holly + jolly

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I am in Dallas for Christmas on a sneaky trip. Got a ticket the day before Christmas Eve and left to surprise my mother and sister (my dad already knew about it), and was pretty successful. I managed to scare the crap out of my mother who had just exited the shower.

One of my favorite moments of the flight over was a family with two pretty young kids. The little boy fell asleep quite quickly, leaving his nintendo DS dangling from his fingers. His father gently pulled it out of his hands and began playing the game quietly, while his son slept in his lap, unaware that his father was beating the level for him. I like to think that the little boy woke up later and thinks that he beat that unusually difficult level, while his father grins sneakily next to him.

Have a good holiday, and think warm thoughts.

grass growing in a sign.

That's actually grass growing within the confines of a sign post.

Cheers!

(The show's still going on at Gateway-- go see it!)

the drive to California.

backgrounds

(that's step one)

I spent my entire evening doing anything but the studio work I was supposed to have accomplished. My film professor marched into the middle of our class today, announced that he had just vomited in the bathroom, and dismissed class. I took that as a sign to stop working completely.

My roommate and I spent a few hours on the front porch of our yellow house, smoking cigars and drinking tea and talking about how our parents met. And about how easy it is for kids to be convinced of the most ridiculous things. I actually believed that my ears would fall off if I didn't wear a hat when it was cold until an embarrassingly old age, thanks to my mother. I believed that swallowing watermelon seeds would allow a watermelon plant to sprout in my stomach, thanks to my (still defiantly mustached) father. I was also tricked into solving trigonometry problems over the dinner table. That kind of childhood.

The final details for Saturday-- the show is called Impressed: New Visions in Printmaking and it will be going down from 5 - 8 (but I won't be there until 7) at Gateway Arts. There's a facebook event as well.

OH AN EXCITING NEWS! My art portfolio now has a real home at:

www.fawnax.com

Enjoy!

Whale Edition and Gallery Opening

Happy Day Before Thanksgiving.

Some exciting news-- my work is being shown at Gateway Arts next Saturday evening-- specific times to follow. Gateway Arts is located in Hyattsville, and to be honest I really don't know very much about it. It's a University of Maryland Printmaking Show so it is strictly Screenprint, Woodcut, and Etching. There are some very cool pieces in the show, and you'll get to see what I've been busting my bum for.

The edition began as a four color separation piece, but that's almost barely a ghost now. I've been experimenting more with my inks and technique this time. I've introduced gold ink into my palette, and have started playing with letting the ink dry in my screen a bit before pushing it out. So the four color separation of the mysterious pole has transformed into a couple whales doing backflips in a strange ocean. I say that it's an edition even though they're all one-of-a-kinds because I had to use only one screen of 4 images to create these three prints. My emulsion went bad so instead of bothering with new images, I decided to use one screen and lots of tape to create new ideas in each one. It's an interesting series, if nothing else. If you're looking for the same rough and gritty that you saw in the last series, you'll see it again here in the form of burnt whales. Also, the work from the last series is going up too, I think.

It took nearly eleven hours in the studio yesterday and five hours in the studio the night before just to touch these three prints up. There will also be tiny test prints available for extremely reasonable prices between 5 and 10 dollars. The entire day in studio sped by so fast, and I'm even a little sore today just from pulling and scrubbing, pulling and scrubbing.. It was a good day though. We switched between pumpy music (like the ever-amazing Sleigh Bells) and intense films (Batman) and just rocked out until we couldn't move anymore. That's the thing about printmaking-- it's always a collective. It's a social art. We help each other out, we give opinions, we borrow chemicals and wash out each other's squeegees. So even after 11 hours of it, I went home on a high.

I've included a close up of one of my prints.. if you want to see the full thing you're just going to have stop by...

So for today, I can just sketch outside and watch my cat chase leaves blowing in the wind. And see my sister who I haven't seen in so long.

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow-- be thankful for what you have, and surround yourself with good food and good people.

bite me.

It's hard to believe, but this adorable dog trying to drag along that absurdly long stick had a go at me today. He's bigger than he looks-- if he stood up, he could easily rest his front paws on my shoulders. He's a very playful dog that simply doesn't get that his claws go through skin and his jaws are pretty strong too.

Anyhow he got a bit rough playing today and jumped at me, swiping me with one of his paws-- giving me a nice curvy scratch on my chest, right below the clavicle. It's very, very shallow. And then, the daring dog tried to bite me (!) but all he got was a mouthful of leather jacket. He growled and I yelled back. We looked ridiculous in the street, I'm sure. It looked like this beautiful dog was attempting to maul me and all I was doing was stuffing my arm in his mouth and yelling "STOP IT JOE, THIS ISN'T FUNNY. STOP!" He settled down a little bit, so I dragged him home, and stuffed him in his crate.

Side note: who names their dog Joe anyways?

A Public Plea/Threat

Dear Father,

We may have had our differences in the past, and maybe we still do. I am by no means the best daughter in the world. But you know how it is: I'm forgetful. But at least I come up with really inexpensive (some might even say free) ideas for birthday gifts for myself.

Do you remember that one time I wanted to go to a rock concert on a school night in high school? And you said no. So I emailed all your friends/co-workers/possibly some of your bosses and told them to join me in convincing you to let me go? And then your inbox got flooded...And it worked?

Yes. I am willing to do it again. And if you thought that was bad-- just wait and see what kind of ideas I have for this year. And you know what I want.

Please shave your mustache for my 21st birthday.

You have until the 22nd to give me your word in writing. If not, then Phase 1 will begin (Phase 3 may involve shaving your mustache while you're asleep).

All I want for my birthday is to see your upper lip and steal your dignity for a short time.

Very sincerely,
Your Dearest and Most Favorite Daughter Fawna