art

100 Days Project

Photography, Thoughts

bookandpencil

My good friend Nicole told me about this great project: 100 Days Project

Here is a summary of the premise taken off the main webpage:

“The 100 Days Project is simple. 

Choose one creative exercise, and then repeat it every day for 100 days.
Record each daily effort and see what evolves in the work and in the self over time.

The project gives anyone a framework and the permission to be creative. It challenges you to dig deep into your creative reserves, to rely on your readiness to work in order to achieve creative breakthrough. It can be an end to procrastination, and the development of resilience. It takes a lot of energy, and yet the rewards can resonate for a long time after the 100th Day is over.

In 2011 Emma Rogan decided to start a 100 Days Project after reading about Michael Bierut’s ‘100 Days of Design’ class at Yale. She invited others to join her and word of the project spread. Since inception hundreds of people have participated in the project.

This 100 Days Project is not a commercial undertaking, and is not in any way (but spirit) affiliated with the Yale School of Art. Good things will come from the rigorous repetition of a process or idea over the 100 days. To see what others have done before, have a look at the previous projects.” – Emma Rogan


1 thing | Everyday | x100

I decided that my project would consist of one of my favorite hobbies : DRAWING

My artistic passion is fulfilled when creating pen & ink pointillism drawings (where little tiny dots make up the whole drawing). But, considering the time restraint and consistency of this contest, I thought it would be best to go with pencil sketches (which also fulfill my artistic passion). The time limit I put on my sketches each day is : 10 minutes. I think it’s the perfect amount of time to set aside each day to draw a quick simple sketch. Putting a time restraint on this exercise will help me with time management throughout the 100 day process, and allow me to not get sucked into a drawing for hours upon hours. Finally, I will take a photo of my finished sketch, and post it on my MAIN 100 DAYS PROJECT SHOWCASE PAGE. I will keep you updated weekly with my sketches on here too!

So you may be wondering, how will I know/pick/determine what to draw everyday? Glad you asked 🙂 Last year, my wonderful co-worker Roger gave a me the PERFECT gift for this project – it’s a drawing book consisting of 100’s of fresh white pages with a total of 642 different items printed throughout the book to sketch. I often use an image/photo as a guide in terms of shadows/proportions when I draw, but this time I will sketch solely off of what I concoct in my mind. Hence, the drawings may not be the MOST detailed, but I’m excited to see what I will be able to come up with 🙂

To be honest, I have only taken one Art Class and that was in High School (which was over 7 years ago-EEK). With that being said, another reason I chose drawing as my exercise for the 100 Days Project is to practice creating shadows/depths in my sketches. My goal by the end of this project is to hopefully SEE a steady progression of the realism of my drawings. Also, having a pencil and fresh sheet of a paper in front me puts me in a state of relaxation and intrigue. Just like how being in nature makes me the most happy in life, drawing does something similar for the happiness of my soul.

There are 760 other participants who are involved in this project as well – you can view all their creative projects HERE. Each person has come up with an exercise that relates to them- and they range from photographs, pieces of writing, videos, etc. Here are some random chosen examples:

* Tamai: Everyday I will draw a different alien. With different colors and different abilities. I will also give each one a name.

* Tara: Take photos of my husband’s pet skeleton, Nigel.

* Lester: Write a funny one line joke, or a funny story everyday.

* Karl: Shoot one, one shot, one minute video everyday, which when cut together, will create one, one hundred minute feature film set in New Zealand and the USA.

FOLLOW my Personal 100 Days Contest Page:
Chanel’s 100 Days Project 🙂

SNEAK PEEK – My first drawing of the contest – DAY 1 : SWIM FINS
Although, this is not what I’d call my best piece of work..it’s a start right? Cheers to the next 99 days of art!

Day 1 : Swim Fins

Day 1 : Swim Fins

Electrifying Art.

Science, Thoughts

The image above was taken by Matt Hoffman, who is a fantastic photographer, surfer, and great friend of mine. He snapped this epic lightening bolt in Montana – one of the most beautiful states in America (and least populated). Good thing he didn’t get hit, since you know that guys are 5x more likely to get struck by lightning than women (who knows why).

I love how science can be ‘electrifyingly‘ beautiful. I wanted to share with you all a great video which demonstrates how 15,000 volts (aka similar to a bolt of lightning) can turn a piece of wood, into a beautiful masterpiece.

The video was made by a 23- year-old sculpture major in New York City’s Pratt Institute. She spent 10 hours getting the footage of electrifying wood in an old metal shop in Brooklyn. Melanie Hoff is the student who created this video as her senior thesis project – how cool is that?!

The pattern you see burned into the wood is called “Lichtenberg figure” – which is the branching of electric discharges on the surface/interior of a material.

Facebook : Photography + Science = Chanel
Twitter : PSChanel
Pinterest : PhotoScience

I’ve got Eastern Island on the brain…

Photography, Science, Thoughts

Easter Island is definitely one of the many places on my Bucket List I must visit and witness in person. I actually have a couple friends venturing there next year..they invited me to join them once they got to Easter Island so we shall see if my dream comes true very soon.

The island is also known as “Rapa Nui.” I know many of you must have seen the photos of Giant Heads (called Moai) on rolling hills along the ocean before in photos for videos…it looks like something out of a movie. (But it’s real life!)

