Drawing from Photo

Here are the photo, the drawing of the photo, and the drawing of the drawing. I am not satisfied with my work because my drawings are usually more interesting compositionally and more finished looking. Despite that, I enjoyed this project. The concept of drawing something based on another drawing was very interesting.

Embroidery Project

The pictures are not as good as they could be, but this is the progress of  the embroidery up to the point where it was seen in class. More will be done eventually as time permits.

Band Review

Wet Magenta at East End

Wet Magenta appeared at East End January 21, with special guests Little Beirut and Crystal Lines. Special guest Little Beirut played a short set of three favorites from their latest CD, and put on a stellar show as usual. Also as usual, Crystal Lines failed to deliver a set worth listening to, making most of the audience wonder why they are still a band.

Headliner Wet Magenta filled the recently refurbished East End with the fine indie rock sounds we have come to expect from this crowd pleaser. Front-man and lead vocalist Crank Bash continues to astonish with his virtuoso lute work, managing to seem both folk and rock at the same time. On their rendition of "This Song Always Changes", Crank's fingers were a whirlwind of musicality ably backing his rather rasping vocal gymnastics.  Another high point of Crank's lute performance occurred during "I am in Your Zone Baby", the band's latest foray into the not-so-soulful ballad. Vocals for "Zone" were provided by the keyboardist Ms. Clara T, who took a break from her racks of keyboards to tease the edges of her soaring voice with a softly strummed dulcimer. We were all very impressed with the talented Ms. T's latest musical offering. Someday we may find the limits of her instrumental repertoire, but it wasn't apparent here. Percussionist Wiley Wrangler seems to have found a new home behind a series of trash bins, which replaced most of his drum set for the evening. His affinity for the unusual reveals itself in the astounding assortment of bins, lids, bells, whistles and metal sculpture that he coaxes into providing most excellent beats for any manner of song the band performs. During the energetic "Ingredient Fun", Wiley played the stage and walls of the venue, even as Crank Bash danced through the nearly incomprehensible lyrics of this crowd favorite. East End has never seen a percussionist like this before. 

The show's set list contained an outstanding assortment of new and old, including:

"Play Me Now", "Why Baby Why", "My Atomizer is Ionized", Crank Bash on vocals

"Frost and Fire",  "Not Again", "Jackpot Crackpot", Ms Clara T providing voice

Wet Magenta delivers again

Band Flyer

Posted at Jim Dandy's Drive-in Restaurant, Sandy Blvd Portland 

Least Favorite Songs

This list also changes, but some of these will always be reasons for me to change the radio station or even run screaming from the room.

"Jack & Diane" John Mellencamp
This song was very popular for a very long time and maybe I wouldn't hate it if I hadn't heard it so much

"Muskrat Love" Captain & Tenille
There is no reason for this drivel to exist. A former roommate used to play this song and other similar crap. Possibly to make me leave the room

"Whiskey Girl" Toby Keith
A four minute song should have more than one minute of lyrics. Repeating the same lyrics multiple times does not make them better, and these lyrics were inane to begin with.

"Wonderful Tonight" Eric Clapton
An inane love song from a drunk to his nanny. Just because you are a guitar god doesn't mean you can make stupid songs like this one.

"Home" Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
For whatever reason, this song makes me want to rip my ears off

"Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" Jimmy Buffet
When I lived in Kansas, drunk frat boys used to gather around the jukebox and attempt to sing this song. The title is reason enough to dislike the song, but then there are the lyrics and the memories.

"Ironic" Alanis Morissette
Actually any song by Alanis Morissette would fit into this category but this is the first that came to mind

"Come Away with Me" Nora Jones
She has a lovely voice. Pity she chooses songs with pathetic lyrics

"Party in the USA" Miley Cyrus
Or anything else by Miley Cyrus. I have been told I need to be younger to enjoy her music.

"Rock the Casbah" The Clash
I love The Clash, just not this song. I include it to show that even a band that I like can make a song I dislike.

Favorite Songs

These are some of my favorite songs. The list changes quite often


"Brother's in Arms" Dire Straits
A haunting, melodic song about peace by one if the best guitarists there is.

"Windows are Rolled Down" Amos Lee
A song about love or pain or both sung by an excellent voice

"Hey Hey Hey" Michael Franti & Spearhead
An upbeat take on depressing things and holding out hope for better things

"No Rain" Blind Melon
This song got lodged in my mind several years ago and I don't mind

"Slow Down Sundown" Steve Winwood
An older song by another great guitarist about accepting loss

"Road to Gila Bend" Los Lobos
This song just makes me smile

"Truckin" Grateful Dead
This song was old the first time I heard it and I still listen. Its an interesting story

"Airstream Driver" Gomez
A fun song, even if the lyrics are a bit repetitive. It makes me want to dance

"Howlin' for You" The Black Keys
Great beat, fun tune

"Down by the Water" The Decemberists
Its not typical Decemberist music, but its catchy and I have been singing along when it plays on the radio

Public Intervention Art Part 2

This is the last series of photographs. I wanted to follow in the footsteps of all those who were trying to make the city a more attractive place. There is a construction site next to a strip mall near where I work. This is not an attractive sight. I thought that it may be improved if it had something nice to wear so I put hats on the road block pylons. The construction workers watched what I was doing but did not say anything to me. They may have been concerned that I would cross the line that the barriers were making. The people around the strip mall ignored me. There is a Starbucks across the parking lot from where I was placing hats and the people in the drive-through line were also occasionally watching me but they may have just been bored waiting in line. It was foggy so all of the pictures look grey. When I left, the baseball caps remained. I do not know what happened to them.

