French Exam Procrastiation

My french exam is tomorrow. At 9am. On a Saturday. GROSS.
But after, I am going ice-skating. Which is definately not gross, but actually really lovely. I can't wait.
Yesterday, I got scholarshipped, which means that the university deposited a large chunk of cash into my account. Pretty awesome.
Today, I should be studying my french but I have a million great ideas floating around my head for paintings. All self-portraits, but I'm in a very reflective mood about my life, so I think it's apt. I think I may be going into a Frida Khalo-esque stage. Not that I'm complaining. She's fantastic!
I guess it may have to do with the fact that I found the diary that I kept while I was overseas last time, throughout Europe (not regularly, but still) and then in the time after I got back. It was great to read back on how I felt, how I dealt with the big blows, heartbreaks and my first impressions on meeting people who I am still in touch with today. Pretty funny at times too. Also good to get some perspective. I went through a really tough time when I returned. I thought I hid it pretty well, but I talked to my mother and she remembers how depressed I was and how she was really worried for me. Anyway, I kept a record of that in the journal, the whole 'blue period' that happened when I got back. I forgot how totally horrible that was, and it gave me some perspective- Although some things may feel pretty bad (falling apart bad) at the moment, I've been through worse and I got out of this period in my life when I seriously doubted that I would ever feel happy again. And I did. And now, it feels bad, but it's been worse. And I got out of that, and I'll get out of this.
So yes, it was a good find. a really good find.

Paintings and New York

I did a quick calculation today, only 50 days until I leave for the States. It seems like ages but it's really not at all. That crept up on me!


I guess the point of this blog is a bit of procratination as my painting assessment is soon and I havent finished anything yet! And it's oil paint!! I'm just not feeling it today.


Had a lovely improptu girlie night with my girl Fruzsi last night! There was chocolate, there was nutella and there was wii. It was great because I've been missing her, but it was good to talk and let a little bit of my crazy flakes out into the world. If I didn't get some crazy flakes out into the world, I may have had an issue with finding out that my ex boyfriend has a new girlfriend, but I don't. I'm actually really happy for him, this would (hopefully) end the talk of us getting back together that he keeps bringing up. So, it's all good.


What is also good is that I booked a hostel in Manhattan and my train tickets to Baltimore! What's the best way to get some clarity? think about running far far away! :-P And I got my passport so I am a very happy girl on that front.


Also, I got a lovely package today from the good people at Avant Cards. A few months ago I was offered a spot to take part in their 'calling all artists' program, which publishes artists' work on a nationally-distributed free postcard, and the artist gets 500 postcards to do whatever they may wish with.



These are my 500!

It's just probably not the best time, because the painting that has become postcard is really personal, and in a way, I am regretting submitting it because I now have a really personal story floating around the whole country. Especially because this 'issue' is a hot topic in my brain at the mo'. Oh well, I'll focus on the awesome that is my art being postcard and the architecture in helsinki record that I am blasting through the house at the moment, and dancing like no-ones watching (because no-one is!)

I'm going to go do some illustration, try and get some perspective on the paintings (next blog )

xx a

Mixed signals, bit of good, bit of bad

So, I dont know what to feel at the moment. Got some bad things, got some good things, got some stressful things. I think I'll just list them;

The Bad

- Spent half my day at the passport office. God, I hate governments. I should have the right to a passport without;

• Over $300 in expenses, (photos, processing fee, express delivery fee)
• 8 forms
• 3 seperate trips to the passport office

And still, I'll be told on tuesday if that's enough.
All this because I was not born in Australia and do not have a driver's licence. I do, however, have a past passport, a citizenship certificate, a credit card with my full name on it, a medical card, a translated birth certificate, a letter of acceptance from uni (with my adress), I'm on the electrol roll AND a uni ID card. Oh, and 2 people who have signed official papers to say it's me. Apparently, that MIGHT not be enough.

-I'm strangely NOT stressed about a final drawing assessment, a french oral exam and a 3,500 word philosophy/art history essay, all due next week. I think it's a bad sign.

-I'm a bit worried about my Canadian student visa. I'm also under the impression that I will need a US visa. I really hate all this red tape.

OK, no more negativity!

The Good

- I'm doing a lot more of my own drawing, which I will paste here if my scanner starts working today, hopefully.

- I've got some direction on my philosophy/art history essay. It's about the philosophical idea of 'the sublime', how it relates to vis art, and how that idea has been translated into modernist/postmodern contexts. Lots of Schopenhauer, Burke and Longinus.

- I'm drinking a cup of tea.

- My parents are pretty wonderful and considering getting my ticket from the US to Europe for me. But that means I have to decide where I want to go in Europe. I really wanted to go to Berlin to see a really good friend of mine (who recently broke my heart!), but because of the recent... blah... I'm thinking of going to Poland to see the family and sort things out from there instead. I was also considering Paris to be an option. But I dont know anyone there very well, and my whole family (from France and Switzerland too) will be in Poland to celebrate a new cousin :-)

- My cousin will be having a new baby girl in 3 months.

SO! I havent figured out my scanner, but here are some more scribbles;

Tech issues, new project and 'works on paper' controversy'

I'm having mass-issues setting up my scanner. Luckily, my younger sister has a super-awesome camera to technify my recent works.

