The Conditional Minimalist

EAT ME! The Politics of Food

2009-11-19T12:03:00.005-05:00

Yes, this is a crappy shot, but I designed these damn posters and the press release so I'm posting it up.

Alex discussing his piece.

My drawings

Classmates and VisitorsRachels triptych.

The problem with organizing student shows...

2009-11-09T00:14:00.004-05:00

Right so... EAT ME! is this weekend. This is the thing I'm curating by the by.

Student generated blah blah blah.

I'm screwed.

Originally there were more than 10 student artists who had signed up and confirmed that they would be in the exhibit. Yes, the gallery is small, which is why is why there was a limit to the number of pieces a person could submit, but it's not so small that I can get away with 6 pieces.

That's right... SIX. That is currently the number of confirmed students in the show.

Or... wait... it COULD be five. Who the hell knows at this point.

Thank the ever-loving fuck that some people did diptychs and triptychs.

That is the problem with students. Especially non-professional students (which is a good majority)- they don't care enough.

Free exhibiting opportunity? Who gives a damn- there's homework to be done. I completely understand priorities, but let's face it, most people would rather party than really engage themselves.

Fine. I'm all for a good party, but damn it then don't say you'll do something then back out at the last minute. It's inconsiderate. It's also what differentiates the people who make it from the people who fade away, either for a while until they focus or forever because they never do.

Yes, this is a rant, but look at it my way: I can't push, yet I'm responsible for everything (my NAME is on everything) and people have been either hedging me or just not-replying --after their initial confirmations-- for the past 2 months. Now I have to clean up the mess, and it's not as though I don't have homework too. I don't even want to think about all the work I'm behind on. Most of it, and I haven't even checked what is due in English class.

So what now? Well, I'm hoping my quick painting skills can save my ass. Initially I didn't plan on submitting anything into the exhibit, but now I think I'll have to pull a couple of all-nighters and do a very large scale piece. I'll start doing sketches on the bus tomorrow morning. I have to go in to set up the gallery anyway, so I'll just drop by Home Hardware or Deserres and pick up either sheet glass or a very very large piece of mylar. We'll see. I've worked on mylar so that would be much easier.

I don't mind it too much to be honest. I'm worried but I figure success in Art often hinges on discipline and hard work as much as skill and vision.

I'll be updating with my paintings ASAP since I finally got batteries for my camera. haha.

Right Where it Belongs

2009-10-26T21:45:00.002-04:00

Yet again, it's been a while.
Clearly, the fashion thing didn't stick. haha. ok it sort of did, but I chose to carefully disentangle and disengage myself from that world and plunge back into Fine Arts.
Yes, I have changed my mind YET AGAIN.
I did some thinking in the middle of the summer, and applied last minute to Centennial College for the Fine Arts Studio program.
This was after rejecting OCAD.
oh. I laugh at myself. Right now, in fact, I am laughing at myself. Not with myself. At.

I figured (and still do) that 2 years is a good length of time. If I change my mind... well... it's not the end of the world and I won't be wasting ALL my savings.

So far, it's good. It has been a seamless transition back into painting and drawing and whatnot. Feels like all the good parts of Claude and none of the crap of actual High School. The only downside is the commute, but I'll deal.

I'm currently curating a student show that is scheduled for early November. I have to finish writing the press release, design the PR materials and hunt down everyone who will be in the show just for last minute confirmations. Not to mention I'll somehow need to get them to pitch in $10-15 bucks for the posters and cards etc.
Oh dear.
What did I get myself into?
Along with being an FAS rep and writing for the FASSIE (Fine Arts Studio sure is excellent) artist newsletter... I'm in just a tad over my head. I'm not even thinking about the crap I have to actually do called homework. yup. Good stuff.
But overall, I'm enjoying myself.
After last year, it's good to be busy and not have to worry about the mundane everyday things like paying bills, washing the dishes, vacuuming and grocery shopping.
My money and time goes towards Caffeine, books, writing and creating in general.
Who am I to complain?
Eventually I'll update with information about the exhibit.

