Sunday, October 28, 2012

From the head, from the heart, from the hand



Some of the best things about college (for me) are the access to studio supplies and space in which to create. My other classes are great but the art department is where I feel most at home. I've been really digging ceramics lately, hadn't been doing that since highschool. Finding I'm much better at hand building now that I ever was before. I'm still pretty horrible at throwing on the wheel, maybe it's something I'll practice more now that I've got access to wheels. I've posted some pics of some work I've made over the last two terms (I'll post the stuff im making this term soon):

Click here for pics
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Sunday, September 16, 2012

A Hairy Situation

Many people know that I have been cutting hair for partners and friends for a few years now. I've only recently begun to document my adventures in the art of the 'do. Here are some of my more recent do's (including some rad dye jobs):




My first time with facial hair!





                                                                 

 
                                                          They both turned out swell!


Ode to a perfect meal


   Have you ever had a meal that captured your imagination and your taste buds at first bite? This was one such meal for me. Myself, Shaun, and Casey scoured the PDX farmers market for some of the most unique ingredients we could afford and brought it all back for a grilled feast. We had Purple Italian artichokes, asparagus, garlic scapes, fiddle head ferns, king oyster mushrooms, heirloom purple garlic and onions, and the infinitely tasty Mitake Mushrooms. The omnivores also ate some sustainably farmed elk meat. Paired with several local wine varieties, this meal was killer. 


Fiddlehead ferns on the left, garlic scapes on the right:



King Oyster, one meaty mushroom:

Mitake (hen of the woods):

  My beautiful plate:

Su Familia es muy grande!



Casey has a very large family. They are all spread across the US and once or twice a year converge on a pre decided location. Lucky for us, this time it was in Seattle! I had met her Mom once before, but this time it was her father's side that was gathering. Myself, she, and her brother Jake carpooled up to one of their Aunt's homes up there. We spent an entire week there, hanging out with them, and they really know how to pack a week full of fun let me tell ya. Her dad put us up in a nice hotel the whole time where he and a few other family members were also staying. It was up early every day to go somewhere and so something. We went to the Seattle Art Glass Museum for the Chihuly exhibit, The Pacific science center to see the King Tut exhibit, The Pikes Place Market, and we went sailing on one of their boats. Pepper all that with meals and gatherings at one of their homes and it was a non stop adventure.

The Glass museum was really cool, they had several other artists exhibiting in addition to Chihuly. Attached to the building was this curiously shaped silver conical structure. Turns out it is a hot glass workshop and auditorium where they have artists come and create bodies of work and let people watch how it's all done.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

The Pacific Science center is like MOSI. They had an awesome butterfly room, and their star exhibit King Tut. This was an amazing sight to see, all these artifacts that were thousands of years old. The craftsmanship and detail to these pieces was simply unbelievable, especially considering the crude tools of the time. We were treated to the audio tour and, despite all looking funny with these earpieces, we all learned alot more than we would have just looking at the signs.

Sailing was awesome. It was my first time on a sailboat and it was one of the most peaceful and enjoyable afternoons we had up there. Weather was perfect, and Me, Casey, and Jake had the whole front 2/4 of the craft to ourselves. We tanned, dipped our toes in the water as the boar turned corners, chatted, and tried to work out the realism and details of buying a boat like that and living on it full time.

The drive back down was great too. We took our time and made a few stops along the way, one of them was a beach that was covered with (dead) sand dollars. We went a little crazy and collected over a hundred of them for craft use later. We also stopped at this cute little garden shop and bought a couple succulent plants.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE PICS
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Two for one



  This post is also aqua filled, and you get 2 blogs in one, how nifty is that?
Ash and Misha graciously lent their kayaks out to us so we spent an afternoon paddling the Willamette river. The weather was wonderful if not a tad hot. We were out for over 4 hours and let me tell you, we really felt it later that night. We had fun but next time we are going to choose another paddling location because this river was large and had a ton of large boat traffic, most of the day we ended up fighting ocean size waves put off by the speedboats towing skiers. The sunset was a nice touch at the end though.

