Verano Empieza

Today is a great day. Its beautiful and sunny out. I just got done working out for the first time in almost a month. I've been pretty busy with my final project for studio and people coming in town for graduations. But yesterday was my real first day of summer freedom!!!

Latest Painting, Curently Untitled

This is my last assignment for my painting class. Its half brushed paint, half airbrushed. My goal for this painting was to do skin tone using a lot of different color, not just shades of brown and tan. When I normally do portraits I use hints of yellow and red but I wanted to take using bright colors a step further. So I started out brush painting her face with browns, then I painted it in shades of brown with the airbrush, next I brush painted with bright colors, and finally I came back with brown tones with the airbrush to smooth out the face and tone down the bright colors.
This painting took me about 8 hours and was painted from a picture I found on the internet of a random woman.

KeTcHuP!

Hey I'm sorry guys, I've been neglecting the blog a bit. I know. but I'm getting really busy and really stressed...
But here's what you've missed....

• Pan-Afrikan festival at NC State was 2 weeks ago. I enojoyed what I could of it...

• I went to New Orleans again for IDSA southern district conference. It was GREAT but the drive SUCKED! (there was also a pirate convention in NO at the same time which made bourbon st just that much more interesting...)

• UNC destroyed MS in the final NCAA championship game...and I was on Franklin St in Chapel Hill...

• I started a new painting of a lil girl from the orphanage in Monte Cristi

• AADSA sponsored a special open dialogue event with African American Design professionals from the area called 5D. It was super informative and enlightening. Thank you Ariana, Brittany and Ms Motley!

• MY BIRTHDAY!!! was Thursday April 9th! so of course I celebrated till the 12th... But dont worry, I didnt celebrate how you would expect most people to celebrate their 21st birthday. Nope, I decided to do what I wanted to do, which was NOTHING AT ALL!!! Well not nothing nothing. but basically I didnt want to plan anything and just chill out...(I mean ideally I wanted to rent a limo and have all my friends ride around in it for a few hours but it was going to take too much planning and money...soooo I decided to save that for when school gets out and instead just keep it simple).....On friday my boyfriend took me out to a really nice sushi place. Then Saturday night I invited all my friends to the Carolina Ale House to just hang out. and then Sunday night I volunteered myself to be a live body art model for an event called Nappy Luv, a party with a cause. I was painted by Victor Knight, an extremly talented local graffiti artist (more pictures to come soon)..... So overall my weekend was filled with good food, people, art, and music!!!

• in all the comotion...I STILL havent seen the monsters vs aliens movie which me and my bf wanted to go see or the new Fast & Furious movie :-( ... (which my bf refuses to go see lol)

• THIS WEEK I have to continue to play ketchup in classes and get ready for a small fashion show next week...Facebook event invite
  

Krush Groove Alliance Fashion Show
Monday April 20th @ 1pm in the Brickyard at NCSU

Featuring JP Airbrush & Design, Illusion Brand (Garry Atkinson), Lussuoso Custom Jewelry (Johnaustin Chapman), and Black Random (Hakeem Atkinson).

PLEASE COME SUPPORT US!!!

Sculpture Class head studies
this is my sculpture of my classmate David

This is David, the guy I was making a sculpture of.

This is David's sculpture of me... with out hair.
this is another guys sculpture that I really liked

Charity Water

Got to show love.......

"In 2008, Ms. Ellis won a Charlotte Music Award, collaborated with a grammy-award winning producer, performed in Spain, opened for several celebrity recording artists such as Cassidy, was chosen as one of NABFEME's Women Who Jam and was on the ArtLifestyle tour sponsored by VitaminEnergy. To name just a few of her accolades.
In 2009 she has sold-out shows all over the region upon her return from over seas, opened for Chrisette Michele, Nikki Giovanni, New Sony BMG artist Noel Gourdin, has a show coming up with VH1's Amanda Diva and 9th Wonder. Also, Jocelyn Ellis will drop a new compilation with band The Alpha Theory very soon!
Become a fan and be a part of the 2009 year of Jocelyn Ellis' road to stardom. Keep up with music, videos, pictures and events of the brilliant vocalist that has created international buzz."

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jocelyn-Ellis/57328158080

And check out her NEWST tracks on her website...

http://jocelynellis.com

You can also search for more Jocelyn Ellis videos on YouTube. but personally, I really recommend that you check her out live and in the flesh... which you will have the chance to do so next month at the two Nappy Luv events...

