Update

Well, haven't been as on top of this as I was before. I have been working on a longish rather than shortish piece, which I think is a good change, as I am wont to make many short pieces. Working on something that is a combination of live-action video and animation. It is about trying to substitute social interaction with interactions in the forest here, currently primarily focusing on trying to substitute Justin (boyfriend). The animations intercut are visual representations of the physical sensations one has outdoors (a la "Sensation Animation," except outdoors), as well as visual representations of emotional sensations I am having outdoors. Exploring both definitions of "feelings", and finding that they are very interwoven.

I am hesitant to post any live-action work... and now that I am not just fooling around for ten second animations, I kind of want to keep the work behind curtains until it is more finished...

But, here is a list of things I have shot and have been in the process of making:

- scene with a moss covered log spooning me, moss arm and all

-making a suit out of moss for me to wear, so as to feel more "socially accepted" in the woods

-dancing with a tree by copying its leaf movements in a breeze

-trying different forest materials (moss, ferns, fir branch) to find which feels most like Justin's beard

-cut-out animation of a visual representation of what it feels like to miss Justin (shot outside)

-visual representation of what it feels like to have small uncomfortable rocks under my feet

Realization

So I've been shooting video in a nearby forest. It's part of a reservoir, and so there are a lot of people who fish at the water. I was sitting in between a few trees off the path, and a fisherman saw me and said, "Hey, I found a leprechaun!" 

It occurred to me that elves, fairies, leprechauns, gnomes, and other assorted fantastical woodland creatures are just artists making weird videos.

Gallbladder= Little Green Sprout

Desk and Mythological Forest Coronation

Here's a picture of my work desk here, if yer interested:

Photo credit: Mama Ann.

Yellow Nighttime testing

I made this last night. Done by flashing a flashlight's light onto clover flowers so that the light reflects brightest from the camera's view.



Pretty excited about this technique. Lots of different places to go with sound, too.

Here is a still (with the camera on different ASA setting):

In other news:

Emoting Fauna:
- Faunal Anxiety
- Social Adoration

Emoting Flora:
- Pastoral Adoration
- Floral Anxiety

"Arboretum" and Petrie Dishes

First off:



...yeast infection! (All the women in the room, repeat after me:) "YIKES!"



I just shot these- making sure they make some sequential sense before I shoot them outdoors. First time i've painted cutouts with out checking first with pencil sketches and a light box that the images work after one another. Anyways... really hardly worth posting. Hopefully future project incorporating the petrie dish idea will be worth watching. (I like how the ants in the frame make the video look like film! Maybe I'll do something with that...)

Also, I've been really into "Arboretum" by David Byrne (yes, that David Byrne) that I picked up at "Family" in LA (great great great comix/other neat things bookstore):



Really great pencil drawings of often vegetation-like maps of how seemingly unconnected things connect. It's the sort of thing I saw and went, "Wait, didn't I do this already? Well, now I don't have to do it!"

Heart Beat

Clearly I decided to go more in the heart symbol direction... but I plan on doing more actual organ-y looking animations with natural materials.

I wore this on loop on my video iPod sewn into my shirt a few nights ago at "first friday"- got a lot of attention. Kind of overwhelming! But fun.

Trees Kissing...

Something I did a couple of days ago. Silly... just trying different things with the whole "perspective animation" technique.


Yesterday afternoon in the city park I overheard a little boy picking flowers. Each one represented his dad, mom, grandma... etc. His dad, meanwhile, kept calling him to go to the bathroom. But the little boy kept picking flowers, naming everyone he knew.

Beating Heart test

I did this last night. I haven't gotten the motion of a beating heart down yet. I plan on playing the final version looped on my video iPod attached to a garment, positioned where my heart is, and wear it to "First Friday", when all the galleries in Silverton are open late.

Silverton, OR

I am currently staying with my semi-uncle, Gus Frederick, in a sweet little town in rural Oregon.

I got here three days ago after a delightful road trip with Justin (bestfriend/boyfriend), which was preceded by a weeklong stay with his family in Anaheim, CA. That mostly involved relaxing and oohing and awwing at the crazy vegetation over there, and seeing that L.A. is a really great city, especially if you go to Echo Park. Justin taught me how to surf, and we saw a pair of dolphins swimming side by side!

I took lots of 35mm photos for the last week and a half, and I'm only now taking out the digital camera and camcorder. I've been spending time in the "city park" here, which is a plot of land with soft grass and daisies amidst giant pine trees, next to Silver creek and a fair chunk of very steep wilderness. I plan on doing a video installation there. (Prime place, as lots of people go through there.)