student massage clinics= great prices and excellent body work

As an artist, who does repetitive tasks over and over again, getting a massage is a blessing. Thanks to my mom and her generosity, today I was treated to a hour long massage at Bryan College in Rancho Cordova, CA. All through art school I had body work done at the San Francisco massage school, National Holistic Institute, so going to Bryan was a very familiar and relaxing experience.

Both schools offer very good and professional massages at incredible prices. At Bryan Collage they offer Japanese massage, deep tissue and heated stone massage. They have other services, so you should check them out. My hour long massage was $30! One perk at the Rancho Cordova massage school is that you get the option of choosing a male or female massage therapist and you can request them week after week.

It has been over an hour since my full body massage and I still feel zen and not quiet here. Feeling better and not having my neck ache helps me immensely with productivity and just being happier. I look forward to having a full-time job so I can treat myself to bimonthly massages. Thank you mom! Namaste.

July 2010 HITS

Click on the envelope to read your letter.

Using JING for free screen captures and to create and host free videos, I made my first video! It's a video tutorial on how to use Photohop to quickly resize images using the actions button.

Designing for Site Specific Art

June HITS

Welcome back to the Happenings in the Studio, AKA HITS, where I recap what goes on each month in my life as a visual artist. I cover real quick non-art related events to give a sense of where my time goes, but mostly focus on my current art commissions, writing gigs, struggles, thoughts and the like.

J.O.B., Housing and College (yes, I couldn’t stay away)

June was unusually busy with things other than art. Lots of major transitions are in progress. For one my U.S. Census job ended, leaving me on the job hunt again. Since my network of artists, favorite places to buy art supplies and there is a much larger art industry in the San Francisco Bay Area, I am focusing most of my job shopping out there. With that comes apartment hunting and getting new studio space. I am not excited about packing again, but living in the Bay does make me all giddy.

Another huge change is that I am back in college! My entire paychecks were going to my repay my student loans, not giving me any headway. So I enrolled for an online class at the community college of the East Bay to put off my huge payments. So far the class that I am taking is incredibly applicable and helpful. It is showing me web tools that help teach and create community. By the end of it I will have skills I have wanted to learn for a while like how to make podcasts, know the ins, outs and applications of Wikipedia, and how to more effectively use Google Reader.

In fact, the first assignment for Summer school was to make a survey using Google Docs, which automatically puts the answers into a spreadsheet! As you know I use spreadsheets daily (literally). I feel a tad disloyal to Excel, but they just don’t have all the features of Google Docs. I made a survey for this blog. It would be very helpful and encouraging if you would please take a moment to fill out this survey for this art blog. I would really appreciate you taking it. :-) Thank you!

Paper Lanterns

Typically I show a slideshow and/or video of what I have created but for June I have nothing much to share. I’m still conceptualizing and problem solving how to best create paper lanterns wired with LEDs to hang over my client’s master bed. More about the art process and thinking that goes behind making art installations.

I did get to meet up with my artist friend, Celeste Flores and art patron, Andrew, to talk art. It is so encouraging being around fellow artists and art lovers.

New Website of hot places in Sacramento

My Aunt Jenny asked me to join her in reviewing our favorite places in the Sacramento area. We are still compiling posts before debuting. For a sampling, I’ve written about a gluten free and vegan restaurant, traveling by train, where to pick up illustrated kid’s books in Braille, and several day trips of San Francisco’s Marina District with a google map plotting out the trip.

Inspiration/motivation: books, films and TV series

I’ve already spoken several times about the book that I got for my birthday called Crush it! By Gary Vaynerchuk, so I'll leave it at this- go read it!

My textbook for my Summer class is called Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. I’m learning all sorts of helpful things about RSS feeds, blogs and Wikipedia. It is written in a lively and upbeat style. Thank you San Francisco library for carrying this book. :-)

Besides designing paper lanterns, I watched Wild China, a documentary filmed by the same incredible folks who created Planet Earth. Stunning cinematography and some animal behaviors never caught on film before. My paper lanterns have a lot to live up to. Wow.

