Halloween Evening.

And a new painting!
Happy Halloween! <3 Amanda

my heart beats like bird wings.

Today, Sara Varon spoke to our senior studio class. She's written and illustrated Sweater Weather, Chicken and Cat, and Robot Dreams.
She was so refreshing! I think we tend to forget that being an artist/illustrator/photographer/etc. is supposed to be fun. She is so laid back and upbeat about her career. "Enjoy your life," as she put it. She gave us lots of great promo sites, advice, and insight. It was a really inspiring morning. After class, I got to talk with her and show her my sketchbook, and she gave me lots of helpful advice on markets for my work and how to get my sketchbook-style stuff out there in addition to my paintings. Speaking of paintings, I will have two to show you tomorrow/wednesday-ish. See you then! <3 Amanda

"Cabinet of Curiosity"

The amazingly talented and intellegent Lasse Antonsen came to speak to my Natural History Drawing class. His talk coincided with an assignment to create a box filled with things, or as my teacher called it, a "cabinet of curiosity." I took her instructions and made this:

I molded the deer out of mesh wire and then covered her in cream tissue that was sopping in pva glue. I call her Deirdre. I plan on making many more mesh animals. It was very fun and different from what I typically do. More paintings soon! <3 love, Amanda

"He played the piano like fireworks. He talked that way, too."

That is how a friend of e.e.cummings described him to the world. I am currently reading his biography and thinking about the power point presentation I have to make. I definitely want to include his art and give a good show of his personality. I have a new painting!
It is part of an ongoing series. There are some other new things but no decent pictures of them at the moment. The Regina Spektor concert was amazing. There are barely words to describe how beautiful and incredible she is. Her voice is even more stunning in person than on her records, and watching her play the piano was thrilling. I was in the 8th row, and it was held in the orpheum which is a lovely place to be anyway. She gave an amazing encore which included Fidelity, Hotel Song (accompanied by the opening act who beat boxed...so sweet), Samson, and Lennon's Real Love. I left feeling so ready to tackle all the art that was awaiting me. Also in the news, I had a short stint as a pregnant woman last weekend:
A long story lies behind this polaroid. That's all for now! I hope everyone else is having a happy and creative fall. Love, Amanda

notes

We drew at The Boston Conservatory on Thursday morning. After an eventful two hours of taking the T back in forth between Kenmore and Boylston looking for the place, I arrived there thinking I would be very late for class. Turns out class was starting two hours later that day. I was there early. :) I've been wanting to do something with musicians for my senior studio class, so this was very exciting. It was also just an amazing thing to sit in on an orchestra practice. They were practicing for West Side Story, which I've never seen and had never heard the music from before. Also, Regina Spektor is on Sunday!!

I've hit a lovely brick wall.

I'm fully immersed in my homework lately. I apologize for the lack of posts. I'm feeling a little stifled creatively. We have senior studio, in which we have the freedom to make whatever we want. An entire semester of freedom is actually a little overwhelming, especially when all my peers are having this freedom at the same time. There's some sort of strange energy about it, and a mass confusion. What's strange is I never have problems making "my own" things on my own time. Throw that mentality into a class and it makes me slightly crazy. All this uncertainty could be due in part to changes in my life. As you may or may not know, we had to put our dog O'Malley to sleep less than two weeks ago. He's been my best friend for the past almost 8 years. We got him at age 7 from a shelter in Sterling. I miss him so much. I've been at school since the weekend we put him down. I have a feeling it will hit my hard when I return back home for the long weekend, with no school to distract me from his empty bed in my room. I trample back and forth between my different creative outlets, but perhaps I need a break from all of them altogether. We shall see. It will be good to go home for several days, go to Evans Farm with the family, see my sister, sleep with my cat. Watch TV for once. A break from art and writing, or at least an attempt at a break. I will most likely have to do SOME work while I'm home. I put a picture of O'Malley in my Mona Lisa locket. I can't stop looking at his pictures. He was such a good boy. <3

turtleneck days are here!!