Things I'm Going to Miss.

I'm leaving for Austria on Sunday and when I come back I'm going to have lots of pictures, a belly full of SERIOUSLY the yummiest pizza I've ever had before, and best of all, I get to bring my most favorite person home with me: Mr. Sean Jimenez himself! He'll back in the states to talk everybody's ear off and otherwise make me completely insane/happy. But there's some not so good stuff too, because two weeks is a long time to be gone and I'm gonna miss some important things, like...

-Better Off Dead playing at the Aero! I'm not really a big 80's movie lover but something about this just does it for me. If you're into like, dancing hamburgers, french foreign exchange students, nasal spray, skiing, muscle cars, snorting jell-o, saxophones, Barney Rubble, or exploding faces then maybe you should go see it on my behalf.

-Brian playing at the Knitting Factory! This is really the worst one. Brian doesn't play nearly as often as I wish he would, so it's kinda special. I was really planning on going, gosh darnit. And it's like, three days before we get back! Just long enough to make it extra annoying that we won't be there.

-The Man Who Knew Too Much at Forever Hollywood. I always just feel like a chump when I miss a Hitchcock screening. Especially one in a CEMETERY.

I don't have a scanner at the moment, so you'll just have to look at these silly photos instead.

A painting! You really can't see it very well at all. There's trees and stuff! And shoes!


New painting color keys! Oooh la la!



Horrible blurry photos are better than nothing for two weeks, don't you think?

I've added quite a few things to the shop since last week, so go LOOK if you haven't already. By the by, if anyone is having doubts about what etsy is or how it works, you can always just e-mail me and we'll work somethin' out. I accept personal checks now too!


I realized I never really posted any pictures of Austria from last time I went (in December), but it's going to be pretty different this time around. Mostly because it won't be FROZEN. Here are some pics just to give you an idea of what it was like:

See that little tiny Swarovski sign in the bottom right? See it? And yes, those are the ALPS, dusted with snow.



Giant chandeliers everywhere for no reason because Europe is fancy like that.


Here is a photo of Sean in what was essentially an Austrian Starbucks, which was nestled in the bottom story of a building that was really, REALLY old. I forget how old exactly but you kinda get an idea just from the architecture. He's happier than he appears, I swear.


This is what the town we stayed in looked like, pretty much. It was cold. Very cold. About as cold as it looks.



I'm hoping it will be more like THIS now!



I've still got packing to do, and then I'm off to the land of weinerschnitzle, eidelwiesse, and snow capped mountains.

Okay that's all.



Bye bye!

It's Your Lucky Day.

Do you know why?

Because that "store" button WORKS now! Go! Click it! Click click click!

That's my little etsy store. For those of you who haven't heard of etsy before, it's like a little online venue for handmade and vintage goods. I discovered it about a year ago and I have bought a LOT of stuff on it, like my famed Abraham Lincoln cameo brooch and my favorite lucky blouse that has little tiny four leaf clovers all over it. It's nice and clean looking and it doesn't require me to know a lot of html n stuff, which is great for a technology tardo like me. At the moment I don't have a whole lot of stuff up, BUT I'm planning on adding things DAILY! So keep checkin' back. There are quite a few original pieces for sale right now, and once those guys are gone they're gone, so get 'em while the getting's good!

In the meantime, here's a coyote driving a car:



And here is a visual metaphor for my life right now:



One thing I have to confide in you dear blog reader: getting my new post-big studio life together is really time consuming! Half of the battle seems to be just getting organized, which is a lot, lot, LOT easier said than done. But I'm doing it, and so far it's been fun and super challenging... All of a sudden I'm back on CalArts time where everyday goes by and I'm like "What? When did TUESDAY happen?? What's the date? Wait...what time is it? Is that why I'm so hungry??" You know how it goes.

Thanks everybody for your support and nice comments and stuff. It is extreeeeeeeemly appreciated!

hearts,
brigette b.

Sudden Changes!