The island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean near Chile completing the Polynesian Triangle. The history of the island is very VERY fascinating!  If you don’t know the story.. I’d suggest doing some research- I don’t want to give away all the juicy details 😉 I actually learned more about the island watching the documentary on Netflix 180 degrees South a couple of months ago. It’s a great movie about a young man’s journey to Patagonia (plus much more)- check it out!

I drew a little sketch of some Easter Island Moai after watching the movie I wanted to share with you all now:

My Easter Island Drawing

I’m not a huge fan of the clouds I did- it’s tough to get the perfect fluffy texture (I know I’m my biggest critic..haha)! At least the Moai look pretty cool, huh?! Took me about 30 mins to pencil sketch this out while doing laundry 🙂 I’ve got to find a little frame for this sketch and hang it in my place.

For many years researchers thought that the Moai were only humanly head masterpieces…but after some further digging a recent discovery was made that most of the heads actually have full BODIES that were hidden underground! These huge stone pieces of art are hard to imagine being made with simple man-made tools 1,000’s of years ago…similar to structures like the Egyptian Pyramids. So of course archaeologists and researchers pondered for many years how the previous islanders moved this massive statues…until now:

Pretty cool huh?

Have any of you been to Easter Island before?! What’s one of the top places on your travel list to visit before you die 🙂 ?

Pasadena Chalk Festival + Make Music Pasadena

Photography, Thoughts

Tiger.

This past weekend I ventured just a couple of miles away from my house to find the hustle and bustle of 1,000’s of people who took over Pasadena on Saturday June 16th, 2012!

Firstly- there was the 20th Annual Chalk Festival held at the Paseo Colorado Mall. Approximately over 600 artists gathered from Southern California to Pasadena for the 2 day festival of artistic chalk magic! I’d link you to the website, but it crashed since Sunday with an overwhelmingly large numbers of viewers. It’s estimated that over 100,000 people came to see these temporary art exhibits on the ground of the Paseo. My favorite was an Albert Einstein Time Magazine cover- which actually won an award!

Secondly- there was the 5th Annual Make Music Pasadena event on Saturday as well. I really don’t know why I had never attended this fantastic festival before..it was too awesome to ever pass up again! There were over 150 free concerts all around walking distance in downtown Pasadena ranging across 6 main stages and over 30 impromptu stages. The only band I had really heard of before was GROUPLOVE which has a hit on the radio that I LOVE  at the moment 🙂 I’ll attach the video under the photo slideshow for your listening enjoyment. Multiple busy roads were closed down for this all day music event, and people came out from all over Southern California to see their favorite bands play for FREE! I had a blast and was happy to see all these new faces flock to Pasadena, my little bubble of a town.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It’s a NEW YEAR.

Thoughts

Wow. 2011. What a year you were! It definitely was the year of change in my life.

I won’t bore you with the details of last year- but everything that happened helped me grow, appreciate certain people more, disregard certain people (haha), and become a stronger individual.

I don’t really make New Years resolutions- but I have just created some standards that I want to hold up throughout the rest of my life.

Such as..

1) Surround myself with  more positive people- and less with negative ones. I know it may sound simple- but really take a step back and address friends in your life and how they treat you and others. I’ve realized that I have a couple friends who are always negative nancy’s and debbie downers. And it is usually not fun to be around them when we hang out…so what’s the point? I still care about these people, but I will just spend less time with them throughout the year. Life is too short to be unhappy.

2) COOK more. I got lots of fun cooking supplies for Christmas. I feel like I should turn into Betty Crocker or Julia Child by the time this year is over. I moved into my own place in September- and I really haven’t used my kitchen at all- I usually eat out or get food made by the chefs of the restaurant connected to my office that my boss always owns. So my goal is to buy more fresh veggies and eat less frozen foods.

3) DRAW more. After taking painting/drawing in high school- I kind of became fascinated with pointillism and pencil/shading drawings. I’ve got a nice little portfolio of my drawings that I want to increase over the next year and beyond. I already started a little drawing last night for my friend’s new baby girl that came into this world a week ago. It’s an escape to relaxation and creativity that I truly enjoy. I’ll be posting my new drawings throughout the year for your eyes to feast upon 🙂 Be on the look out.

I think those are some good goals to start off with for now. All these goals will hopefully make this year better than the last. I hope you all had a fantastic New Years- filled with friends and loved ones and possibly new friends. It’s 80 degrees and beautiful here in Pasadena CA – so I couldn’t ask for a more perfect way for 2012 to start. Being a sun child..life is good right now.

Cheers to a new possibilities!

Welcoming the New Year with open arms!

Fun Food Flags.

Photography, Thoughts

I came across this today- and wouldn’t love anything more to pass it along to you! The first foodie play on a flag is the Australian one- now you have to guess what other food/color choices stand for what country!

Chicquero

 

Sydney International Food Festival, presented by Citi, was launched in October 2009, a celebration of the Sydney food scene. The event combined cooking demonstrations, talks and tastings with top chefs from Sydney and around the world.
Great campaign, I love that they were able to get the essence of each country and translate that into a beautifully designed dish. Whybin TBWA has produced a print and online advertising campaign featuring dishes representing the flags of twelve different countries:

Australia
Brazil
France
Greece
India
Italy
Japan
Korea
Lebanon
Spain
Switzerland
Vietnam

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. 
~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

View original post