Pink Bangles: Reflections: Feb 13th-19th

Hello!

I am sorry I know it has been a while since I have posted a weekly reflection. The past two and half weeks have been very eventful! So much so, that I am overwhelmed trying to figure out how and where to begin. But I will do my best to recapture what has been happening in my life here in Provo. I will begin with the last week, and a little of the week before that.

For starters...

The last few days (well...for a while) my hair has been seriously out of control. In some ways I have to admire its spirit despite its difficulty. It has refused to be tamed or manipulated.

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With that said, I will begin writing about the bigger and better things ha ha. On Wednesday the 15th I was blessed and privileged to meet with a very renowned Illustrator C.F. Payne (Chris Payne)!!! For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, he is a man who has been dynamite in the illustration world for a long time. He has won multiple awards from every notable illustration and design institution you can think of.

He came to my school to give a demonstration and a lecture. During the demo I lucked out! For four hours I was able to sit in the seat right beside him and ask him questions and watch him paint.

Here are some of the main points I learned from Chris:

Always start with a gesture; look for dominant shapes.
You are only as good as your reference.
The work is the fun part of it- dive into it! It's where you want to be, there is only pressure when you are not working.
DESIGN is the most important! Communicate an idea and make it make sense.
KEEP IT SIMPLE-To design successfully you have to see shapes. Look at the space and design the picture. Don't get so caught up in little details.
Experiment!
Don't work in isolation, network and communicate with other illustrators and artists often.

Spending the day with Chris (at his demo and at his lecture) taught me so much! I learned so much from him. I also couldn't believe how nice, open, and honest he was! He answered all of my questions and the questions of my peers. Not only that but when I spoke with him I felt like he was sincerely trying to help me; that he really wanted to do all he could to help me improve and succeed.

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On Thursday the 16th I received lots of letters from Ben! They were incredibly sweet and turned my Thursday, which is normally a LONG and exhausting day, into a wonderful day!

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Speaking of letters! I owe an apology to many of you. There were so many who I wished to write a letter of love to but February ended up being super busy and school/work demanded most of my time. Please do not feel bad if you didn't get one! My parents and some of my best friends were slighted too. >.< sorry!!! I will work harder next year to get them in the mail - delivered.

I was able to make and deliver some on Sunday to my family on my Grace side who live in Utah. We met on the 20th and had dinner at my Grandma's house to celebrate my cousin Heather's birthday! Whoever said that "there is no such thing as fun for the whole family" obviously never met mine. My family is wild and I love spending time with them! I especially loved the desserts of the evening! My grandma made her specialty strawberry short cake and Danielle (Heather's sister) made cupcakes that looked like sushi. I know to many reading this that will seem random but Heather works at sushi restaurant so really the cupcakes were quite clever and fitting. :)