alright, back on the horse.

so, i feel i've been letting my art slide a bit of late. i can't really blame myself, as i've been working fulltime and during my time off i've been really working on enriching my social life. it's great, but it's time to get back to work now. i've gotten some art supplies, made some paintings, took some photos... in fact i've also been working on t-shirts for my roommate's new blog, www.sorrydarlin.com.

(my roommate, sarah, is freaking awesome by the way. you really should check out her blog. actually, i wrote a little guest blog on there, too)

...annnnd it's been pretty slow going. i made a series of t-shirts in a flurry of artistic activity in the spring of last year. since that time, i haven't touched my screenprinting supplies, but i figured it wouldn't be too hard to start up again. well, that wasn't exactly how it panned out. i tried to use my old screen, but it had been too long and i couldn't wash out the emulsion no matter how hard i tried. so, i chalked it up to a loss and sarah brought home a new screen. this time i did everything as i remembered doing it before, and after the hours of prep time i ended up with.... nothing! i ran a print, and it was a solid square of ink, no pattern whatsoever.

ugh! so, i tried to wash out the design and reclaim the screen, determined to make it work. unfortunately, it didn't wash out. so i thought, hey! i'll just buy a new screen and save myself the frustration of attempting again and again to get it clear. thankfully, this screen worked. i read (and reread) extensive tutorials online before attempting to apply the emulsion, burn the image, wash out the emulsion and then print. this time, it worked.

sort of.

unfortunately, the image is still really blurry and not as professional as sarah would like (me too, for that matter) and so begins the meticulous process anew. i'm not sure why i'm having such a hard time this time around. maybe i'm rusty, or maybe it's just because the pressure of making a product for someone else makes me nervous. at any rate, i feel i'm nearing an acceptable level of craftsmanship with these shirts, and i'll upload photos as soon as i'm done.

as for me, i'm currently on vacation at my dad's house in pensacola, florida. i drove down on sunday, and i'm going to drive back on thursday morning in time for work thursday night. i tried to take pictures at the beach this morning, but by the time i got there i realized that i had not charged my camera.

lame, right?

so, tomorrow morning i'll get up and head out again, only this time i'll be all by my lonesome. i'll wander, click, shoot, pause, ponder, think about life and existence, then be back at the house by the time it gets to be super hot outside.

i've got some interesting thoughts on consciousness and existence that have been rattling around inside my skull for a while. i'll divulge the details of those thought processes some other time.

right now it's time for a long, hot shower.