Detroit!

Yesterday, I went to Detroit with Autumn and a fellow named IlDuce, who runs this site. He was extremely knowledgeable about urban exploration. It seemed like almost every block, he'd point out an abandoned building and know how to get in. It was sort of scary.

Speaking of scary: Detroit

We visited three places: an industrial building whose name I forget, Breitmeyer elementary school, and Michigan Central (<--- omg omg omg)

The first place:

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Breitmeyer was a foreign language immersion elementary school in operation from 1917 to 2005. The inside was pretty strange. Aside from what you'd normally expect -- debris and vandalism, there were stacks upon stacks of pristine, unopened textbooks. The principal had left behind a couple of plaques she'd been awarded. The library was still full of books (as a consequence, I now own Death of a Salesman). One room was littered with students' disciplinary records. Some of them were just indescribably hilarious, and I think IlDuce is planning on uploading some photos he took of them. I'll keep you in the loop. So here are some pictures.

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Michigan Central is a motherfucking huge train station, operational from 1913 to 1988. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Words will not do it justice; my pictures won't either. It's incredible -- this huge, once-ornate, once-beautiful hollow shell, sprinkled with graffiti, decaying, the air so thick with dust or asbestos or something it's hard to breathe. I felt dwarfed and awed to see nature reclaiming something that took so much to create.

The light was almost gone when we arrived, so I only got a few pictures. I need to go back and see it in the daylight as soon as possible.

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That's all for now. I can't wait to do this again.

I've still got a painting or two I need to post. And I want to talk to you guys about ambient gaming. So keep an eye out for that.

Seacrest, out.

It is 6am

I am in a car. On my iPhone. Kathleen is driving. We are going to Detroit. The sun has not yet risen. The passenger-side windshield wiper does not work.

I was pretty excited about this trip, because Detroit is basically the land of milk and honey when it comes to abandoned structures and urban exploration and whatnot. However, we ended up being on a really tight schedule, so I'll only really have an hour, maybe two, to gallavant about the city. I guess I'll just try to find some plight to photograph with my BRAND NEW POLARIZED LENS FILTER (thanks for the Best Buy gift cards, extended famy)!

I used some of my Christmas money to buy art supplies yesterday. There was this cool clayboard thing, and I loved it so much that I made a painting! Can't really show you now because of the whole being-in-a-car situation, but I'll try to soon if I don't end up hating it. Jess said it looks like a cat puke cyclone. I'm sort of inclined to agree.

Speaking of darling Jessica, she visited yesterday and drew me pictures with my BRAND NEW PRISMACOLOR MARKERS (thanks parents)!






That is a robot!






That's me and Oreo, the only woman I will ever love.

iPhones are so cool. I'm blogging at 65mph in a snowstorm. Kathleen is driving though. It would be cooler if I were.

So speaking of my prismacolors, the goldenrod one is completely devoid of ink. Not so sure what to do about that. Maybe return them? Dunno.

Well, that's about all I have to say. Kathleen is yelling "Blog!" at me because I apparently I don't do it enough. Also, I got a 3.0 GPA this semester. And I'm taking a printmaking and a glassblowing class next semester, and you should be jealous.

Adam Colas, sorry I didn't tell you I'm going to Detroit. I really wanted to see you but we are in a hurry :-/

See ya, kids!

If I go on a killing spree, this is why

Wow! I haven't posted in a long time. Where has the year gone? Only 18 shopping days until the winter solstice! I realllyyyy hope someone gets me a virgin to sacrifice! Last year I only had a second-rate sickly goat, and my crops didn't prosper. :-(

So anyways, I finished a portfolio tonight for my 2D Composition class, and I'm totally in love with it. It's a pattern thingamajig. The motif is taken from some art noveau book. It's hair. My teacher thought it was basket-weaving. I'm really proud of this. It's due tomorrow (technically today), so wish me luck!

Part the First (gel pen on vellum):

Part the Second (enamel on acetate):

Part the Second (layered paper, acetate, my sanity):

So, uh, that's that! Took forever, but I'm glad I did it.

Currently I am watching Bruno. It is a wonderful movie. Also, it's Jess's birthday! Happy birthday, Jess!

