I've been thinking about a new art project

When I went to youtube and searched for "post it proposal" there was nothing and I realized the product is supposed to be the markers. But the proposal is done with the post its. A real sharpie proposal could be writing it on yourself before undressing, or writing it on the back of all the seats on a subway train for her commute (using her first name to make it clear) or on the side of your water bottle with a picture of you at the summit of something that you send to her with your phone or just, something a permanent marker is uniquely suited to. Not a post it, anything can write on a post it.

But besides the post its stealing the show on that commercial, it is still a terrible proposal. In my beginning art classes we had to be reminded that the materiality is very important, eg don't use bubble wrap unless you can back it up conceptually, but now it is second nature to me to think about that when choosing materials. Like, did they meet at the office? What about that hot air balloon they rode on, wouldn't that make a good proposal opportunity? And the other thing they teach us, which I am still working on, is to go big unless there is a reason not to. Develop something all the way out. What if that commercial was a time lapse of a guy stacking sharpie pens layer by layer until they spelled "Will You Marry Me?" and since that doesn't demonstrate the no bleed formula they could have a joke about broken hearts and no bleed pens. Or PMS teariness and no bleed pens.

Anyway, I want to propose to someone because I know I could do a great one. But my boyfriend is a teenager and he is not super responsible. But on the other hand, who else am I going to propose to? So then I thought you can propose absolutely millions of things besides marriage. So I guess I am going to use the over the top well designed proposal as a model for sharing messages and go from there.

Looking at old academic records

I am trying to get organized to really take advantage of my final three quarters and I was reading my narrative evals (one for every UCSC class). Every one from a GE is essentially: she showed up, participated, did good papers and okay exams. All of them from art history and art, though, were making me blush to read them all in a row, until I got to the first studio/lecture class I did. It was 2d foundation, intended for frosh but I took it as a sophomore and I liked it. Many of the students were already super talented and most had taken drawing in highschool. So, my drawings weren't well executed but I think they were conceptually solid. I don't think I even looked at my eval for that class, or if I did I repressed it. Anyway, here it is:

Overall, Caitlan accomplished fair work throughout the quarter. She was somewhat engaged with class assignments, although she demonstrated minimal skills in approaching the variety of exercises. Her attendance was inconsistent and participation in critiques was often tangential or careless. On the whole, Caitlan's four major project assignments were weak in concept and unconvincing in execution. Her written statements accompanying the projects ranged from not passing quality to barely adequate. Caitlan would benefit from practice in technical drawing, research in color and composition, and personal writing about her subject matter. To her credit, Caitlan had a bright, upbeat attitude overall.
--Ashley Freinberg, TA

Just, ouch. I guess her standards were just different than the rest of the department, but even given that I don't think my participation in crit could possibly have been careless.

Ooh Fancy! A Prop 8 Wedding Cake

I am sure political food* is very common but this is my first foray.
See, because Prop 8 was overruled by a CA judge and gets to go to the Western circuit court. I feel like I'm over explaining but it is a tiny cake because this decision is worth celebrating but just a small part of the progression toward equality.

Process:
Bake cupcakes in the primary and secondary colors.
Slice cupcakes into rounds.
stack.
I used a bamboo skewer to hold it together while I swirled on frosting.
And for scale.

*off the top of my head there's: that guy who does portraits out of toast, food not bombs, that guy who makes portraits out of jellybeans, and people who do things with fasting.

Vitamins and Exercise

This summer I am using my body A LOT and it is rewarding and taxing. I have been eating huge amounts because I am so hungry. But in the past 2 weeks I have been craving meat and more meat, and since I can't eat that much meat I have been having really unsatisfying snacks. But today I got nutrition tested at the chiropractors' office where my mom works and got four bottles of supplements so that I won't have to eat all the food I'd need to get the nutrients I need.

I also have had a lot of minor and a few major aches and pains in the past few months. I torqued my pelvis, have recurring pinched and compressed feeling spots in my back, reinjured my right knee, get twinges in my left knee, my wrists are stiff and hurt if I use them for much, my ribs pinch my muscles, the bones in the middle of my right foot hurt, and sometimes one of my elbows hurts but I forget which. Anyway, it's really good that I have chiropractic to sort me out before I go and reinjure myself.

This is a little strange, but no matter what I lift or how much I swim or rockclimb, I can only do a few push ups. It used to be my arms would hurt, but now it's my wrists. I found that doing pushups with closed fists instead of spread palms doesn't hurt but I looked it up in case I was making a different problem down the line. My chiro said it is fine and to try doing a few push ups several times a day instead of once. So that's exciting!

Everything I've been up to lately!

This is the best summer I can remember- great friends, productive job, good health beautiful location, a little bit of pocket money... I'll be thrilled to be back in art school though. I have very little time to develop my ideas so my creativity has been mainly things I can do in one sitting.
fresh blackberries available all the time
hiking
journaling
bento
ocean
firenight (as a spectator except one fabulous time)
hanging out at Big Longs
jetskiing for the first time
ocean
roller coasters
losing at air hockey (my hair is wet in this picture because I am silly and went in the ocean at night which is dangerous.)
maintaining my dreads
ocean
trip to sacto
scavenging clothes

Not pictured: baking, cooking, gardening, biking, drinking, studying japanese, swimming, driving, and watching 7 seasons of King of the Hill.

Yeah, ADITL photos finally up!

I am working full time this summer painting and cleaning Porter B dorm. There are 4 of us plus our boss working on a 255 room dorm. Fortunately, it was completely redone when it was earthquake retrofitted so there is only a year worth of wear and tear. Unfortunately, Porter is UCSC's art college and artists love to modify their living spaces which is a pain to repair. Some things, like a wall half covered in photo mounting corners, were no big deal. But the amount of boogers and modeling clay and other, less recognizable things I scrubbed off of hundreds of walls makes me less sympathetic.
This is the view from B dorm (where I work) of A dorm (under construction; we will help with light tasks to get it ready starting at the end of August). Actually on the left you can see part of B dorm because it is [ shaped. The two dorms surround a central courtyard, which used to be grassy and lovely with a low stage, towering totem pole, benches and native plants, surrounded by murals, but right now it's dirt and cement with a cluster of native plants surrounded by a chain link fence and coated in thick dust from the construction.
This is the view from the side of the dorm facing away from the courtyard. The near stairs go to the mailroom and dining hall and the far balcony is The Hungry Slug, a cafe that is really expensive IMO like a burrito and coke will cost $10.

This is what the view from my ride home used to look like before I discovered that the bike path takes a little less time and is way more beautiful and has little hills and swoops that make the ride delightful.

Art Skills

I am pretty good with photoshop, even though I never use it and I only have Paint on my computer. You click things, the software does the work, and you have something generic to show for very little time input. Now it's yellower; now it's in a bubble. Like, whee. Idk why but I am beyond uninterested in learning to do graphics on a computer. Where is the part where I drag something huge for 30 miles over a period of weeks? How am I going to break a sweat? How will I bleed? How will I know I'm done for the day if my bones and joints and fingertips aren't crying for me to stop? Where is the danger of traffic or molten steel or at least a table saw? How will I even get dirty? But I am starting to think maybe I should open up to digital art, so that I can like, idk, have a mass mailed or postered or projected or flipbook component to my work.