / roommate / love this goofball / fish are weird / her face might get stuck that way / 4 hours of sleep / library books / to do list / here's lookin' at you, kid / teeth / six eyes / rockstars / sepia / four eyes / Gaga / Dr. Thunder Club / silkscreen / nocturnal / washable /  not sleeping / all nighter / bags under my eyes have baggage / the Rapunzel of fabric / Warby Parker / boyfriend / this guy / obnoxious / why / Mickey D's / terrifying a four year old / layers / warm legs / copyright 1992 / extra large / precipitation / senior

These are a few of the photos I've accumulated thanks to an overloaded schedule, an incomparable work ethic, and a ridiculously short attention span. Oh, and a Mac. I think it does a nice job of summing up my semester. But I'll talk more about specifics later.

HOLY COW, 1 YEAR OF COLLEGE LEFT.

Monday, April 25, 2011

This is my last all nighter of the semester.

At least it better be. Then again, I've said this several times.

It's 6:16am. I'm speckled head to toe (literally) in gold leaf. I'm tired of my trail mix. I'm tired, just a little bit though. I'm ready for fresh air and sunshine and a good hearty breakfast.

At 1pm, I have my first final critique of the week. Then Thursday night, I'll be done. Which means I have my BFA year, and then I start The Rest Of My Life. How crazy is that? Not as crazy as I've been going lately.

Here's a bit of what I've been working on (because I need a break from this presentation I'm putting together). It's for my silkscreen final. I'll explain the concept when I photograph the final presentation and post it on here.













Alright, back to work for me! Just think, though... A week from today and I'll be done with my third year (and 105 credit hours) of college. WEIRD.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Supplies for Tomorrow

Canon XH-A1
Tripod
Totas light kit
Old school lunchbox
Construction paper
Glitter
Rhinestones
Yarn
Tin can telephones
Rod Serling paper cut-out
Fish
Double rainbow
Golden cats
Mylar
Popsicle stics
Clothespins
Hot glue

(Expect an update on Vimeo April 28th.)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

CMYK

Instead of telling you how dreadfully busy I have been and how many all-nighters I've pulled this week, I thought I'd show you a bit of what I've been working on (finally!). I seem to live in the fibers studio lately, doing all sorts of crazy silkscreen projects. Our latest one was a color separation print (like printing the layers cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).

So I started with this original photo of Mia from last summer.



I separated it into the layers and started printing one at a time.  So they started to look like this.




The images are adjacent vertically, so as to mimic the filmstrip format and take this one fleeting moment and repeat it, experimenting with subtle color adjustments to see how they can manipulate the tone of a single frame.



It got to be a lot of long days. But luckily, good people were there working as well. (Good people who like good music, might I add.) Debbie & I even stopped dressing alike coincidentally! Which is probably for the best. Although, I do wish I had a sweater as marvelous as this one.


I pretty much made a big mess. Well, a contained mess. Notice the Teddy Grahams container. That holds my black pigment. Thank you, Grandma, for the care package that I was oh so excited to recycle.






I think my fingernails are still dyed rainbow. The pigment just doesn't want to leave.


I finished the last layers last night. All thats left is hemming, photographing, and animating the frames (we'll see where this goes). But for now, I need to finish packing and go to bed. Tomorrow I leave for a weekend in Detroit, where I get to spend time with a special 4 year old who has been nagging me all semester to come home and hug her. Goodnight!

Monday, March 21, 2011

I've Been Really Into Ballads Lately.

They fit well with some art I'm working on. Especially the video I'm making about Grizzly Adams. There will be a ballad. But before that's done, I need to find words that rhyme with Franklin.

I've also been listening to Bob Dylan. All the time. Which is weird, because I usually stick with Buddy Holly/Dion & the Belmonts/Chubby Checker/Ricky Nelson/Franki Valli and the 4 Seasons/Motown/50s Doo-wop area, or the contemporary Iron & Wine/Jack Johnson/The Tallest Man On Earth/Will Hoge genre. But I don't mind this change.

I drew a lot of trees today. Tomorrow I will draw a lot of tree stumps and tombstones. And maybe some mountains. And rain clouds. For large repeat patterns, which I love making. I have about 26 feet of fabric to silkscreen. It will be awesome.

Also, I might be buying 2 or 3 cameras (one's only $11, though, so that doesn't really count) soon. I have so many ideas for projects, and with the end of the semester (and summer!) in sight, I can hardly wait to do art without deadlines.

Tomorrow I will be cleaning my room, sewing, embroidering, looking at images of owls, designing pillowcases, checking out more library books, reading, taking pictures, and hopefully coming home to see that my new camera lens has arrived! I'm excited.