CLICK HERE FOR PICS



 And the second little crumb of a blog is merely sharing some photos of a trip we took out to our old trusty swim spot for a bbq and crawfish chasing (the river is chock full of them.) The only difference here is that the road was closed preventing us from accessing our actual spot so we improvised and found another cute little swimming hole upriver.

    The drive out:







A watery grave?



    Despite the inherent danger of cliff jumping,  no one died the day we visited Moulton Falls up in Washington. Initially we were drawn to the area from reports of 84 degree water temperatures. That, it turned out, was a lie. The water was probably closer to 65 or 70 degrees. In all actuality, on a 100 degree day, it felt really nice. And it was warmer than some of our other would be swim spots where the water is closer to 40 degrees. The standout difference between this and other places we have swum at, had to be the people flinging themselves off of the tallest rocky structures they could find. The topography of this place was somewhat unique, tall rock walls looming over a narrow but deceptively deep green river? stream? creek? Nor really sure what you would call this thing other than super neat. We had a large group of swimmers with us this time, Casey, myself, Sara, Sandra, Shaun, Casey's brother Jake, and his new boyfriend Chris. And the dog. We brought the grill and beverages, camera, an inner-tube, fun noodles, and sunblock. All ingredients in a recipe of fun. We didn't anticipate the challenges that lie before we could even reach the water though. See the bridge above? Parking was up on that level of ground. You are probably thinking stairs to get down right? No. Of course not! All our people and gear had to be carried, passed, carefully navigated, and slid down steep dirt/rock/grass embankments, then hiked even further over and down huge rocks and boulders to get down to the water. Talk about working for your fun. It was worth it though, this place was like a natural waterpark. Upstream there were large rock formations that formed a bunch of private pools. A little further down there was a section of rapids (tiny and waterfall-ish) that we made use of by riding over it in the inner-tube. And if you let the current take you further down you would reach the cliff jumping area. There were various heights from which to choose from: "sissy" *The only one I attempted* to "you must be out of your mind." There was also one I'd call "dead man falling" in the form of a sister (same height) bridge behind where I was taking the above photo. One idiot, i mean, boy jumped off while we were there. Another interesting feature that some of the kids were trying out was this deep hole in the rock at the side of the river that formed a tube straight down into the water. We were told about 10 feet down there was an opening that lead out into the river. We watched for quite some time while some of the more experienced teenagers were teaching another exactly how to "pencil jump" into this narrow, 3' wide pitch black hole. "Just look for the light," they kept saying. He tried several times and gave up. It was pretty freaky to watch them jump into this abyss and emerge halfway out into the stream. A few of the people who tagged along for this swim were quite the adventitious souls, repeatedly jumping off the highest cliff. Not me, I was content to sit back and collect video and photographic evidence of their stupidity.. I mean, bravery LOL.

Here's the video, Make sure you maximize it for full effect after setting the quality to its highest (look on previous posts for instructions), Maximize is the rightmost button on the bottom of the movie window. CLICK HERE

A Pedestrian Pause


All that outdoor beauty and fresh air is great and all, but the urban scene here in PDX has some interesting things to offer as well. During the time of the Rose Bowl and Rose Parade there is a noteworthy nocturnal affair called the Starlight Parade. It is two hours long and draws crowds of 250,000 people annually. We got an amazing spot to watch from 3 stories high in a parking garage overlooking the street. It was chilly and windy, and to be honest we didn't dress all that weather appropriately. We still had a great time watching all the twinkling decked out floats and bands pass by. There were so many marching bands I lost count, all with glowing doodads hanging from their outfits and instruments. There were giant inflated character balloons ala the Macy's parades. We also observed much money was made by rolling street vendors selling light up toys, necklaces, and wigs. 

