Newness

A lot of new things have happened in the last month, more than usual. I don't think I so many fun and amazing things have happened in such a short time. Here is my sad attempt to catch up on things...

Sometimes I have a good idea. So, earlier in February I realized that my friends and I are all graduating and we will not see each other in the fall. It bummed me out to think of all the fun things that we are going to miss out on in the fall, so I though we should just do it this semester. And since its leap year and we had a free day, what better time?


So the original plan was to have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all on April 29, but ended up only have Halloween. Thanks to Casey for organizing and hosting it all, we all got together, dressed up and has Halloween in February. Here is Richie and Margot Tenenbaum and Rocker Roberto. A week later it was break time.

Spring Break 2008 - the last spring break ever! (at least officially) I went down to Rosarito, Mexico with 17 amazing kids. We rented two villas for the week that was right on the beach. We seriously felt like we were in the Real World if it was filmed in the 70s. I don't think we could have gotten a better place. We all enjoyed life for a solid week and it was incredible.

Here is Lundy, Andrew, Megan and Casey (and I) walking on the beach trying to find sand dollars. Lundy, the one with the towel, is a sand dollar finding genius and found one whole one a few broken ones. This particular day started off cloudy and gray and in the course of walking on the beach transformed into one of the hottest days we were down there.

Of course there was beer . . . man I miss that bowl. The nice part about this spring break was that it wasn't the usual drunken, lame, college spring break that you think of in Mexico. It was a chill, relaxed, fun spring break full of daily salsa, guacamole, beer, surf, sun, and friends.

Here are my amazing friends, old and new and no, that isn't a shadow on my face, I just got super dark! It was kind of rediculous. Anyway, this was THE best group of friends anyone could have. We all got so close and were having with draws from each other the moment we left Mexico.

Well, the Monday after spring break was St. Patricks Day and since we all missed each other so much already, we had a gathering. So much fun and so much green.

About a month ago, Casey and I went to San Francisco to walk the Golden Gate Bridge and to see Bon Iver. If you haven't heard of Bon Iver, you should check them out. Anyway, March 23rd turned out to be an awesome day.

Here is Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, playing. One cool thing that happened during this concert, that we found out later, is that a number of the songs were video recorded and posted on La Blogotheque, a sweet site with indie artists and their take-a-way shows. The coolest part is that during the song Wolves, the camera pans into the audience and zooms into Casey's face! Frickin awesome.

The following weekend was one of the best. I spent practically all day Saturday painting in the studio. I was working on a piece for a student art show. Later that night there was a crazy interactive performance in the gallery. Lets just say there were paint canons that turn out to be a flame thrower, naked women with marshmallow peeps on them and . . .

... a woman with chocolate pudding and whipped cream over her for the audience to enjoy. Here is the art department chairperson having a go. This event alone made our school twice as cool. After the performance I headed over to Kristen and Megan's place for a Mexico crew reunion/my birthday party. So much fun! (at least what I can remember).

Lexi came down to visit too! This is such an appropriate picture because I have one just like it when we were freshmen, which was taken in March at a birthday party as well.

So as you've seen in the last post, I've been busy painting this semester. Here is a portrait of Lana, our in-class model for two class periods. This is my first in two ways: my first portrait painting from life and my first official sold piece that I get to use to money! Lana liked it and bought it!

And here is my self portrait. It is pretty weird looking at yourself for more than a few seconds. The funny part is that I painted this right after I got back from Mexico, so my skin tone while painting it was nothing like what it was from the photo I used.

As I mentioned before, I was in a student art show. It was called "Act" and was organized for the Social Justice Community on campus by my good friends Kristen and Megan. The reception turned out to be so good and it was a great experience for everyone.

This is titled "The Man" (with a strike through) and is acyclic on cardboard. Casey and I painted this. We have been planning on painting on this piece of cardboard all year (literally) and finally got to use it for this piece. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. It even got its own wall!

This on is "MLK", graphite on paper. I hug this one all my by myself and wanted to document it. Haha, looking at it now, I think its a bit crooked. Must be the angle I took the photo from :)

This one is "Twenty Three Percent" oil on canvas. This one is the one I was painting before that crazy performance and is pretty important to me. The title is the percentage of homeless people who are war verterans, and I bet that statistic is climbing. Look closely for a few hidden meanings...

Anyway, this one is technically my first sold piece and the money went to the Center for Community Involvement, where I have worked throughout college. I was super stoked to find out that it sold. It even went higher than the base price I set for the silent auction. Hopefully there is more to come.

So, that has been my life in the past month. Well, that and work. I got hired as a sign artist at Trader Joes and just finished my third week of work. Its pretty cool. I get to paint huge panels (most are bigger than 4 X 6 ft) that go up in the store for everyone to see. A little intimidating, but the pressure is a good thing. So, if you are in the Stockton Trader Joe's, look for my stuff!