You are probably noticing that something is different, huh? I redecorated my blog and added some stuff! And I have news, too. But first, a drawing, because that's what you come here for:



This is going to be the companion guy for the girl down there in the roses. I like to make pieces that are a set, like old decorative prints from the 60's (big-eyed and otherwise). When there's two of them it just really feels like something that's supposed to occupy a space, versus just one which can feel kinda lonely on a wall all by itself.

So if you look to your right, you'll see that I have a button that says "store" but it doesn't go anywhere. Don't worry, it just doesn't go anywhere yet. If all goes well I should be opening up a little store here on the internets early next week! So you'll be able to get nice prints of artwork, if you like. There's also a "portfolio" button, and even though I kind of find the idea of a portfolio/blog gross, it's really there for people who aren't familiar with my work or who stumble onto this blog for the first time or for quick reference if I don't have my portfolio on my person (which I never, ever do). This blog is good for a few reasons, like showing works in progress and talking about what I've been up to and blah blah whatever, but it doesn't exactly represent what I'm capable of doing art-wise. That said, it's an un-updated version of my portfolio from last year, so it's really not up to snuff. But it's still better than nothing!

Now, some news:

-I'm not working at Disney anymore.

-I'm going to Austria in June for 2 weeks.

-I've been making lots of personal work (like the stuff above) and I'm really happy about that.


So, yeah, everything would appear to be coming together in a lovely kind of way.

P.S., If you were formerly in my links and now you're not, don't feel bad! All the links got erased when I update the template so I'm still in the process of collecting them again.

You Can Be Awesome If You Put Your Mind To It.

It has been one kraaaaaazeeee week. I'll get into it later. For now let's just say that the soul punching has ceased enough to the point where I had the time and energy to do this:


You know, sometimes you just feel like that. I felt like that a couple days ago...kinda aimless. But now things are looking up, up, up!

Every day at work is like getting punched in the soul.

I figured out how to put titles on my posts. 'Bout time, genius!

This will probably get colored like, later today.


I really hate Mondays. Maybe I'd like them better if the weather was not really, really depressing and ugly.

The Producer's Show was last Thursday. Great job everybody!! Good show. I had a really wonderful time talking and catching up with people. Seriously, that was probably my most fun Producer's Show ever. It made me think about the first Producer's Show I ever went to...I didn't go to the Pixar party afterwards because I went home to my smelly CalArts dorm room and cried into my smelly CalArts mattress. I guess I just couldn't handle the feeling of being completely and utterly irrelevant...I didn't know anybody and nobody knew me. I was just a little gal with real big glasses. So going and blabbing all night with people I know and like was quite nice in comparison. I still have big glasses though.

Anyway, um, seriously, soul punching...I really need to start doing more artwork of my own. Like NOW.

LATER:

I did this color key, and then I started doing a cleaner version but... I really like this rougher one. Making it all spic-and-span seems kinda besides the point.



Or maybe I'm just lazy?

What do you think?

I've been doing a lot of artwork for other people lately. My friend Brian is an amazingly amazing musician and he asked me to draw the cover image for his demo album. So I did!

Here's the sketch...


And the (almost) final deal.


You should go here and listen to some of his songs.

I promise I'm not being lazy, I've done lots of other stuff, I just can't show it to you because it's TOP SECRET.

The Open Show was rad! All us recent graduates in LA went and although it had a new different format (split into 4 hour chunks with a 4 hour break in the middle) it was still the same old cringe and laughter inducing Open Show. Less drunk people though.

Now, can anybody spare a Producer's Show ticket??

These paintings are for Bert! They're of his characters. I didn't really design them so much as I took a Brigette-y pass over the already existing ideas.

Crabby Mr. Birdman:



Shy Mr. Phallic Nose Rat:



Done in real for real gouache last night at about 1am! I hadn't painted with gouache for about a year (whoa), but it was reeeeeeaaaalllly fun to get back into it. I'd have to say it's about a bajillion times more gratifying than doing something in the computer. Why is that?

In other news, my partner in crime is in Austria now, and I'm probably going to be heading out there in a few weeks too. He gets to go to Paris this weekend...I'm infinitely jealous. But I get to go to the CalArts Char. Anim. OPEN SHOW this weekend, and there's no equivalent to THAT in Paris, for sure. Who else is going?