Au Revoir
Signed: Still waiting for my illusive MacBook

Work Envy

2009-05-29T20:45:00.005-04:00

Due to what I believe was a very very stupid mistake... I have no job. And seeing as how I'm so PICKY about it... I don't think I will have a job all summer.
And this is ok.
Or well... it should be.
What's actually happening is that I am hardcore envying all my friends with jobs.
I'm determined not to be obsessed with money, having money and working to fill up my time.
The world has so much to offer, why should I spend my summer cooped up in the house or spending 35 hours a week doing something I hate.
I managed to spend over 6 months with no job, no friends, and a minimum amount of comprehension to get by in French, I think I can manage a couple more months. Especially since there are no bills to pay.
I'm already taking two classes and plan to volunteer at the AGO later on in the season.
I think instead of fretting, I'll buy a metropass and spend my summer hanging around the city, sketching, exploring and hanging out with people I haven't seen for a while.
I'm determined to get through my stack of books, get school funding, volunteer, learn to sew (maybe create a couple of pieces) and make the BEST PORTFOLIO EVER! (actually best portfolio I ever had)

I am in fact quite excited for all this. This is turning out to be an exercise in lifestyle management. Making due with the bare minimum and enjoying it.
And hey--If it just so happens that I can pick up a little extra money here and there, why not?

Illustration and Frustration

2009-04-22T21:37:00.005-04:00

This past Sunday (19th) I attended my first Fashion Illustration and design class at George Brown. It was SO much fun.
This was mainly an introductory class so we just copied pictures out of magazines and then altered them to get fashion proportions down and practice hand-eye coordination.
After, we drew our own swimsuit designs on the model (meaning we had to draw what their shape looks like without clothes, without seeing it. I didn't realize what a great exercise this is. It gives you some focus and a starting place, but tests your anatomical knowledge and technical skills. Plus, redrawing different designs (your own or copied) is a great way to develop creativity and learn to draw movement of fabrics/clothes.
I had to go out and blow more of the money I don't have on paper. A larger pad of tracing paper than what I already owned, and the same for a watercolour pad. Thankfully I own all the other supplies I need.
I'm enjoying this SO much, I'm think instead of spending my meager savings on clothes, I'll take a sewing class. Both courses are actually a part of the Fashion Fundamentals Certificate. Who knows, by the time I graduate in 2011, I might have 2 degrees (cert.+dipl.).
Teach a man to fish... you know.

Plus, I recently found the [sole] textbook I will need for school for 20 bucks. It looks brand new but there's barely noticeable damage on the inner back cover. MSRP: $85+tax.
SCORE

Stayed Downtown at my friend's place and applied for more jobs this morning. Tomorrow... horror of all horrors: I'm getting my wisdom teeth surgically removed. They haven't come out yet. Oh... my... I don't even know WHAT to expect.
Wish me luck.

-Achromatic

WOO HOO!

2009-04-16T14:40:00.003-04:00

The Outnet is now up!
Who's excited?!
ME!
Except I still can't afford anything and can't find a job.... and my laptop is completely water damaged and costs $500 to fix or $100 to pick up.
DAMN TOSHIBA!
Damn them all to unfashionable recesses of hell.

*sigh* no pretty dresses for me.

pictures courtesy of The Outnet

Mixed update

2009-04-12T13:50:00.009-04:00

I feel like such a lazy, lazy person.
It's horrendous.
I've been back in Toronto for 13 days now and, granted I have managed to completely repaint, refurnish and reorganize my room, see several friends, go to my beloved IKEA... I feel I haven't done anything with myself.The easter weekend is NOT helping.