A couple things on the brain today, I FINALLY began a new project that has been on my mind for about a year. I just could not get it off the ground --> out of my mind and onto paper. I've sourced a massive, empty photo album which I plan to fill with things, not photos, but other things. Also, on a trip to Bunnings hardware well over a year ago, I totally embarrassed my mother by snatching 2 of every colour from the Taubman's paint colours card range. Well, they gave them out for free anyway! I was planning to do some artsy-thing with this and perhaps ink? Sharpie Marker? But it never materialised... untill now. I finished a very small, nature-inspired triptych on 'Bottle Green', 'Olive Fern' and 'Olive Age'. Check it out:

Part of my massive Taubmans colour card collection :-)

And that's the triptych I have done today. Just sharpie on the cards. But I am happy with it.

This leads me to a bit of a rant I would like to go on. Recently, I was involved (with a whole bunch of my fellow Adelaide-based artists) in a wonderful one-night-only show. Massive success! Good on the organisers! I was happy to hear that one of the artists sold ALL HER WORKS on display to one buyer. My friend, who was there too but not artisitcally inclined, found out about it too, and a few nights later was going on about how the works were 'not good enough to sell'. I (diplomatically) pointed out that I really liked them. She said, yes they were nice, but they weren't even on canvas, just butcher's paper/newsprint, and they were too 'scribbly'.

It leads me to think how removed the artist is from mainstream society. Like Marx said, the artist is completely removed from the proletariat! (I'm sure that he meant it in a negative way). My friend's argument was that the works would have been good if they were a bit more 'worked on' and on proper canvas. I wanted to have it out with her, does an image on a canvas ultimately become art? Moreover, it led me to think, I dont really paint realistic things, my images are abstract/stylised. Does that mean they are worth less? Is a Van Gough no longer as valuable if he painted on a tea towel and not canvas? Quite frankly, I, personally, am not looking for a 'finished' product when I make art. "To finish a work is to kill it, to rob it of all life' (Picasso, might be a bit paraphrased). I am not a PRODUCER, I am a CREATOR. I do not produce a PRODUCT, I want to create something that is full of emotion and full of life, not something that has to look good on someone's wall.

It really annoys me when people think that art has to conform to certain standards to become art (wasn't there a whole revolution about this?). Art is art if the artist says it is. As an artist, I dont care that my works sell/dont sell. Those made only to sell, usually have less soul then those made on pure artistic impulse. Might as well buy a mass-produced print from IKEA or something. Do my colour cards have no value because they are not little canvases? They have more meaning in them than canvases I have painted for uni to go with an assignment briefing.

Such close-mindedness just makes me so angry. It makes me think there is so much left to go, to validate art as a serious thing. It really makes me sad that people are forgetting/oblivious to artists like Marcel Duchamp who spent their lives trying to make this point.

Of course, I love this friend like crazy. She is a really good friend but we do have very different points of view. I guess the reason I get so fired up about this is because this is MY life. For someone who barely goes into any galleries/Artist Run Spaces etc. its a bit rich to make such a judgement.

On a happier note, I have found this AWESOME book today in my parents' collection. Its a textbook from my dad's uni days studying mechanics, engineering and info tech. I love the graphics. Enjoy :-)

Welcome to the world of blogging, Anna

So, I am finally getting into the world of blogging. I'm not writing to a specific audience, I'm not writing to anyone in particular. I'm really just keeping a journal of my thoughts, artistic inspirations and general scribbles, aphorisms and notes.

A little about me; I am 20, I am an art student, my name is Anna. I've always loved drawing and paining, creating an image, that's been the thing I've loved most. I love travelling, moving etc. I love reading. I consume literature. Currently loving modern philosophy. I love films, foriegn and indie mostly. oh, history and politics are always a hot topic of conversation and debate in my life.

I don't feel like going too in-depth about myself. I think I want to just get into it and work with what has been inspiring my creativity lately.

Like I said, I have always loved draw and paint. When I started art school, I was all about the abstraction, but thanks to the work of one of my best friends, the Vienna Secession and some contemporary design influences, I am developing a more illustrational and graphic style than working with the 'beauty of the gesture'. A lot of my reading gets me into a drawing kinda mood too. And I'm into design at the moment. I've designed too many brooches, but I'm going to go with it for the time being.

For the moment I am focusing on a) drawing everyday and b) trying to produce my first batch of laser-cut, hand-made acrylic brooches. This series of brooches will be Mucha and Klimt inspired queen playing cards. I'm hoping they work out. In a little while, I'll be floating off to my parents' business (they have a laser-engraving place) to use the heavy-duty laser cutters to make what I think will be pretty awesome and intricate brooches.

The inspiration came from a bit of time-wasting playing card games on the computer (oops), and a great mini-essay on certainty (or lack there of), thought and Descartes by Leszek Kolakowski --> The idea of chance and lack of pattern or certainty in life. I think the connection with cards is pretty easy to get. But moreover, in Poland (or perhaps in western culture in general, I assume it's Poland because I've heard this from my relatives), they say that if you're unlucky in cards, you're lucky in love. This is false in my case (I loose too many times in both arenas), but it got me thinking about all these superstitions and how they are just a way to find pattern, rhyme and reason in life's chaos.

This leads me to why I have decided to call this blog 'Icons and Symbols'. I had a lecture about the sybiotic relationship between written and visual cultures. It was trasforming, like an epiphany, the idea of the connection between words an images. A word is a symbol, an image is an icon. I write alot, I also make images. I am inspired by images and by writing. Sometimes, I can only express myself through an image, which has a certain emotive quality to it, sometimes I need to write it. I have a series of journals (Moleskines, what else?! :-) ), some lined (entitled 'symbols') and some plain (entitled 'icons'), so it's only natural for this blog, which is a continuation and record of what is in those journals, and of life in general to be of the same name. Call it a part of my own organsiational memory?

After I work out my scanner, I'll post up some of my scribbles.