Most of the photos were blurry because my camera is for crap int he dark. Here they are anyways: 
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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Tall Tails



One of Shaun's good friends was up visiting from San Francisco for their Birthday. To celebrate, we all descended upon Ponytail Falls. At only 2.5 miles and a book rating of "easy," we were hoping for a walk in the park. It was. An enjoyable 1 pie experience no one should miss out on. The awesome main attraction to this hike is the fact that you can actually walk behind the waterfall. There is an amazing natural cave that's quite large seated behind the downpour. If you felt like getting the beating of your life, you could even venture out onto the rocks and really experience the falls first hand (this is of course, not recommended.)You can still get pretty wet without being directly underneath, the mist it was pumping out was soaking anyone who stood in the cave for a length of time.  From this distance the falls are deafening. It's hard to describe the sheer volume of water one of these wonders can produce. While it's not the largest waterfall I've seen in person, it's one of only ones I've experienced this close up. Amazing.


CLICK HERE FOR THE PICS
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We had our hands full

  

 A picnic, we decided, was the plan. The hike was an ad-on adventure. We got two fabulous healthy meals boxed up from Whole Foods, and drove out to the gorge. We chose the scenic destination of Tripple Falls, a 4.3 mile loop hike, with 740' elevation gain and a rather impressive trifecta waterfall as the focal point. Two food boxes, backpack, and dog leash in hand we set out on this "moderate" hike. Maybe it would have been moderate on any other day when we weren't trying to juggle all our "luggage." It was a very Up-Down kind of hike, the kind where you are going up and down hill repeatedly all while continuing to climb into the sky. Several "what were we thinking"s later and a brush with almost getting very lost, we arrived at the falls. There was a lovely picnic spot across the gorge with the best view of the rushing water and the.... people? Yes, in the photo above you can spot 3 very small people standing treacherously close to the edge of certain doom. Watching them jump over and around the peaks of the falls made for suspenseful, if not amusing, dinner entertainment. I kept envisioning a wrongly placed foot and sudden catastrophe. My camera was poised and ready to capture the events for one of those reality TV shows about stunts gone wrong. But alas, the sun was quickly retreating and it was time head back to the car. I'm gonna assume, by the lack of their faces in the news, that the dare-devil family made it off the rocks unscathed. This hike, if carrying your pies in hand, rated 3 1/2 to 4 pies.


Mirror Mirror on the ground



This hike was quite the hidden jewel. Well, not too hidden as there were several groups of people camping around the lake, but it was pretty far out off a moderate (3 pie) trail that we thought might never end. At one point we thought maybe we had found the wrong trail, but soon after that it opened up into a meadow with Mirror Lake at its center. Mirror Lake was a small, calm, clear lake (you could see the fish from yards away) with amazing views of Mount Hood. The water looked so nice to swim in but was FREEZING. The hike up had some nice openings that looked out over a mountain landscape painted gold by a beautiful sunset. Around one side of the lake there was a neat narrow boardwalk traversing over a swampy area. It was cool because it reminded me of some of the swamp areas back in FL. I am excited to go back and check the patches of wild strawberries that should have fruited around now. 


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Pleasant Surprise



    *Knock Knock Knock* -Opens door slowly and peers out- "Oh, hi Ash!.....What are you doing here? "Lets go hiking!"she says. Never ones to turn an offer like that that down, we happily obliged throwing on our boots, and grabbing the dog. Fifteen minutes later, Ash and Misha's dog in tow as well, we arrived at Hopkin's demonstration Forest, a 140-acre privately-owned forest open to the public for self-guided exploration, tours, workshops, and education programs. Ash had hiked here a few times before and knew the best trails to take. It was a lovely moderate level (2 pie) hike through some pretty younger woods. This place was created to show how sustainable forestry should be done, as well as to teach people about Oregon's native flora.

CLICK HERE FOR PICS
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Friday, September 14, 2012

Everybody loves a good hiking blog right?


   I have five posts about new hikes I've done recently. I figure I'll start us off with the most exciting: Mt. St. Helens. Little sister to Mt. Hood on the Portland skyline, this notorious volcano has been a must see destination ever since I moved out west. Our whole household went the 2 hours journey up to see her. Two of the roomies were beginner level hikers so we chose an easy trek (only one pie rating for those who remember the pie system) around a picturesque lake, and did a lot of automobile exploration. We came across an interesting visitor center with a museum dedicated to the volcano and it's history. While we were driving we saw a heard of elk... they ran into a wooded area but I managed to capture a photo of one's rear end. The mountain itself was being unfortunately shy the day we visited. Most of her top was obscured by thick cloud cover but she was magnificent and breathtaking nonetheless. The sheer scope of the landscape was hard to take in. When surrounded by such a large vista I feel infinitely small, and I like it. This is definitely a place I will have to return to many times in the future.