I had an interview at Club Monaco. I would love a job there, more-so than at any other retail store (except maybe the Bay or Holts... though not in sales). I wore my Joe Fresh (a shoot off of Club Monaco- HA) cropped beige slim slacks, a black tank top with a sheer black button down, my Kenneth Cole oxfords and pearls. Yes pearls. They were a "YAY! You're not a complete failure--thank god you're going to college!" gift from my mother.
The interview went well. It was me and a french guy in a closet with 2 employees (who were very nice) and I tended to dominate since his english was a bit lacking. Points. I felt a bit idiotic as I couldn't stop smiling. Excitement... yes I know... it's RETAIL and RETAIL is shit when it comes to employee treatment, but I actually like the clothes and culture and the store. Plus I want to try for the Visual aspect more so than sales.
I love that their employees are trained to be CM stylists.
Anyway, cross my fingers, I hope to be called in for a second inteview. Not sure what I would wear, but I don't want to get ahead of myself just yet.

Now that I'm officially a visual merchandising student (at least once I pay my deposit), I'm giving myself a bit of leeway to buy art supplies and a few books. As though I don't have enough.
Whilst cleaning out my room (before painting it) I found my Polaroid camera-- which means I must buy film as well. So if anyone comes across cheap Polaroid film for a 636, do tell.

Currently coveting:

Swatch Watch

Dr. Martens

I should eBay. Too bad my NEW Toshiba laptop is dead. really... I'm a sad bunny when it comes to laptops. I think I should be more careful, not that I did anything this time (it didn't fall or anything). Calling Toshiba Canada first thing tomorrow.

Kenneth Cole Love/Hate

2009-02-11T15:19:00.003-05:00

Last week I got my Kenneth Cole shipment in. I bought everything on sale, and was--mostly--very pleased.
I completely fell in love with all 3 items I pucrhased (oxford booties, black tote/handbag and brown winter boots) and got my heart broken when I realized that THE PERFECT boots were actually a size 10, not a size 9.
I only buy boots in a size nine because in the winter I wear a lot of layers on my feet. I'm usually a size 8/8.5 dsepending on the height of the heel. What irked me the most is that the box clearly states 40 EU. This means they are a size 10 in North america. For some reason unbeknownst to me, Kenneth Cole Productions decided (as told to me by a c.rep) that THEIR size 40 European is a size 9.
What?
No... seriously... I didn't realize you could choose size conversions.
How... I don't even know. There is no reasonable explanation for this. I'm european, I KNOW what a size 40 is. And I know what a size 9 is. They are NOT THE SAME THING.
So, with sadness in my heart I have to unload these boots for a fraction of their price. Yes, I was lucky enough to only pay 1/3 of their original retail price, and they now sell for 250 on the site (from 325), but I wanted them so bad. It's not worth it for me to pay another 60 bucks for shipping them and paying for shipping a new pair.

My boyfriend's camera is a bit wonky right now, and I'm trying to get a DSLR for school next year (yes, I got into college despite being essentially a dropout... actually missing one credit to graduate, but either way...) for my Visual Merch. program. Lots of photography and drawing involved, which is very cool. So my point is, all the good pictures I took were erased, but here are a few of the bag and oxford booties anyway-- I can't wait till all the snow melts and I can wear them out all the time.

In the meantime, I'm thinking about ways to get my hands on the McQ line for Target in March. Possibly while still in Canada.

Listed!

2009-02-06T16:25:00.005-05:00

I have a few more ebay listings this week, though now that my internet connection is going to be down (tomorrow) I will have to go out with my laptop more:

1st--the American Apparel skirt from my last post. Listed for under $20, retail price is $42 Canadian.

2nd--Buffalo Mega Jeans Blue 26 New RP $98

3rd--Kenneth Cole New York Roam the Streets Boot NIB $325 10

For Sale

2009-01-30T18:04:00.005-05:00

I just posted a couple of items on eBay for sale:

Nine West Heech Sandals Size 9
Vintage 80's Climax Body-Con mini dress
Hopefully tonight I'll post up the small AA interlock A line skirt too:

Nostalgia and Champagne for Breakfast

2009-01-30T00:21:00.007-05:00

This morning I woke up to an "initial" breakfast of champagne-- or more accurately sparkling wine, since I'm not willing to shell out the 50 dollars for the real thing. Chased down with canned beans and feta.