Last week I was in one of those after-Spring-Break-where-I-didn't-really-take-a-break-at-all-and-now-I'm-exhausted funks. I think a lot of us were. Stress has been high lately. But this week will be good and productive.

And just because I haven't shared much besides insignificant words here lately, look at this beautiful video my best friend Vanesa made. She has incredible ideas.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Written on my veins.

My hands are permanently covered in constantly changing thoughts. My arms keep secrets up my sleeves. My wrists host small reminders. Each time I wash my hands, my ideas wash away, and I have a limited amount of time to do something less ephemeral with them. Yesterday, faded notes reminded me to coat my silkscreen with emulsion, pin fabric, read more about the Cottingly fairies, look at lenses, and "2." And when I took my  shower last night, the last of my thoughts washed down the drain, all except for the number 2, which remained boldly placed in the center of my hand. I have no idea what it means, or what it refers to. And I usually don't write numbers when I mindlessly doodle (usually, I draw owls or narwhals or ghosts). So I have no idea what it means.

I have lots of ideas. I don't know how, but I feel like I almost always do.  Some ideas are more exciting than others. I have so many different styles of stop motion I want to try, so many different techniques of shooting things frame by frame. And new lenses coming next week to play with! One day, I will make something spectacular. And it will start off as a little idea, written with a ballpoint pen on exposed skin.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

I'm old.

When did that happen?

I'm on the second half of the second semester of the second half of college. Which means I have seven weeks and 2 semesters until I earn my BFA.

I'm old enough to drink three beers because I wanted the bottle caps for an awesome collaboration project.

Mia's going to be 5 in June. She'll start kindergarten in August. I'm not ready for that.

I started dating Nicholas 5 years, 8 months, 1 week, and 3 days ago. Which means I know him so well, I answer my own questions. I'm also really good at imitating him. I just pretend like I understand how everything works and then explain it using words like "friction" and "torque" and "current" and "capacitors." Even though I have no clue what I'm talking about.


I just got back from Charleston today. It was a marvelous spring break. Nicholas & I explored Hilton Head Island and Savannah. We shot 200 feet of 16mm film. I got my picture taken with 2 fake bears and a bronze alligator statue (because who doesn't want that!). We took silly pictures. He drank coffee because I do (excepts he adds about a quarter cup of sugar--literally). We went to at least 7 different antique/vintage shops. We took advantage of every moment of sunshine.

Which is why coming back to Cleveland today was a little depressing. I came straight to my studio to do some work. Back to late nights in the studio. Back to vending machine coffee and cans of mandarin oranges (my meal right now until I go home). Back to moving things incrementally frame by frame. Which I don't mind at all.

I'm kind of excited, though. I honestly can't remember if I've mentioned this yet, because my brain's been mush lately, but my major day class has us working on developing a thesis, hopefully to use for our BFA project. And I have so many ideas. It's really wonderful to realize why you make art, what drives you. You know, get it down to one idea...that I plan on focusing on until May of 2012. Crazy. But I'm excited.

I should scan some of my sketchbook pages. Lately, my art has been inspired by the apocalypse, the American Old West, Harry Houdini, Paul Revere, the Cottingly fairies, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, winners podiums, Pangea, Hans My Hedgehog, The Youth Who Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was, Wikipedia, The Catcher in the Rye, Grizzly Adams, shadows, hi fives, ghosts, petting zoos, fiction, strangers, narwhals, bears, telescopes, string, unicycles, tin can telephones, and 1960s music performance videos.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

I am sitting in the airport.


Last night I went to bed at 12:30 (ok, a little after), couldn't fall asleep because I happen to be occasionally usually nocturnal, and woke up at 5. Not bad. I took a cab to the train station. (Which was exciting because I've never taken a taxi before.) Took the train to the airport. Met some interesting people, which I always love. And realized that there were maybe 2 people in the same concourse that early. So I explored the other concourses, compared 6 different restrooms, at a grilled veggie panini from Bruegger's Bagles (yes, for breakfast, and yes, it was incredibly delicious), browsed 4 gift shop store things, and discovered that wearing an apron is incredibly convenient while juggling personal belongings through airport security.

I see Nicholas in 4 hours. I hope the weather's nice.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

I JUST DID LAUNDRY!


Yes, this is worthy of a blog post. Because I do laundry so rarely, that it is always a celebrated event.

(I never have enough quarters.)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Today I Slept Til One O'Clock.

I had a lot to fit in, so I was working until almost 4am last night. I woke up at 7:15am. I mustered up the courage to get out of my warm bed. I ironed my outfit. I got dressed. I got ready for the day. And at 8am, I checked my email.

Snow day.

