Random Fact: The Wheel Inn Diner opened in 1958, the same year my Mum was born.
Monday, April 14, 2014
On the Road Again.
Today we finally got under way in Pampero, resuming our travels around the country. The first place we went was Wheel Inn, a diner in Cabazon near Palm Springs, famous for its large dinosaur statues:
Unfortunately, the diner had to close in October of 2013, but the gift shop in the Apatosaurus is still in operation, though it closes at 1700 so we were to late to visit for that day. We walked around & took a few pictures before heading to the Yucca Valley Walmart for the night.
Random Fact: The Wheel Inn Diner opened in 1958, the same year my Mum was born.
Random Fact: The Wheel Inn Diner opened in 1958, the same year my Mum was born.
Monday, April 7, 2014
I Made a Thing: #TheArtAssignment, Never Seen, Never Will
For those of ye who do not yet know, The Art Assignment is a YouTube channel from PBS Digital. Each week they visit an artist, talk about them & their work, then the artist comes up with a project the viewers can complete. The goal of the channel is to "demystify the art-making process & bring you to a wider understanding of what art is & what it can be." [learn more about The Art Assignment here]
The latest assignment was to "think of something that exists that you've never seen, and probably never will", then "articulate it", so I thought it would be a good idea to get together with another assignee, have each of us write a description of ourselves (both physical & a bit about our interests), send them to each other, then try & draw each other based on those descriptions. I soon connected with someone, & they sent me this:
I'm a classically-trained musician. My primary instrument is voice (soprano). I'm currently getting my master's degree, and I am teaching music theory as a grad assistant. My favorite thing to do is curl up with a good book, with classicaI music in the background (Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss). I love to read (my favorite book series is The Lord of the Rings), watch nerdy shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, and watch movies (Star Wars is my favorite). I've gotten way into YouTube over the past year, especially the Vlogbrothers (of course) and Crash Course. This past week, I started listening to Night Vale, and I love it now too.
[...]I'm a 28 year old woman, a bit overweight and medium height (5'7"). Pear-shaped (big hips). I have an oval face, and pale skin (I'm white). My hair is cut about halfway between my chin and my shoulders. It curls out a bit at the very tips, but is otherwise straight. I have bangs swept to the left side of my face. My hair is light brown (kind of like Shailene Woodley's). My eyes are green (not brilliantly green, with some brown in them, but not quite hazel). My nose and lips are normal sized? I don't usually wear lipstick, but I do wear mascara and light purple/pink eyeshadow. I usually wear dresses or skirts with tights (for work).
Based on that, I came up with this:
First off, let me state that I wanted to colourize it, but it seems that in the hustle & bustle of moving things to & from the RV, I have misplaced my coloured pencils. Perhaps when I find them I shall draw another, but for now this must suffice.
This project was a very interesting process to work through. After several attempts to do a portrait-style rendering of the subject, I concluded that I lacked the technical skill to adequately capture the beauty of the human form in a manner that I deemed acceptable, so I had to alter my approach. I decided to take a more figurative direction, attempting to capture the general spirit of the subject via the use of background scenery & such. I did my best to be physically accurate as well, but, as I stated above, I found my abilities a bit lacking. This lack also led to the final image being somewhat different from the one I had in my head. As I would flub a line here or there, or make an awkward angle of perspective, I would have to make changes. This is especially evident in the way she is sitting. I would start from the feet & work my way up, altering the angle or placement of the various parts depending on how the lower bits turned out. Although it was occasionally annoying, I found that this approach really freed up my stylus, & the final draft is a product of her description, my intentions, & the whims of fate & fancy; sacrificing accuracy for the sake of art.
For me, that has always been both the greatest challenge & greatest greatness of making pictorial art: I am a realist at heart, & want to create the most perfect representation of the real & imagined worlds in my head, yet my skill is such that even my best work comes out looking somewhat cartoonish. But what of it? Even though I am sometimes frustrated by my inability to capture the images in my mind, the act of drawing is fun & stimulating to the soul, & I am (almost always) quite proud of the finished product, however unlike the ideal it is. This Art Assignment really revealed to me that art is a collaboration between the artist's brain & body: it is the imagination's creation as interpreted by the artist's abilities. That often the very act of creating changes the creation.
