“mountainous”; watercolor, brush pen, and pen on paper; 9 x 12″
German watercolors are DA BOMB. I wept with joy as I was making this.
In a seasonal funk, which means no time for blogging (though plenty of time for Internet-ing), and lots of time wanting to curl up like a cat and wear a lot of scarves and scowl at people.
“slow wave”; pen, watercolor, marker on bristol; 9 x 12″
Feeling really sleepy lately, gonna ride a wave to sleep and non-drowsiness. But, I gotta put some drawing paper and some pens on that surfboard. Plus, my latest obsession: my sewing machine…!
(left) shortened linen skirt from Seoul (bought a decade ago lolol), (right) skirt I made from fabric I bought two years at Tokyu Hands (using this Childhood Flames guide)
I’m slowly getting better at sewing , but I kept messing up the hemming on the linen skirt, so I just decided to go with it and made some colorful, not-quite-straight hems.
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It feels goooooooooood to use things I’ve had for years but have been sitting on chairs and in cold, dark closets all this time. I almost want to get out a hula hoop and hula hoop my joy, but a) I don’t own a hula hoop, and b) I’m extremely unskilled at hula-hooping.
Best yet, I have some ideas for sewing (in a drawing-esque way) on found materials. Updates on that soon, after a couple of naps and a couple cans of soda.
Here is what I sent out for September’s Project Dispatch:
“my blanket is my island”; ink & brushpen on watercolor paper; 9 x 12″
Aaaand speaking of Project Dispatch, Chandi & Frank did such a lovely job at Hampdenfest. This is me inside the PD tent at Hampdenfest, staring at the green line that my phone camera always adds to every photo:
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This month so far has turned out to be a rather busy one, full of cats (well, one cat) & school & work & drawing & breaking in new shoes & scratching at insect bites. Tomorrow, for instance, on Sept. 17th, I’ll be at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore furiously drawing from 7:30 to 8:30pm.
I like drawing a lot & I like art events, but I’m not a person who likes to be a busy bee (I’m one of those people who likes to drink tea and likes to drink that tea slowly). So, it’s nice in this tender month of feeling busy-ish to get something GLORIOUS in the mail and get to spend some time out drinking tea and reading zines. YES TO ZINES! (zines by Anna + a Stanley Lieber comic I lent to Anna a couple of years ago). YES TO SCRUNCHIES (made by Anna and Mika)! YES TO ANNA! College friends turned Japan-dwelling turned mail friends are the best.
“hand-generated computer art”; 4.5 x 6.25″; computer ink & pen on paper
“hand-generated computer art 0101: there are 10 types of people in the world — those who understand binary and those who don’t”; computer ink & pen on watercolor paper; 5.5 x 8.5″ (thank you to bigzom for helping me with the title)
Drawing geometry is infinitely better without rulers or compasses!
These will be up at Hampdenfest this Saturday. Hopefully, any residue computer ink smeared on my hands will be less noticeable by then. I am a little worried about my lifespan now that I’m working with computer ink & accidentally dripping it all over myself and, you know, livin’ on the edge, but I’ll try to more careful next time.
“Crystal Cavern”; 5 x 7″; ink & pen on paper
“I’m hungry”; 5.5 x 8.5″; watercolor & ink & pen & marker on watercolor paper
I have the “Hurricane Sickness” — some weird blend of flu-like symptoms + belly aches that came out of being holed up inside with a computer so long (was trying to get a better hang of digital drawing & I was also playing video games) and eating too many sweets during Hurricane Weekend.
I was able to rid myself of some of the computer/Internet surfing-induced nausea by a traditional drawing session. I know I complain sometimes about my wrists feeling all shaky and tired after one too many drawing marathons, but in the end it’s pretty therapeutic and calming and probably adds a lot of years to my life that sitting too much takes away. Wait, does drawing count as sitting? I mean, I do sit when I draw, but…oh, snap.
Anyway, perhaps the worst thing about catching the flu/whatever-this-thing-is is that I can’t enjoy any of the foods I normally like. In “I’m hungry”, the Cat Power-esque girl is staring at beautiful photos of food on the Internet (like those photos on Smitten Kitchen) and dreaming about the following:
OK, now I’m sad I can’t eat any of these things right now. Time to grab some chicken noodle soup…
“pineapple head”; 8.5 x 11″; watercolor, gouache, acrylic, googly eyes, pen on canvas & bristol
“monster pet”; 9 x 12″; pen on bristol
Today there was an EARTHQUAKE! on the East Coast in the U.S.A. Since earthquakes are uncommon here, people were freaked out. I kept staring at them as they went outside & looked around confusedly on the sidewalks, and I wondered who would survive and who would not in a zombie apocalypse.
Maybe I am being arrogant — or maybe I’ve just been playing too much Left 4 Dead 2 — but I have a gut feeling I would last semi-long-ish. I would probably end up smashing my nose and getting zombie gunk all over my hair and maybe, just maybe, I would end up looking like one of the creatures I sometimes draw. Not sure how I would permanently attach like a thousand googly eyes to my body and face, though — with a needle and some zombie hair?
“at swim two birds”; 19 3/4 x 27 1/2″; acrylic, gouache, watercolor, & pen on arches watercolor paper
“ambiguous seafood”; 5 x 7″; acrylic & pen on paper
My right hand & wrist, already cramped and developing a callus from too much computer mouse-holding, is tired of drawing and ready for a break. Or is at least hoping to do some cappuccino-holding and/or book-page-turning instead.
Annnnd, with that, here’s a water-related summer song for you guys:
“lacking a deep sea diving suit”, 8.5 x 11″, marker & pen on paper
“sleep in seaweed”, 8.5 x 11″, marker & pen on paper
Some new things I made — with the ocean, seafood, unexplored lands, spaceships, The Little Mermaid, and Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World on my mind. Also, probably lox influenced these drawings, too, which in turn made me really hungry for bagels.
“3 mtn. toads”; watercolor, pen, & sumi ink on watercolor paper, 8.5 x 5.5″
“chiquita non-banana”; collage made up of my own discarded watercolor & pen drawings, 6 x 6″
Here are the drawings I’m sending out for this month’s Project Dispatch. Please subscribe, and you can help me feed my cat.
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Ugh, it’s August, quite possibly my least favorite month of the entire year, next to July. I’m not really sure why. Maybe deep down in my subconscious, I have some beef with Julius & Augustus Caesar — something having to do with being forced to read Julius Caesar in high school or something. BUT, this August going a-OK so far. Lots of tea + copious amounts of time staring at Liam Neeson the Cat have been incredibly helpful.
Also! I will be hanging up my work at Cafe Einstein in the next week or so. I am furiously working on some new pieces, which I’ll definitely post up here when they’re done. Since Cafe Einstein is my favorite restaurant/cafe in Baltimore — and is conveniently only one block away from me (and on the same street!) — I’m really happy to have the chance to decorate it for a little awhile. Whenever I eat the handmade tiramisu, a part of me dies & floats to heaven & dances (barefoot) merrily in the clouds…
I’ve gone back to the Ghadibalo project, and I’m trying out digital methods of drawing. It’s working out all right, I guess!
This woman’s name is Mildred R. Swerakcilhi Ghadibalo-Zzzzarw. She is 100% Ghadibalan but after a trip to England in 1850, Mildred decided to dress in English-style clothing. This portrait was originally drawn by a famous Ghadibalan painter (name is somehow unknown, but rumor is he made his own mineral paints by scrubbing rocks on a nearby cave and collecting the dust in the many pockets of his parachute-like trousers), and this is my digital rendition.
This blog is meant to capture the things I draw/make.
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sk@stephaniekwak.com
