o h . b l u e . j e a n

Some old friends. Merry belated Christmas everyone.

f r o m . b e n e a t h

I'm thrilled to say that I've been invited to participate in a group show at the Artery Gallery right here in KW entitled From Beneath.

Opening night is this Saturday December 11 from 6:00 to 8:00pm at 156 King Street W., Kitchener.
If you're in the area I highly recommend stopping by to check it out!

Sneak peak!

d o n ' t . c o m e . a r o u n d . h e r e . n o m o r e

 I don't feel you anymore
You darken my door
Whatever you're looking for
Don't come around here no more
...
Stop walking down my street

Who do you expect to meet?
Whatever you're looking for
Don't come around here no more...

Tom Petty turns Alice into a cake in Wonderland and eats her with tea and all of his friends. Good Times.

 ___________

Finals, aka the half-way point.

Thatt's what I'm talkin about!

Remember her friends?

She's from the same group as these.

Frames, paper, paint, photocopies, found materials, fabric, buttons & pennies.

h e l l o . c l a r a

.....Why hello, Nutcracker.

(cue coy smiles)

Gah, indulging in Christmas movies will be my reward for finishing this week.

Dum de da de dum de do.

___________

 Phase one photo collages.

d o . t h e . o p p o s i t e

Eggs?

I was given some good advice a while back, while at the end of my rope and stuck in a major creative slump: "Do the opposite of what you're doing now."

Seems simple enough, right? But how exactly does one figure out what the opposite is...especially when you can't pinpoint what it is you're doing at the moment...

New/old motto to live my life by:

Take chances, get messy, make mistakes!

Triscuts?

Ghosts?

P.s. : Acrylic on Canvas. Feedback?

b u r n i n g

Some reverting back to my old ways, and I must say I like the results. I haven't used pen & ink for too long, opting instead for black fine liners. BUT, I was finding my work with the markers lately to be too 'unintentionally sloppy', hence the decision to try out some intentional sloppiness. Just a quickie, but I'll be doing this more often.

One of my daydream people: intellectual warriors, gender equality and role flip-flopping, mysterious and with covered bodies for identity protection in public. I've decided to expand on this when time allows...they have alter egos.

t h e . m a r i n e r ' s . r e v e n g e . s o n g

Current obsession: THE DECEMBERISTS 

Especially this song: The Mariner's Revenge Song.

"Find him, bind him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave 

"There is one thing I must say to you
As you sail across the sea
Always, your mother will watch over you
As you avenge this wicked deed" 

- The Decemberists 

Then I found this. Pretty fantastic, and it makes me want to be a better person.

t u r n . m y . h e a d . w i t h . t a l k . o f . s u m m e r t i m e

I feel kind of bad for myself because my cultural references are always so far behind the times...BUT

I've been listening to Phantom of the Opera on and off all week, and I forgot how much I love it. I have to admit that when I hear them sing their stories, I can't help but think to myself things like "well Phantom, maybe the reason why people don't love you isn't because you're ugli, it's because you're a crazy murderer" and "oh Vicomte, could you be a littler lamer?" (his line at the end as the Phantom has him in a death trap "I fought to hard to free you", a la Luke but-i-was-going-to-go-into-town-and-pick-up-some-power-converters Skywalker, makes me chuckle every time.)

----------

 Collages in the works:

Frames, paper, paint, stickers, leaves & flowers, cutouts, glitter and buttons. 

Satisfying & reassuring.

 

 

i . m o v e . t h e . s t a r s . f o r . n o . o n e

 Inner Monologues with painted frames, buttons, beads and string.

Gorillaz, over and over and over.

Have you heard the one about the babysitter and the escaped killer?

b l a c k . s w a n

" I don't know who killed that black swan, but who ever did is a hero...A HERO!"

---

I admit that I'm probably the worst photographer out there. That being said however, I've been pushing myself lately to incorporate photography into my work via collage (because somehow, my plain photos seem too plain when left alone).

And so, an inpromptu pre- and post- shower photoshoot. I'm somewhat proud of what a disheveled creep I look like.

b l u e

Random Collagables:

Marker (and some paint) on paper, photocopies and hole punches. Oh how I love my one-hole punch <3.

I'm feeling very into flowers right now. Weddings and funerals, life and death. (And bugs)

Stay tuned for collages and combinations!

m e l a n c h o l y

Oh, what a melancholy choice this is....

...wanting home, wanting him. Closing my heart to every hope but his, leaving the home I love.

c i r c l e s

Another blink, another week:

Nightmares, procrastination, self-doubt, over-eating, actually being ahead of my school work, Harry Potter soundtracks on repeat and the urge to smash my ipod with a hammer.

(I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless little flea! Then, I'll put that flea inside a box, and put that box inside of another box. And then I'll mail it to myself. And when it arrives.....I'll smash it with a hammer!)

-----

Some long-lost summer sketches:

m o r e !

You close your eyes for a moment, and the day is over. You look up at your surroundings, and realize that more than a month has flown by. Your to-do list is overflowing, but the tasks which you truly ache to tackle keep getting pushed to the bottom by countless mundane items, chapter summaries, school reading lists, household chores.

Honk if you wish there was more time in the day and more days in the week!

If it were up to me:

1) I would not need to sleep

2) I would draw for days at a time

3) I would spew out the complete contents of my mind in one, long art session. It would be in exquisite and agonizing detail. I would then collapse and bask.

If this were possible, I would be happy. Si je suis creative je suis belle.

a r g e n t i n a : d a y . t h i r t y

We spent yesterday wandering around the beautiful neighborhood of Palermo Soho in Buenos Aires: got some fresh air, did some street shopping, and saw lots of inspiring urban art. I only wish they were mine!

(Que gato loco!)

(Martin Fierro rockin' on a double neck guitar)

a r g e n t i n a : d a y . f i f t e e n

Straightened up my picture files. Sometimes I like my works in progress better than finished works.

Happy Independence Day Argentinos! "How I Met Your Mother" and card games, what a great way to spend the day; ate nothing today but pancakes and Fanta (the orange kind, the best kind).

Buenos Aires tomorrow : Recoleta and Palermo street shopping, hoping for some off beat, handmade clothes and eclectic cocktail rings.

a w a y . w e . g o

In less than an hour a van will be arriving to whisk me away to the airport. It's Argentina time, once again, and although it's still feels surreal, I'm excited!

I had planned a lot of things to write about, but right now they're eluding me. I will say however that one of my summer goals (aka over the course of this trip) is to push myself to be more creative...to create things and not just think about them.

Recently I've taken some steps:

1) I finally made my first wearable dress, using some fabric that I purchased a year ago (procrastinate much?)

2) I improvised a cake from scratch -- blueberry, lemon, rhubarb -- which was a little dry, and kind of ugly, but I was proud.

Small steps, but steps none the less!

Grax y chau,

Sam

p - p - p - p o w !

Che Boludos,

My name is Samantha Meiler, and I'm writing to you on behalf of myself, in regards to the fact that I feel much too lame and uncool in our modern, perpetually plugged-in society (I know, I know as if that makes me original). I have, after being urged by my friend/life coach Marta Ryczko, attempted to create for myself a "web presence". Sadly however, I am no good at this. I have a Facebook account (yup) but regard updating my status as awkwardly egotistical, and I'm as equally, if not more so, intimidated/mystified by Twitter. Yet, I know that this is important, especially in my line of work (aka aspiring freelancer!)

So, here I am.

I'm tempted at this point to reveal other embarrassing, humanizing facts about myself, but that's probably not the best idea, so I'll leave it here.

Web presence away!

Grax,
Sam