I'd eagerly awaited the Sacramento French Film Festival at the Crest Theatre and I was very surprised in a bad way. None of the films were rated and they were way more depressing, shocking and unnerving then I was expecting. After watching the short films I didn't feel like running off to France to drink absinthe and to paint. However dinner with my family and Celeste at Crepeville was wonderful, as was the coffee at the Naked Lounge and sweets from Ginger Elizabeth's chocolate shop. Plus the venue was adorable, old fashioned, smelt like real popcorn, and had sculptural wall sconces taller then me.

To read my thoughts and books read for this year, here's my 2010 booklist.

July goals:

• Find a full-time job and an apartment in the Bay Area

• Finish creating and installing the paper lantern commission

• Finish the last four weeks of my online class and apply what I learn to better market my art and put the new skills towards creating a stronger community for my blog.

• Continue typing and take typing certificate (Since May I have sped up from 35-50 WPM. My goal is to test at 50.)

• Daily eat papaya, ginger tea, raw cabbage, steamed beets, take calcium, ginko and practice yoga

"The Great One" and wine

Check out this video which reviews Wayne Gretsky's line of Canadian wines. I've been a hockey and Gretzky fan way longer than I have of wine but now I need to go get a bottle of The Great One's cab.

The interviewer, Gary Vaynerchuk, is really inspiring because of his rags to riches story and how he built up his reputation to get to interview Wayne Gretzky.

I saw Gretzky play once and I'll never forget his presence. It's like the time I was in the same arena as the Stanley Cup. Wow! One day I hope to interview Gretzky as well.

Getting to Know You Survey

I normally do all of the talking, which I want to change. I'd love to get to know you in order to make this art blog serve you better and because it would be fun to build a community here.

If you'd please help me out and complete this short survey.

Thank you so much!

Crush it!

"Eliminating the Negative Factors."

Reading that a few days ago made something click. The saying "turn lemons into lemonade" has crossed my path, but it didn't make me want to apply it or really think about it's meaning.

A negative situation for me is not having enough time in the day. I adore mornings because I don't feel behind. It's a start of a fresh day with a new to-do list. Everything is on schedule. (Did you pick up that I love starting new projects because it's exciting?) Plus I'm wired to think clearly and more creatively and focus for hours on a task if it's before noon.

How do I give myself more time? How do I get longer mornings?

Get up earlier.


Now that it's summer it's easy to say that, since it's warm and sunny by 6am and the birds are up and tweeting.

This morning I woke up feeling behind and berated myself (while still laying in bed snuggling with the dog), that I shouldn't of slept in. I should of respected the alarm I set and got up at 7am. After a little while I did get up and greeted the morning sun to find out it was 5am! I was awake and functioning so I capitalize on that extra time and started cracking on the to-do list.

I'm going to start getting up earlier although probably not 5am. I'm thinking 6 in the morn. For sure it is going to be tough some days, like when I stay up late, but I want to build my legacy.

I am working on changing my current situation (albeit not horrible, but not where I planned on being after graduating college). Typically I am motivated by what I don't want (student loan debt, being broke). However some of my wants is to have the freedom to travel, make tons of art, and live in a yurt or a loft or a tree house (or some other dwelling of my very own). I need to remind myself when it's cold outside of the covers at 6am, that if I sleep in it will take so much longer to get what I want.

If you haven't read Crush it! by Gary Vaynerchuk, you need to read it. I'm hoping you will create your passion into a career (if you're not doing that already). I need to figure out what the "it" from "Crush it!" is for me. I'm a champ at whack-a-mole, but I know a life of focusing on everything will be exhausting and unrewarding. I'm learning to focus and figuring out what I really want out of life (and creating the discipline to get up early).

What do you do in the Shower?

May HITS

Welcome to HITS, the Happenings in the Studio, where I share what went on in my life as an artist. May was very unusual for me, in that I didn’t spend much time in the art studio. Instead I worked at my temporary Census job, applied to about 25 jobs, and I celebrated my birthday!!

