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Art Class #2

Ugh. Nick was sick w/ a mild case of stomach flu so I had to go to the class by myself. It was DISMAL.

The teacher was a total dickhead to me. I got the very strong vibe that he really does not like me or want me in his class. This guy is significant because he was Nick’s first art teacher years ago and Nick was very excited to learn from him again. I was hesitant about an oil painting class as a first painting class EVER and the teacher seemed to think I couldn’t or wouldn’t do it from the get-go. Even after I spoke to him at length about the class and told him that I was there to do my best, he apparently did not take that to heart. He appears to have ignored our conversation and instead harboured ill will towards me ever since.

I don’t know what his malfunction is and I don’t particularly care. Judging by the way this guy runs his class, I’d say egomaniacal is a fair adjective for him. So, it’s OK to slap some gesso on a piece of cardboard and paint on that, but by GODS you’d better buy GOOD paint and brushes (read: the exact brand he uses) to do so! It’s insane. He wants everyone to invest $100+ for his overpriced ($140 for 6 classes) class even if you are a total n00b and don’t even know if you’ll like oils! I cry shenanigans! Continue reading “Art Class #2”

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Sia show

We went to the Sia show last night at Variety Playhouse. Poor Nick has a mild stomach flu bug, but he soldiered on. The show ended up selling out – I’m glad I picked up the tix the other day!

So, if you looked at Sia’s website (which you will do now if you didn’t…), you’ll get a good idea of the nature of this cute little pixie from Oz. Ms Sia Furler is from Adelaide Australia (the Aussie equivalent to Northern CA) and quite the sweet goofy girl. She chats a lot throughout her show and is so sweet about playing songs and making shout outs for the fans who ask via her message board. Her show merchandise was in the same style as the site – cute! The first song was her current single, Buttons. The band came out in blacklight reactive costumes that looked like the stick figures you see on her site – again, very creative and cute. She also had large blown glass with neon flowers all over the stage. The 4-8 ft tall flowers were VERY bright – sometimes too bright for my light blue eyes!

She played newer selections that I’m not familiar with, most likely from her new record, but she also did Destiny from Zero 7 – awesome! She didn’t go into any of the more downbeat songs from Healing is Difficult, which is where Drink to get Drunk is from, sadly. I really wanted to hear that song. But nevermind that, she did a startling version of Breathe Me that was intense. During the pause between intro and verse, you could have heard a pin drop in that venue. I’ve never in my life seen an audience so rapt. It was spine tingling.

Another thing that was startling about this show is Sia’s voice. It is nothing like what you hear on the records. NOTHING. That little pixie lays back and wails! It was spectacular! My one suggestion to her (which I’ll make on the message board that she reads daily) is to stop over engineering her voice for the records. Seriously. She has a voice akin to Melissa Etheridge or Ann Wilson as far as power. I had no idea! Others in the audience were amazed as well. She should let that raw power show a bit more in her recordings, I think.

The band was piano/keys dude, bass dude, acoustic/electric guitar dude and cello dude. The cello made the show, IMO. Have you ever seen a cello player rock? Now I have and it’s so very very cool. For the rendition of Breathe Me, that cello was integral. It was amazing the depth he brought to the songs. Kudos to Cello Dude.

She did one encore after an explanation of why she now does them – funny! – and then literally scampered off stage. It was so damn cute! I could just pinch her cute little cheeks! I’d really like to meet her, I just know she’s as sweet in person as she is onstage. She’s happy to be touring, happy to have her career back (thanks Six Feet Under on HBO!) and a total sweetheart. I look forward to her next tour.

After the show, roughly half the venue was outside surrounding Sia’s bus! I hope she’s used to that and doesn’t think Atlantans are weird! I think that this tour will definitely push her into stardom. When fans sense that kind of authenticity from a performer, they will move heaven and earth for her. I know I consider myself a full on Sia fan now – up from just a casual listener.

Thanks Sia and band for a truly excellent show. I’ve seen many, many shows in my life and this one is one of the best. THANK YOU.

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The Anti-Painting class

Well. We went to the class that Nick’s art teacher is doing over at Binders. It’s an oil painting class, but he wanted to start us off with some charcoal exercises just to get the concepts established. I was not happy about this at first.

