Hello from Spain!

Here are a few of the photographs that'll be included in my

POTE exhibit. This post is coming very late because the location I carried out my project was isolated from phone and internet, in the heart of New Mexico. Immediately after putting all the pieces together (photo selections, enlargements, mounting, etc.) I was off to Spain, studying abroad! Below are a couple of photos which will be included in the full exhibit that I wanted to share a little bit about. The project is its entirety will contain 4 series of 10-12 photos and one more along the bottom showing the faces of Aragon.

The first morning in Aragon, I awoke to one of the most powerful experiences of the trip. During the night, a nearby rancher lost his best horse, and the foal she carried, to birthing complications. He sat up through the night tending to his longtime companion, but ultim

ately the animal died just before sunrise. Soon, we had buried the mare and the day proceeded as normal. It was really eye-opening to be face-to-face with the reality of life and death which is so common in the lives of rancheros in Aragon.

Branding the season's calves is another unique window into ranch life. Seeing photographs of what would would appear to be painful action carried out against wide-eyed baby calves may give mixed feelings to some, but witnessing it is something else entirely. It really is an impressive exhibition of expertise and care towards the well-being of the animals.

I'll post in a little while with some shots of the organization and selection process, just before mounting.

I'm extremely disappointed that I have to miss POTE and all the wonderful artwork that everyone created this summer! A friend is taking photos of the entire night for me, so I'll at least get to see that eventually. Bueno Suerte with the event! Have fun!

-Nick Mendoza

Second Piece - Photography.

Photographs of my sister for my Second Piece on Henna. Need to decide on Three.

Sorry that it's a little messy - the post wouldn't let me edit it around too much.

Oops - I meant Third Piece!

Working on the Third Piece

Oops! On my last post I said this was my second piece when it's my third - the second is in process still, since it's a photography piece. Being developed as I write.

For this one, I switched it around from what I originally planned. At first I was going to have the whole face showing but I decided a close up of a face from a profile view would be better. Decided to use tissue paper to give the painting texture and a suggestion of hair, and to convey a sense of spiritual fragility through the delicate material. I still have to section off the subject's face to show deterioration.

I'm now debating though whether I want to include fabric as I originally planned, or whether this would make the painting chaotic. Hm.

Started with a Basic Outline.

Then began with the tissue work. Used white tissue, which I then painted over with acrylic to get whatever color I wanted. The acrylic also helped as a glue.

Was considering whether I wanted to leave some white to get this rocky texture to give the painting harshness. Decided against it though, as it was too overpowering.

Adding color. Almost done - just need to section off the face and write in the text!

Post 2 - And should've posted a month ago!

Hey Guys - this was the planning I did for my second piece. It's not a self-portrait, but I wanted a reference of some sort so I used myself as my Muse ;). I took a lot of different photographs, but the ones that I was decided between are displayed, with the cropped close-up being the chosen one.

Musical Elements to Brain-Machine

Over the last few weeks, we've been building up some of the musical elements of the piece.

Now, introducing the guitar playing robot!:

We're working on tweaking the song so it sounds good. We programmed it so that as a user's attention level is high, the song will play at speed (and actually sound like real music.) Excited to see it come together...

I forgot to post this earlier, but here is a video of of early prototypes of the instrumentation. We tried playing Thermin, thumb pianos and even a flute...

An early mallet prototype for striking marimba bar elements.

updates

Here are some more images from my project. The third one is a lithograph. The entire image didn't scan but you'll see the real one at Party on the Edge. Been having a lot of fun working digitally on my traditional pieces... it's also fun to be working with the end goal of making something completely out of my own head. Lots of imaginative stuff. All your projects look amazing, I'm really impressed!

Tibet Painting Series Update

I'm still working on my project, a series of nine different paintings all reflections on my trip to Tibet and China. I tried to incorporate my own style with Chinese propaganda and Tibetan influences. This is where I am. I have been working on all paintings concurrently and am just about done with the project. I will be putting the final touches on these paintings in the next few weeks. Here are some pictures of my work spaces these past few weeks. Sorry about the low quality images. When I am done, I'll take some nice, high quality photos for a later post.
 

Ariana's blog on art

Hey guys,
Just a reminder to check out my artsblog at koblitzarts.wordpress.com for continuing updates on my project process.

My camera broke down and so I'm working on it at the moment, so most recent photos will have to wait, but being back on campus means I finally uploaded earlier ones!

Cheers,
Ariana

Update on Pop-ups

Hi everyone,

This summer I've been busy refining my pop-up book about how seeds grow into flowers. I've improved my paper engineering skills by researching other children's pop-up books, practicing various techniques, prototyping mechanisms, and applying them to my book. Each of the mechanisms in the final version should be more intuitive and functional.

Here's a sample of the refinements made to the book.

BEFORE

Problems: The pull tab sticks out beyond the boundary of the page and it jiggles up and down instead of moving in and out smoothly and consistently. Also, the "flow" of the water works nicely/somewhat realistically as you pull the tab out, but not as you push it back in.

AFTER

Solution: Using a wheel allows the water to start, flow, and stop in a more realistic way

Blog 2 Pablo CA and China

I just returned from the Deep Springs Valley in eastern California, where I found and sampled an incredible variety of rocks and minerals. Work to do, things to do, rocks to cut apart. Here, however, are my newest micrographs of serpentinites from Livermore, CA., and sandstones from the Gansu Province, China.