Mewseum

The prompt was to create a collection and a means to display them. So, naturally, I created cat-sized paintings, recreating popular paintings in the history of art, with cats as the subjects. Then I made a cat sized museum in which to display them. I thought up this idea while joking around with friends, and I don’t think I took it seriously. Before I knew it, I was invested in something that I thought was insane. Through the many hours it took to paint the tiny paintings, construct the building, install the lighting, and suspend it within a black box of fabric, I often asked myself, “what possessed me to do this?” I’m not sure. But I think this may be my proudest artistic achievement to date.

Forgive the sloppiness of the panoramas. It’s really difficult to have a steady hand while you are turning around on your knees, with your head in box.

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Over thanksgiving I painted for 33 hours, sitting in the living room, interjecting into family conversation with a single-hair paint brush in hand. I found images of famous paintings in art history as well as images of cats whose faces and general attitude fit those of the people in the paintings. On my procreate app I adjusted the colors of the cat pictures in order to match the coloring of the painting more closely. Then I painted each recreation, relishing the absurdity of what I was doing. I love detail work like this, painting images that fit in the palm of my hand. My back and neck didn’t love it, but I’m sure they’ll forgive me when I get to rest during Christmas break.

I made little artist statements for each painting, with cat puns for titles and names. My autocorrect was very confused. Here are the paintings with their titles and names of the artists. The backdrop of each painting is the piece of cardboard that I used as a palette for all the paintings. That is my thumb holding them up, to give you a sense of their size.

Meowna Lisa, by Meownardo da Catchi

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The Yowl, by Edward Meownch

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The Nuzzle, by Gustav Clampt
(With real gold leaf!)

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Catposition in Red, Blue, and Yellow, by Piet Meowndrian

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Whisker’s Mother, by James Catbot McNiell Whisker

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The Cat with the Purrrl Earring, by Johannesburg Vermeower

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American Clawthic, by Grant Meowed

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Van Meow’s  Self-Portrait, by Vincent van Meow

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With my Dad I cut out styrofoam sheets in order to create the 3x3x2 Mewseum. We cut out baseboards and pillars as well. We painted the walls with some leftover house paint. Here is a picture of the process.

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I assembled the Mewseum, using different types of tapes and glues, doing my best to secure this lightweight styrofoam structure. I got very familiar with duct tape.

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To put up the painting I needed to make sure they were at least somewhat level. This wasn’t possible while outside of the box, so I sat inside it. Here’s a picture of me at one of my happiest moments.

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The lighting was probably the most frustrating aspect. Many times in this project I would set out to do a task that I thought would take an hour, and it would end up taking 5 or more. This was definitely one of those tasks. I thought it would be a simply matter of poking some holes, sticking in some Christmas lights, and maybe cutting out some paper light shades. It got a little more complicated than that. I wanted to allow the highest possible amount of light to come in, so I had to adjust my former designs. I created four sort of skylights in the middle, cutting out four squares out of the ceiling and putting some plastic table cloth material inside the holes. I attached a mesh of Christmas lights on top of that. Around the sides I created quasi-spot lights. They basically just point down, but I think the idea gets across. I thought that this would take no more than two hours. It was much longer. I sat in the UN room, Christmas lights trailing around me for some festive ambiance, and cut out dozens of paper and foil cones. I connected the paper cones to the inside foil cones while watching the Great British Baking Show (I highly recommend).

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Finally I finished making the cones and it came time to attach them to the lights as they poked into the ceiling. First I had to tape groups of 5 lights together, and poke them into one hole. I had to do that process 32 times. Once that was done I took the ceiling off and laid it upside down so I could attach the cones.

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I suspended the Mewseum between three coat racks. I used safety pins to put up some black table cloths around the frames of the coat racks. I wanted to create a mysterious, sleek experience. Using a good amount of wire, my friend Audrey and I attached the duct tape loops to the coat racks. Audrey held the Mewseum on her head as I frantically tied the wires, trying to get them level. We had to turn the lights off, because it was getting too hot.

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The Mewseum was successfully suspended, but it caused the coat racks to lean in on each other, which made the front curtain sag. Audrey and I moved the long red couch onto the left side of the Mewseum, using the weight of it to keep the coat rack upright. To keep the other side upright we went on a hunt for big rocks. Those arrows are directions to the plug, so that people would plug it in and unplug it themselves, in order to keep the Mewseum from overheating. The experience as a whole was an absurd time that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

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It was an adventure trying to document the Mewseum from the inside. It’s difficult to take photos from the right angle and height when you have your head and arms inside a box, sticking up through the hole like a kid who got stuck in an innertube.

I got a few shots of Audrey in the Mewseum, looking as if she was sticking her head up into the opening of heaven.