The highlights in a video: 
Just a reminder (this goes for all the videos to follow), make sure your speakers are turned up to hear the music (I spend alot of time choosing music for my vids, I think it adds interest) and also to make sure you load the video in its highest quality by clicking the gear shaped button in the lower right area of the movie and selecting the topmost number. You may need to pause the video to let it load fully before you play it so it doesn't skip or lag.  CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO 

There are many photos that didn't make it into the video:CLICK HERE FOR PICS 



Procrastinators unite.. Tomorrow!



  Welcome back everyone. I've managed to go another 5 months without posting huh? I see a trend emerging LOL. At least this latest batch of blogs will keep you busy for a while.... I've got a whopping 16.. or more posts in store for you, dear readers. "What could she possibly have been doing all this time?" you ask. I'll tell you! I've been hiking, schooling, farming, foraging, making, showing, and selling art, dancing, growing and organizing my already ridiculously huge music collection,  relaxing, doing hair (more on that later,) going vegan with Casey, and traveling ALOT.  I'll be releasing these posts in smaller more manageable batches of 4 at a time, so stay tuned!

Saturday, April 7, 2012

To Newport- Squeeky Cheese and Fish!



Recently, Casey and I took a trip out to the coast. Our destination: the oregon aquarium in Newport. On the way we stopped in Tillamook valley, where alot of the pacific northwest's dairy is produced. There's a big cheese factory there and we went in for the tour/tasting. We had to pick up some of their cheese curds, they're called squeeky cheese because you can hear a squeek as you chew them. Pretty tasty too I might add. We also went to a smaller french cheese making company and did their wine/cheese tasting. We bought an extraordinary amount of cheese for two lactose intolerant people, but I guess that's a testament to the power of cheese. The weather at the coast was pretty miserable but the ocean waves were huge and got to see the ocean as I'd never seen it before. Our hotel room was nice and the Aquarium, though small, was nice too. I never realized that aquariums have mostly creatures that are from the regions around their locales. This aquarium had lots of things that live in the oceans around here, totally different from the critters at the florida aquarium. We also did alot of shopping around gift shops and antique stores on this trip which was loads of fun.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

CLICK HERE FOR THE PICS

Artsy Fartsy


College has given me new reasons to make art. Lots of it.. for a grade. I've gotten the chance to work with materials I've never worked with before, and use techniques I've never tried. Some interesting results have emerged, and a brief description of the major ones follows:

-Copper Wire Horse bust, covered with tracing paper that was soaked in acrylic emulsion.
- 2 clay nudes, sculpted with a short time limit while looking at a live model in class
- my first hand cast, pieces broke during the hardening process so I made the most of it and turned it mechanical looking.
- second cast turned out perfect, so I cast my torso in plaster and finished it with shoe polish. my hand is spray painted and details done by hand. The hand gesture is the sign language meaning love, and I placed it a shadow box I carved in the chest st symbolize my heart.
-we had a mold making project where we took eggs and put clay on them to make a figurative sculpture, I chose an owl, and then made a silicone mold from which I cast plaster repeats.
-When tressa unpacked we found a painting I had made her a few years ago, no one else has seen it (to my knowledge) so I threw it in here too.

CLICK HERE FOR ART PICS

Mt. Hood and the Sledding Adventure



Winter got it on in full force and later than usual, dumping tons of snow everywhere...  Good thing we like sledding! We took a couple trips out to play in the white stuff, and I was fortunate enough to be there for Tressa to see her very first snow. Driving up Mt. Hood in it was scary, luckily Casey had some snow driving experience and drove us out. I drove us back and managed to get us home in one piece. While we were there, I started to make a life sized snow horse sculpture, but it got dark before I was halfway done. People at our sledding hill weren't scared of the dark, they simply pulled out a big generator and flood light and kept on having fun. Before we left we had a colossal snowball fight too. 