April 11th - NappyLuv @ Hartz Witzen Gallery, Charlotte, NC
April 12th - NappyLuv w/9th Wonder @ Lincoln Theater, Raleigh, NC

T-Pain Video Hotnesssssssssssss

If you donno... I love T-Pain... and even more, I love his videos...and feel the need to share them with you...
Please watch his newest video "Freeze" and make sure you click the "HQ" button next to the volume control button before u start the video.....

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAXWpAkYwGQ

N while I'm talkin bout T-Pain videos...I know almost everyone has seen this video already but if you are not offended by the F-word...watch this video too...
The Lonely Island ft. T-Pain - Im On A Boat (SNL) [Official Video]
These guys are hilarious

Self-Portrait Finished!

Self portrait I did for basic painting class. It took me 18 hours to finish but most import is that I actually FINISHED IT ON TIME!!! I'm really proud of myself! (cept I still need to go in an fix a few minor details...but overall its pretty much done)

Yay!!! give me feedback on what I could improve please!

Art Classes Progress

Plaster sculpture for sculpture class...assignment was supposed to be something abstract and flowing... this is it still lookin pretty rough. I'm gonna sand it and paint it and then post some more pictures



Self portrait for painting class... I still have a long way to go. but this is after 6 hours and then 9.5 hours.

JP Design & Airbrush - Facebook Fan Page!!

Join my fan page to receive updates and information about my art.

Also, those who are fans of my page will have an opportunity to WIN A FREE CUSTOM WORK OF ART of his or her choice, THIS SUMMER!

That's right! If you've been dying to get something custom but because of the economy, haven't had the extra money to do so, this is your chance! So add me today!

Visit My Page and Click "Become a Fan"!

Nawlins!

So basically what I learned on this tour was that the disaster was mostly man made because the levees werent done right. I also learned that the gov't turned down alot of aid from other countries after Katrina hit, many people made a lot of money off selling FEMA trailers and taking advantage of peoples desperation, and that even after 3 years the gov't still hasnt done much to restore peoples homes, but they did fix the tourist areas so it looks like nothing happened. It took 5 days for the gov't to get people food and water who were in the convention center or super dome. and even longer for search teams to rescue ppl trapped in their homes.
When buses finally did come to take people out of the city, families were split up onto different buses and sent to all different corners of the nation. People had no way of knowing where their family members were going or how to contact them so they could get back together.
People left with nothing. All important documents had been destroyed, birth certificates, dental records, anything in a bank security deposit box, ect. All their old photos and memories were gone. and even for personal items that were not destroyed by the water or swept away in the current where not always easy to recover later. It took people weeks to be able to make a trip back to their houses in NO. Some people still havent been able to come back. and for those who could make the journy, there was no garuentee their homes were safe enough to enter and retrieve personal possesions or that their homes hadnt been looted.

Katrina and the broken levees caused the most damage to property in American history.

The people who lived in New Orleans suffered more than most people when they lost their homes and jobs because many NO families all lived close together in the same neighborhoods. So while for the typical family who looses everything to a natural disaster can be taken in by another branch of the family until they get back on their feet, a NO family would have no one to turn to because every branch of their family had lost their homes and jobs also.

Think about loosing your home and what a home really means to people. People work their whole lives to pay for or build their homes. Home is a sense of pride and security. It's a foundation (no pun intdended) on which you build your family and life. Home is where the heart is. For the people of NO, there was heart all around their homes. Family's lived in tight knit communities and neighborhoods. Many people havnet come back to NO because their friends and nieghboors cant move back and because there are no stores yet. and because people havent moved back yet, corporate owned businesses wont come back. So it's a catch 22.

***I'll say more later***

Thibidoux is where we spent most of the week doin work with Bayou Area Habitat for Humanity

***I'll say more on the service part later too***

I uploaded some pictures on picasa.... here are the links

09-02-28 First night in New Orleans! Spring Break Serivce Trip

09-03-01 New Orleans

09-03-01 Katrina damage tour

09-03-02 Workin in Thibidoux baby!

09-03 New Orleans Artwork

All better

Hey everybody!

You will be glad to know that I am all better now! yay! This is my last week of school before spring break. I am hustling to pull my industrial design project together for our final design presentation this Friday. I'm designing an athletic high school and college backpack. This is a unique ID project because I have been working on it since the first week of January and after spring break I will move on from designing the bag to actually MAKING the bag. Usually in ID we dont make fully working prototypes of the products we design. Typically we will make a 3D computer model or a blue foam model of the product to show the shape but we dont make functioning models. So I have had to practice sewing and research fabrics so that I will be able to make a quality book bag by May 1st. but before I get to making it I need to finish DESIGNING it... Wish me luck!

