Curious Little Things

Paintings, drawing, art and such

2011-07-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

Well, it's time to get back to what I do best... hum-hum. Well, it's a way of speaking. I like drawing; drawing is fun; and drawing is actually something that I can do, enjoy and sometimes people will pay me to do it! Isn't that wonderful? No but seriously, isn't that a dream come true? To do exactly what you like doing and getting paid to do it?

I like doing jewelry; I do. But sometimes, it's very useful to take a step back and wonder...: is it really worth it? I mean, I get in a mood sometimes when all I want to be doing is jewelry, but then, as a hobby, it's not necessarily the most fun, and it actually costs me a bunch a money that I won't make back. Oh well!...

I had a yard sale too the other day; it went so well! It was the first time I had a yard sale and I was amazing by the great people I met throughout the days: neighbours, people who come from different neighbourhood, but everyone was very nice and so sociable! it was great to chat and get to know people from different backgrounds. Plus, I actually ended up making way more money than I expected—and that, even though I stupidly put one of my PS3 controller in the bag when I sold my PS2 system :( The guy who bought it was such a sweetheart that I was certain he would bring it back.

But he didn't...

So I did "lose" some money because I had to purchase a new one. Oh well! that's what happens when you want to do something quickly and you don't pay attention, I suppose.

Like typos in a blog :P

Otherwise, I committed myself to training; for the past 5 days, I've been going to the YMCA almost everyday! really a big change for me because I was never the "sporting" type. Juuuust too lazy! You know this drive that people claim they have that they can't stop, that they have to push themselves, a kind of voice that tells them how loser they are if they stop? well, I don't have that voice. Every time I try to run, there's another voice in my head that just says: "what the heck?!" and I stop. So getting committed to pushing myself... well, i thought this would actually be very very difficult. But it's not! I guess you really need to find something that you like doing, an exercise that makes you exercise while making you feel good.

Anyway, it's working for me, and I'm quite happy about that!

So there, not so much, apart from the fact that I want to devote most of my time to painting and drawing from now on.

There's still the dissertation...

Hm....

Jewelry making

2011-07-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

My beautiful neighbour came by the other day and bought four pair of earrings! I was so thrilled that I immediately got back to the jewelry making process—that being said, it does interfere directly with the redaction of my dissertation. Oh well! it's summer after all, and wearing jewelry is great!

I've been really trying to think about why I'm making jewelry and what it means for me, and I realize that it all comes down to a simple fact: too often we see people wearing exactly the same jewelry and I've been thinking about how sad it is that there are so many great talents out there, so many different types of style, so many possibilities and I want to be part of this movement.

And because of that, I want my jewelry to be unique; yes, I will make more than one model usually, but there more than, say, four or five. The reason? Well, I like the idea that the individuals who buy jewelry from me are looking for something unique, something that speaks directly to them, and that it is truly a piece not so many people will be wearing around them as well.

There is also another reason: I profoundly enjoy trying new things, and this means that my own taste for jewelry is always evolving and changing; I make jewelry that I love and I keep having new ideas for new designs. Because of that, most of the designs I created in the past will grow to become fully and untimely unique.

Here are a few of my creations that you can find on Etsy.

Medieval Dangling Earrings

Dangling Aztek Earrings with White Water Pearls

Steampunk Spiderweb Earrings

Don't hesitate to pass along the information on your own blog and FB or twitter if you like the designs :)

Drawing...

2011-04-21T20:21:00.000-07:00

A few updates tonight. I've been working on a drawing/pencil study of Gemma Ward. I'm quite satisfied with the result, especially given the fact that I haven't worked with pencil in a long, long time!

I'm also adding a few progress pieces of my latest painting "Underwater Head".


Progress I


Progress 2


Progress 3


Final Painting

More snow, more fun?

2011-04-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it was another one of those days: woke up around 6ish. Why on earth would i do that on a sunday morning? Actually, i decided to listen to one of those voices in my head to which i never pay attention... and for good reason: i volunteered for a youth dance festival that took place in a way too cold arena, which gave me not only the shivers but also developed a not so fun headache. The least fun part? Basically i didn't even get to observe most of the dance competition as my job involved staying out for most of the event, waiting at a table and handing 1$ ticket to the very few people who did not already purchased a ticket in the previous days of the festival, and frantically checking my emails since the other two girls, clearly smarter than i (but almost knowing what the job really involved) had brought with them a book or ipad.

I don't own an ipad but seriously, i do value my time! Turning my thumbs is something i don't even allow myself when i'm by myself. Even when i watch a show, i tend to do something more... productive. Like half-read a book, paint, socialize online (well, you know, we need to do that too, so if i do 2 things that are not so productive at once, i feel a wee bit more not completely unproductive).

Back home now and enjoying the furry company of my new cat-friend, cheese, the cutest little cat i've seen in a while! She landed in my place last Friday for the weekend. She's quite the kitten! fuzzy and purring like a machine, but afraid of her shadow. As soon as i get up, she runs as if a hornet was stuck in her butt, but if i sit down, she jumps on me and can't seem to receive enough love. Well, well.

Compared to her, Achilles basically looks like a fat and grumpy Garfield. Quite the picture!

This evening, painting! There is no way around it; i really want to finish this painting that i've been working on for more than 2 weeks now. I'm taking a curious pleasure in working complex hair-do, which, hopefully, will look fucking amazing when i'm done. But again, with painting (not like other things in my life) i tend to be one of those: perfectionist.

I'm serious about that. And i profoundly despise perfectionism. The quality, not the people. Well, the people sometimes. Depends who... And how. I mean, how their perfectionism affects me.