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After I realized that the concentration of Christmas lights and the lack of proper ventilation makes the Mewseum quite warm, I decided to keep it unplugged unless people were actively experiencing it. I make signs in order to add the plugging in and unplugging to the  Mewseum directions. Rather appropriately, I’m sure cats would love to visit the Mewseum, since its so warm.

The best parts of the process may have been getting to witness the experience of others with the Mewseum. Before our final, I took many friends from outside of class to see it. I loved hearing their reactions as I sat outside. Most of them had already seen the paintings when they were on my desk in my dorm room. The last person to go in was my friend Emily who hadn’t seen the paintings yet. The rest of us sat on the floor listening to her reacting to it, reading off the titles and names, giggling and gasping the whole time. My friend Hannah turned to me and said, “this is art... hearing her reaction and knowing what she is looking at. That is art.” Another friend of mine came by when no one else was there. She sat behind the curtain with her head in the box, talking to me as I sat on the floor outside of it, back against the wall. We talked like that for a long time. She had been having an awful morning, and she said that being in the Mewseum was like being in a different world. She said she felt safe and that from then on, she was in a better mood. This was a little place that people would escape from the stress of finals.

I wanted to make something lighthearted, for the first time in awhile. I like cats, obviously, and wanted to display the elegance and culture that I imagine them having. In Sophomore year of high school I made a large version of the cat with the purrrl earring, and looking back on that I figured doing miniatures of that and other similarly famous paintings would be a blast. I didn’t foresee how much work it would be, but it was definitely worth it.

My plan for the Mewseum in the future, is to install it somewhere in my house, lifted up with some sort of ramp leading into it. The dream is that someday I will poke my head up into it and find one of my cats snuggled up in the corner, taking in both its warmth and its culture.

However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not willing to sell some of them. I’m sure my cats would understand. :)

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India Inks

I thought I would share some india ink paintings I made last semester in drawing 1 class. :) 

The trees were painted plein air and the other is just a fun design with contour lines. 

You can purchase them on the new works page

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Figure Drawing- Brayers

This was one of the most difficult techniques for me to get used to. We painted the figures using brayers for printmaking, which are similar to paint rollers.  We focused on getting in the general shapes with the brayers, rolling them in black and white paint. It was difficult to get precision, which was hard to let go of, but that allowed us to make some interesting pieces. 

(click the right image to scroll)

originals are available for a small price here

Figure Drawing- Charcoal

Figure drawing was a wonderful experience, that I was not expecting to love as much as I do. The idea of drawing from nude models was a daunting thought. It was uncomfortable, but only slightly, and only for the first few sessions. I was surprisingly easy to get used to. 

I know some people are skeptical of, or downright against, nude figure drawing. I always thought it was a bit weird, and perhaps inherently inappropriate. My views have completely changed. Our figure drawing class was, as my professor suggested, a redemptive work. Through this class I saw how skewed and damaged my mindset about the naked body is. In our culture the human body is often over-sexualized and shrouded in shame. Figure drawing provided me with a completely different view.

First of all, on a technical point, to draw humans correctly in clothing, one must learn how to draw the form beneath. There is no way around it. 

Secondly, figure drawing helped me truly see what a miracle our bodies are. Our small class of only five, sat in reverent silence, observed the light fall on the models, and made art. The thought of that studio room will always fill me with profound respect for the human form and gratefulness to the models and professor who taught me how to draw it better. Our models were not what you would see on a magazine. In all shapes and sizes, they were not young, nor did they fit our culture's standard of beauty. The bodies of these models were well lived in. They had wrinkles and rolls, which honestly made the drawings more fun to draw. Through this class, I saw these models as the beautiful human beings they are, worthy of respect and works of art in of themselves. Learning to see everyday humans in this way was beyond restorative.

I truly cannot express how much I loved this class, and, not to be cheesy, how it blessed my life dramatically.

We started out our class with charcoal drawing. Each day would begin with short sketches, doing out best to capture the essence of the pose, and if we had enough time, include some shadow-mapping or even shading. 

These charcoal drawings range from 3-5 min sketches to a bit more refined 10 min drawings. (click the right picture to scroll)

We would do longer poses as well, getting the structure correct, and then including the details. 

These next drawings are of longer poses, ranging from 15-25 minutes. (click the right picture to scroll)

As you can see, especially in the last few drawings, I got frustrated drawing the face at some times. A few times I played with different sorts of shading, and even designs for shading. 

originals are available for a very small price here

Digital Painting

Going into digital painting, I did not think I would like it. I have always preferred tactile methods of creating art. However, I had a wonderful experience this semester, and have decided digital painting is now a favorite medium of mine. 

Our class worked with Photoshop CC to create the pieces below. Each project would start with a sketch phase, getting the general idea down. After the sketch was refined, we would create a value study, painting the subject in grey scale in very simple shapes. Once we saw that the values opposed each other well, we could colorize the value study. The product of that step is similar to what you see in the Summer Scene. Then we would render- my favorite part for sure! 

