Another Progress Report

This is a gift I painted for Val's Dad on his birthday in four steps.

Updates and New Things

Long time no Blog.

Not only did I manage to finish the painting from my last entry, but I've also managed to start a new sketchbook which has 9 (somewhat) impressive pages, make an oil pastel drawing, and finish another painting - the latter having happened just now.

Other updates:

• My portfolio evaluation at York is on the 19th of February, and I hope to make a grandiose impression on them, and beat that advanced standing out of them if it's the last thing I do.
• I have had an awesome new baby nephew born on January 20th named Janok (Yan for short) whom you can see on your right.
• I've opened a jewellery shop on Etsy, which you can find here: Uvellire on Etsy
• My jewellery is being used in a photoshoot which I am helluva nervous for, because what if [insert insecurity here].
• I found an old corset I was working on maybe three years or so ago, which I am now planning on finishing. It is horrendously put together with the plaids unmatching, but to hell with that, I'll finish it anyway, because it's a less useful waste of space otherwise.
  

On with the fun stuff though, here's the chronological order of the painting progress of the guy with the beer:
Ta-DAH! And to add to the artsy-fartsy flavour, I'd like to include a blurb about the making of the pastel piece and the latest painting.

Pastel landscape started with a dark purple gradient (adding more white towards the top) on a piece of paper in acrylic paint. Once that dried, I worked a lot on the background, making it as smooth as possible, and working as far back as possible, perspective-wise. first laying out the colour and mist, so on and so forth until I got to the very foreground. You can see the results on your left.

The Oil painting I did a bit more tracking in terms of photography, so I will be able to show three steps - essentially beginning, middle and end. I started out by squeezing the three primary colours onto my pallette from my acrylic paint set in order to do the underpainting. After making a VERY minimal sketch in pencil, I covered the entire canvas in red, outlining the general sketch in a darker hue. Then, when the red dried, I filled in shadow with black, and added the yellow (ochre) in the lighter areas, leaving the red as "neutral". I also used a spray bottle to spray it down a bit with water to create some cool runny effects, in case I might let them stand out for looking cool later. This resulted in the monstrosity you are witnessing on your right. After this dried up (with the help of my trusty blowdryer, for I am impatient), I applied my first, highly diluted layer of oil paint, to begin to somewhat match the colours on the original picture, and slowly but surely began to form the image a little more thoroughly. You can see what happened then on your left. I used a large, flat brush to do the initial coverage, switched to a medium flat brush to do the rest on this step. Finally, I formed all the cool parts I could using the medium flat brush for it's wonderful strokes, and moved on to a medium round brush to do the rest. The only thing I used a tiny brush for is to sign. Voila - the finished piece (in all its poorly photographed glory):
I shall update again when I have a nicer picture of it, possibly photographed in the daytime. The original image is the photo on the right, so you can get a look at what I used as a reference. It's an image I got off Deviantart called Winter Nights by deviant 9Kay3. As you can obviously tell, I put my own spin on it.

Ends and Beginnings and Quaint Irony

It is somewhat ironic that my first 2010 post is about beginnings and ends. It has nothing to do with the fact that the year ended or began or whatever else might be attributed to the celebration, as a matter of fact. Simply, I finished Heather's vest, and began a painting and would like to share.

Here is an inside and outside look at the vest before I sewed it together or put the boning in or did anything much more than pin it together really. Green is the inside, black is the outside.



That's the basic idea, and because I'm fond of visual data, here's a picture of me attaching the trim to the vest.

It was quite a feat, because this vest probably turned out to be the neatest (on the inside) piece that I've made to date. I tend to cut a lot of corners when I'm making stuff for myself so if someone were to analyze the internal craftsmanship they'd give me an E for effort at most. To make a long story short, I'm lazy if I know people won't be looking (that merit an opinion). However, this one came out good and tidy, and even pleasant to look at on the inside, and I'm quite proud of the results. Here's the final product at last, on yonder Heather:


And now, onto beginnings. Today, I painted what's left of my heart out for the first time in ever, and felt myself live!!!!... probably not quite so dramatically, but it did trigger the memory of myself being a decent-if-not-good artist. Not to blow my own horn, but sometimes there is a time and place for it, namely in a blog that no one really reads. [insert happy face emoticon here]. I am drawing a scene out of a book about London, England, where a gentleman gulps down a dark beer, holding under his arm a newspaper, all in sweetly amber tones, as you can see on the original photo on the left.

