I love google. Looking something for Photoshop and I type in "how to make".

First suggested results? "How to make a toga" and "How to make jelloshots".

Like myself, Google just hasn't accepted that college is over.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?"

Hey thanks to all you new followers ~ Hopefully I can keep you entertained with beefy good art stuff :) One can only hope...

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."
C.S. Lewis

If You Are What You Say You Are ~ A Superstar

I'm super hungry. My puppy is super sleepy.
Here, have some jewelry sneak peeks!















Tackling my To-Do List and some commissions todayyy~ I love being productive, it's such a good feeling. Rockin out to DJ Earworm; some gorgeous and inspiring visuals in here:

"Our love will vanquish evil"
Buzz Lightyear.

What is Art?

Over the past few months, I have seen and participated in a number of discussions about the meaning of art. What is art? What is not art? What is good art?

I personally believe that art is a very elusive thing to define. What is good art to you, may not be considered good art to me, or good art to Mr. Finkleman down the street, or a man in Zimbabwe.

I saw a post the other day, "Well, you can call that 'good art', but you'd be wrong." Well, wrong by whose definition? What makes one person correct about what art is or isn't, what art is considered good or bad? Is it your education that makes you an authority? Your societal status? Your connections?

I am not sure that art can be concretely defined. Not only are there so many existing dissonant movements in art history that cater to anyone's varying tastes, but young professionals are always striving to move into new areas with new ideas.

Unfortunately, these debates often lead many (especially younger artists) to the conclusion that "everything is art". It's an easy way out (though I admit that I once believed this definition too), a way of legitimatizing the differences of opinions on the subject of "what is art". Today a friend linked to this article. It made such great points on the subject that I felt the need to share it here:

"The surest way to destroy a concept is to expand it to mean everything. Over the last century, art has been the victim of such a practice. The new belief is that anything intended to be "art" is art. Is this circular? Of course it is. It is also the only possible definition left, since toilets, blank canvasses, fire engine sirens, and people urinating on stage have been accepted as art.

The attempt to use the term 'art' to describe these creations is an attempt to steal the value of art. The new artists don't produce anything of value, but they call it art in the hopes that people will accept it as such. Since real art is important to people, the new "artists" hope to trick people into giving their own garbage the same respect. They try to steal the respect for art by confusing their own work with it. This has the effect of destroying respect for art.

Art is not everything, or anything an "artist" says is "art". Art has an objective meaning, and an fulfills an objective need for people. The meaning has been obfuscated by those trying to cash in on the honor and value that goes with art. By ignoring the objective meaning of art, people lose the ability to fulfill an important part of their life. The destruction of art as a concept impairs one's life."

In the end, I think the only conclusion I can personally come to is that art is not authoritatively definable by any one person, but that is also does not encompass everything.

"Whenever I'm about to do something, I ask myself:
'Self, would an idiot do this?'"
Dwight Schrute.

Progress is Fun to Look At ~

Wrapping up my grad school portfolio with some good old creepy vibes. Here's a fun few progress shots for my latest piece, "The Spirit Guide and the Tree of Purgatory".

Art (c) Erin McManness 2011 {larger version}
Click images for full view ~

What I Wore ~

Par for the course, I stayed up last night to sketch out my next What I Wore. And here it is!

click for larger version~

“Re-examine all that you have been told; dismiss that which insults your soul.”
W. Whitman.

I really ought to go to bed.
But I'd really rather do a quick 'What I Wore'.

Year 2011...
and the Pursuit of Radness

Too cool and too true to let this funny exclamation from Marc Johns pass me by without adding my own little, "Hell yea!" to the pile. This is the year of finally moving on, finally moving in the right direction, and finally moving forward.

I think my resolutions are to just take more initiative and stop spending so much time planning, but spend more time doing.

Of course tonight I was being a super good girl and was trying to put my new years resolution of "JUST DO!" to the pavement: got all of my refs and descs all opened up in nice little tabs, opened up Painter, and................... unresponsive tablet. Of course. Gonna run a few tests on it tomorrow, hopefully I'll bring it back to life. It can't die on me now, when I have only a month/month and a half to finish my grad school portfolio!

So I decided to Hulu the past episode of Grey's Anatomy. I mean, when all else fails, watch Grey's Anatomy. In this episode, there was a mass shooting at an area college, with 26 victims and everyone lived! The doctors saved them all! If that doesn't inspire my tablet to resurrect itself, I may have to resort to Plan B, (which I have used several times on finicky machinery): sing it the Indiana Jones theme song.

If that doesn't inspire greatness, I don't know what will.

"I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul."

Sometimes we are called upon to make difficult decisions that others may never understand. As long as we keep to what's true to our core, to achieve our goals, to get where we are going, we have made the right choice.

What else is there time for, but to be who we were meant to become?

A reminder for when I need to remember why I'm on this road.



"Now I'm here, suddenly I see
Standing here, it's all so clear
I'm where I'm meant to be
And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new."

OH GOD SOMETIMES I'M SUCH A SAP

I think I'll get a lover...

...and fly him out to Spain.

"I think I need a new town to leave this all behind
I think I need a sunrise,
I'm tired of the sunset
I hear it's nice in the summer; some snow would be nice.
Oh yea."



I don't think that I was made to sit in one place for too long. As we're moving into the new year, I find myself pushing against the cliched barrage of well-intentioned New Years Resolutions, and yet at the same time, finding very earnestly that I am ready to make big changes. I am ready to do something exciting and to try something new.

2010 for me was, well, anti-climactic. I moved back home from living in the rush and lights of Hollywood, and freelanced for 8 months. Despite the fact that there were many, many little accomplishments over the year, and despite taking steps to plan a more concrete future, 2010 was pretty uneventful... and that was disappointing to me. I'm not meant to sit in one place for long. I doubt I am someone who will ever really "settle down" somewhere right now and stay put for 50 years and be content. I doubt I will ever know what colour underpants old Mr. Newton down the street is wearing out to get the morning paper, or whose son and daughter are sneaking out every weekend together, or all the neighbors and their dogs' first names 3 blocks away.

These are all very nice things to know, and very many people are happy in one place; but I'm not sure that that's me. I am tired of hum-drumming through life, waiting for something to happen.

I've heard a lot of people mentioning that instead of a resolution, they have a "bucket list". Mine is short and sweet.

1. Move to a new city.
2. Get accepted into grad school.

So, (deep breath) ...welcome 2011.