As far as the artsy stuff goes, I made a prototype lantern made out of bouncy balls and crafted a thank you card out of a cheerios box, green straws and blue, plastic monkeys.

I was on a reading frenzy and blew through 26 gold medal Caldecott books and eight silver winners. That leaves eight gold winners left to read! There are still lots more silver winners to read since there are anywhere from zero to five books chosen for each year dating back to 1938. I have discovered some new favorite authors and illustrators. And I have decided on the topic for the book I am going to write. It's going to be a book of lesson plans centering around the award winning picture books and art, reading and writing. Once it's all put together I am thinking of teaching the class too.

My ears were treated to three concerts by my talented cousins. I don’t know how to play any instruments, so I am mystified hearing musicians perform. How do they do that? One of the songs is featured on the May HITS video.

My Aunt and I are collaborating on a website. It is going to be awesome! You’re just going to have to wait until June’s HITS to hear more about it.

Thanks for dropping by! See you July 1st!

HITS Table of Contents

Inspiration for lantern commission

I am working on designing lanterns to match the bouncy ball curtain commission. The way I like to start my projects is to see what has already been created, adjust it to fit my needs and push the design from there to make it my own.

My Inspiration:



























These photos I found in Google images by typing in "lantern." You can find them too, by googling them.

I am working on prototypes and different shapes for the lanterns. I'll post some photos when things get further along.

April HITS

Hello, Welcome to the April Happenings in the Studio (HITS), where I recap what I did as a visual artist for the last 30 days.

At the beginning of the month I had a henna party for my cousins, where I touched up one tattoo that I did in March and painted two tribal tats for my 8 year-old cousin. I wish I had photos because she looked so cool with them on.

I’m transitioning over from my custom framing job to doing full-time U.S. Census work. It is so nice having more hours, higher pay and a flexible schedule.

I spent a couple of days in the San Francisco Bay Area fellowshipping with fellow artists and making art. One morning I helped my friend Celeste Flores with making a rubber mold of her dancer, so she can cast it for a film. Part of the time I assisted Philip Krohn with his stop motion film starring plastic bottle caps. And I installed my bouncy ball curtain!



For more details about the curtain click here. All of the stunning photos of the bouncy ball curtain are by Luke Goodman.

Now that the bouncy ball curtain is completed I’m working on my next commission for the same client. It is going to be lanterns made out of bouncy balls that hang around the bedroom. I got the idea for stringing the bouncy balls on wire after hearing about gummy bear chandeliers. For now I’ve made paper stand-in lanterns to get an idea of how many I need to create and I’ve researched different designs for lanterns.




This gummy bear chandelier inspired my current project of bouncy ball lanterns.




Of course I had to skewer my own gummy bears just to see what it’s like, plus I want to see if they get brittle. So far they are a tad dry after sitting out for a week.


Enjoy the new work in the below video. I'll see you at the beginning of June for the next episode of HITS (Happenings in the Studio).




HITS Table of Contents

fellow plastic container fanatic

My friend Celeste introduced me to the art of Korean artist, Choi Jeong Hwa. He had a show at the LACMA called happy, happy that reminded Celeste of my art in that we both stack colorful, plastic containers.

I love his hutsba in making huge installations. Looking at his art makes me giddy to make my art on large scale.

Check out his site to see colorful and whimsical art that will make you smile.

Bouncy Ball Drop Video

Torturing me with the extra bouncy balls from the bouncy ball curtain commission. Click here to see the photos of the curtain.

Bouncy Ball Curtain completed

Bouncy ball curtain by me, Elizabeth Symington.

Photos thanks to Luke Goodman.





















Oodles of crazy straws and 950 bouncy balls later and vio la!! bouncy ball curtain!


I finished the commission on April 23rd, 2010 and had a small celebratory party, involving playing with the 100 extra bouncy balls.