I painted for a good three hours, and tracked my work in progress, two of which photos you can see on the right. The last one best represents the piece as it was when I packed up my brushes and paints. It's being done in oil on a canvas of about... 18" x 24"? I'll have the dimensions when I'm finished, which should be this upcoming Friday.

New Year's Eve Updates

I got a little sidetracked from my Tudor project due to the overwhelming amount of gifts I had to buy/make, and also because of the fantastic light box I got from Val for Christmas. On Monday I spent the day at Kristina's photographing Uvellire products (my jewellery) with her behind the camera and me setting up the displays. I will be posting up pictures as soon as I get them to shareable visual perfection, but in the meantime I'd like to share something else.

Here's my work station: as you can see, it's a sewing machine on a chair.

As I've mentioned before, I have presents to make. Emily got a wonderful pencil case which I didn't get a photograph of because I'm a silly goose. A bunch of people got jewellery. Dad got a sweater, mum got business cards, Val got a hat, Kristina and Nadia got makeup. Heather is getting a vest, which I will be blogging about because I am sewing it, and I finally remembered that I wanted to track my projects!

The inside of Heather's corsetted vest will be green (because I have a ton of that fabric), the outside will be black with a little bit of gold trim. So far, I've figured out the pattern for and cut the green parts. The reason I say figured out the pattern is because she's slightly bigger than me in the torso area (I have a very narrow back!) and needs a size 5 while I'm a 2. Hopefully my pattern expanding works. Anywho, the visual data pretty much accounts for it all. The green fabric used to be a sheet (which I bought at ValueVillage!). A King Size bed's worth of green fabric for two bucks = win. Just because my work conditions are somewhat depressing, here's a picture of my cats to contribute to the [myth?] that all seamstresses and costume people are also crazy cat ladies.

Here's a sexy posing Lucy, sleepy Shoura, and Sylvie in the Tree :)

Painting is like Riding a Bicycle

The title of this entry makes as much sense as "your face is like your mom". Essentially it is, because you share genetics, but the two joke-retorts form a similar structure to a double-negative: something you don't want to use. Unless of course you don't have full command of English yet, and you want to tell your friend that they look just like their mother. This blurb has nothing to do with the rest of my entry, but it was fun to write.

Today I realized that if you don't use it you lost it. Maybe not completely, but seeing my art skills wane, definitely made me lose it a little bit. It's really frustrating not to be able to imitate what I see onto the page in a close enough likeness, especially after my head grew so large from getting the Mona Lisa (almost) correctly. Out of my (re-) growing obsession with Tudor history, I decided to draw the Anne Boleyn miniature, and, while it's coming out not as bad as I'd thought it will, her neck is far too long and I'm terrified of starting the face. This is bad, ladies and gentlemen. This is what happens when you've neglected your talents for half a year. You get back on the bike, you fall, you feel stupid.

As inspiration, I've been looking a whole lot at the works of my favourite Renaissance masters, such as Hans Holbein, and the ninja turtles, need I say more. (Hans Holbein and the Ninja Turtles sounds like the name of a band. Maybe they play lutes and bang drums with paintbrushes? While eating pizza?) I find the use of colour particularly fascinating, just because of how lit the paintings look. From candle to face to scenery, everything is so vibrant almost like it emits light in itself. I should also mention the spectacular portrayal of texture in fabrics! I have never been able to reproduce a fabric so finely that you can tell at once that this one's silk, that's taffeta, and this one is the richest of velvets. I guess, though, that's why they're masters, and I'm the university student who forgets to paint because she forgets she's actually good at stuff.

