Journalfest Site Is Live!!

The majority of the work I have been doing over the past few months is the brand new Journalfest site. Since this is a new site I got to design it from scratch again and Im really excited about it. The journal itself is hand drawn by me and all the collaged pieces are taken from my mom (Teesha), my dad (Tracy) and my journals. 

I have also posted a image of the bookmark I designed to promote the retreat. I will also be teaching two new classes at this retreat, Brainsponging and The Travel Journal. I think this is going to be a refreshingly different, more intimate retreat that I absolutely can't wait for.

Speaking of which, Artfest is in one week! My favorite time of year!

Erwin Wurm

So I have been on a path of being fascinated with spontinaeity and trying to learn and explore it as much as I can (as seen in part with my spontaneous bread blog). I was reading an article about spontaneous art tonight and discovered a new artist that I immeadiately fell in love with, Erwin Wurm an Austrian artist. I dont know much about him other than the images I have seen off what I am guessing is his website and other sites but this is what wikipedia had to say about him and his work:
"Since the late 1980's he has developed an ongoing series of "One Minute Sculptures," in which he poses himself or his models in unexpected relationships with everyday objects close at hand, prompting the viewer to question the very definition of sculpture. He seeks to use the "shortest path" in creating a sculpture -- a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression. As the sculptures are fleeting and meant to be spontaneous and temporary, the images are only captured in photos or on film."

My Hike: Week 2

I went on another hike today, the same trail as before because it's super close to my house and really beautiful. I've been really enjoying this time seperated out to just think, with no distractions or worries that I need to be focusing on something else more urgent. I decided that I'm going to make "My Hike" a weekly feature on my blog as a way to share with you these thoughts and ideas and welcome any feedback or discussions that may arise.

What was on my brain most this hike was the idea of giving yourself a project or series to develop yourself creatively in some way. An example of this would be my Spontaneous Bread blog. I started this blog to get myself to draw on a daily basis, in a set time-limit: 30 minutes, and to be completely spontaneous, no prior thought until I start moving the pen on a piece of paper. The obvious reasons for doing a project like this is to develop my drawing skills, my spontaneity, and to develop a huge body of work that could possibly seed larger ideas and projects. Which is all why I picked this specifically. However the main goal of doing a project like this is to push yourself to the point of discovery, doing something over and over again you will inevitably learn something that you could of never discovered otherwise.

My last project was my journal (page 1 shown above). When I initially started it in 2005 I decided for this journal I was going to set up parameters for myself. These being that I would use mostly pen and ink, b/w, because this was the medium I was the most into at the time, and I would fill up every inch of space on each page. This density of the work on a page is what resulted in my journal taking me 4 years to complete even though I worked on it practically every day. In the end I had discovered what I considered was "my style" and "the way I journal". I had even forgotten that the only reason I do have "the way I journal" was because of these initial parameters I had set-up that had become something much more than that over the years. I knew my journal was done the moment I realized I could get nothing more out of it, that I had pushed and pushed and pushed this project until it was squeezed dry and I was ready to move on to the next thing. I am currently trying to figure out what I am going to set-up for my next journal, but I believe its going to do something with color because this is an area I know I need to push myself in (I know color theory like the back of my hand, but I have done very little color pieces).

In the end the reason I do anything is to understand creativity, the visual world and my own creative instincts. I dont know what further projects I will create for myself but I know there will be lots!

My Hike

Today was a very interesting day. I've been working on the site for my mom's new retreat, Journalfest, all day long. My brain was getting seriously fried and I was in a state of complete non-thought. My friend suggested some fresh air might help, and so I went out for a hike, something I have not done in a long long time. I found a trail near my house and started to explore it. It took me all the way to the top of the mountain where I sat for about 40 mintutes and let my brain get washed away in my environment. Allowing myself to get out of my own head and be entirely and completely in this outside one. It's amazing how powerful something as simple as a hike can be, and while I was up there it was like my brain could finally think again, it was no longer cluttered.

After clearing of my mind, I started gettng heavily inspired by being in an environment you can interact with and explore. Allowing your mind to flow with each new thing you see and every sound you hear. There was a tree that had fallen and the roots created a passageway over the path (pictured above) and just the act of walking through this natural gate made me feel like I was entering an entire new world. I realized that I have a huge interest in creating not just a story for one's mind to get lost in, but a true three dimensional environment that involves your whole being body and mind. The story itself is formed only when an indiviual experience's it.