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Friday, April 6, 2012

The Search for Perch


Getting Sora sparked some creativity in the members of our household. People made her toys, and concocted a plan to make her an elaborate play structure. We decided on using driftwood and were going to assemble it into a tree shape for her to climb around on. One place we know of that's great for finding driftwood is our secret spot on the Washougal River. I've previously posted pics from picnics we've had on the rocky beach there. It was a nice day, perfect weather, so we set off. We stopped at another riverside area en-route but instead of finding wood, we just found a nice floating dock and photo op. Once we got to the right spot we remembered all the good wood was downriver and the only way to get over there without getting wet is to climb over a couple of downed trees and hike along side the water.




 Tressa ended up falling in once we had hiked to the area with the best wood... she always ends up falling in or falling down when we go hiking, it's now a tradition lol. We found so many awesome pieces, but had to limit ourselves because we had to hike back over the downed trees to the car with them. Tressa helped alot with that, she was already wet from falling in so she just stood in the water and we handed the wood to her and she passed it to Shaun on the other side.




Lots more pics to see: CLICK HERE
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Happy Valley, and a failed road-trip....


Happy Valley, our new home. The pic above is of the flowering trees across the street from our house. Moving from Oregon city took me a little farther away from school, but brought my other roomies (Tressa, Rachel, and Casey) all closer to their work/schools. It was a strenuous and lengthy move, but all in all a good one. We've all been working really well together as roommates, and we all love our cute little house. When we moved in, the house needed a little sprucing up, mainly paint colors, but it was in pretty good condition as it was. A few weeks of busting butt and we're were pretty much unpacked.





 Naturally, a house-warming party was in order. We invited all our friends and throughout the night we probably had over 20 people come in and out. Folks brought all kinds of yummy foods with them, and we roasted marshmallow peeps over the fire pit in the back yard. Some people tried playing Horseshoes but one of the dogs kept chasing them and almost getting himself hit in the noggin. We played a killer game of charades, some challenging and hysterical moments followed, including people acting out: unicorn, Benjamin Franklin, math, mermaid, rainbow, narwhal, super mario, titanic, ocean, wicked witch, and many more. People did surprisingly well. Towards the end of the night we came into the living room to find a few guests rallied around the TV. Casey's brother Jake had put in a movie: "My Fair Lady." Pretty funny scene, the lot of us watching an old musical, some singing along. It was a really fun evening!


Before people arrived, Casey took a video-tour of the house to show all yall "back home" our new place:

CLICK HERE FOR THE HOUSE TOUR VIDEO
 






The pic above was from a "failed" road trip we took out to Mt. Hood to do a hike. I call it failed because we set out to go hiking at a place Tressa and Rachel had been previously but we didn't know the gps would take us a different route than they had taken before and we were unable to find that spot. After an hour of looking roadside for other trails, we realized we had driven too close to the mountain and we were starting to see snow, which none of us were dressed properly for. We turned back for home, losing daylight, and settled for walking around a park/dogpark they visit regularly. The dogs got a good run around and at least it was a nice "Sunday" drive.



I combined the photos of the process of painting the house, the housewarming party, and the "failed" road trip in one album: CLICK HERE FOR PICS


There's also a video I took looking out the back window on the strangest weather day I've ever seen. First it was raining, then it stopped for a bit and was sunny and warm, they it began to hail, then rained, then snowed, then was sunny again. The video is of some of the hail:   CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO



A strange holiday


So 2011 ended in a mishmash of good and bad. Talk about an emotional roller-coaster. Mainly my grief was focused around life change: a transition from working full time to going to school full time, moving again, and family stuff. In case you didn't know... I'm a Virgo. The ultimate creature of habit, lover of routines. We typically hate change of any kind. We highly dislike chaos. But we need it because without it, our lives would become stagnant ruts. Sometimes it takes unfortunate circumstances- catalysts that kick us in the pants and force us move out of our comfort zones and on with our lives. It's a gift really, that the universe gives us; even if it it's hard to get past the uncomfortable wrappings.

