I have made an important decision this semester: I dropped one of my painting studios. As much as I hate to quit something, I believe there comes a time when you have to admit defeat and do the best thing for yourself. I was enrolled in 2 separate advanced watercolors, plus the non-traditional figure, plus I work 40 hour weeks to support myself. This was one of the crazier ideas I have had in a long time, and I realized it completely half-way through the semester. I felt my work was already beginning to suffer under the time restraints, which isn’t worth the extra 3 hour credit. I am tremendously relieved, and even feel better physically! From now on, I will not sign up for more than 2 studio classes at a time.
Fall semester: Part II October 25, 2008
I have decided that for the rest of the semester, I am going to focus on what I started with my self portrait. I think I will stick with the Alice theme, but perhaps if I really enjoy these enough, I may go on to “illustrate” other well-known stories and folktales. I’m pretty sure I want to use myself as a model in all of them, imposing myself in these stories as the characters. I have to say I’m pretty excited about this little series.
This is one of the tumbnails I’ve done, though I liked it better before I colored it. 
Mischievous Mannequins October 7, 2008
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- pimpin’ some hoes
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- “I love you too…”
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- bad haircut
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- The carnage
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- “Is my butt-key showing?”
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- something I never want to come across in real life
This project was actually quite a bit of fun. Our group had our manniquens being pimped out by a chemist, lurking in the shadows, and having what appears to be some kind of weird leg orgy in an elevator. The ideas and possiblilities for this project were pretty much endless. I was only upset that my camera battery died mid-photo shoot. 
I would have like to have taken several more pictures, but I suppose I can work from what I have. Even though these were not the lightest things to tote around campus, I would have liked to expand the project beyond the confines of school grounds to really get some strange shots ( not that posing naked, disembodied figures around the school wasn’t weird enough). There are someyt more photos, by the way, in case anyone is interested. I posted a few of the more interesting ones.
Freaky Doll October 7, 2008
I don’t know if anyone else had a figure quite as creepy as mine, but it really freaks me out. As I was painting this thing, I couldn’t help but think about Hollywood images of dolls in the context of bad horror movies such as Child’s Play and whatever else features 12 inch tall, plastic, needle wielding murderers. I know there are more of them. Maybe its because I took some pleasure in torturing this doll. I mean, she only cost a dollar, right? And besides, she is balding and her arms aren’t even the same color as the rest of her body. I was almost doing her a favor.
Anyway, a few of the pictures turned out to be pretty interesting. I had a few favorites, but I chose this one because I really like the sense of motion and vertigo I got from it after altering it a bit. This could almost be a whole series, like different crime scene investigations involving a scary-looking doll. If I only had the time… Oh well. Different project for a different era. Perhaps this is the beginning of an interesting idea though.
[galery]
Self-Portrait October 7, 2008
Sorry I haven’t been keeping up like some of you guys. I am so bad at remembering to do this stuff! I am also the person who checks their facebook about every 2 months, so you know what I mean. : )
Having said that, let’s go back to project 1, the self portrait. When first given this assignment, I was not at all thrilled. For starters, I cannot draw/paint a picture that actually looks like me to save my life. Second, shocking is not a goal I typically work toward when I paint.
It took quite a while to find inspiration, but when I really started thinking about what I’m around every day (I run the children’s department for Barnes and Noble) and what I want to do in the future, I of course began to think in the context of picture book illustrations. I decided to go with a familiar story and insert myself into the character’s position. I somehow came to the decision to use Alice in Wonderland, or Through the Looking Glass to be more exact, and started gathering sources to create my own composition. Although it still doesn’t quite look like me, and isn’t what I would call shocking (creepy, perhaps), I was happy with the results. This was my first time to create a composition from imagination, and to put my own spin on a familiar image.
Fall semester September 6, 2008
I’m not really sure what I am supposed to write on an art blog yet, but I’ll take this first opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Megan Barnes, and I am a watercolor major. Last semester I did a series interpreting landscapes, and this semester I hope to expand my artistic horizon by both loosening up and tightening my style in two separate series. I want to explore 2 very different types of personal portraits. I am very excited about this semester and hopefully I will come up with more insightful, inspiring blogs once I get started painting!
Hello world! September 2, 2008
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