Sketchbooks, Part 4

I call Winter Break hibernation because that's exactly what it is. The thing with art is, you don't stop thinking about it. Ever. Everything is an idea. And ideas are always growing and changing. And they lead to making. And losing sleep. And even when you do sleep, it ends up relating to art, more than not. At least for me. So as soon as my final critique is done, I clean my room to an extent, throw some legwarmers and dresses in a suitcase, grab a fresh sketchbook, and head to Detroit. This year, I spent 2 weeks of having a fridge full of food and coffee from a coffee pot (and not a vending machine). It was bliss. And like I said, that first day I can sleep, I hibernate. It's not unusual for me to sleep for 15+ hours then. I'll sleep through everything. And wake up at 3:45pm. Best. Feeling. Ever. My mom never understood it, you know, because she has 5 kids and is more tired than anyone ever could be, but for those of us who go to art school, we know it's completely necessary. Because once those two weeks are up, it's back to school, the day the studios open, before classes begin, to make and think.

These pages addressed my ideas and my material preferences. And eventually, after working through technical logistics, I came up with an idea. At the time, I wanted to back project (to limit the interruption of the image) onto "tapestries" of sorts--pieces of fabric that I would silkscreen and embroider a collage of images to tell the story of the character shown in a rotoscope, based on a photograph. The tapestries changed a bit, for the better, but it was a series of scribbles that made sense of the mess in my head. 

And then I did my first rotoscope, about Joanna, with the tapestries in mind, thinking about how the projection would end up looking. 

Classes started. And I started drinking vending machine coffee again. And my dad started making fun of me for drinking vending machine coffee again.

In case you were curious what I wore while making messes this winter, it typically consisted of a floral print dress (or skirt) that may or may not have hurt Debbie's eyes, a cardigan (always), tights or leggings, legwarmers, and superstrengthwinter boots. And a piece of lace or fabric or something to hold my bangs back. And a braid. 

When I took notes in classes, I also took notes on the discussion, in the form of awards. Sometimes I have little patience. But hey, if I'm gonna think mean things, thinking about it as an award makes it a little nicer, right? 

These pages were filled while I was in some stage of production of Joanna's rotoscope. So I would occasionally re-summarize my ideas and often doodle and write myself fun notes. I need balance.