For work (Maddock Douglas: Innovation Agency), I must create a "profitable product" that showcases my artwork. My first idea was to develop an unique line of playing cards, using hybrid animals on the face cards and redesigning the font. This idea, however, seemed unlikely to be completed by the end of august so I changed my theme: painted lamps.

I am very fond of this new direction, and I feel that I can achieve this in a few weeks once I produce my lamp "skeleton" (wooden posts nailed together to establish a rectangular-shaped box with an open bottom and top, a light bulb positioned in the center) and the rice paper on which I will print my drawings.

My design is simple: underwater themed since I personally love the creatures of the deep. I think I will draw octopi, starfish, sea horses, coral, and seashells. I intend on using either watercolors or sharpies to color in the design. The final product will resemble the dimly lit asian rice paper lamps.

Tell me, does this sound interesting? Or will this be a waste of time?

1. Purple buildings at night with golden lamp: taken my junior year of high school downtown chicago. I played around with hue/saturation and lighting techniques.

2. Reflection in water: taken at a forest preserve in Elmhurst. I played with hue/saturation and cropping.

3. The wheel: taken

at the same forsest

preserve. I barely

touched the picture.

I got really lucky with

the lighting that

day.

4. The pipe: taken at the same forest preserve and just saturated.

Artwork

1. The nude figure is ink (sharpie), watercolor, and gold leaf. Women's figure is so curvy and tends to be more fleshy, rather than muscular, so it never get too busy (especially if I dress her up). It's sold to a dear friend who requested a nude painting.

2. Photography is a love of mine, even though I have yet to take a course in it. Nature, textures and still lives really excite me; people...eh, not so much. I can never find a good enough model, and when I do try to use people, they never do what I want. So, I stick to things that DON'T move.

3. The photograph of the window was taken in my friend's dormroom at Eastern Illinois. I just so happened to be browsing through my pictures in the dark while everyone was asleep and set my camera to take pictures instead of view. The lens was pointing directly at the window and I saw it on my screen. I snapped it.

4. The charcoal portrait of one of my favorite models at school. He has such great expressions and is willing to be placed in any pose we, as students, give him. This is also my favorite drawing from my life drawing class. I turned this piece in as my final and, I am proud to say I received an A for the term!

5. Octobird is a combination of sharpie markers and prismacolor markers (I used the colorless blender). I first drew these images on separate sheets of ink paper (the two birds on one, and the octopus on the other) and photocopied them together onto cotton based paper. I then colored them in (about 8 hours) and then completed the background (2 hours). Birds and octopi happen to be my favorite animals to draw, so I just had to combine them!

Artist: Jeff Koons

This post is about art, despite its appearance of a pornographic rant.

One year ago, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago displayed the glorious work of Jeff Koons. Now, if you are not familiar with this particular artist, I will try to explain his work the best I can: FLIPPING FANTASTIC. Not only are his photorealistic pieces beyond unfathomable, but his attitude radiates from everything he creates. His "sass," as I refer to it, gives me giggles (Michael Jackson and Bubbles, anyone?). His paintings are not only complex, but so "mish-moshed" that it takes at least a full minute to figure out what the hell is actually in front of you. And his titles? Do not even get me started on those. Absurd. really.

Anyway, after I viewed his paintings in the first room (and being thoroughly impressed, might I add) I migrated to the next. Little did I know I would get a face-full of cleanly waxed vagina (and anal regions) and penis, penis, penis. This stuff was triple X! He actually had a piece depicting his own personal man-parts inserting into the model's vagina! (Thankfully he knew her. It was his ex-wife.) Now, I discuss this on a number of different levels: 1. How the hell does he get away with this? 2. Why am I so fascinated? and 3. How the hell does he get away with this?! Where is this fine line between tasteful artistic nudes and flat-out HARD CORE PORN? Is there a line? I'm really not sure.

Now, I am not saying that these pieces changed my mind about Jeffery, here. I still get the same sense of inferiority when I stand 2 feet away from his canvas, but I just want to know why he needed that "HOLY FUCK" factor (pardon my French) when he already achieved it with his paintings.

You must see for yourself.

http://www.jeffkoons.com/site/index.html

Will People Read Me?

Being as though I draw and NOT write, nor have I ever written, I fear this blog will make an ass of me rather than deepen my pool of artistic surveyors. Therefore, I must rely on my dry, sarcastic humor to gain interest and acceptance by you. You, the poor reader who must be cringing at my lack of literary knowledge. I apologize.

Instead of boring you till no end, I will get on with my promise of artistic enlightenment and whatnot.

Shall I begin with blatantly inserting my website? I think I shall...

www.samanthadecarlo.com