Like always, anatomy and proportion issues about in the initial stages of both drawings.

Been listening to the new album from ADELE, entitled 21. It took me a while to get into the richer,more refined production of the songs, but I do like it a lot. Her cover of “Love Song” (originally by The Cure) was an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.

I’m up for a busy weekend. At the end of it, I expect to have quite a few lovely photos to share.

Happy Monday. :)

1. I really like the concept of this video, created with over 1400 still images.

2. Khleo Thomas… Wow, that’s the little boy from the Holes, all grown up.

3. I need a massive cup of tea right now.

I’m also really enjoying Jukebox the Ghost‘s new album, Everything Under the Sun. I was listening to it at work today and thought, Wow, this is kind of my life right now. It’s always cool when that happens with music. The songs “Summer Sun” and “Misteltoe” stand out to me the most at the moment.

My big sis is bored which somehow evolved into me tweezing her eyebrows. So…

I saw a photograph on my tumblr dashboard of the lower half of a girl standing on a rock in the middle of a stream. I liked the concept and decided to use it as basis for a new piece.

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It seems I’ve reached a crossroads conundrum in my artistic endeavors. Being presented recently with a new design opportunity has caused me to reevaluate what it is that I want to do with my talents.

I went to college and pursued Visual Arts because that’s where my passion lies (apparently). I got a degree in Graphic Design so I could get a job (ha!). I minored in Photography because, well, the art curriculum of the college required that I have a minor concentration. But I’ve grown to enjoy that art form as well.

At the end of the day, though, I create things because I can and I enjoy the challenge that comes with the visual problem solving and coming out with a creative and aesthetically pleasing solution. When I see the effect my work has on people, how they enjoy and appreciate it . . . well, that gives me the drive to create more.

This new design venture, though, has me diving back into the world of design. It’s a little scary, slightly overwhelming. After a while, those feeling will pass, and I just have to dive in and see where my skills take me.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

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Just purchased Corinne Bailey Rae‘s new album, The Sea. It is amazing, bittersweet and all around awesome. I also purchased OK Go’s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. It’s nice and funky. They’ve progressed in their sound, but it’s still distinctive, so it plays like a natural evolution.

I’m on a weird kind of high right now after an afternoon viewing of 500 Days of Summer. It was just as great as I expected, and I’m so glad I wasn’t disappointed. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great.

My co-worker, Dave, expressed that he would not be seeing the movie because there is no way it could possibly live up to the hype. Well, fortunately for me, that wasn’t the case. In my opinion, the over-hyped-movie title still resides with Shrek and Waitress.

From the beginning of the film the narrator informs us that although this is a story of boy-meets-girl, this is not a love story. I love that 500 Days of Summer was so very grounded in its portrayal of love, or rather, relationships and our expectations of them and the people with whom we become involved. The idea that it’s unwise to go into a relationship expecting to change the other person, to win them over to your side of whatever your core beliefs are, and not expect that that person, in turn, will affect you in the same way—this film explored that idea brilliantly AND it was so very pretty, funny, heartbreaking and squeeful (JGL doing a very relatable portrayal of a stifled artist) to watch.

At first, I didn’t give much consideration to Zooey Deschanel‘s performance as Summer. Now I think that’s a good thing. Her performance wasn’t lacking by any means, and now I realize she did an amazing job of conveying a sense of reservation on the part of Summer, playing a character who didn’t believe in love, but by the end, you see that she truly wanted to believe what it was that Tom (Gordon-Levitt) was pitching.

On that note, here’s this:

“Why Don’t You Let Me Stay Here” by She & Him
Directed by Mark Webb

Monday night I attended a concert at the Saenger Theater.

I was blown away by the opening act, a little band called Jukebox the Ghost. Before they began to play, one of them joked that while eating at Denny’s, they got schooled on the correct pronunciation of Mobile (Moh-BEE-uhl. It’s French.) It is a well known fact around these part that how one pronounces the name of my hometown is a valid litmus test for whether they are a native of the area. Dude, Ben Thornewill, killed it on the keyboards. The drummer was excellent. Of course one would reason that any band with the privilege of opening for Ben Folds was probably be pretty good. Listening to the album now, I much prefer the live version of “Hold It In” better live.

Then came the main act. I remember that he opened with “Annie Waits” and ended with…a song whose title has many asterisks, as listed in the iTunes store.

A list of what he played in between in the best approximation of the song order:

Bastard
B*tch Went Nuts
Cologne
Dr. Yang
Free Coffee
Jesusland
Sentimental Guy
Still Fighting It
Zak and Sara
The Luckiest
Lullaby
Jesusland
Brick – I believe this is one of his “retired” songs, but he said he would play it because he only visits Mobile, AL once every 40 years. Heh.
Emaline – Never heard this one, but I must get it.
You Don’t Know Me
Frown Song – He walked all around the stage, standing on the piano at one point.
Army – The audience sang the chorus part at one point (bah-dah-daaah), and did an impressive job.
Rockin’ the Suburbs

Ben Folds “explores the space” around the orchestra pit.

After the show, I passed by the table set up by Jukebox the Ghost to sell their merchandise. I decided to buy their album and, as I approached the table, was quite surprised to see one of the band members standing on the other side. There wasn’t a very big crowd around, besides a few squeeing teenage girls. So, after making my purchase I asked if he would sign it. I asked him his name (Tommy, vocals/guitar), and he asked me mine and shook my hand. In that time, another member from the band—the drummer—came out, and I did likewise, getting his signature on the album. His name’s Jesse, and he killed it on the drums (and had really smooth hands, as did Tommy). Ben (vocals, keyboards) came out shortly after and I got him to sign. Yay!

Ben talks to a fan(girl). This is my favorite shot of the night. (squee!)

Drummer Jesse Kristin (if that’s his real name).

Guitarist Tommy Siegel signs stuff.

In this sequence, the Pontipee brothers have come to town to participate in a barn raising. They meet 6 lovely girls, and get the opportunity to test out the manners taught to them by Milly, their new sister-in-law.

It really picks up around the 2:38 mark, and again at around 4:20.

Apparently, this is dubbed and subtitled in Italian. It’s the only one I could find of this particular sequence, but it doesn’t matter, because this number is all dancing, no singing.

This is a movie I really need to add to my DVD collection.

If the elephants have past lives
Yet are destined to always remember,
It’s no wonder how they scream
Like you and I, they must have some temper

I don’t know how she expects me to get through the rest of the album when I love the song on the first track so much that I just want to put it on repeat.

I’m really feelin’ her music right now. Her single, “Mercy,” was available as a free download on iTunes several months back. I got it, but didn’t listen to it at the time. A little while ago, I started hearing the song on the radio, and them remembered her name was familiar. I decided to investigate more of her music, and I like it a lot. I just bought her album last night. My favorite songs are “Warwick Avenue” and “Stepping Stone,” but it’s a good listen all the way through. (I so wish I was more eloquent in describing music.)

I described her voice to a friend as Amy-Winehouse-on-helium. That’s as best as I can approximate it. Their voices are very similar in tone and inflection, Duffy’s is just a lot higher. Also, she’s totally adorable.