I know it's a weird combination, but that's what a person with a decent bank account and no job does. Or I do anyway. The only way way I can make money these days is through Ebay, which is fine. I get to scour all the vintage stores, friperies and garage sales (in the winter? HA) I can fit into my extremely busy days. Yea... that's right... busy... *cough*No these do not look like the bag I'm talking about.

Anyway. The last couple of days I've been thinking about this bag my grandmother use to have.
My grandmother was Russian and technically a doctor. However, due to the times, communism and politics essentially rendered her a nurse. I remember being little and rummaging through her 50's navy blue Doctors bag. I never could read her doctor's script, but she always had lots of papers in there and kept it in the closet.
I haven't seen that bag for 9 years but now I have this weird NEED to get my hands on it.
I figured I could give my mom a call and ask if my grandfather hasn't thrown it out since her passing. It would be absolutely terrible if he did... though there's a chance that won't happen since he's such pack-rats. Then again, I'm sure to him it's just a bag. I know to mom it would be; she hates clutter.
I guess the point is that is more than just a bag to me. It holds really good memories for me. and some mysteries I couldn't fully decode when I was 8. In fact it probably even has prescription slips and files from the 50's to the 70's (she got a new bag in the eighties as far as I know).

Currently I want...

2009-01-19T22:12:00.010-05:00

1. To find my old school Polaroid Camera (I hope my mother did not throw it out-- Hopefully it's in the garage at my parents')

2. Film for my old school Polaroid Camera ~~that does not cost an exorbitant amount~~.or at the very least a Zenit(h) from Moscow.

3. Money for Switzerland trip in May.
4. Super BootsCostume National USD500Steve Madden USD150 Stewart Weitzman CAD299 Browns
5. TabletWacom Intuos3 6x8

Zee futur avaits! Unt! Chair paintings

2008-04-05T22:15:00.008-04:00

I've got this crazy idea to go to art school over seas. Preferrably not somewhere obvious and exorbitantly priced.
I would go to Prague or something, but seeing as how I don't know the language, there would be no way of getting around the "international student" label and therefore the prices would still be exorbitant.
Which means I'm left with Russian Speaking Countries (kind of a hit and miss with all the post-USSR bitterness)
If my *ahem* plan goes well, next summer I will be packing for/unpacking in St. Petersburg. They seem to have a pretty good Culture/Arts university and the Imperial Academy. If not full time, I expect to at least take some classes while I work/explore.
The other option is to go to Baku, and apply to an Art school in person. They're seriously behind with this newfangled interweb thing.
Well, I'll update that as soon as everything is settled, which will be next year.

In the meantime, I have 1 week to start and finish an academic painting of an object.
I really want to do a chair but wasn't sure where to start until I found the artist who did the chair above.

And this one, which I am strangely fond of:

Ada Sadler,
SFSU Chair
2007

For painting, I use almost exclusively acrylics but with the help of some mediums and stategic use of highlights, I'm sure I could manage something technically similar.
I do want to take advantage of the Art studio's Bauhaus-esque industrial decor, pipes and bare walls. The lighting is also superb, if I can catch some light rays streaming through the blinds. Or I could do that in my room.

Anyway, I have some online Biology work to do.

Here is the artists website, she does bathtubs too. ;) www.adasadler.com

[On] The things you keep from telling yourself

2008-02-27T00:32:00.003-05:00

So, no art. It's not that I haven't done anything.
I've done a self portrait in acrylic, an artist book, a really-really-half-assed personal ... THING, a couple of small paintings, and some other minor stuff... it's just that most of it has been on a time limit and I'm not happy with it.
I have this problem with finishing things see--or more accurately NOT finishing them.
I take on too much or get too ambitious and then drop everything half way. Once in a while though, I am not to blame.
Which is why I like t o blog I think. This is straight from my head. I cut off every entry when I feel ready to and there it is; done. Except I get the best of both world since the blog doesn't end. It never has to until I do actually. I love that's blogs give you a free cheat.

***

Sometimes if you stop thinking and building ideas in your own head about who you should be you’ll stop putting boundaries around how you should feel to fit that.

