Tattoo Design Finally Finished

Finally finished the tattoo design sketch up for a friend/client. After all the time working on (and restarting) this one, I can believe it's finally done.

Business Mogul in Training

Had a little visit with the course adviser at Uni today and had a little chat about what papers I could pick up to get me a little more prepared to launch a small business of my own.
So we shuffled my timetable around a bit (dropped a sculpture studio class here, picked up a fashion studio class there) and now I'm doing a marketing paper in the second semester. Which is awesome! Beside the fact that I have an exam at the end of the year now.
Also set up a few plans in the system for marketing papers in my 2nd and 3rd year at Uni so hopefully I can get my study boots out of the cold and cobwebbed corner of my brain to get some good use out of my classes and get my Rusted Veins Brand up and running (as a legitimate business).

Drawing Class : Self Portraits

Really been enjoying my time in my Drawing of the Body elective at Massey University. Every class we have a live nude model to draw from and our tutor is super fun and enthusiastic, and is taking us through a wide range of different gestural studies and techniques.
I'm hoping to be able to get a few good photos of my class work, but for now I have photos of our independent study work- which mainly consists of A1 self portraits. And they are a lot harder than  you would expect! Well, they're a lot harder than I expected anyway. Especially since my room is so tiny and my desk is about half the size of the paper we have to work on.

Spiritual Explorations at the Wellington Buddhist Centre

This evening, I decided to step outside my usual routine of watching back to back tv episodes via the internet, while simultaneously scouring tumblr and dodging my responsibilities to my independent university work. I took a 15 minute walk over to the Wellington Buddhist Centre for their Tuesday Open night, and I thought I'd share my experiences with you.

First, I feel I have to update you on my spiritual background. I very firmly consider myself as agnostic. As a small child my parent had me formally removed from the "Bible Class" educational system that visited our primary school every Wednesday morning. Their reasoning being that they wanted me to be able to make my own decisions about what I believe when I was old enough to have a wider depth of knowledge on the subject (as an over-imaginative six year old, you could have told me giant gummy bears created the earth over a fight with giant galactic octopus's and I would have believed you. 100%). And I'm one of those really frustrating fence sitters. Living life in the grey area. So in terms of my spirituality, I don't necessarily believe in a 'God', but I'm far from ruling out a 'higher power' in whatever form it may take. Theology and spirituality has always sparked a huge curiosity in me, which brings me back to my recent endeavor into Buddhism.

I can't remember exactly what sparked my attention to search local Buddhist communities in my area, but I did, and I decided that I really wanted to go along to their open night and get a bit of an insight into new spiritual territory.

I started the evening by getting lost (well done Lara), but eventually (with help) found my way up a flight of stairs in a semi industrial building at the end of a side street in Mt Cook, Wellington. At the top of these stairs I found a very warm, homely room with a small gathering of people, coffee, tea, and water spread out on a small table between a couple of  old bookshelves filled with a selection of incredibly well-read books. People were very willing to introduce themselves, but as I wasn't the only newbie in the group I luckily didn't stand out like a sore thumb. Although I was, by far the youngest person in the room by at least fifteen years.

Those who ran the group then got onto any important news and information, and gave us a run through of how the night was going to pan out. First we gathered in the Shrine Room for thirty minutes of mediation. Thirty minutes of sitting doing nothing (on purpose) seems pretty scary if you've never even attempted ten minutes of meditating. But the whole time you were being guided by one of the more experienced members so the time flew by before you knew it. Jo- the guide- talked us through focusing on our breath and posture in four stages, each with a ever so slight effect on our meditation.

Afterwards, we stopped for another quick drink break before another veteran group leader (whose name I can't remember as she was using her Buddhist name which was incredibly long- and I'm already terrible at remembering names with the regular amount of letters) talked to us about Karma and it's consequences. I really enjoyed what she had to say, as it wasn't so much a warning to 'be good, or bad things will happen to you', as an insight into the properties of Karma and how it is interlaced in our lives, and the lives of others. One point that she covered, that really caught my attention, was the fact that bad things happen for a variety of reasons. Just because life may throw you an undesired curve ball, it doesn't necessarily mean that you are deserving of it because you've been a bad person. There is a clear definition that there can be physical, mental, or biological reasons behind an unfortunate event, rather than all the blame riding on a cosmic cause. Although, if you have been a particularly terrible person lately, you still may want to delve a little deeper into the grounds of said situation.

It was cool to hear Karma spoken about as more of a logical result. The chain of reaction influenced by your choice of actions, rather than just this magical force that comes in and makes your day amazing because you did that one good thing that one time or that makes it rain because you accidentally polished off your flatmates block of chocolate while she was out. You treat yourself, and others with respect, and it's eventually going to come back round and help you out because that's just how people work.

We followed this with a small exercise in groups of three, just talking a little about the ripple effect karma can have from various small actions and ideas.

Once 9pm came around we wrapped it all up, and I left feeling enlightened and particularly peaceful. Every single person I had talked to had been super friendly and insightful, and I found myself (excuse the hippie nature of the comment, but..) practically radiating positive energy. I enjoyed the experience very much, and while one visit hasn't converted me by a long shot, Buddhism is by far one of the most grounded and accepting 'religions' that I have encountered so far. Looking forward to going back next Tuesday evening already.