One pylon, one hat

The pylons in the back were jealous that the front pylon was so stylish

Pylon buddies, sharing pylon jokes

A line of pylons, a row of hats

Pylons looking stylish in baseball caps

Library Intervention

Camila and I arranged a few newspapers and a study carrel to create a small fort for me. I am a little too large for the space but its a nice place to hide and reas the news.

Public Intervention Art

I am intrigued by Gabriel Orozco. His art is as unexpected as it is beautiful. I was most fascinated with the images of where he places things in unexpected places; not jut cat food on watermelons or cat pictures among the green beans, but images of eyes in the sand, as well as images of broken trees and impossible skeletons.

I decided to try to do something unexpected. I have a toy "My Little Pony" and I decided to take it places where most toys do not go and see what happens.

First stop: Pony on a dumpster

Pony on a Fence
I liked the foggy background

Saw a shopping cart in a parking lot. It became
Pony and Cart

Pony Post

Pony Parks Legally

I liked Lee Walton making art by moving things. I tried to move things and make it art as well. I was in the grocery store and rearranged a few things on shelves. Taking pictures in the store made me really nervous.

Here is the "before" of the cereal shelf 

"After" cereal shelf

"Before" peanuts

"After" peanuts

I left things as they were after the change but wonder if anybody notices change in a grocery store.

Its not on Pine

I looked at a map of the town I used to live in and there is NO Pine Court. All these years of thinking I used to live on Pine have been wasted. On the map it looks like "Poplar Ct". Still a tree name with no trees near by.

House on site

The boring boxy house from the front. Making this house out of cardboard is very appropriate considering how much of a box it really was. The front window on the left would have been my room.

As shown, this house has more of a back yard than the real house did. The only things in the back yard were my swing set on a small patch of lawn and the driveway. Luckily there was a park nearby where all the neighborhood children played since all the yards were tiny. We also played in the street and across everybody's front lawns. There were no fenced yards so we roamed freely.

My famous bloodstain. Nobody really paid that much attention to it after the first couple days it was there but it did not wear or wash off while we lived there.

The swing set. I didn't want to make it look attractive because it wasn't. It was red but the paint was peeling and most of the metal was rusting. I don't think they can make metal swing sets anymore. They don't seem safe now. For me, the best part of this house was the swing set because I was the only person who used it so it seemed like it was mine in a place where everything was shared.

Construction of the house

House painting on the lawn. Luckily the black grass will grow away.

Making windows

Cutting windows and doors into the first floor.

Still working on the main floor. I realized that the house was symmetrical except for some of the windows, which made it easier to determine where to cut. 

One of my helpers

Not all assistance is useful

Swings, steps, sidewalks

Blueprint for Childhood Home

Mom may be right. The houses all tend to blend together. I put in what I remember but there is much that I have forgotten. The main floor is centered, with the small yard, left is the basement and right is the upper floor. 

Assignment #1 Interview about Childhood Home

I interviewed a my brother and my mother about childhood homes. My brother's responses are below. My mother's responses were vague and I am not going to use them.

Rebecca: How old were you when you lived in this house?  

Sterling: 3 to 4?

R: What do you remember most about the house? 

S: it was a duplex, located on a culdesac road.

R: What was your favorite part of the house? 

S: The basement where I had a fort under the stairs. I used to keep a peanut butter sandwich there, in case I needed a snack. Sometimes it would lie there until the next day. I loved it.

R: What is your best memory of the house? 

S: I used to call our dad for dinner, he had his office in our basement, and he would give me piggy back ride up to the table.

R: What is a bad memory of the house? 

S: I got caught by our parents, covering the neighbors welcome matt with a giant mud pie. Mom wisked away the mud pie and mixing bowl seconds before the neighbors got home.

R: Was this house better or worse that the house before it and the house after it? 

S: The house after it was fun, yet I'm told it was in a bad neighborhood, which influenced my brothers.  The house prior to it was moistly a blur of a house next to the church and a huge snow field that we crossed one time to get to the clinic. That's about all I can remember.

R: Were there pets? What were they? 

S: We had a couple of dogs, but they wern't as memorable as other things. 

R: What color was the house? 

S: Good question. I guess white?

R: What color was your room? 

S: Can't remember. 

R: Would you live there again if you could? 

S: No, but I would willingly be a kid again as long as my family was part of the deal.

First Post

This will look better very soon