To Be Next...

Hey! Remember that painting I promised you? Well, I spent a good part of the weekend working on it. And it's not perfect, but for that to happen, I'd have to have spent a billion hours fine-tuning little tiny things. And, well, fuck that.

So here I am, drinking something resembling red wine that comes from a box (in excess). Jess is in the corner doing Italian homework.

In my Drawing class until now, we've been doing nothing but line drawings. My professor wanted to make damn sure that we had perspective down. Only now, what, two months into the semester, have we started doing value and shading. To get us used to the idea, she had us do this project. For the first time all semester, she gave us the option to use whatever medium we wanted. The project was to draw a still life with as little line as possible, using almost exclusively value. But we were only allowed to use two or three values -- white and black or white, grey and black.

I did this with acrylic and acryla gouache on paper. And it was sooooooo fun. Well, OK, it sort of made me want to stab myself a couple of times. But overall, I'm really happy with it. And although you don't get a GIF, I've always wanted to do a progression from beginning to end, so here we go on a magical journey! (Sorry I can't take pictures straight)

Oh by the way, I have the most gold stars in the studio at my dorm building! And whoever has the most at the end of the year gets a gift card to the art store!

Edit: P.S. I told you I'd link you guys to my tumblr! Well, it's at http://corduroydog.tumblr.com/ !!! Disclaimer: It's pretty pornographic!

Hello blog!

I miss you, blog! Currently, I am sitting alone in my dorm room (my roommate went home for the weekend), drinking something like, but not necessarily, boxed wine, listening to Jethro Tull. I just finished working on a painting for the night. If I actually finish it and don't rush it, this painting will be pretty badass. It's for my drawing class, and it's a two-value painting, just black and white. As  much as I abhor still lives, I think I set up a pretty good one. I'm taking in-progress pictures and, blog, if you're lucky, I may even post a gif!

So, sorry, three people who will read this, that I haven't been posting. I've done a decent amount of stuff for school, but not much of it is entirely pretty. And I don't want to look like a douchebag, taking pictures of my stuff in the studio. I'll try to get some of my favorite stuff up at some point.

I'm going to go to a party now. I've sort of been isolating myself recently, and that's bad. So I'm going to go, and I'm going to have fun, whether I like it or not.

Do Not Read This Post

So, this is probably going to be offensive to everyone. Jordan asked me to draw her a picture, and this is what happened. Look at it if you want, but don't complain if you're offended. I'm posting it because I like how it turned out. I think I did a good job :-) So, uh, here it is.


The answer to the quiz from Jess's last post is The Death of Ivan Ilych. Nice job, Haley! You win... well, nothing!

I, Operation Khaki, hereby decree:

My name is Sebastian. Today, I ate: hommus, cookies and milk, a delicious wonderful salsbury steak from Stoffer's. Ya know why? Because I'm a freakin' college student! I'm also drinking vitamin water. And my TV dinner looks completely, completely disgusting. 


Today, things I thought about were: the quizzes I took on facebook, Hayley on Skype (far away), drawing for my classes, how much fun it would be to get drunk for Thursty Thirsday, and whether or not I am able to love (because of the quiz on facebook that is a funny joke). 

Speaking of funny jokes...

Q: Why did my woman from Tokyo get stuck in my head earlier?*

Today's contest: Identify That Passage!
Can you identify the passage from this random book I have on my bookshelf at college (even though my room is not large enough to house anything that isn't necessary for my own survival)? 

" ' I look after everything myself,' she told Peter *****, shifting the albums that lay on the table; and noticing that the table was endangered by his cigarette-ash, she immediately passed him an ashtray, saying as she did so: 'I consider it an affection to say that grief prevents my attending to practical affairs.' " **



The best part of my day today was spraying the Febreze spray, Brazilian Carnival, all over the room for like an hour.
The worst part of my day today was waking up, because last night I probably sprayed just as much Febreze spray as I did just now; so when I woke up, I was probably not getting enough oxygen.




*Comment with a good punch line, and you could win free prizes!
** Also, prizes are offered to anyone who can make a good mad lib out of this so it might become less boring. (Um... no offense!)


A good day for eating! Aren't I (Sebastian) a good person?