Namasté



(A little research into the meaning of the phrase 'Namasté' for you:
"The gesture Namaste represents the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another. Nama means bow, as means I, and te means you. Therefore, namaste literally means "bow me you" or "I bow to you." -Aadil Palkhivala (via http://www.yogajournal.com/basics/822 )

Colouring Between the Lines

Like a small child with their imagination left to run wild, I cant help but love the time when it comes to colouring in my sketches. There's just something so cool about watching a drawing slowly come a the tip of your pencil

Oriental Bay

Went for a bit of a walk down to Oriental Bay,along the Wellington Waterfront while the sun was shining to give my camera a bit of fresh air (and myself a bit of well needed Vitamin D).

Tattoo Design

Sketching up a storm with a new concept design planned to be turned into a tattoo for a client

Drawing In Progress

Here's a drawing that's VERY slowly coming along. Just add bits to it here and there. Decided to put a bit more work into it today. (Original photo courtesy of Can Dagarslani- http://www.candagarslani.com/)

Habourside Performance Arcade

Finally picked up my flash 'new' (secondhand) Canon 60D camera Wednesday afternoon. So of course I took it for a spin- only to leave my SD card at home, typically. Which left the christening on my camera to Thursday evening.
Went down to the Wellington waterfront where The Performance Arcade (presented by The Playground NZ Ltd) was just getting into the evenings entertainment. The wind had built up by then, but the sky was still cloudless and just begging for a few photos to be taken.

New Beginnings

Woah! What a crazy last few days. I can now say I’m all moved in to my humble little abode in Wellington City. I still don’t think its even really sunk in yet that This is going to be my home for the next 10 months.

 

Bought myself a nice little Canon 60D camera off TradeMe today so hopefully I’ll be able to get some more photos back up here within a week or so. But for now I’ll just have to give my literary skills a bit of a workout.

At the moment, all the orientation activities are in full swing, so it’s all the boring introductions and meet&greets. But the nightlife is about to take off with heaps of cool acts in bars and clubs all over Wellington City to kick off the 2014 University year. Very soon though we’ll be into the actual art making (the next best thing to getting drunk and dancing with strangers).

Cant wait to show you guys what i get up to!

Photography Adventures

Got the photos from the impromptu shoot a few weeks back from my amazing friend and photographer Josiah Clark. I cannot praise this guy enough for all the work he's done for me and his photos are always flawless. Find him on Facebook and Tumblr for a wider range of his body of work. I seriously recommend it.

Got some killer shots to paint and draw from. I even ended up in front of the camera for a little bit too instead of just directing from the background.

 

 

 

Wellington Bound

Things are getting pretty hectic around me at the moment. I officially leave the small town of Cambridge for a much larger windy Wellington City in just over a week. So naturally, I have left everything till the last minute. Not only do I have to pack and downsize all the junk that's lying around my room in order to make the move possible, but the 'rents are moving house just after I leave. Which means that all the other shit that I would normally have been allowed to continue sitting and collecting dust, has to be pack up too.

The next week and a bit, for me, is going to contain a lot of packing, stressing, finishing commissions, completing my last days of work at the cafe, cleaning, visiting friends that I'll be leaving behind, and most likely a tonne of expletives.

Oh the joys of procrastination.

Carparks and Street Art

On Wednesday evening, while roaming around Hamilton Central with a couple of mates taking photos and getting kicked out of private car parks, I came across a piece of street art that I'm astounded I never knew was there.
Not only is it a bright, attention grabbing piece, but a collaboration from my all time favourite street artist Shida and NZ street artist Eno. Hidden in plain sight! (although my lack of attention to the Hamilton Street Art Scene probably has a small part to play as well).

I wish I could tell you what street it was off, but i can't remember where exactly it was that we wandered from in order to find this, but I visit again I will take a note for anyone who is interested.

After a well needed stalking of Shida's Flickr page, I have discovered that this, in fact is not the only piece from the street artist in the Tron. Will have to go on a mission to find the others asap.





(Please excuse the cruddy photo quality. They were taken on my phone's camera and that's about as flash as it gets. If you want to see a better quality photo click here)

In The Wake Of Creative Advances

As any artist would know, not everything you create makes it into the big wide world. A lot of the time, pieces of art remain unfinished due to loss of interest, or just isn't going in a direction you want to continue moving. So they get pushed to the side of the room to become instruments to your progression in other area of your work.

I though today I'd give you a little inside look at a few pieces that didn't quite make it, some random unfinished sketches and a few works that still have potential but are not quite what I'm inspired to be working on right now.

This was one that I had big plans for. but ended up losing interest part way through. I have a feeling it was around the time I discover just how much I loved playing with oil paints, and the acrylic paint just wasn't taking me any further in this piece. I still have hopes to pick up where I left off with this one though.

One of my experimental oil paintings. Went into this one with no plan, and no expectations of an outcome. The only process I had was to play and expand my skills and techniques with oil paints while I was still under the watchful eye of my oil painting tutor Jane at the WSA School of Arts. I doubt this piece of work will ever be finished.

An illustration I was planning on using in my 'Cosmos Collection'. This one is of Mercury, and would have been the first one of the series, but there's something about it that bugs me. But who knows, I may still be able to salvage it and save myself from creating a whole other image.

A painting I started, but again just lost interest and never found the passion for again.

A large acrylic and spray paint work that I was using for experimental purposes, but was actually coming along really well until I made a few rough decisions, and went a little overboard with the spray paint. A good little lesson in the fact that there is such a thing as too much paint, and not to rush.

The last three are drawings I started when I was hanging around waiting for planes/taxis during my trip to Hawaii mid July. Was planning on finishing them and doing more with them, possible a painting or large sketch, but never really got around to it.