Julugust

So this is a mix of stuff I just forgot to post all together so I apologize.

Below is my first aluminum plate from lithography.
Remember all my complaining?
It was over this!
So was drawn with just a basic grease crayon, which later becomes an image from talc, gum arabic, acetone, lithotine and asphaltum. I won't bore you with the obnoxious details. Later we fill the image with ink thanks to the acetone and asphaltum which holds it in place. But before before having to let it sit over night twice.



And it produces this!

My 2nd project was this. It was done with grease crayon, xerox transfer and there was a wash but it didn't work out, probably for the better. A wash is toner, water and soap. A xerox transfer is a toner printed image and winter green to make it stick to the aluminum. 

And my last project was a 2 run project (each color is a different plate) used on photo plates, meaning you paint/draw on Mylar and then expose the painted image on the Mylar over the plate for a few minutes. 

Oh and Garett and I celebrated our one year anniversary with Jimmy Johns and a picnic! Though now we're more like 14 months. 

He's too cute!

During the 7 week break we went to the sand dunes with some of our good friends, the men went sand hill jumping and then we all played Betrayal at the House on the Hill. Best game ever even though we were freezing. 

And our dearest friends Katy and Sam got married!!!
We also got to see lots of Garett's old companions like Troy (his "son").

I also had the opportunity to shoot my sister's brother-in-law Tim's reception here in Rexburg.

I was kind of obsessed with the lanterns in case you were wondering.

Anyway that's all for now.
I'm sure I have more stuff documented on my phone which I will hopefully get around to in the near future!
Until then SMILE!

Meg B.

Sometimes.....

After a long hard day of art projects, I wonder if I am crazy....

Who in their right mind would take printmaking or lithography for fun when they don't need it for their major?

Yeah sure let me play with some deadly chemicals all for the sake of some pretty cool images. 

Let me kill brain cells to learn techniques I'll never use again.

But then I think, when will I ever get to do insane stuff like this ever again?

Let's face it, friends you make when you're slowly killing yourselves for the sake of art, are friends you know you can count on for the rest of your life. (That probably doesn't make any sense, but it does in my head. Basically those friends help you to KEEP you from doing something wrong & killing yourself). 

Plus there is this side of me that says, do you really want to quit this? Even though it's really hard and scary it's also really fun. I guess it's that addiction to the wild side of life that keeps me going. 

But just FYI. If you're ever thinking of doing a printing class, stick with intaglio (btw the g is silent), it is MUCH easier & more forgiving than lithography. Lithography is for the mentally insane I'm pretty sure.....

Which is starting to make sense why my teacher kind of laughs like a crazy person....

That explains so much.....

anywhoooo, that is all for tonight. Have a good week!!!!!

Can't wait to see my family this weekend!!!!!!!!

Might be a little woozy 

due to chemicals...

Megan

I'm alive I swear!!!

Hey so basically this is just to let y'all know I'm alive. Sorry I don't blog much anymore. I went from having too much time to do nothing to wishing there was 10 more hours to every day. I'm baking in school, I love my classes, they just take up a LOT of time.

My favorite class by far has to be Lithography. For those who don't know what it is, here is a link to sum it up for you. And if you're too lazy to even read the link, basically it is making images with (what started with Bavarian Limestone) but we are using aluminum plates. Unlike printmaking, it is not an intaglio process. So it is not etched with acid. Honestly I'm still not even TOTALLY sure how Lithography works, but generally it works with oil and water and the science behind the two. And man there is A LOOOOOT of chemistry in it, which is odd because out of all the sciences, chemistry was probably my worst subject. We're still learning.

It helps that our teacher is an overly hyper lover of and Master of Lithography. Apparently he doesn't get to teach it much though so he is OVERLY thrilled that he is getting to now. He's pretty nerdy when it comes to Lithography, but it's good because it helps us students to want to try. I think it is going to be really hard, but really fun. Oh and apparently this is the FIRST EVER Lithography class at BYU-I. My old print making teacher is really hoping we can keep this class in the future. So I feel a little like a guinea pig. Please pray that we can keep this class, I think it's going to be really cool & really fun. =]

My 2nd favorite is of course digital photography. It is definitely taking me a little out of my comfort zone but it is pretty darn fun. (The assignments are more abstract rather than traditional). The teacher is very enthusiastic which helps. In general it's the crazy happy teachers that make the classes awesome. The teachers really make the class. If you love what you're teaching the students will too.

I'm also taking The Middle East, which is awesome. I'm learning more about the Arab cultures and I love it. I have such a great respect for them. I'm taking Origins of the Universe which is alright, got to go to the planetarium on campus. Didn't know we had one until yesterday. Not going to lie, I got pretty dizzy from it. Lastly I'm taking Doctrine & Covenants Part 1 which is a lot of self taught studying with a little class insight.

All in all school is good, just very time consuming. Thank goodness for no classes on Fridays, though it doesn't mean I'm not on campus on Fridays, still am just working on my own though.

So that's life, sorry for no pictures. I'm in the middle of 3 projects right now, I'll hopefully have some pictures up next week. Thanks for listening. Sorry this was a little long. I just like really weird art classes.

Keep dancing,
if you haven't danced today,
DO IT NOW!
Megan =]