Save more water goddamn it.

One of the hands down most agreed upon places to have awesome ideas is in the shower. I was thinking about this between my washing and rinsing routines, feeling my muscles relaxing in the hot spray from the shower; why doesn't somebody invent a better shower head? Furthermore, why don't all shower heads come with a switch at the top to pause your shower and not lose that perfect temp you wasted so much water finding? Some shower heads have this, but they're usually the sucky ones that some jerkoff put a watersaver disk into that makes sure your shower is aggravatingly slow. Therefore, I think the best solution to this would be a mist setting on all shower heads. Think of the possibilities: Ten minutes into your shower, you done splashing around and ready to get down to the real business of bathing. Pausing the shower means essentially turning off the water and risking getting cold. Nobody except the indulgently challenged likes being cold in the shower so instead, what if there were a mist option? Hot mist would cascade upon you while you wash your hair, shave yourself, and perform all other tasks necessary to being in a quiet room where for forty damn minutes nobody can bother you.

Somebody should pay me for this shit.

The Shits Just Keep on Coming

The other day, unbeknown to me, I stepped in a huge pile of dog shit. I walked over to the smiling happy couple with their three giant hairy dogs and politely made conversation while I petted the dogs and then made my way home. I live close enough to work to walk and usually the little bit of exercise I get on the way helps me decompress before I get home. Lately I've been spending my walks trying to hatch different plans to motivate myself back into the working world. At present I am a shop girl at a retail store. I wear an apron and have been classically conditioned to greet anyone at the sound of the bell. Most of the day I think about Socrates in his prison cell and at lunch I read Dante's Inferno. It's not so bad as all that, at least I have a job. But in the grand scheme of things, if anyone asked me what I was planning on doing after college I don't think I would have ever planned on responding with a sigh and a contempt filled 'nothing'. I don't think I've even taken a picture since July and I'm beginning to wonder what the hell I'm waiting for. When did it get so difficult to do what I'm supposed to love doing so much it should be compulsive? When was art ever a forceful activity? And when in the fuck did I start putting off writing until the goddamn dishes were done?

I get home, pull off my shoes and turn on the news, it at least makes me feel better to know something. The couch is saggy and comfortable, but after standing for only seven hours I have enough energy to stretch. I move my shoes and put my head in their place so that I can push my legs against the wall and I notice the glaring unmistakable stench of dog shit. My shoes, which are so close to my head that their laces are touching my hair, are covered with dog shit. Both of them.

Shit.

Waiting for my ship...

Things not to do:

You should probably not be a student in a foreign country unless you are absolutely sure of the facilities and faculties of those in charge. As it stands, I spend half my time either waiting for instruction or facilities, like a computer, or a printer, or some other piece of frustrating, unreliable technology.

I know I'm not the only one. As I'm writing I'm watching my instructor hurry around the room trying to help six different people at once while also trying to clean the only good ink roller, and explaining over and over again how to make solar and lithography plates. He didn't know what he was getting into, signing up for this, and neither did I.

I'd try to come up with someone to blame, but around here if something goes wrong or is inconvenient the general consensus is that it's supposed to be that way.

It's supposed to be that way.

...

Respectful to toward all who prescribe to some sort of organized religion, I am one who leaves very little up to fate. Death sure, even love when it hurts is better left in the capable hands of time. But school supplies?? Fuck no.

Other than that, and a small bout of insecurity driven depression, this has been one of the most provoking experiences I have ever had. Not only am I in another country, sampling all the goodness my meager pocket can manage, I am on the cusp of a new phase in my life. The time I've had here perusing the architecture and eating gelato has given me the opportunity to sort out some very important guidelines that should pull me through the next year or so. At least, that is the hope.

In any case,

Here's to it and to it again. If you don't get to it when you come to it, then you won't get to it. So here's to it, and to it again.

Killing mosquitoes

So I'm trying to be less of a failure. Here is an example of that. I made this in photoshop, tomorrow I'll shoot solar plates and make a print with ink and paper. I like this; photography made out of ink and paper. It speaks to me. Yeah.



Anyway, Italy is hot and one thing I can't do here is sleep. It is currently 1am and my roommates and I are camped out around the dinner table telling stories from behind our computers. Tomorrow I'll get back to it. I should really go to bed, sometime.

The House of the Rising Sun

What have I learned so far...

It's hard to make art without communication +

I am painfully but unabashedly an English speaking American +

I am not an artist without words which means visually, I'm shit =

I am a shitty American artist

Frottage

N: a technique in the visual arts of obtaining textural effects or images by rubbing lead, chalk, charcoal, etc., over paper laid on a granular or relief-like surface.

AKA, not the middle school version of the definition.

In an effort to get myself back on track with this printmaking gig, I decided to go back to basics and follow my instincts, my mentor would be proud. I've been following this street artist named David Baptist Chirot for a minute now and recently had the pleasure of making his acquaintance in my home-base. He's an interesting sort, you can find his blog here:

Anyway,

he uses several different processes to accomplish his pieces, including making prints using a variety of stamp techniques and rubbings. I dig this low tech method, as I dig all low tech methods and I decided to give it a try.

I chose a variety of infrastructure emblems (they're so cool here!) and juxtaposed them against one another with a little momento mori just to keep perspective.

This is just the original collage, the real deal will be in print later today:


Cheers and beers to the American way, I'm going to visit a cemetery today.

Results to follow...

FLORENTINIAN STREET ART

I promised myself I'd get better at this. Good thing I'm more patient than I am active, I guess.

Here I am in lovely Firenze, Italy, spending the month of July (Luglio) getting fat and taking an art class. I'm determined to make the most of it. Somehow I ended up in a photo printmaking class, when I know nothing about printmaking. I can do photo fine, but the facilities here are kind of hard to access and get around and well, I'm just not a printmaker, not in this sense.

Anyway, I'm playing with this printmaking stuff. It's ok on the surface, I just lack the finesse and I can tell the instructor is getting as frustrated with me as I am with this class. I intend to make some darkroom prints, tracing certain elements of those images onto polyplates and making collages. Sounds rad, but so did the last idea I had and that might as well be at the bottom of the River Arno.

Current score is: Printmaking 3, Me 0

Upside of it all is that I'm taking way more pictures and that always makes me happy, even if I can't use them. This city is full of art. Every kind of art. Check this out:



This kind of thing is illegal where I come from (for some reason). Sorry for the blur, one day I'll either be a better or artist, or start selling insurance.