Thanks to The Art Assignment for inspiring this idea, & thanks to Nadiact1000 for coming along with me on this artistic journey. To see her side of the project, click here (Ye should definitely check it out. I dare say it looks quite a bit like me, as ye can also see in my follow-up post)
Random Fact: Although it looks like I snuck a self-portrait in there, that is actually supposed to be a picture of Richard Strauss. The reason it looks so good is because -- except for the hair -- I traced it off of a portrait I found online :P Other than that, I either drew everything freehand, or traced it from earlier drafts I drew freehand.
The latest assignment was to "think of something that exists that you've never seen, and probably never will", then "articulate it", so I thought it would be a good idea to get together with another assignee, have each of us write a description of ourselves (both physical & a bit about our interests), send them to each other, then try & draw each other based on those descriptions. I soon connected with someone, & they sent me this:
I'm a classically-trained musician. My primary instrument is voice (soprano). I'm currently getting my master's degree, and I am teaching music theory as a grad assistant. My favorite thing to do is curl up with a good book, with classicaI music in the background (Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss). I love to read (my favorite book series is The Lord of the Rings), watch nerdy shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who, and watch movies (Star Wars is my favorite). I've gotten way into YouTube over the past year, especially the Vlogbrothers (of course) and Crash Course. This past week, I started listening to Night Vale, and I love it now too.
[...]I'm a 28 year old woman, a bit overweight and medium height (5'7"). Pear-shaped (big hips). I have an oval face, and pale skin (I'm white). My hair is cut about halfway between my chin and my shoulders. It curls out a bit at the very tips, but is otherwise straight. I have bangs swept to the left side of my face. My hair is light brown (kind of like Shailene Woodley's). My eyes are green (not brilliantly green, with some brown in them, but not quite hazel). My nose and lips are normal sized? I don't usually wear lipstick, but I do wear mascara and light purple/pink eyeshadow. I usually wear dresses or skirts with tights (for work).
Based on that, I came up with this:
First off, let me state that I wanted to colourize it, but it seems that in the hustle & bustle of moving things to & from the RV, I have misplaced my coloured pencils. Perhaps when I find them I shall draw another, but for now this must suffice.
This project was a very interesting process to work through. After several attempts to do a portrait-style rendering of the subject, I concluded that I lacked the technical skill to adequately capture the beauty of the human form in a manner that I deemed acceptable, so I had to alter my approach. I decided to take a more figurative direction, attempting to capture the general spirit of the subject via the use of background scenery & such. I did my best to be physically accurate as well, but, as I stated above, I found my abilities a bit lacking. This lack also led to the final image being somewhat different from the one I had in my head. As I would flub a line here or there, or make an awkward angle of perspective, I would have to make changes. This is especially evident in the way she is sitting. I would start from the feet & work my way up, altering the angle or placement of the various parts depending on how the lower bits turned out. Although it was occasionally annoying, I found that this approach really freed up my stylus, & the final draft is a product of her description, my intentions, & the whims of fate & fancy; sacrificing accuracy for the sake of art.
For me, that has always been both the greatest challenge & greatest greatness of making pictorial art: I am a realist at heart, & want to create the most perfect representation of the real & imagined worlds in my head, yet my skill is such that even my best work comes out looking somewhat cartoonish. But what of it? Even though I am sometimes frustrated by my inability to capture the images in my mind, the act of drawing is fun & stimulating to the soul, & I am (almost always) quite proud of the finished product, however unlike the ideal it is. This Art Assignment really revealed to me that art is a collaboration between the artist's brain & body: it is the imagination's creation as interpreted by the artist's abilities. That often the very act of creating changes the creation.