Details:

• The 1,100 bouncy balls were hand drilled, which only took 4 hours
• The curtain is 90 inches tall and about 59 inches wide
• Stetson, Andrew's lab, did grab one big bouncy ball during the install, but so far has left them alone (fingers crossed)
• The balls came from a gumball machine supplier that I found online

Check out ElizabethSymington.com for more of my colorful art.


Posts on the process of making this curtain:

Inspiration
Sony Bravia bouncy ball commercial
How to make a bouncy ball
video- drilling 1050 holes
Stringing the bouncy balls
video- Bouncy ball drop
slideshow - bouncy ball curtain and other art

Bouncy Ball Curtain Commission Progress

Crazy straw and bouncy ball curtain is 1/3 completed. It is going to be installed by the end of this month!

March HITS

Happenings in the Studio is a recap of my life as a visual artist. March was a very social and arty month for me, involving tattooing family members and quality control testing jumbo bouncy balls (check out the video below to see the mayhem). Per usual I didnt get done as much as I wanted, but for good reason because I was really sick for 2 1/2 weeks with a really bad flu.

My miniature toy poodle Chip turned 18!!! His motto for the year is "this is the best year ever." That's because mom and I am going to be his best friend for the year (instead of Chip being man's best friend). We figure he's earned it and deserves scrambled eggs for breakfast. Now that he is legal, we bought a lotto ticket in his name but found out that he doesn't have Grandma's gambling gene. Chipito is also on Facebook, where he likes to share videos of his best year ever.

My beloved digital camera suffered a fall and no longer works. Knowing my history of electronics I had the extended coverage plan and the camera is being fixed right now. The only bummer is that it will take 3-6 weeks for it to get mailed back to me. I used it almost everyday. I already miss it. Thanks mom for lending me your camera.

I started job hunting for a second job. Ideally it will be a position in art field, but we'll see what happens.

See you on May 1st, 2010 for the recap of what happened in the studio over the month of April.

HITS Table of Contents

Sacramento Health Clinics

I don't have health insurance, so last week when white spots appeared on my tonsils, I knew it was time to go to the Doctors. I ended up with going to the Sutter Express Care, where I only had to wait about two hours to see the RN. Thankfully I don't have strep throat! I learned that white spots doesn't always mean strep. Either way I am glad I went in.


Sutter Express Care

(located inside select Rite Aid stores)

(Flat rate of $65 to be seen by a RN, who can write prescriptions. First come, first serve basis.)

Natomas

2751 Del Paso Rd
Sacramento, CA 95835

Roseville

4004 Foothills Blvd
Roseville, CA 95747

Sacramento

980 Florin Rd
Sacramento, CA 95831

Monday thru Friday
9:00am - 8:00pm

Saturday
10:00am - 4:00pm

Sunday
10:00am - 4:00pm



Med7

(seen by a Doctor, starts at $120 for the visit. Sliding scale not available.)

• 4112 East Commerce Way
  Natomas, CA 95834
  (916) 447-MED7 (6337)
  Map & Clinic Info

• 2350 East Bidwell Street
  Folsom, CA 95630
  (916) 920-MED7 (6337)
  Map & Clinic Info

• 1101 Smith Lane
  Roseville, CA 95661
  (916) 772-MED7 (6337)
  Map & Clinic Info

• 4156 Manzanita Avenue
  Carmichael, CA 95608
  (916) 488-MED7 (6337)
  Map & Clinic Info

White Rock Family Clinic

Located on the grounds of White Rock Elementary School in Rancho Cordova, this clinic provides free care to the medically underserved of Sacramento County, in partnership with the Folsom-Cordova Unified School District.

Located at:
White Rock Elementary School
10495 White Rock Road
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

Clinic Hours:
Monday to Wednesday - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Thursday - noon to 8 p.m.
Friday - 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

For more information, or to make an appointment, call (916) 364-0724.

Rancho Cordova commuter van

The weather is good right now, so I don't need to ride the bus, but there is a commuter van that only charges 50 cents here in Rancho Cordova, CA. Here's the link for more information.

We got matressed!

Be careful going to musicals, you never know what will appear on your car!