So in a moment if sheer distraction I finally said exactly what has been bothering me about people. It’s not people; it’s the changing of people. It’s the moving tide of people into and out of my life and of my presence in theirs.

I feel replaceable.

And that goes against everything I want, need and stand for in this life I am _trying_ to build.

I think I should just stop worrying, but then when I do, when I relax, I think I relax too much. Things become so flexible when I just “am“, that time stretches to eternity. I can merely “be” for hours or days or weeks without change, without repercussions. Then I realize, there’s no reason not to be.

So fuck, if I’m going to be replaceable, I might as well as well make everyone else replaceable too.

Life Circus

2007-10-30T01:06:00.000-04:00

No, it may not be the most creative or eloquent title for this post, however, it gets the point across:
Life is like a circus in which you are a performer. Most of us are jugglers, which is why it's not an issue anymore. No-one feels sorry for you or bats and eyelash if you say
"I'm so busy, there's just so much to do."
Too many jugglers taking stage.
We've become boring.
Then there are the tightrope walkers. You know who I'm talking about; those people who take risks, often with their eyes closed just for kicks (or hell, as a challenge) and manage to make it through without much of a problem. They're a little impulsive and just DO things.
THOSE people are entertaining.
In all actuality, that is my nature, but I'm not in any sort of position o do that right now.

I am terrible at time management, which is why I have trouble juggling things which have a deadline or require a set schedule. In other words pretty much everything.
Everything is so strict this year. There are no extensions, and I have several English projects as well as an Art History assignment due tomorrow,
plus a Physiology Test somewhere in the beginning of November, another English Project and a painting due next week.

Not to mention I promised myself a doctors appointment (partially to get a note from my doctor for my English/WC teacher) and I have work. Soon enough, hopefully--or not, I'm not sure anymore to be honest--I'll be volunteering at the AGO. Good for Art School Applications and who knows, maybe I'll switch from Studio to Art History? Oh yea. Social life. oh dear.

I swear I'm bipolar to boot, which just causes me to lay in bed, motionless and hopeless for days and the to get up one night at 2 am, finish everything I have overdue, run around like a decapitated chicken fixing all the shit I let pile up and then get exhausted and collapse in the same hopeless heap all over again.

*sigh* You'd think I'd be use to it by now, but I'm not. Still exhausting.

Anyway, I'll post some photos of the progress I'm making on my painting as well as the finished piece sometime next week.

Introdution to the Conditional Minimalist blog

2007-08-08T15:55:00.000-04:00

I'm starting this blog as a relatively impersonal place to record my thoughts on various subject. Due to recent evets in my life, I have more or less overhauled my lifestyle. I don't spend nearly as much time on the computer, I very rarely watch TV (a couple of hours a week or less), I've really gotten into fitness and in general hae begun a "real" life instead of a virtual one.
In general, I just wanted a fresh page which has not been tarnished by my previous words.

...and already I'm having second thoughts! At least about the name.
I'll explain:

I chose the name of this blog because I'm a minimalist at heart.
I eat a limited diet, I bike everywhere, I don't accept the ideal of excess and don't believe that it's a necessity.
If it was up to me, I'd go back and wouldn't buy half the things I won now.
My clothing choices are not boring, but the lines and colours are subdued.
I work on making my writing contain as few words as possible in order to eleganty convey the point I'm trying to make.
In short, there are MANY reasons for my being considered a minimalist.

However, it's a little paradoxical because I dabble in pretty much everything. I study Art, Science and Skepticism, Fitness and Nutrition, a bit of history, some beauty and fashion, cooking and have an interest in sociology.
I suppose that's where the "conditional" part comes in.
Herein lies the problem. I'm not sure HOW I'm going to incorporate all of this into one blog.
I think I may have certain days dedicated to certain subjects (eg: Monday: Science, Wednesday: Fitness, Friday: Art weekends: mixed/free) or I might just post whatever I want and organize my posts into those topics.
We'll see. I'm still working on figuring these things out.