time & ink
share
  • ArtBlog
  • Gallery
  • Contact

What a November

11/11/2012

0 Comments

 
What a November it's been so far. We've been very fortunate to not have experienced too much hardship with Hurricane Sandy-- worst thing was losing power for a few nights and having long work commutes, but no destruction of property or any bodily injuries were had, so we have been lucky. 

The week of the hurricane itself had been relatively uneventful, though that Monday had been a little scary when we lost power at the height of the storm that night (I had started reading World War Z, which was a much much scarier read with the power cut, the wind howling, and the sounds of trees falling down outside). I wasn't able to get back into work in Midtown Manhattan until Friday that week, with both the MTA trains and the NJTransit trains being down. That Friday I actually had to plan an alternative bus route leaving Princeton at 6:10AM in order to get to work by 8:30. By the following Monday the NJTransit train I normally take began running again, but on a limited schedule where I also have to take a 6:12am train every morning. Commuting 4+ hours a day on completely packed train cars hasn't been pretty, but I'm very impressed with both the MTA and NJTransit at how quickly they're working to restore service for everyone. 

Last weekend I also had a pair of tickets to that week's SNL Dress Rehearsal: 
Picture
With all the hurricane business, I was really concerned that they were going to cancel the show. Luckily, they powered through, so Colin and I made our way into NYC last weekend. When I first got an email saying that I had won the SNL lottery for a pair of tickets, the host hadn't been announced yet and I had made peace with the probability that it was most likely going to be a so-so celebrity. Two weeks later when they announced that it was Louis CK, I couldn't believe my frickin' luck. There seriously could NOT have been anybody else I would have preferred. If Lorne Michaels came to me and offered to invite on anybody I wanted in the entire world to host that night, my answer would have been Louis CK. Incredible incredible luck. 

The dress rehearsal go-time was at 8PM, confirmation email said to be there by 7PM the latest, so we arrive to 30 Rockefeller a bit after 6pm. Stood on line for a while behind a nice older couple and a really annoying pair of 20-something girls who wouldn't stop talk-shouting at each other. I heard about how the SNL Studio (8H) is terrible for the studio audience in that pretty much all seats have obstructed views, especially the ones that are  all the way off to the sides. I knew that arriving early to get in line wasn't necessarily a good strategy for getting good seats, since if you get seated first you might be escorted to fill in those seats all the way off to the sides. It didn't matter very much actually when we got on line, actually, because at some point a page came up to us and, while counting off, pulled both Colin and myself as well as the pair of girls out of that line and put us in another one (where we were at the very end of this line). 

Some other lines start going through the metal detectors and loaded up into an elevator. After a little while, our own line went through the metal detector. Since Colin and I were at the end of our line going through the metal detectors, we were the last ones loaded into the elevator, and subsequently the first ones coming out of the elevator, so we ended up now being first in line outside of the studio doors. We must have waited for another 20 minutes on this line before they finally brought us into the studio. 

When we walked in and realized that we were going to end up with 2nd row center seats on the floor (right in front of the monologue stage and also pretty much right in front of the band stage), I couldn't even express my disbelief at how INCREDIBLY lucky we were. I looked behind me and saw everyone else (at least 200+ people) stuck in the balcony/riser seats, with the majority of the seats being partial/obstructed views, and couldn't believe that Colin and I were lucky enough to be on the FLOOR. I did a count-- the floor only had 4 rows of seats, with 8 seats in each row. Out of 200+ people, we were lucky enough to be one of the 32 people in a seat right on the floor. Considering that we could tell that the majority of our floor seat companions were VIPS (seemed like some were friends/family of NBC personnel  or friends/family of the host/musical guests), it seemed like Colin and I were ones of the 2% of people plucked out of the general audience for floor seats-- AMAZING.