Thanks to The Art Assignment for inspiring this idea, & thanks to Nadiact1000 for coming along with me on this artistic journey. To see her side of the project, click here (Ye should definitely check it out. I dare say it looks quite a bit like me, as ye can also see in my follow-up post)
Random Fact: Although it looks like I snuck a self-portrait in there, that is actually supposed to be a picture of Richard Strauss. The reason it looks so good is because -- except for the hair -- I traced it off of a portrait I found online :P Other than that, I either drew everything freehand, or traced it from earlier drafts I drew freehand.
2014-4-7: So I Just Noticed They Have the Date in an Obvious Box Right Up There...
Therefore, I shall henceforth dispense with using the date in my post titles.
But the main reason I am making this post is to give ye a quick update on where things are, just in case anyone does not watch the Vlog: My studies are ongoing, though I now expect to take the SAT in June, so that buys me a little more time. Also, the RV trip (the first part of which you can read about on The Williams' Road Trip Blog, which recently moved to a new URL: http://thewilliamsroadtrip.izacktheyak.com/ ) shall be resuming sometime this week, so that is going to change things around here. This shall become what it was originally intended to be: a sort of travel journal. I shall no longer post "life updates" -- those will become the sole domain of the Vlog. I shall continue to post the occasional book, movie, & cetera reviews here, & it shall also serve as a platform to showcase any non-video stuff I make (the first post of which shall be coming later today).
Now, to those of ye that do watch the Vlog, do not be afraid: VTV shall continue to air for the foreseeable future. VTV is just a brief (my current unwritten-until-just-now rule is that they can have a maximum length of 10 minutes, though I am thinking of increasing that to 15 depending on how things go in the coming weeks) overview of where I went & what I did that day, while this Blog -- henceforth to be known by its name, Viaggio di Vidrio, or the abbreviation thereof: VV -- shall house a more detailed, but less visual, record of the same, like the posts over on The Williams' Road Trip.
Speaking of which, The Williams' Road Trip is going to continue to be updated as well, but I am no longer going to post there (well, I plan to finish catching up the New York City trip myself, but nothing after that). Instead, it is to be run by my Mum & become her Blog, while VV is to be mine.
So that is how things stand around here. As I stated above, I am going to make another post today, but then after that am probably not going to post anything until the Travel begins. Hopefully I shall see ye on the road.
V. out.
Random Fact: Before science was able to develop the insulin-producing bacteria we use to help diabetics today, those who needed it had to get their insulin from pigs. (source: Mental_Floss)
But the main reason I am making this post is to give ye a quick update on where things are, just in case anyone does not watch the Vlog: My studies are ongoing, though I now expect to take the SAT in June, so that buys me a little more time. Also, the RV trip (the first part of which you can read about on The Williams' Road Trip Blog, which recently moved to a new URL: http://thewilliamsroadtrip.izacktheyak.com/ ) shall be resuming sometime this week, so that is going to change things around here. This shall become what it was originally intended to be: a sort of travel journal. I shall no longer post "life updates" -- those will become the sole domain of the Vlog. I shall continue to post the occasional book, movie, & cetera reviews here, & it shall also serve as a platform to showcase any non-video stuff I make (the first post of which shall be coming later today).
Now, to those of ye that do watch the Vlog, do not be afraid: VTV shall continue to air for the foreseeable future. VTV is just a brief (my current unwritten-until-just-now rule is that they can have a maximum length of 10 minutes, though I am thinking of increasing that to 15 depending on how things go in the coming weeks) overview of where I went & what I did that day, while this Blog -- henceforth to be known by its name, Viaggio di Vidrio, or the abbreviation thereof: VV -- shall house a more detailed, but less visual, record of the same, like the posts over on The Williams' Road Trip.
Speaking of which, The Williams' Road Trip is going to continue to be updated as well, but I am no longer going to post there (well, I plan to finish catching up the New York City trip myself, but nothing after that). Instead, it is to be run by my Mum & become her Blog, while VV is to be mine.
So that is how things stand around here. As I stated above, I am going to make another post today, but then after that am probably not going to post anything until the Travel begins. Hopefully I shall see ye on the road.
V. out.
Random Fact: Before science was able to develop the insulin-producing bacteria we use to help diabetics today, those who needed it had to get their insulin from pigs. (source: Mental_Floss)
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