I love digital painting because of the wonderful edit-ability of it. Using Photoshop we were able to create detailed paintings in many layers, which allows each layer to be edited separately. There are infinite options, which can be overwhelming. However, it offers such freedom for creativity to run wild. I simply cannot list all of the details about why I love it. 

Enjoy the finished products! 

Summer Scene 

For this assignment we were asked to create a summer scene by using flat colors and clearly defined shapes. I tried to include bright, summery colors in a image recognizable as summertime. I included some textures as well; watercolor spatters on the ocean, a cork texture on the sand, a scan of a towel for the beach towel, and some kind of cardboard texture for the book cover. 

You can buy prints by going to the new works page or the notecards and prints page!

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Character Portrait

For this project, we were asked to re-imagine a recognizable character from a book, movie, or legend. I chose Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye. Among other things, Holden is known to be a symbol of teenage rebellion. In the book he is always wearing this red hat and often calling others, especially those in the adult world, "phonies." I decided to re-imagine him later in life, working in the adult world, as the phony he never wanted to be. He is at work, depressed with who he has become. Yet, he still wears his red hat. 

I followed the same process as outlined earlier. However, I didn't add any textures, instead focusing on color contrast, rendering, and evoking emotion. 

You can buy prints by going to the new works page or the notecards and prints page!

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Passion Project 

For the passion project, we were asked to create a series of three images that depict something you are passionate about. I decided to show my passion for painting, writing, and how those things bring people together. I also just love the challenge of painting hands. I wanted to depict separate hands painting and writing, as realistically as I could, loosely mirroring each other. I then join the two hands together, as well as the colors from each piece. The hillside the hand is painting on the left is a close-up of the scene in the middle. The yellow and orange pops of colors from the journal and sticky notes in the right painting are repeated in the middle painting, by the use of poppies blooming on the hillsides. 

You can buy prints by going to the new works page or the notecards and prints page!

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Hand Painting

My brother was my hand model for this piece. I simply had him pretend to paint on a blank canvas. For the hills and lake, shown in both the left and middle painting, I used a photo I took on a hike in the Bay Area. I had to create a more vibrant scene than the photo, due to the silver, foggy day. I tried to depict the early stages of creating an oil painting, the paintbrush trailing thick pigment behind it, catching light in shiny glints. I used a canvas texture, letting it peak through more in places with less paint. As with all of the pieces of this series, I loved rendering the details on the hands. 

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Hands Holding- Poppies

Creating the photo reference for this piece took almost as much time as painting it. The hand reference was easy enough, using my brother and my sister-in-law as my hand-models. However, the background was a bit of a bear. In the way of Frankenstein, I cut and pasted several different photos into a readable scene with all the elements I wanted. The background hills were from the aforementioned photo. However, in that photo, there were no flowers of any kind. I scoured my photo libraries to find pictures I had taken of poppies. It was a strange patchwork of images that took time to create, but it was worth having a cohesive reference. 

I enjoyed playing with different kinds of brushes in this piece, using my typical standard oil brush for the hands, and delving into some spatter brushes for other portions. 

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Hand Writing

I enjoyed including the details of this piece, probably more than the other paintings. Some of the most fun parts to render were the simple shadows, reflected light from the pen on the forefinger, and the transparency of the lined paper. This was a fairly simple photo reference, the journal and papers completely devoid of any writing. It was such a joy to include all of the writing in the painting process. 

This painting is the most personal of the series. I have always enjoyed writing, but only started sharing it last year. I had a professor freshman year of college that encouraged me to pursue my writing and to share it with others. However slowly, I have been taking his advice. Although I am not majoring in English as he would like, I am planning on minoring. Sophomore year I decided to write poetry more often, one poem a week as a goal. I decided to shift my college plans toward Art and English, instead of Art and Biology. My roommate commented that my decision made sense, saying that I spent my free time writing poetry instead of balancing chemical equations. I started reading more poetry as well. 

In this painting I included references to the two poets I started reading regularly. On the sticky note, partially obscured, though slightly legible through the transparent paper, is the name of my professor Teddy Macker's poetry book, This World, and the title of one of my favorite poems of his, The Mosquito Among the Raindrops. There is also, in the lower, left-hand corner, mostly hidden by the journal, a note about one of Emily Dickinson's poems. All of the other writing in the painting is my own. The writing on the papers in the background are some of my poems, showing the scratchy writing I scrawl in the brainstorming process, on any paper I have on hand. The poem the hand is in the middle of writing is Passion, describing my feelings about changing my path to pursue English as well as Art. 

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Sanctuary-"Closer"

Sanctuary Woman Church Community Communion Worship

For my sophomore project we were given the theme of "sanctuary". I used acrylic on canvas to paint my project, "Closer". 