ANYWHO, the whole point of this ramble is to remind myself to paint more often, and to remind anyone who reads this (not sure why I have a delusion of an audience but it's always a nice thought) not to forget to do what brings you pleasure regardless of the challenges in its way. If you say "well partying brings me pleasure" I say no it doesn't because you get drunk and then don't remember what happened. Also, it doesn't take skill. You feel better about yourself when you feel useful.

Tudor Musing

I have decided to get back into my wonderful wonderful obsession with Tudor history. With reading another one of Philippa Gregory's fantastic novels, I realized that I wanted to make a new gown, because the old one is not fit for wear in public, unless public = a photographer. While the last one was made with equally intricate research, the sewing was done on a whim, with fabric I could afford, and while watching (on a loop) the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which no doubt had an effect on the appearance of my gown. Often I've gotten comments on its likeness to Elizabeth Swan's wedding gown, which is way forward in history, but I digress.

Given my current conditions: being broke, lack of space, upcoming lack of time, and rarely being by myself in any given room, I will have to compensate by taking forever to make it. Hopefully this time I won't fail to document the making of it, as I have wanted to before (before I realized that it would be an embarrassing documentation indeed. Also, hopefully, unlike last time, this gown will come out spectacular and crowd-worthy.

Word for the wise: It is not going to be entirely historically accurate. I am cheating in many ways, such as Velcro and sewing machines and all that jazz, because I am aiming for looks more so than technical historical accuracy.

What have I so far? A fair idea of what I want my gown to look like, am engineered design in mind, and a few cut-outs from muslin which will serve as part of the bodice. When I have a better idea of what I'm actually doing as well as some photos, I will update. When I have concrete research I will also update.

Here is a photo of the old gown for starters. The french hood is photoshopped, but is another part of the costume that I am hopefully going to get around making this time around. Because I am namesakes with Anne Boleyn, I added her signature for fun.

Ta

Three times the fat, five times the denial

“Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors.” - John F Kennedy

Ladies and gentlemen, the few of you who read this don't normally flinch at politically incorrect opinions, but just in case you decide to show this to someone else, I would like to give a warning prior to beginning my ramble: The things I am planning to say here will be HARSH AND OFFENSIVE mostly due to the fact that I speak of controversial topics without sugarcoating, apologizing, or leaving out views considered taboo by the general public. If you do not agree with me, please challenge my opinion, but back it up with reasonable facts rather than saying "omg u r teh bitch, shut up ur probably an anorexic or something". I LIKE learning from my mistakes (should I make them). And now, on with the show.

North America, you and your kids are fat. *dodges some airborne rotten vegetables*

Aherm. Today's topic is childhood obesity. I specifically target children in this rant, because if successfully stopped in the wee ones, the adult obesity rates with follow in decline. According to statistics, the past 25-year period has seen a tripling of obesity rates among children and youth all over North America. What are the causes? I'll tell you many. Let's start off from what the government has to say:
"Weight gain results from a chronic energy imbalance as well as other factors, which include:
-Economic status
-education
-genetics
-social factors
-built environment
-culture and media"
All of the above are true, but they don't really elaborate on most of these. They comment mostly on economic status of the children in question, claiming that "The problem is magnified among poorer families, who may have difficulty providing healthy food choices and physical activity opportunities for their children". I disagree. As far as food is concerned, it is much easier to purchase raw ingredients with a small budget. Basic items such as rice, potatoes, vegetables and spices last a long time and provide many healthy meals in a variety of combinations. As it turns out (who'da thunk it?) home-cooked food (not home-style takeout but stuff you make yourself in your own kitchen) is a lot cheaper and a lot healthier, so get off the McDonald's, away with microwave dinners, and get cooking. As far as physical activity is concerned, I don't remember having to be a member of the financial elite to go for a romp in the park with your friends. Just because you can't afford to sign your kids up for a soccer team shouldn't mean that they have to restrict themselves to watching you watch soaps all day long.

Note how the rest of the causes are left unexplained by the article. Allow me.