Anyway, Louis CK is awesome. The dress rehearsal was 2 hours long while the live show is only 1.5 hours, so we got to see a bunch of extra sketches and even got a much longer (about 15-20 minute long) opening monologue than the live show. It was interesting to watch the live show later on Hulu and compare. For instance, I KNEW that Louis was going to have to cut one of the stories he told in his monologue since it went on for forever, but I didn't think he was going to end up cutting the one he did and going with the old-lady-in-the-airport story instead. The Lincoln video that aired during dress was the Director's Cut and included an additional scene that didn't air on the live show. There were a lot of sketches that were cut that I didn't necessarily think should have been cut-- the children's drawing show/Robot Ant sketch, the The Voice sketch where Louis CK made it as a finalist (actually, I guess that one wasn't so great), the NBA basketball theme song sketch, the Cologne murder sketch, etc. Any one of them could have been swapped for the Mountain Pass sketch, in my opinion. It still was good times all around.

In other various miscellaneous news, my friends' play The ABC's Guide to Getting Famous opens TOMORROW night, November 12. Tickets and more information here: http://horsetrade.info/Show/251. Show dates are the 12, 13, 19, 20, 25 and 27th. Go! 

Between Hurricane Sandy, losing electricity, SNL, my birthday, postponed Halloween, etc, it seems that both Colin and I forgot and disregarded our anniversary this year, ha! We don't actually have an anniversary date set in stone-- it just hovers around some time around Halloween weekend, I guess. Oh well. Happy 5 years to us! 

I finally (sort of) completed our portraits which will be going on the bedroom wall over the bed. They're still really wet but can't be hung, and I'll want to still do some little changes to them here and there in the upcoming days, but here they are: 



Picture

Closeup and the (reverse) process: 


Picture
Picture
Picture

I think his portrait ended up being better than mine, but I think that's because I'm more used to looking at his ole mug than my own, so painting it came more naturally than doing my own. 
Picture
0 Comments

Oh yes, I have a blog

10/25/2012

0 Comments

 
Oh right, I have a blog. It's been more than 2 months since I last updated-- bad Doris, bad. 

If my friend Kat/Spookfish Theater has put on a new theater production before I've churned out a new blog post, then shame on me. 

In any case, yes, my friend Kat/Spookfish Theater have a new show coming out! 
The details are as follows:
Picture
The ABC's Guide to Getting Famous

Written and Performed by Ming Peiffer
Developed with and Directed by Kat Yen

Part documentary and part solo-show, The ABC's Guide To Getting Famous is a raw look into the real lives of Asian American artists trying to make it in the entertainment industry. Funny, heartbreaking, and, at times, downright offensive...This hybrid film/theater piece is an honest investigation of race in casting..


Details:

The Red Room
85 E 4th St (between 2nd Ave and Bowery/3rd Ave; so up the stairs, not into the basement)

Monday, 5 November @ 8pm
Tuesday, 6 November @ 8pm
Monday, 12 November @ 8pm
Tuesday, 13 November @ 8pm
Monday, 19 November @ 8pm
Tuesday, 20 November @ 8pm 


Tickets are $15-18.
them here:https://tix.smarttix.com/Modules/Sales/SalesMainTabsPage.aspx?ControlState=1

(ABC= American Born Chinese, for those who didn't know that)
There you have it folks, go support the arts. Especially underrepresented folks in the arts.

Speaking about art, lately I've been working on a set of large paintings/portraits to go above the bed, since it's just a large plain white wall now. Mine's ::aaaaalmost:: done (still some much-needed tweaking still needs to be done), and I'm just starting on Colin's (so that one's really rough): 



Picture
Picture
He'll be holding a pipe, since we're classy like that.

Can you believe that it'll be NOVEMBER in a week? I'll be 26! Colin and I would have been together for 5 years! Barack Obama will be president for a second-term/we'll have a Mormon president! 
0 Comments

Progression and distractions

8/2/2011

1 Comment

 
Oh yeah. I have a blog. This thing is still here. Okay then. 