As it turns out, I kinda get it. Who knew? The piece I worked on actually looks like what I was looking at! The charcoal is to learn the concepts of light and shadow and it really works. That part was cool. But. You knew there’d be a but, didn’t you? But, the class overall was stodgy and not very interesting. Granted, we are coming in at the halfway point, so the others are working studiously on their still life paintings, but I found the class too slow and it felt as though the teacher was having a hard time changing gears between the n00bs and the more advanced students.

The truly funny thing is that now I think I’d get more from a drawing class than a painting class! And I’m the one who was grousing about being forced to draw rather than paint! LOL The thing about this charcoal technique is that there is no drawing. It’s all manipulation of light and dark. And I’m pretty good at it. So now I want more of that. I also think that gesture drills and other fast sketch drills would be fun to do.

The thing for me is that I need to be engaged in classes I take. I need to be challenged. I need to leave the class feeling like I’ll never get it. This class is none of that. It was more like, ok, I’ve done what you asked! Now what? I ended up waiting for further instructions and was quite bored. The subject matter doesn’t help either. Sorry, but if I had to look at that vase for 6 weeks I’d drop the class.

So, we’ll see how the other 2 classes go. I’m going to ask the teacher if he’d mind sticking to the charcoal for the other 2 classes. I really don’t want to spend $100 on oil paints and stuff for a couple of classes – or at all if I don’t like the pace of the class. Hopefully he’ll be ok with doing several charcoal pieces and working on light/shadow. Never hurts to ask, right?

Today I think I’ll get out of the house and run some errands. Perhaps get a cuban sammy from Havana over on Buford Hwy. Kool Korners on 14th is the best, but I don’t want to drive all the way over there with the construction. Maybe do some leche vitreaux (window shopping) over at Loehmanns… Replenish vitamins at Toco Hill… Buy booze at Toco Giant…Booze that I should stop drinking to lose weight but won’t cuz I’m a lush…
Anyway, I need to get OUT. It’s spring and I need to get my fat ass more active. Speaking of spring, the time changes this weekend. That’s right, we lose an hour – my cats will be jubilant! Yay, we get to eat earlier!!

Also: I’ve decided that I’d like to go to the Sia show at Variety Playhouse on Monday. Sia has worked with Sector 9, Zero 7 and various acid jazz bands in Australia and the UK. I know her mostly from her solo works, particularly Colour the Small One and Healing is Difficult. I’ll run over to the Variety and pick up the tix tomorrow when I go get Kate’s check from Adaptation. :-)

Everyone have a great day!

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ACE Atlanta 08

Eh.

The con was smaller this year than last (which puzzles me) and the guest list was severely anemic. I was hoping for more. We did attend an excellent panel with Terminus Media on Sunday.  We also met  some cool guys from Sidebar Nation. We hope to perhaps offer our expertise to the con itself for a panel or whatever they like next year. We’ll see.

We bought a really cool pinup from Tyson McAdoo. He’s a very nice guy and I love his art. We didn’t have the cash last year, but this year: yah! :-)

This con has a ton of potential. I really hope it can bring together the various art groups, comic artists, pop art artists and other crazy art people in this town.  I think if they can pull that off, this will be the preeminent art show in the SE. That is what we really need around here!

I’ve got my fingers crossed! [Update: sadly, ACE succumbed to that Con Killer DragonCon and is no more. Let’s hope DragonCon gets sued and dies so we can get some good cons going instead. See related DC post. – A]

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Kate’s Art Show

The show last night was a success. I’m not sure how much she’ll sell, but the party was well attended – around 20 people – and I’m happy with that considering the lack of advertising, etc. We left the party around 10:30 or so and headed to the EARL to drop Kate off. Kate actually rode with her friend Juliana, but they followed us over there. As we were driving away, Nick said he really wanted to go back… so we did.

Well, you know how the rest of the evening went, don’t you? Of course you do! We closed down the bar and tottered home around 2:30am. On the way, I decided that our late night deserved the proper send off so we went to WaHo in Avondale Estates. W00t! Great idea! The bacon was absolute perfection and we slept like babies when we finally got to bed around 3:30am. :-)

We slept our ass IN today, too! We finally got up around noon. The hangover wasn’t bad, but I do have some crampy sore muscles from dehydration. Nothing a bit of Gatorade can’t fix.

Tonite we have Lisa’s birthday party at Kobe Steaks – our Dec 15 tradition. I can promise you that this evening will NOT be a late one! :-)