The school was closed. Not only was CIA closed, but so was the school downtown where I teach kindergarten art classes every Friday. My interview with American Greetings, which was supposed to be at CIA, was also canceled (maybe postponed?). No one really anticipated this snowstorm. Except for my friend Amanda's mom, who said we might get 10 inches. But I have to say, it was nice to get up and realize that I could (well, was forced to) take the day off.

So, wearing my freshly-ironed interview outfit, legwarmers, and slippers, I climbed back into bed, and slept until 1pm. It was beautiful.

After regaining energy, I went grocery shopping (because I was home when the grocery store was open!), worked on my demo reel, watched some Hulu, talked to Mia, downloaded videos of 1960s music performances (for a new side project!), and turned some flip books into this:

And now I think I'll clean my room and do some sewing and storyboarding.

(I know I complain about the snow an awful lot, but today, it wasn't so terrible.)

Friday, February 18, 2011

Dear Ciara, I happen to love you.

I just took a shower and watch ink run down my arms and stain my wrists. I felt a sudden surge of ideas today and needed to write them down before they were lost. And now they are washed down the drain, leaving behind the ghosts of words written across my veins.

Today was unreal. S.I.E. 65 opened today, and my animations Curiouser (the second ending) and Lost Boys: Peter Pan Complexes in the 21st Century were accepted into the show. Kasumi came to see my work, and we talked about plans for next semester and how much we've all missed her since she's been on sabbatical all year. She's wonderful. So many good people came to the opening. It was a nice break.

The last two weeks, it seemed like I hit a complete streak of bad luck. So many tiny nuisances consumed my days, which can be really exhausting and frustrating and discouraging. I work best with a positive attitude, and that was near impossible lately. But I kept saying that it's ok, because something good was going to happen. Soon. I kept saying soon.

Tonight something good happened.

Curiouser won two awards (complete with grant money!): CIA's Board of Director's Second Prize and the Hal & Cyndy Goodwin Award First Prize. I don't think shock is the most accurate word to express my reaction. Shaking? Yes. Almost ready to cry? Maybe. I was completely stunned. I couldn't believe it. I was just telling Kasumi that I would love a new camera lens to push my animations even further. I can afford a lens now. Maybe even two. It's so weird. Even before I even opened the envelopes and learned the value of the awards, I was utterly overwhelmed. It's an amazing feeling, to have people believe in you that much. And to have people like your work.

After the shock (and the wine) wore off a bit, I ended up talking to my sister Ciara on the phone. She writes beautiful things, including the music for this animation. Somehow, she mentioned a quote from her favorite book. My brain exploded. It made so much sense. It was completely related to everything I've been exploring for my thesis. So we stayed on the phone while I silkscreened handkerchiefs, and talked about storytelling and memory and story truth and happening truth and interconnectedness and God. As it turns out, everything I've been exploring for this thesis is exactly what she's been researching for her writing. It's amazing.

I have ideas. And I have thank you notes to write.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

The best feeling in the world...

is wearing my saddle shoes for the first time after a harsh winter. Instead of patches of grass, there are patches of snow. The sun's been making regular appearances, and birds announce their presence. As often as I wish I lived closer to the equator, I'm glad I live somewhere with 4 seasons. Autumn may be my favorite, but there's nothing I appreciate more than that first week of Spring.

Of course, I am told that it's too good to be true, and that another snowstorm will surely come. But I have high hopes for this year, and faith in my groundhog friend. I think this is it. I sure hope so, because I have so many runs in my tights, and I'm constantly restitching legwarmers that are splitting at the seems. And I love being barefoot. That is really the best feeling in the world.

Today was wonderful. Normally I have Cinema from 9:30am until 4:30pm, and then Video from 5pm to 10pm. But today both of those were canceled! Normally, I'd prefer to have class. But the weather was so wonderful, and I have a lot of footage I still need to shoot for various projects. So I came home early (4 o'clock!) and sat on my balcony and taped some shots and read some articles and ran to the grocery store (because normally, I leave before it opens and return wayyy after it closes) and watched 2 movies: The Butterfly Effect and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. My major day this semester (have I mentioned this already?) is spent developing a thesis...ideally to use for a BFA project next year. Which is why I have half of the library in my studio. Anyway, I have a growing list of movies related to my topic that I've been trying to watch. I really enjoyed these two, especially the latter. Then again, that is to be expected with anything involving Michel Gondry.

Now to make this night perfect, I just have to go to bed by midnight. Wouldn't that be wonderful. Ha!

Ps. If you're in the Cleveland area, the 65th annual Student Independent Exhibition opens tomorrow (6pm-9pm), and I have two pieces in! I'm really excited about a lot of the work in there, actually. So stop by!