I've been admittedly neglecting working on the ole painting because 
1) I've been busy
2) I've been frustrated (with it)
3) I've been itinerary planning

August is going to be crazy. Internship ends at the end of the week, and then my body will physically be traveling for thousands and thousands of miles, which I guess is good, seeing as how it's been a while since I've traveled (unless if to NJ or MA or MD or PA counts... I guess it's been a while since I've left this coast). 

Going upstate to Potsdam mid-next week (probably Wednesday night-- like, a literal 9-hour bus ride, according to trailwaysny.com's bus schedule) to meet up with Colin. 
Driving down to Cape Cod on Friday morning for the weekend. 
Driving to Reading on Sunday. 
Driving to NYC either Monday or Tuesday. 
Then we have to PACK. Our flight to Israel is on Tuesday night, arrival in the Netherlands to spend a looovely day lay-overing on Wednesday early afternoon, arrival in Tel Aviv eeeeearly Thursday morning (like, 2:30AM). 

From there we've planned one night in Tel Aviv (and when I say "we've", I mean "I've," haha-- but it's totally mutually beneficial, having me plan everything. I enjoy the HELL out of planning, and Colin hates planning anything). Then 2 nights in Eilat. 3 nights in Masada (with day trip to the Dead Sean/Ein Gedi). 4 nights in Jerusalem. 1 more night in Tel Aviv, and flight back late the next day. 

Get back on the same day as I flew out, thanks to the magic of time-zones. Recover for a day. Go to first day of fall classes the next morning!


This thing miiiight be on hold for a while, but here's how it's been progressing:
Picture
Saturday, July 16th 2011
Picture
Sunday, July 17th 2011
Picture
Monday, July 18th 2011
Picture
Tuesday, July 19th 2011, pt. 1
Picture
Tuesday, July 20th 2011, pt. 2
Picture
But alas, the dog was just... no good. So here's one last sight of it...
Picture
Thursday, July 21st 2011
...Before I took wiped him out. 
Picture
Thursday, July 21st 2011
I tried again in a few days (okay, more like a week): 
Picture
Monday, August 1st 2011
Picture
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011
Picture
close-up
So yeah... very very very much still a work in progress.
1 Comment

Little explorations

6/30/2011

0 Comments

 
I've been busy. 

My summer internship with the Whitney is going well! I've been enjoying my time there a lot, enjoying the various projects I'm working on, and learning a lot from the various seminars/trips we've been scheduled for (so far we've had seminars with a few Whitney curators, their General Counsel, Chief Marketing/Communications Officer, Head of Education, Head of Publications, etc; bright and early tomorrow we have a trip scheduled to the New Museum). 

Picture
watercolor of the "Friends with You" installation under the High Line, a few blocks away from work
Besides that, I also recently interviewed with the ACLU National Archives, and will be interning there this fall (for school credit, hurrah!!). 

And besides that, I've been wanting to travel more. 
To remedy that, I've been exploring more of NYC lately (walking a WHOLE LOT every day), visiting the High Line, Hudson River park, East Village, Coney Island (mermaid parade!), and lots & lots & lots of Chelsea. 
Picture
Needs more stamps!
Colin and I also took a day-trip to Philadelphia last weekend, which had been both of our first times in Philly and had been on the agenda for a while. First stop was to the Yards Brewing Company (a Philadelphia microbrewery) for some Yards beer and free brewing tour:
Picture
Picture
Picture





Can't leave without actually sampling some beer, right? 
Not counting the free beer samples during the tour, that is...

Shared a flight, which is a tasting of their Signature line of  beers 
(there's also a flight option of their Revolution line beers, which are their 3 presidental ales and the love stout-- but we went with the signatures). 

Afterwards, we walked around and did some usual touristy things.