Obviously these thoughts are in the beginning form but I'm excited at the possiblity of where this may lead me. I would love to start creating some interactive art sculptures and eventually if I ever had the space and the resources an entire interactive world.

Look This Way!

This is one of my spontaneous pieces that I am currently working on, but unlike my spontaneous bread blog I am spending approximately a week on each. It is still unfinished.

My Day Out

So my friend Aaron and I decided to go out on a picture taking day in Seattle. We first went to the Arboretum which I haven't been to since I was a little girl and it was gorgeous. Full of a variety of beautiful trees, pathways over the water, and parks that would of been perfect for a picnic. You also end up walking under the Freeway quite often which is a very strange mix with the peacefulness of the park.



We then moved on to an ice cream parlor called Molly Moons on 45th in Wallingford, which if you have never been you definitely have to try. I discovered this place because of my mom and both her and my favorite is their salted caramel ice cream. They also have flavors such as balsamic strawberry and birthday cake, it is so my kind of place. From there we moved onto Gasworks park which is one of my favorite places to go in Seattle, and im there quite often. It has a huge rolling hill over looking Lake Union and downtown Seattle where we watched the sunset.



We ended the day visiting the troll that lives under the bridge in Freemont because my friend had never seen it before. The troll is a huge cement sculpture that holds a real vw bug that lives under the bridge.

All in all it was an amazing day and reminded me how much I truly love this city. I also got alot of inspiring photos that will help me to continually push my illustration work.

My New Site

I am completely redesigning my website Tiphoni.com. The above images are a sneak peak at the new site. Im really excited about it, it's my first trial into webdesign using flash as opposed to CSS and HTML which I am very familiar with. Its been fun cause with flash I have a lot more freedom to play with my work and how the user will interact with my site. Its also been a huge struggle cause I feel like I'm teaching myself as I go, and flash / actionscripting is highly confusing. Im not quite sure when I will have the site done but I will keep my site posted with updates of my status.

Chili Paste with Holy Basil

Today was a wonderfully relaxing day. I spent most of the day organizing my studio room, Im quite excited I love my new house. I have so much space to utilize. I have 2 huge tables in the middle of my room for drawing on one side and "office-y" stuff on the other, or to have friends over to draw with. I set up a little sewing area in the open closet. I dont really sew but I do have a machine and lots of fabric so Im hoping I will start to now that I can have it all setup and ready to use. There is a large work in progress (approx 4' x 8') I have tacked to my wall so when I have alot of energy I can work on that. And I even have a super comfy couch in the corner with plenty of floor space in front where I belly danced tonight. And that's merely one room out of my entire house! The rest I'm still setting up, but I've waited to get to do this since I was a little girl.

However my camera situation is not very good at the moment so all I could do was take a picture from my computer. I promise to post more later! (oh and Chili Paste with Holy Basil was what I had with dinner tonight, it was very tasty)

Prints Now on Etsy!

  

 I am now selling prints of my journal pages on etsy. Go check it out!

Spontaneous Bread is Now Live!

I just created a new blog where I will be posting a drawing on a daily basis. Each drawing will be spontaneous and take approximately thirty minutes. I hope everyone enjoys! www.spontaneousbread.blogspot.com

A New Beginning!

I know that I haven't been very diligent at upkeeping my blog in the past but I've gotten a new excitement and am going to be putting in a lot more effort from this point on. I'm revamping everything, and will be publishing an additional blog in the next couple days called "Spontaneous Bread" which will feature a daily drawing by me. I am also working on a completely new website for tiphoni.com which I am very excited about. I'm still working out a lot of kinks, and teaching myself flash / actionscripting in the process, so Im not exactly sure when I will be able to get it up and running, but I will keep you posted.

As for me I actually have moved back up from Portland, 6 months after moving down there. Portland is an amazing city but it took me moving down to realize how much of a Seattle girl I am. I've always had a adventurous spirit and thought I would really enjoy experiencing something completely new, but I surprised myself how much I missed being close to family and friends and having that sense of "home." I am now renting this super quirky house nestled back in the woods, 7 minutes from my wonderful parents and 10 minutes from downtown Seattle, its perfect. I feel like I finally have the space to be an artist.

Thank you all for having patience with me, I'm still trying to figure out all this life and after college stuff :)