Education: Valid point. Kids need to know that eating garbage will make them unhealthy. Yes ma'am, your child is fat. Education is important for both the children and the parents. This comes as a shock to most people, because even though they deny it, they do not consider that it's their job too, as parents, to be aware of and follow through with a healthy lifestyle in order to raise physically normal kids. That doesn't mean you have to run to yoga classes, become a vegetarian, and follow all the latest diet trends as well as purchase a treadmill. This just means that if you're going to the grocery store, put some cookables in the shopping cart, and leave the car at home if there's a plaza anywhere within a kilometer radius of you. At the least. We all need to be taught to distinguish bad from good and how to make choices. Otherwise we'll eat whatever the TV says is good, and trust me, as long as it gets paid enough TV will say anything is good. "Who knew that your old cellphone could be such a wonderful on-the-go snack? with only a bit of ketchup I have a ready meal in no-time! MMM-MMM!" Retarded? My point exactly.

Genetics: Nothing we can do there. If you have the predisposition to become overweight, that's actually not your fault. The one thing you can do for yourself, however, is not become obese by allowing this inherited trait to become an excuse for an unhealthy lifestyle. "Bigger" shouldn't mean "can't fit through door".

Social Factors: If you have fat friends, you are more likely to become or remain fat, due to lifestyle observation. With exceptions of course, the majority of people have a mass mentality: ie. if others are doing it that must mean that it's good/ok. Let's put it this way - if you have a group of friends who are consistently spending their time on non physically challenging activities while consuming mostly pizza, pop, and other junk, how likely are you to say no? This is especially relevant if the adults that surround the children in question do nothing to make this behaviour appear negative to the kids.

Built environment: This has a lot to do with how we get around. In more compact cities such as Dublin, Ireland, and most other cities in Europe, one is probably a lot better off on foot or taking the public transit to get around, unless they are going on an inter-city trip. North America, however, is built on the assumption that we all have at least one vehicle. (Good on everyone who supports public transit as a green method of getting around, but the structure of our communities make that very VERY hard to sustain. More on that later.) Taking my hometown and its neighbouring communities as an example - if you live in or close to downtown Toronto, you most likely take the TTC (The local transit system) to get around. I live about an hour north of downtown, which made it quite a pain to travel to work every day when I used to work there. If I lived in Richmond Hill, say, or Maple (both are a part of the Greater Toronto Area but are suburbs, and thus far from the center), chances are I would be working in Toronto, which would mean I need a car. Suburbs do have their own little plazas with grocery and other kinds of stores, but you should consider yourself lucky if you live near one. Otherwise you need a car. Basically we're all commuters, most of us have vehicles, and who wants to walk when your car can take you there faster, even if your destination is close by? We'll drive to the nearest McDonald's, and hey - we don't even have to get out of the car. We just order in the drive-thru window, and keep sitting as we munch away on the god-knows-what we call food.

Culture and Media: Here's a good one! Kids, as I am sure you all know, have a great sense of how to tell apart real advice from marketing campaigns. I sincerely hope you understand that I am being sarcastic. How can kids keep away from fast food, say, when they are rewarded for making a purchase with a toy? How can one not want that delicious-looking sandwich that spins slowly on the screen, while the man we don't really get to see tells us how delicious it is, confirming our initial reaction? It's not only food, it's other things too. The TV doesn't automatically turn itself off at 2 pm for "do whatever else you want except watch TV" time. It keeps going, and there's an endless number of channels offering 24/7 broadcasts of anything you can possibly want. Each and every impulse targeting the me-here-now (the constant stimulation of pleasure and immediate gratification receptors). This makes lazy kids which grow into lazy adults.

Ahh, back to being otherwise opinionated. After a very long explanation of government-outlined causes (with a bit of digression), I would like to add certain things to the list. The biggest and the baddest one of all would be the "someone else will do it" concept. Our society relies heavily on this mentality. From good old playground days we are taught that we are not allowed to do something about it (whatever the mysterious it may be), but we must tell the teacher, otherwise we get punished. We grow up, and when the teachers are long in the past, we look for other people to complain to, whether it be the government, or a lesser authority, never really taking any steps to fix the problem ourselves. "MY kids are fat. What are you going to do about it?!" cry the multitudes of parents out there who don't bother to realize that it was within their grasp to prevent that, but they didn't acknowledge the opportunity when it was there. Newsflash - the majority of what happens around us is, you heard me, our responsibility. It is up to us to make sure our kids grow up healthy mentally and physically, which leads me onto the next point.