Or when the bitterness that comes out of their perception of my lack of similar perfectionism affects me.

Fact is, when it comes to painting, i am somewhat of a perfectionist! (which also implies that i despite myself... or this specific aspect of myself... and how it affects me... how my affects affect me (this is getting complex - Spinoza, where the heck are you?!)) <-- this bracket was a bracket in a bracket, a practice i actually enjoy very much because i enjoy non-linear speaking, which my listeners might not enjoy so much, but for the lord (!)'s sake, you're reading this blog, you can just scroll back a little, eh?

Back to where i think i was: i can spend hours on the smallest details, and if i'm not satisfied with something, i just won't stop. Seriously, this is serious condition!! I'm not quite sure how i feel about this...

Seriously.

As you can see, the picture isn't of high quality (taken with my iphone) but of course, this is just a tease...

The day went well

2011-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Apart from the siberian wind blowing its wings off outside, today has been a good day. I sold a pair of earrings, a beautiful long pair.

And i am also selling second hand stuff on amazon, and so far things have been going quite well over there! another game sold, yay :)

Novel

2011-04-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ohhh! I just had a great idea for a novel!... now, the question is: how long will it take me to write it? how long does a novel need to be anyway? how much time do i have? frankly, not so much this weekend. Wish i'd planned that whole thing very differently! Well... it didn't happen.

The novel itself is a project to develop "skills", i mean, literary skills, which i have, actually, but not so much in the... literary-literary aspect of it. This is a little obscure. Well, as things go, my whole life is defined by writing, even designed by writing, and probably determined by writing. Hopefully, i will be entitled to be a writer. But this entails a second question: what type of writer?

The academic type is the route i'm currently driving on. "Currently" — i think it says it all! And my literary skills, in english anyway, haven't developed past the "Fear Street" novel i attempted to write when i was twelve. Oh, don't get me wrong! I'm sure it wasn't completely bad; but writing on paper and not re-reading what i wrote basically translated into one of my characters dying twice... in very different ways. Ugh!

Writing, writing, writing. You have it: i want my whole life to be defined by writing.

I could live with that.

Very happily.

Quite frankly.

Short film

2011-04-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, my prof asked us to write a paper and make a movie based on it. Seriously?! I had never made a movie before... and, pretty much at the time she made such request, i discovered the amazing potential (and time-consuming) art of stop motion animation. Although this is my first try (and there hasn't been any other "tries" since, quite sadly, frankly) and (yet another "and") there are multiple problems with this video, i've always been quite proud of it, and think it should stay all alone, in a dark place such a youtube, without some love and attention from... me, at least a couple of times a year.

Enjoy :)

Raining all weekend...

2011-04-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

Woke up at 5:30am, with the sound of jazz on the radio; i must say, waking up early is the way to go (although i absolutely didn't say that when the alarm went off!...) Getting to work, checking my emails, my FB, my twitter... Wow! Already two hours have gone by, and i still haven't started working per se. But, most visibly, it is now 7:30 and apart from green tea that my stomach is requested angrily (or hungrily?!), i am wide awake and ready to start the day!

No painting involved just yet though, but this is what i will treat myself with this evening. My lover's long gone to L.A. (not just yet, thank "somebody") but evenings will be dull as hell and nights cold as fuck.

And now, what is this i hear..? Purring? What's going on with you, Achilles? Is it because i woke up at 7:00, finally, after all those years of meowing your way to my bed, in hope i would get up and cheer you up? Literaly, if it wasn't for the pair of huge balls that hang below his tail, i would think s/he's in heat or... something! But he's having none of that, just regularly love-seeking attitude; climbing on the piano, the desk, my lap; orbiting around my body and purring like a damn tractor! What the fuck?! Did i miss something? Oh well...

So there you have it: plan of the day? Also going on a trip of my own, but nothing as exciting, hot and HOT as L.A.! There will be none of that for the poor francophone soul that i am, but only the sad-looking, grayish, lost in time, somewhere in the 40s, campus of YorkU, Toronto, on which they are currently buldozing the only green space that made this place bearable, and to do what exactly? An entrance for the subway in four years. Hm... Oh, don't get me wrong! this is all good news! but still... going they make the entrance in a building?!

The event is the Grad Humanities Conference: The Everyday... as well as a zillion books i need to drop off at the library, ugh!

Stay posted! I'll put some art very very soon.

Recent artwork

2011-04-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new acrylic technique lately, taught by my great teacher Dan Anaka and here is what I have been working on.

These pieces are currently available on etsy and I am also taking commissions, if you are interested by a specific concept.

The Fallen Bride

This piece is called "The Fallen Bride" and I hope to make it into a tryptic ("The Fallen Bride II" already exists, as you can see in another post). I really enjoyed this new technique, trying to mimic oil paint but with acrylic. I actually never painted with oil... yet, but this is my next challenge!

Putting a "Curious Little Things" together!

2011-04-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

Well, this is my first day... the 1st day of blogging. Of course, I have a twitter account (emilieart) and FB account, but really, with all the social media now are available, why not add one more? hmm...

This is what I wasn't quite sure about. See? My goal is to become the artist that I am. But right now, I am mostly the artist of... my cat? Not so much... Oh! don't get me wrong! Achilles quite enjoys listening to me play piano, and paint, but most of all, he is quite annoyed when I don't pay him all the respect he deserves: my all god-damn attention!!

So, I had to do something about it... and here I am! Putting art and other curiosities together and enjoying a delicious green tea while typing the first words that will come out of my... body (? let's say body) for the day.