Hi Everyone. Just want to let you know that I moved my blog to Tiphoni.blogspot.com. I am combining both "My Current Happenings" and "Spontaneous Bread" blogs so I can handle them better and post more often. Love to see you over there!
I'm excited to tell everyone that I set up "Tiphoni's Corner" on Teeshamoore.com. So far I have only one of my 3 line's up but as soon as I find a few spare moments in between the Journalfest site and getting ready for Artfest I will get my other two lines up. Also be watching for my prints, zines and even possibly some one of a kind items for sale. I will also be creating a brand new line of stamps for Artfest. Hope you guys enjoy and I would love any feedback on what you might like to see from me in the future! Here's a direct link: http://www.teeshaslandofodd.com/php/sunshop/index.php?l=product_list&c=34
So I went to a club party / sculptural environment last night on Capitol Hill called the Zodiac party (unfortunately I do not have pictures because it was too dark). It was a small space consisting of mainly a dance floor, bar area and 4 or 5 booth table areas. What was really cool is the person who invited me to come actually created along with a group of artists a bunch of paper-mache "capricorns," floating planets, and had these really cool laser cut wood coasters for everyone to use. Why I am writing about this on my blog is because getting to be a part of a artistic and social event like this was extremely inspiring. The idea of creating an artistic space for people to come and have an experience that you create for them I think would be an incredible art form. It would be an opportunity to have people be fully immersed in your artistic creation and to experience not just mentally but physically as well, to get completely lost in your work mind body and soul. Most of my work is still very much on paper right now (except a few dabbles in clay / toy making), but this excitement for doing fully immersive 3D interactive work is always in the back of my mind and I know some day, hopefully soon, it's going to become something of a reality.
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.
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."
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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
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 :)
I'm currently sitting here in my new studio apartment in downtown Portland. Im super excited to be down here as there really seems to be a greater communty of artists doing the genre of work that I do or would like to be doing more of (independent zines, comics, illustration). Im still working on another big piece that is similar to the piece I published in the last post while journalling up a storm as always. Im also working on getting more of my art on my website since I've been slacking a little in the adepartment.
This is my newest piece that I completed for the "Imaginary Civilations" Show at the Pony Club in Portland, OR, curated by Theo Ellsworth. I sat down to do this piece in October as the first large work that I would spend more then 1 or 2 weeks on, like I did in School. Im excited cause I feel like this is a new beginning to a much larger body of work.
Hey everyone, sorry Its been since October since I've posted but Im going to start posting more often again. I just recently got all my remaining felted creature necklaces on etsy for sale, www.tiphoni.etsy.com . I am going to be putting more necklaces as well as original drawings and other random things up there, so check back often! Also I just posted a new frontpage for Orangebusstudios.com com, go check it out!
So this is a crazy eggplant that me and my mom found at the Issaquah Saturday Market and I just had to buy it because it was so cute! I mean what eggplant has a nose?? Right now I am still hard at work on websites and on felted creatures and necklaces for ArtFiberFest, can't wait till next week!
Here's a sneak peek at the next thing I was working on. I found these amazing orange balls of coral at the Seattle Gift show and was inspired to make some felted creature necklaces. This is my first attempt, I'll be playing with these for a while but I plan to have a few for sale at ArtFiberFest coming up.
I have been working hard all month and my new stamps are finally here! I hope you enjoy them, I really enjoyed designing this line. I have found myself really inspired by illuminated manuscripts at late and you will see this reflected in some of my work.
Ok I am home and graduated from RISD and I'm ready to start up this blog again. This summer I have been working hard on lots of websites, which has been really fun but hasn't left me the time I thought I would have for doing zines and comics. I have been trying to get myself to draw more again and I am calling this summer as my "break." Here is a sketch I did at a coffeeshop yesterday, I am getting very excited by character design at the moment.
I am so sorry that I started this blog and haven't posted anything! Starting in June (once I am gradutated) I am going to be really using this every week at least, so don't give up on me I just have be super hectic with trying to live two lives as a college senior and a webdesigner/teacher/illustrator. Anyways, talk to you soon, I promise!
So this is my first project from my glass class and my first tshirt I have printed in my other class (which is a tshirt silkscreen class). The glass people were supposed to be a sculptural interpertation of the tshirt design. These are my main characters in the comics I have been developing. I had absolutely no idea how the glass people would turn out. At first I was extremely frustrated and dissapointed because they just looked like lumpy blobs. But once I added the eyes they seemed to gain the life that I had been looking for and they became something more than I was expecting (plus they're fun to play with :)
So I am at the tail end of wintersession and I had decided to take a glass class. It has been interesting, hard and demanding but also greatly rewarding. It has been exciting because I have never done anything like this before and it is so cool (and a little scary) to work with hot molten glass. I will post later my final projects for this class, but these are just some drops that we had to make for the first assignment.
Hello everyone!! I finally have set-up a blog! The problem with being a web designer is I never have time for my own sites. But I wanted to have a place online where I could posted current things I am working on or doing incase anyone was interested because I just don't have the time to update my own sites as frequently as I would like.
