BAKE-A-THON

So today I was on a baking spree, don't ask me why, there wasn't any particular reason why I decided to start baking like a maniac.

I baked lemon-poppy seed bread,


white chocolate chip cookies,


raspberry oat bars,


banana muffins,


and two types of cheesecakes (graham cracker crust and chocolate crust).

I guess that I might have decided to bake because of the photo assignment due on Monday: Simple and Complex. For my simple photographs I decided to take photos of individual baking ingredients: sugar, honey, eggs, milk, white chocolate chips, and flour, in natural light from the kitchen window set on a black background. For the complex photographs I decided to take photos of the"complex" baked goods I made throughout the day: white chocolate chip cookies, banana muffins, raspberry bars, cheesecake, and lemon-poppy seed bread.

These are some of the photos I am thinking about using for "Simple".




I need to shoot some new photos and re-shoot others for the "Complex" series because I lost the ideal lighting as it got later in the day. I need to get up early again tomorrow and hope for good light two days in a row. I plan to print and mount my photos tomorrow so I can spend the rest of the weekend working on my paintings and my web site HTML/CSS.

Sktch

It's sad that the only thing that has inspired me lately is getting my work done and I don't really think that's very inspirational... it's more just the only driving force that is existing for me right now. I just want the semester to be over.

Crunch Time

I think I'll finish my painting today after I buy some Japan Dryer to help my paint dry faster! I just want it to be done because I also need to construct the armature for my pterodactyl sculptures for my crit tomorrow...

One more sweet night in my real bed...

I'm going back to RVA tomorrow which I am not at all happy about (on the train no less -_-), but I am required to attend the last week of classes, so I'll stop complaining. Today was nice and relaxing: I woke up and ate breakfast with my dad, then went to Ellicott City where I bought a new nose ring, which I had to have put in at Bear's Den (the parlor where I was pierced) because I didn't know how to do it... @_@ ... Afterwards, I came home and watched Alien vs. Predator Requiem which is totally awful, but I still love it. I also got to hang out with my mom and make Shrimp Pad Thai from scratch (minus the noodles) and watch a movie and then watch Alien: Resurrection with my dad. 3 movies in one day... I can't help myself. Actually, I've now watched both AVPs and two out of the four Alien movies this break... I'm such a nerd for those movies!

Either way, I had to do some work today, so I made my last wax casting which is still curing and I fixed up my other ones. Here's what the rubber part of my mold looks like:


With the mothers... which look like a sculpture themselves.


And my castings....


So much work for two wax castings... I guess the semester has paid off though because they look pretty damn awesome.

Giving Thanks

...that Thanksgiving is over (except the mashed potatoes are all gone... fail)! And also the damned Black Friday. Ehh. My dad works at a LEGO store, so I went to the mall to see him last night while he was working from 12:00am to 8:00am. It was a mad house, not just his store, but the whole freaking place. And people were eating chinese food at 3:00 in the morning; it was so bizarre and I probably won't ever go out to Black Friday again because it was no fun. Anyway, I've pretty much just been maxin' and relaxin' the past few days, but I needed to do some work today so I started making wax casts in my pterodactyl mold. It's quite frustrating because the neck is so weak that the heads keep breaking off and I have to find some way to reattach them which means lots of hot wax all over the kitchen (and my hands). I've also been brainstorming ideas for my "Simple vs. Complex" assignment for photo and I think I have some cool ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to find the strength to upload some photos tomorrow, it's just been hard to motivate myself to plug the cord into my computer... Also, I want to scan in some pages from my sketchbook that I've been working on recently.

Oh yeah, I thought this was funny: Nativity Scenes... Gone Awry?

Almost time for a break...

I still have once class to go until Thanksgiving Break and I unfortunately need to attend it. Afterwards I just need to pack and get on the train bright and early tomorrow morning. While I wait to go to class where I'll get the chance to finish the details of my Pterodactyl mold, I'm reading some FMA manga which I haven't revisited since the summer time. It's relaxing to be able to do something for myself, but I know once I get back from class I'll not only have to pack, but also try to do a bit more painting, although I am very close to finishing up which is exciting!

(Edit: I think I got a bit farther on this before I left for break, I finished the hairs and the face on the left, I'll update when I get back to RVA.)

I hate it when it rains in Richmond

I hate it when it rains in Richmond because I already lack motivation and when it's rainy, cold, and nasty outside, I am even less motivated to do anything. Plus, my long bike to class guarantees I will be disgusting and wet when I get there. Obviously I'm not feeling very glass half full today, but at least it's getting close to the end of the semester, so I'll be able to relax in a few weeks. That's so crazy to say, but we only have about 5 classes left or something... So, for the most recent assignment, I changed my ideas quite a bit. I had the words "narrow minded" and "paradigm end". I decided to make them relate to each other and the theme I chose was Democratic party vs. Republican party. My photo for narrow minded depicts a Republican holding a gun to a Democrat which is meant to imply the fact that most U.S. citizens see the two parties as always feuding and backstabbing.


The paradigm end photo shows a democrat and a republican meeting to shake hands. I meant to imply the end of the two party feud and a new era of cooperation.


I very obviously cheesed it up by using the same model for all characters (which isn't only cheesy, but also shows that all politicians are actually very similar and share most of the same agendas and views) and a plastic elephant trunk and donkey nose.