Obesity as an eating disorder. Don't think I underestimate that. I am fully aware that eating disorders do not only consist of the kinds where you diminish in size. Binge eating is a very common way for people to deal with negative emotions (ie anger, sadness or fear), just like binge drinking and other substance abuse. It, once again, triggers the pleasure receptor, because eating tasty things can make you feel good, whether through association (I remember eating this at grandma's, oh she was so nice. oh this turkey is so good. oh grandma. sigh.), or just because it's tasty and it's there, and it's something you think you can control (I can't make other good things happen to me, but this food is good and i have the choice to put it in my mouth or leave it there. Why would I say no). Before trying to fix the mistake we made (whether in our child or in ourselves) we need to consider whether or not the obesity is caused by unhealthy external habits, and/or whether it's coming from within. There's no point in treating binge eating with a diet, because that will only help the issue manifest itself as another eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa.

NOW - let's look into what the government, to whom we're all crying out to for help, is proposing as a solution.

"The answer to rising childhood obesity rates lies beyond the scope of influence of any individual Canadian, any government or sector to address on its own"

I see. So what you're saying is that it's our job to work together and save everyone all at once through a long process but we can do it guys?
That could work. In a Utopian society. But unfortunately, those don't even work in literature. What we should focus on, instead is the individual ability of a person to change themselves. If everyone starts there, then it's a pretty damn good start. It's all in the individual, believe it or not. If the mayor came to my school and told my class that X and Y is good and A and B (which is what we are doing currently) is bad so stop, I wouldn't. I'm a kid and I don't care what they have to say. They're not around to yell at me when I don't follow their rules. My mom and dad are. But my mom and dad are special as is. They actually took the time to explain why X and Y are good and what makes them better than the A and B that I'm doing. Plus, they were always good role models. Not everyone is blessed with parents like that, but every child deserves it. We owe it to our kids to take on the responsibility of adulthood, to set a good example so that they can learn through observation, and can't catch us in our hypocrisy when we tell them than being a couch potato is a horrible thing and that they should go play when all daddy does is watch TV.

The government also has decided to encourage and promote healthy eating. Great. Awesome. A poster. To me, that sounds like codswallop, but for some people it's useful, I suppose. The only problem is that marketing campaigns for actually unhealthy foods can cater to the recommendations, and thus appear to be ok for consumption. If they really wanted to make a healthy choice they would ban fast food, or hand out monthly coupons which would limit the amount of fast food one can consume (the coupons being the only acceptable currency in fast food restaurants). If it is banned altogether and someone wants a burger, they're damn well are going to be forced to make one, and that will at least be healthier than purchasing a Baconator.
Providing accessible mental health alternatives for people who suffer from eating disorders would be nice as well. The diet trends in magazines also should go the way of the dinosaurs. It's not the thin image that's getting in the way as much as the advertised methods of achieving the skinny bod. Beauty isn't what you appear to be, it's what you are. But they'll never do that, because it will hurt the economy. Good job, government.

Finally, something that I do agree with, is an editorial in the CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) that cited some approaches to solving childhood obesity:
1. Increasing physical activity through unstructured activity as well as access to play equipment

I can't stress enough how important unstructured play is to everyone. It stimulates absolutely everything including the mind, developing imagination, conflict resolution and social skills, muscles (as kids run around and tumble on the playground or in the park), and most importantly, self-driven proactive behavour.

2. Parents acting as positive role models of an active lifestyle for their children.

You gotta see it to believe it.

3. Limiting TV and Computer/Video Game time to less than 2 hours a day, to reduce sedentary behaviour.

I once babysat a five or six year old who preferred her portable game system to playing with a ball. That is not normal.

4. Changing the entire family's lifestyle.

This is definitely the most difficult part, but it is tied in with the parent as a positive role model: if the family can't lead a good lifestyle, their children aren't likely to either.