You Art Here.

I am currently in a contest through H&M on the yourarthere.com website. I found out about it through Facebook and had an unfinished painting that I felt met the theme of the contest. First on my list was to finally finish the painting, one that I had started a few months ago.

http://www.yourarthere.com/entry/bright-lights-big-dreams/

The theme of the contest is New York City. My painting, titled “Bright Lights. Big Dreams.” is a young woman in the bottom right hand corner of the canvas looking out toward city lights that are out of focus. Each city light that is out of focus stands for every idea, chance, experience, connection, dream, and even failure that she is yet to experience on her way to finally realizing her dreams. It’s about dreaming it and then setting out to do it. The painting came mostly from a photograph I had taken at night of lights out of focus and a scene in a movie I had watched fairly recently which was set on the east coast. I feel like it fits with the theme because New York is a city where people head to make their dreams come true.

Not to mention, “New York, New York, big city of dreams.” – Tha Dogg Pound

I myself am a big daydreamer and don’t mind dreaming up the ways of finally becoming a good/well known artist. I feel like it gives me motivation and gives me something to strive for. I like setting goals, especially smaller ones that will eventually lead to bigger ones because it produces more results. I have a goal and I believe that those dreams with hard work will help me to eventually get there. I’ve had some good luck so far in the contests I have entered. The GrnAppleTree clothing contest and the Levi’s contest (3,000+ entries) last year really gave me the confidence that I can hold my own with many other artists out there.

This H&M contest has brought out a lot of great artists and their submissions. All I hope right now is to get into the top 10 artworks because those 10 will then go to a jury who will choose the winner. So if you get a chance, make your way to the site and vote by clicking on the number of stars you would like to give my painting.

Here’s to more votes and some luck.

http://www.yourarthere.com/entry/bright-lights-big-dreams/

The Emerald City.

I had the opportunity to visit Seattle, Washington a couple of weeks ago. The primary reason for the trip was to watch the San Diego Chargers play the Seattle Seahawks, but Seattle has always been a place I have wanted to visit. The trip was a lot of fun, especially since it was a big group of us that went up together for the game. Unfortunately, we lost to the Seahawks so I will not be talking about that because it is still too soon and the wound is still fresh.

couple.


ready for kickoff.



Rivers.

The city of Seattle is beautiful. I believe that is the best way to sum it up. A friend of mine put it well by saying, “It’s like San Francisco, but cleaner.” S.F. is also a very nice city, but it had it’s share of griminess that I did not see while I was in Seattle.

The first day I was there was Saturday the 25^th. Arrived there around noon and the weather was perfect. Sunny with no clouds really. As soon as I dropped everything off at the hotel we headed down to Pike’s Place. Downtown Seattle itself is a cool place to walk around. On the way to Pike’s I recognized the members of the band ‘The xx’ just kickin’ it on a street corner. I stopped and spoke to Oliver (vocals & bass), who was a super chill dude. He told me they were playing a show that night at the Paramount and I was also able to get a picture with him. That alone was enough to give high praise to the trip itself.

It was a neat experience to walk through Pike’s after seeing it many times on television or in print. The market is set up with plenty of walking space for everyone and the street itself was shut down to accommodate the crowd. Got the chance to see the 1^st Starbucks, which didn’t do much for me due to the fact that I don’t drink coffee. After Pike’s we hit up The Brooklyn seafood restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to relax for a few.

Sunday ended up being all about football. Started off with a morning meet up with a large contingent of Charger fans at a Gordon Biersch before the game. The day started off full of excitement, but unfortunately it ended with a near fight, disappointment, anger, frustration, and exhaustion. I got the chance to take some decent shots of Seattle as we made our way to the stadium and of the stadium itself, which was cool, but a win would have made everything better.

O Canada.

fish eye.

Monday morning I woke up and headed out by myself to snap as many shots of whatever caught my eye. I wasn’t able to take any shots of Pike’s or anything else for that matter on Saturday because I had a massive brain fart and left my camera in the hotel room. So Monday was all about the city, my camera, and I. As soon as I was out the door I turned on the iPod, walked, and snapped whenever I got the brain impulse to do so.

The weather, in my opinion, was great. Sunny on Saturday, drizzling on Sunday, drizzling and then mostly sunny on Monday. My flight left @ 4 on Monday and I was not looking forward to returning to 108 degree weather in San Diego. Seattle (except for the fans, who were major douches) left a great impression on me. It is a city that I will surely return to, hopefully sooner than later.