My piece is meant to represent a Christian as a “sanctuary”, a sacred place, safety for those who need it, and the vehicle for worship of God. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, making our bodies sacred. Historically, sanctuaries have often been built on the site of a  holy person’s grave or a miracle. Because of the death of Christ, the most holy person, we have been made miracles. Followers of Christ are meant to exemplify His open arms, the safety of His presence, and the abundance of His love. With warm colors, bright light, and perspective, the painting is designed to draw attention to the front of the church. The closer we get into relationship with others, the more we can worship God, together. Painting this has been both a conviction, reminding me to be sanctuary for others, and an encouragement, reassuring me that I am bought with a price and equipped by the Holy Spirit.

Come see what the sophomores have created at our exhibition on April 11th at Westmont College!

Digital Tools Projects

This semester my Digital Tools class was a big learning curve for me. I have always been much more of a tactile artist and so this was a bit difficult. I did end up learning a bit. Although I am still very much an amateur, there are a few projects I was a bit pleased with. 

Campaign Poster- Inspired by Shepard Fairey Obama Poster

Campaign Poster- Inspired by Shepard Fairey Obama Poster

Biblical Truth Poster- Job 1:21

Biblical Truth Poster- Job 1:21

Surreal Landscape- formed from 3 separate images in Photoshop "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. "- Henry David Thoreau

Surreal Landscape- formed from 3 separate images in Photoshop 

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. "

- Henry David Thoreau

Immigration Project

This specific assignment is meant to illustrate a story of immigration. For my piece I chose to talk about my parent's process of getting my brother his green card, and eventually dual citizenship. Their journey involved a lot of forms, of which one misstep results in years of progress lost. They had to stand in a lot of lines, becoming more and more stressed as they waited. The crumpled-up pieces of paper in a line represent the bureaucracy, the waiting, and the overwhelming stress of becoming a citizen. 

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Sketch Exercises

In my drawing 1 class, we were assigned over the course of the semester, to do dozens of sketches of ordinary objects. Here are some of my favorites. 

(click on the right)

Portrait of my Mother

I have been wanting to work on painting acrylic, especially the blending of lifelike colors. I decided to copy an old picture of my mother. It is not an exact representation and the colors are not perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out. Here are some pictures that depict the progression of my painting to completion. (click to the far right of the gallery to see the progress)

Through this project I have learned a lot about representation, blending color, and depicting light. To show you the many other pictures of the paintings progress, you would see that I also had to practice a good deal of patience. I have a lot to learn about painting features, color, and light, and I am excited to grow more in the projects ahead. 

Illustrating for the Horizon

This year I had the pleasure of doing some illustrating for my college's newspaper, Westmont's Horizon. Here are some of my favorite little projects. 

An illustration for the first year students feeling like they were drowning in the new college environment

An illustration for the first year students feeling like they were drowning in the new college environment

An announcement for a Green Day album and tour

An announcement for a Green Day album and tour

An article on the Canadian "Tell America It's Great" video

An article on the Canadian "Tell America It's Great" video

Halloween as an Excuse to...

Halloween comic

What To Do Without Wi-Fi 

A cartoon after a weekend with no wi-fi 

A cartoon after a weekend with no wi-fi 

How to Socialize at Superbowl Parties

The debut of Ed Sheeran's Divide Album

The debut of Ed Sheeran's Divide Album

For an article on students various study spaces

For an article on students various study spaces

For an article on the death of political parties 

For an article on the death of political parties 

2x4 Process Art Project "To Fingerpaint"

In my sculpture class this semester, for one of our projects we were asked to do a process project. For this piece we would take a 2x4 of wood and choose a verb. Then we were to do that verb to the piece of wood, experience the process, and basically see how it goes. I chose to verb "to fingerpaint" 

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I took a spin on a childish process, and found it was cathartic and stress-relieving. 

Ladder Found Art Project

When considering materials, I decided on things that people would throw away, things that are old or have no use anymore. A person's trash tells a lot about them. It shows what they value, or used to value. My ladder is meant to symbolize the progress of our society, our country.

The rungs represent different ways that we self-medicate, our obsessions and addictions. There is workaholism and money, obsession with beauty and luxury, alcoholism, addiction to drugs, addiction to technology, and obsession with food. Our country is touted as being very well developed, modern, and prosperous. Distractions like these have existed in all cultures, but if we were so mature and healthy, why would we self-medicate so much? The vertical supports of the ladder are covered in pages of the Declaration of Independence, constitution, and other similar documents. In this piece I'm not making a statement that gives answers, but I am considering a concept and asking questions. Is this reliance on work, beauty, alcohol, drugs, technology, and food caused by our moving away from the founding principles of our country, essentially burning away their authority? Or is our nation essentially flawed, a mess from the beginning, founded on blood and oppression?