Picture
As far as this (long) weekend goes, I have no idea where to go. 
What's a good day trip-- no overnighting, unless if there's a campground-- from Princeton, NJ? Cape May, maybe? 
As a side project for the summer, I've been tackling this guy and chronicling the progress: 
Picture
pile of strecher bars
Picture
straight-edge and hammer time
Picture
rolling out some canvas
Picture
the cat thinks it's helping...
Picture
stretched, stapled, and on goes the gesso
Picture
sketch sketch, charcoal smears everywhere
I imagine my next post to just be photo progressions of this thing.
0 Comments

Happy Lunar New Year

1/30/2011

1 Comment

 
Picture
snow covered lanterns are everywhere in downtown Flushing


Okay, so the lunar new year (or, to be less inclusive, 'Chinese New Year'... sorry Korean friends) isn't until next week, but I anticipate busy-ness and not much blogging time-- classes start up in just 2 days-- so here's to striking preemptively & wishing you all a happy one.

It's the year of the rabbit.
So, a rabbit! 

Picture
In other news, I tried to do some test prints this weekend. 
It was... a re-learning experience. Set up and clean up was quite a hassle, as expected. After getting my giant sheet of Stonehenge paper ripped down into smaller sheets-- which was a project in itself-- I got my ink and brayer and glass sheet out:
Picture
Rolled out some ink, got out the linoleum block Colin carved, inked it, printed it. See below:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
I present to you, the final print (which is upside down from when it was initially created-- but we decided that it was better upside down!). 
Personally, I like it. Colin thinks I'm just humoring him when I say that, but I like it. It's, like, non-representational anti-aesthetic pure form imagery that, like, challenges our ideas of negative versus positive space, maaan. 

Some other test prints done that day:
Picture
Picture
None of which are perfect, but it's okay. It's a learning process. I didn't do too many prints because after each inking, the lino blocks were getting a lot of ink buildup... The ones done later turned out better than the first few ones though. It's just a matter of getting the hang of how to apply enough ink to the brayer and how to roll it on the block to cover it evenly. That was the main problem with the whole process-- getting too much ink on some parts of the block (where carved details were lost) and not enough ink, if any, on other parts. 

I have lots more paper and ink left, so I'll try inking again another day & see if they come out better. In the meanwhile, I have more drawings to carve as well: 
Picture
Picture
Lots to keep me busy with. 
Happy (early) year of the hare, everybody! 
Picture
1 Comment

Lemon goes to Market

8/11/2010

0 Comments

 
Picture

Continuation of 'work in progress'. Yup, still trying to work on and develop this thing...
0 Comments

Back to the Grind!

7/23/2010

0 Comments

 
Picture
'Bits'
 


Been working some more on drawings for a new "project" (what to do when "project" sounds too formal and "dicking around" sounds too crude?); see left.
 
For more brainstorming sketches for this same "project", see previous blog post.  

Dug this old sketch up, done more than a year ago (click to enlarge):
Picture

Here's one more from more current times! (click to enlarge):
Picture
0 Comments

How is it mid-July already?

7/16/2010

0 Comments

 
Lately I've been feeling very inspired by artist Jim Woodring.
Just ordered his new book, Weathercraft, and can't wait til I get it! Here is a review of Weathercraft from Comics Alliance. Woodring's work is an incredibly great mix that evokes surrealism, old-time woodcuts and manuscripts, nightmares, dreams, grotesqueness, and kitschy-cutesy-cartooning. It's pretty amazing.

I'm seriously of the opinion that he's one of the best cartoonists out there right now.
But in any case, I've been feeling motivated to get my imagination and hands going again (drawing after a hiatus of, er, NOT drawing really does result in stiff hands getting crampy at being put to use again!). Two sketches today, posted below. I have some ideas milling around my head, and some characters that need to form a bit more. I'll have to work on fleshing things out... Well, I have my work cut out for me now!
0 Comments

    Doris

    Once in a while, I draw things.

    Picture

    Archives

    August 2014
    September 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    March 2012
    January 2012
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    April 2010
    July 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009


    Categories

    All
    Comics
    Journal
    Linocuts
    Misc
    School
    Sketches
    Work In Progress

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.