In the time surrounding the holidays Casey and I took a nice trip up to Seattle. I showed her Pikes Place Market, we explored the driftwood beach I had only gotten a glimpse of during my trip up with Mom, and we walked around the city a bit. We stumbled upon this hidden little place in an alleyway that apparently isn't on any of the visitor's tour guides, but had been visited thousands of times. It's an ever changing monument: The Chewing Gum Wall. Gross, yes. But you have to admit this oddity is impressive. A stretch of wall about 50' long and as high as people could reach, completely caked with previously chewed gum in every hue imaginable. Several inches thick in places, rubbery icicles dangling from the window sills, from years of people leaving their sticky mark that says "I was here." Some people took it a step further and made pictures, you can see the space needle and a ferry on the window in the photo. I admire their ode to this great city.



Not long after returning from Florida, Tressa and I jointly added a new member to our household: Sora! She is a Green Cheek Conure, a small parrot type bird. Her name means "Sky" in Japanese. Sora has been a joy to have around, she is one of the sweetest and most cuddly birds I've ever met. She always come to greet us at the cage door, wanting nothing more than to ride around on our shoulders and snuggle up in our necks. I had never heard of her species before, but now that I know what wonderful little creatures they are, I'll probably never have any other kind of bird as a pet. She has even softened the heart of Casey, a previous dis-liker of birds. Now she can't wait to take her out of her cage each morning to say hello.



Here's a couple of videos we took of Sora, me petting her, and her petting Tressa! As Always, don't forget to make the video it's highest quality by clicking on the button shaped like a gear to the bottom right of the movie. Also, turn up those speakers, I take time choosing good music to go along with the videos!

Sora Pets Tressa Video

Me Petting Sora

And there are more random photos from the Seattle Trip, The holidays, and all the other stuff around that time:

CLICK HERE FOR THE PICS
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A Long Pause


I know, I know. I said I wouldn't do it again- make you wait this long for an update... but I have a real and proper excuse this time... homework! LOL. As many of you know I've just entered my second term of college. It's been a fun and exciting (see: busy) time so far, but I'm loving every second of it. At times I think to myself "this isn't so hard... I could have done this right out of high school," but then I stop myself. This journey of a life I've had, it has proceeded precisely the way it should. I'm getting WAY more out of this school experience now than I would have at age 17. It's more meaningful since I'm the one who chose to go, because I wanted to, not because it was simply expected. Having lived a little longer, I've gleaned a perspective that my 17 year old self could never have, that this experience is truly valuable and it's up to me to make the most out of it. The outcome depends solely on myself and I intend on making the most out of it... but I digress! You came here for photos and videos of my adventures, not  me pontificating on my college experience lol.

I will try to do a brief re-cap of the last four months since the last update:

-Casey and I took a trip to Seattle
- Went to FL for the holidays
-Got fired from the phone job on Christmas day
- The Oregon City housemates and I celebrated the holidays when I returned
-Went to the Zoo
-Shaved my hair off for Alia
- Started College at Clackamas Community
-Tressa and I jointly adopted a Green Cheek Conure
-Took a trip to Mt. Hood
-Me, Casey, Tressa, and her girlfriend Rachel all moved in together 
-Took another trip to Mt. Hood
-Shaved my head again because I decided I really like it
-We threw an awesome house-warming party
-Went to the coast with Casey
-Casey and I just celebrated our 9 month anniversary.
-Made a bunch of art for my class.

All the spare time between the above events has pretty much been filled up with homework and moving/unpacking.

Not as visually exciting of an update as previous ones, sorry about that... Moving away from the Gorge has  changed what types of activities we do in our small spare time. Instead of being minutes from hiking and waterfalls, we are now minutes from places like  Wunderland: the nickel arcade/ $3 movie theater, Mcmenemans: and awesome local chain of cheap movie theaters/pub/restaurants/ soaking tubs, food carts, urban parks, coffee shops, art galleries, shops, museums. and other city dwelling activities.


Here's the last four months in words and pictures: