Forcing

I am working my way past being stuck, its difficult but I'm getting there. I decided that if i push my self hard enough I will eventually get through this block. I've never really been able to doodle but now it has been a little easier, I need to get ride of all the muck in my head it's really starting to clog up.

No Motivation

So this week I have had no motivation to paint or draw. I'll sit down to sketch or work on one of my unfinished paintings and  wont be able to pick up the pencil or brush and if I do nothing comes out. Having no motivation is probably more frustrating than not finishing anything. I come up with and have all these ideas but no motivation to actually create the art and by the time I have the motivation I forget the ideas and have nothing to draw.

Art Life- Blurb

    Tristen Cara is a sixteen year old emerging multi-disciplinary artist. She enjoys both the fine and preforming arts. Though most known for her drawing and painting skills, Tristen also enjoys photography, both film and digital, theater and dance. She has been selected to be in the school art show twice consecutively. Tristen was also featured in her dance studios end of the year showcase for the past three years. Tristen lives with her mother, her two sisters, two cats, two dogs and a turtle. 

     In the fine arts Tristen Cara is best known for her more abstract and expressionist style paintings. Often using a wide pallet of vibrant colors Tristen's art can vary from dark and moody to light and humorous. Her technique is above average and her imagination and understanding of the world in incomparable. Inspired and motivated by her past and personal experiences Tristen's art is extraordinarily her own. Tristen is also skilled in and has experience with photography, theater and dance. She had worked with both digital and film photography and is talented in both. Over the past year Tristen has done many photography projects and shoots for her friends and family.  As for dance she is currently enrolled at American Theater Dance Workshop and has taken ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop and ballroom classes in the past. Although Tristen is less experienced with theater than those above she has been in a few shows in the past and has been in several short plays and films throughout the year. 

     When faced with a problem pertaining to her craft Tristen does exceptionally well, she handles the situation with grace and a cool head until it is settled. Tristen is a problem solver and can easily work through the problems she faces. Tristen is a talented, determined, well-rounded young artist. With experience with both the fine and preforming arts she is sure to have many opportunities in the future.

Art Life- Advice

The best pieces of  advice I have ever gotten or could ever give would probably be:

"always be Grateful/thankful for what you have, never take anything for granted"

"learn how to say NO"

"be yourself"

"use your emotions, don't bottle them up"

They might be a bit cliche but they are true.

Art Life- Influences

As of right now I am influenced by the people around me and society in general. I like to surround myself with people who have big or different personalities, I like to see how they act around each other. I like seeing how society interacts and if something cool happens I like to take it in and use it in my art.

Art Life- Why?

I do art to express myself, because if I didn't draw or act my brain would explode. All these ideas and pictures build up in my head and I have to get them out somehow. I am lucky that I like art , if I didn't I don’t know what I would do. Without this outlet my life would be completely different, I would probably be a lot more reserved and a  lot less confident.

Oil Painting

This week in STAC the artists have been working with oil pants and for some of us including me this was their first time using this type of paint. Oil paint is different from acrylic because instead of using water to change you use medians such as oil and paint thinner. Besides being made of different things oil is thicker and is more movable that acrylic.
On our first day using the oil paints we were sat down at the long table and painted 3 black all objects, a speaker, a boot and a radio. That day we only used water, paint thinner and the paint. Painting the objects we were given was relatively easy compared to what we will get later, but working with just black paint, paint thinner and water made it difficult to show detail or what the painting was suppose to be.  To make something white or lighter we had to use water and paper towel to move or take off the paint. During this time we were also learning not only how to use oil paint but also learning how to throw things out, so after we finished a painting and wanted to move on to the next one we had to wash the paint of the canvas and use it again.
my paintings day 1:

On the second day we used both white and black paint along with the solvents.  we were given softer objects to paint including a hat, a bag and tongs and a camera lens. These objects although mostly black did need white to be completed correctly.  Painting with both black and white was a lot easier than painting with just one color, it gave us more color options and ranges and mad the paintings more realistic.Adding the white made everything flow smoother and made it easier in general.
my paintings day 2:

On Day 3 (the last day) we were meant to paint with mostly all white and lighter shades of gray. Not only was painting in these light colors was difficult but we had to paint difficult objects as well, lights. The thing that was most difficult about the lighting is that the pieces were shinny and didn't have a clear color for the most part.
my paintings day 3:

But after you get over the initial annoyance of oil paint it is actually fun and easy, dare I say better than acrylic.

Finishing

I am currently going through a period where I cant finish any art piece I start. I will start something the out it down to let the paint dry then just never pick it u again or I get half way through my painting and stop there. It's like I getting blocked or lose my energy or interest in what I am currently trying to focus on. I'm at the point where I cant put anything down because I know that I wont pick it up again. It is honestly getting a little ridiculous and starting to affect my school life as well.  

Google Glass

Now introducing a new way to ignore people, the Google Glass. Google Glass basically a  computer right on your face. It is a small chip placed on a frame similar to that of a pair of glasses with a small screen in front of one of the eyes. Glass can do a lot of cool things like take pictures and video, search the web, show weather and phone notification while being 99% hands free. Now this seems like a great idea but is it really. To me this seems more dangerous and annoying than someone texting and talking or walking/driving. At least while texting you have the ability to focus on other things but with Glass you have to put all your focus on this little screen or you cant see it. This isn't just dangerous, its also nerve racking, if this product is actually used as much as an phone than what will talking to people be like in the future. It wont be like anything, if everyone has this little device attached to their eyes and a another device in their hand  no one would talk to each other anymore and I don't know if I like the idea of everyone ignoring each other in favor of a small cold device. But hey if you want one they will be on sale for one day, April 15th, and they only cost 15 hundred dollars! BE my guest and buy one if you like but we sure as hell wont be telling me about it if you do.

Is Living in a City Better

Does living in a city really affect your life as much as everyone says? Quite frankly the answer to this question is yes, it does. Living in the city gives you a better chance of achieve your goals and gives you more opportunities. Yes, living in the suburbs is nice but if you think about it most people who live there work in the city. Cities are full of opportunities for not just jobs but education and socialization as well. Living in a city is not the ideal place for children but it is a good place to at least be near while raising them. I never lived more than an hour away from New York City and growing up this close to the city has diffidently effected me. I would probably be a completely different person person if I lived somewhere else and I would be a lot comfortable with myself.

Food For Thought: Is Technology Evolving Too Fast?

Human evolution is slowing down or moving really slow but technology evolution is actually speeding up. This time three or four years ago few people had smart phone but now I know two people who don't, even my 74 year old grandma has one. Speaking of smart phones I got the new iPhone earlier this year but now I'm hearing reports of a new one coming out in June and I've barley had this phone for six months. At the rate phones are evolving imagine how enabled they will be in a few years, hell we might not even need computers anymore. Even movie watching has evolved, A few years ago we were watching movies on tapes or crappy DVDs now we have all this blue ray DVD crap or we can even watch them online. The future is coming towards us extremely fast and I'm both excited and nervous too see what technology will bring to us next.

Creative Rut or Artistic Breakthrough

So apparently when you are in a creative rut your actually about to have a breakthrough. If this is true someone tell my brain ASAP! So according to Alan Lightman getting stuck is a great thing, it lets your mind go through all these ideas and think out of the box. I personally don't like being in a creative rut and I find it exhausting and a pain in the ass but according to science it is good to go into a rut, so I guess we should listen to it. Lightman also says that you should work towards your inspiration instead of waiting for it to hit you, now this is something I can vouch for. After hours of working on something and getting no where then you get hit with this rush of ideas and insiration is the best thing.  

Fear

Eleanor Roosevelt once said "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.'" this is totally true though, you need to realize that everything will be okay and that you have done harder, scarier things or you might have to do those things in the future. Without realizing the fear and pushing through it you will never get anything done and you will be stuck in your shell forever.

One Act Plays

So for the past two weeks in STAC we were working on one act plays in small groups, 2 actors and a director. The performances were today and I think we did pretty well considering we only had two weeks to work on them and I was sick for almost half of it. Both Darren and I knew our lines and Emily was a great director.Looking back on it I do think we could have been a little less tense and looked at each other a little more. I also learned that you shouldn't worry about messing up a small line and just go with the flow. All in all I liked acting and thought it was a good experience.

Vlogging

So we recently started vlogging for STAC, vlogging is when you film yourself talking for a length of time. Over the past few weeks of vlogging I realized how hard it is to come up with a subject to talk about and how hard it is to not go on a long angry rant. When ever you ask someone what they think the hardest part about vlogging is they say getting in front of the camera but in reality, for me at least, that is the easiest part. Vlogging only starts to get difficult once you are in front of the camera, you start to notice little quirks and habits you have and thinking of different ideas to talk about each week is hard too. But once you get past all of the struggles with vlogging it is actually really fun, almost even therapeutic.
My Vlogs- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCobE1ZYZTx_JJzct8I7zNRA/videos

College, Stop!

So as a junior in high school I am not only suppose to be surviving this dreaded year but also looking at colleges and let me be the first to say WTF! This weekend my mom thought it would be a good idea for my twin sister and I to start looking into to schools that we would like to go to and you think that looking at schools wouldn't be so bad but it is terrible.First of all college is soo expensive, all I want is an education i'm not trying to buy a house! But that's not even the worst part, the worst part is the criticism you get "oh, your looking there" "where i'm looking is so much better" "well i'm looking into Harvard". Shut up! its not a life long commitment its just a school and i'm just looking i'm not selling my soul and I can transfer if I end up not liking it. I also don't understand why we have to start college right after high school, why cant we have a break we have already been in school for 12+ years in a row, I want a break. I know by know your saying "Tristen, why son't you take a gap year?" and the reason I can't do that is because I would never get to college. I would get so excited and travel and go on adventures, I would get lost and never go back to school. That's great for some people but I actually want to go to college. But you know what looks good right now, becoming a hermit and living in my sisters basement.

Series Finale Disaster (SPOILERS)

This week I encountered one of the worst series finales I have ever seen, the How I Met Your Mother finale. After nine seasons on air the series came to a close in a one hour episode, the only one in the series actually. *spoilers start now* So after nine seasons you think that there is going to be this amazing finale where Ted meets his wife and they get married and everyone lives happily ever after, well if you think that you are wrong. Yes Ted meets his wife (Tracy) but that is one of the only good things that happened in this "spectacular". First off they give us to much information at once and the episode is too skippy, we cover 15 years in one episode and it just jumps from one thing to the other, it was so hard to follow and was just too much. Second they tear down 10 years of character development in five minutes, you cant do that, Barney has come so far and gave up almost everything to get Robin and that is gone in the matter of minutes, first they tear down their marriage that they spent the whole last season at their wedding then they just convert Barney back into how he was during season one, that's not fair to use or the character, then he is rebuilt in a second when his daughter is born from a random woman who we hear nothing about later on but that's a whole another issue, even though he is built back up he isn't the same as he was before. And my last major problem with this episode is how they used the Mother. Tracy was a lovely character and she was perfect for Ted, but then they just killed her off with no explanation. Then at the very end of the episode Ted goes running back to a now divorced single Robin, that's where the episode ended. NO! This was How I Met YOUR MOTHER not how I met your aunt Robin and is it okay that I date her again, they should not of ended it that was especially after they spent a whole episode showing Ted letting go of Robin. This whole episode was just a mess, yes there were some good and funny moments but there was just to much crap going on to focus in just the good. I can honestly say I expected more from this episode and the writers and i think they could of done better. 

Three Billion Voices

     The world wide web. It has only been around since about 1989 but it has helped mankind in so many ways. The internet helps us to connect to people we originally never could of. It also gave millions of people a say on what's going on in the world or a way or let people hear their voice and opinions. I bet without the internet the world would be different than it is now, we might not know as much and the world probably wouldn't as connected as it is right now. Millions of people would be lost in the dark about what's going on in not only their country or state but what's going on in the rest of the world. Without all this new technology we would be utterly lost. 

Big Think Article- http://bigthink.com/big-think-tv/what-does-three-billion-new-voices-sound-like

Quotes

    For the last few months I have been obsessed with inspiring quotes, so much so that i have a book that i keep my favorite ones in. Today as I was writing down some quotes in my book my younger sister Isabel was looking over my shoulder and asking me about why i kept these quotes. I was a bit taken back when she asked me this because I didn't know the answer to her question, so of course I had to do a little soul searching. I realized that I use this book like a diary or as a way to express how i'm feeling. I also realized find myself reading the Quotes when i'm stressed or need a little reassurance.  So to me quotes are just more than words in a screen or on a piece of paper they are a way for me to get through the tough points in life, to help me know that everything will be alright. 

The Great Gatsby - So Far

Last week my english class started to read The Great Gatsby. Before we started reading it I knew the background and a little bit of what is going on because I saw the movie and my sister already read the book. I'm only three chapters into the book but it is already better than the movie ( I know most books are). I'm sitting there in class thinking to myself about why they left this part out or why they changed this. I really enjoyed the movie when it first came out but after reading the book my love for the movie is changing and being replaced by the love for the book. At first I was a little confused and boarded but once I got into the book I really liked it and I hope it stays that way.