Alternative Service Break

This year I am going to New Orleans to work with Habitat for Humanity in rebuilding houses for the victims of hurricane Katrina who are STILL living in trailers or are homeless. Besides the service part of my trip, I am also really excited to experience the unique culture of New Orleans. I'll be sure to post pictures while I'm there and when I come back.

Julie esta muy enferma...

Last week I woke up Monday morning with a bad stomach ache and ended up being sick all week with one of the worst stomach aches I'd ever had. (if you've ever been to a foreign country and drank the water or ate food you weren't supposed to and got really sick for a week, THATS what it felt like for me last week)

Anyways, so I was all better Saturday and Sunday and was preparing myself mentally to work my ass off and catch up on all the school work I couldn't do while I was lying in my bed moaning in pain for a week... n then I start to feel a lil scratchiness in my throat Sunday night and through Monday... "prolly just a cold," I thought to myself...

Until Tuesday afternoon while I'm in my computer class (which is always a warm classroom because of all the computers) and I started getting chills (fever)... My mom told me I might have the flu and to get  rapid tested at the health center but by the time I got there the lab was closed. So I came back wednesday afternoon, not really feeling horrible or at least not feeling like I had the flu, and to my surprise miss doctor lady tells me "yup, you got it"... I was like "waaa?? huh?? you jokin right?" she was a friendly doctor lady so I thought that she might just be pulling my leg... "nope you've got the flu"....

"FRICK!!.... ugh... no!... sigh.... WHY!? why me?" I have the WORST luck. I told doctor lady how I was sick all last week too and that this week was supposed to be my catch up week. so she gave me a lovely cocktail of flu and poor Julie drugs and sent me on my way...

The irony of it all is that this was the first year in my whole life that I forgot to get my flu shot....

But because of all my meds, I am actually doing a lot better than I thought I would be. but I'm still super behind in my classes. I have 1 unfinished sculpture, 1 unfinished abstract painting, I'm behind in my shampoo bottle designs, and I am 2 weeks behind on my backpack design for studio. And on top of that I wanted to try and apply for a Nike internship on the 27th and my portfolio isnt ready yet. And I leave for New Orleans in less than 2 weeks and I'm not ready for that either...

....sigh....why me?....

Stupid Cupid... Custom Valentines Day Converses

Gangsta baby cupid converse shoes for the talented Jocelyn Ellis's performance at the ArtLifeStyle: Love show on Vday

Drawings done by Daniel Harris

http://www.DanDraws.com

http://www.jocelynellis.net

My Dreams...

My dreams are more interesting than my day to day life...
I don mean my dreams n aspirations, I mean my dreams at night....

India.Arie - Chocolate High (feat. Musiq Soulchild)

NC State Womens Basketball game vs Boston College


Showin my support for the wolfpack ladies!



Tryin to get that perfect action shot...
New uniforms in honor of Coach Yow. Pink and Red.
BC wore pink shoe laces and head bands in honor.

Kay Yow Super NC State Shirt

Kay Yow, NC State women's basketball coach, passed away last Saturday of breast cancer. She had been fighting breast cancer for about 20 years and was a inspirational figure for women everywhere. To be honest, I really hate wearing pink but in honor of her passing I have changed my ways and plan to make a line of pink Super NC State shirts.
Please honor Coach Yow and her legacy by supporting the women's basketball team as much as possible this season.
Also, please support the annual Hoops for Hope event, Feb 15th at 3:30pm at Reynolds Coliseum.

Kay Yow, you will be missed...

If you would like to order a shirt please e-mail at
JPAirbrush@gmail.com

Sculpture Class: 1st project

for my first project we had to "reinterpret" a famous sculptors work. I was assigned to redo Constantin Brancusi's "Adam and Eve" which is carved out of wood. I decided to recreate it with wire and just capture the contour lines of the form. I left the two blocks solid to contrast the wire frames because they are important in Brancusi's sculptures.

Still life painting: Session 2, 3 and 4

Sorry I meant to put these up as I went along but I was pretty busy this week.

Session 3















Session 4

Items in painting: Track jersey, track shoe, bracelet from Ghana, necklace a little girl gave me in DR, rubber orphanage outreach bracelet, fossil watch my brother gave me for my 14th b-day and a jewelery gift box I got from Toni's wedding.

So far I've spent 22 hours on this piece but I'm still not done yet. I probably have 1 or 2 more sessions till I'll be happy with it but this is how I presented it for critique.














My first painting class critique!