Ok, it's been a while... (yes, almost a month Andy) Sorry, end of the year, you know...
So, in the end of november and beggining of december there was the Literature party at Alliance Française here in Maringá, Arapongas and Londrina. We were in charge of the fantastic literature, so we had a room with a game in which people had to guess the fantastic creatures inside boxes based on extracts from books and the masks inside, and we all wore black capes and white masks, it was fun :)
The second pic is the entrance to our room! I was afraid people wouldn't want to pass, but I guess curiosity over weird peeps with masks overcomes the trouble of going through a web/labirinth ^ ^
And this is outside the Alliance Française in Arapongas, isn't it beautiful?
And now back to my regular masks....
This is Aquarela do Brasil (from this song) and she's made with textured paper, paprika, saffron, and natural decorations, such as wooden flowers, burlap, straw, and seeds.
This is Saisons de L'esprit, I just started to attach the flower decorations (and realized I'll still have to make many many flowers)
And here is the first sketch for Hanabi the 2nd (Hanabi is a series, so there will be more)
And here is the first one with the wooden flowers I got with AccentsandPetals. Not 100% yet
(Sorry, I don't know how to add subtitles to the vid, would anyone, please?)
oh, note that the harsh comments (as the 'who cares where the natives will live') are mostly ironic/sarcastic #justsaying
- Have you ever heard of the Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant?
- Have you ever been to Amazonia?
- Do you know what “clean energy” means?
- Sustainable development? Ever heard of that?
- What does that have to do with me?
- What does that have to do with me?
- But, what does that have to do with me?
- Well, I pay my taxes on time, I recycle, I teach my children to respect others…
- And I still have to bother about a hydroelectric in Pará?
- But see, if there’s no Belo Monte plant, there’ll be no electric energy. If there’s no power, how am I supposed to turn on my tv to watch my soap operas?
- There’s no way to have no power. I’m like the most connected person ever!
- God forbid we have no power!
- No power, no cell phone, no iPad, no iPhone, no i….everything!
- Belo Monte will be the third biggest hydroelectric plant in the planet!
- In the world.
- Why does it matter to build the 3rd biggest hydroelectric plant in the world, if in fact, it’s only going to produce 1/3 of its capacity?
- Wait a minute. What do you mean? Only 1/3?
- Because during 8 months a year, that region is practically dry.
- I’m not getting this guys, I’ll have to research then…
- I did research, go check.
- I researched…and it’s going to cost 30 billion.
- 30, what?!
- 30 billion.
-30 billion?!?
- 30!
- Billion?!
- Who’s paying for that? You?
- …
- You?
- You.
- Yeah, the clown here.
- 80% of that is taxes.
- Do the math. Realize it. It’s 24 billion reais coming out of your pocket.
- Our money, to a work of this proportion
- And no one is going to discuss it. We’ll pretend as if nothing is going on.
- The only thing is, below the dam, the river flows through the Xingu National Park.
- The Belo Monte plant will flood, overflow, destroy 640 km ² of Amazonian forest.
- Who was the one that said hydroelectric is clean energy?
- Wait wait wait. It is clean energy. Way better than nuclear or coal-fired power.
- It would be clean if it was in a deserted area. But in a forest?
- We have the world’s biggest forest.
- One question!
- How to solve Brazil’s energy issue?
- It is possible to create other alternatives to create energy. Eolic energy, solar energy.
- This is the first of many plants the government wants to build in Amazonia during the next 20 years.
- Where will the riparians and natives be taken to?
- No, who cares if the natives will have nowhere to live?
- Look, we’ll take the riparians to the slums and the fish to the aquariums, there, solved.
- To me, natives want to live in the city.
- Yeaah, take antibiotics…
- Education…confort…
- Natives…are there any yet?
- I wonder if the natives are heard.
- A lot of question with no answer.
- If the construction of the Belo Monte plant ends up to be a mistake, it’s a path with no return.
- Do you see? We need to pay more attention to Brazil.
- Do know that feeling of regretting something you didn’t even do?
- Because we say we won’t regret but eventually we do.
- At this moment, all over the world, thousands of people are going to the streets to protest and change their destiny.
- Join this chain, let’s do something for Brazil.
- Go to this site. There you’ll find a petition for you to sign, and several links to your question’s answers.
- Do you understand that if we get a great number of signatures, we can stop this construction.
- Read the petition, and sign it. We’ll send it to the congress and to president Dilma Roussef.
- Ok, hold on, if you’re listening to this is because you’re connected. So go on! Sign it now, I’ll wait.
- It’s just one click.
- No leaving it for later.
- Take your time, I’ll even get more comfortable…
- So? I’m still here, still waiting….
- I’m not DiCaprio but…sign it…
- If you, like me, already signed it, you just have to send it to 10 friends.
- Pass it on to them.
- You don’t have 10 friends?
- Come on, you must have 10 friends, nowadays with Facebook, everyone has like a million friends.
- Trending Topic, how about it?
- Like that we create a wave.
- A wave of awareness.
- There’s still time.
- Pass on this message ahead.
- President Dilma, we don’t want that, in the future, studying Brazil’s history, people see that we had the opportunity to make a place more healthy, fair and responsible, and did nothing. Think of the Brazil your grandson is going to grow in.
Hello all! Well, I won't have much to post on the masks for a while, since I'm still working only on the bases and will only start on the decorations when I have a good number.
I spent a few days in São Paulo, and monday I came back to extremely dry and hot weather ;_; We must have caught no more than 2 weeks of cold this year(everyone down here complains about the heat, everyone up there complains about the cold, haha I guess we get tired of our envoirement sometimes). So I just got home and browsing through Etsy I found something that makes me want to have a decent winter so so much. Take a looks at all these cuties (just click the images to get to the original page)
And I'm watching Bonanza, lol (if you know what that is, I'll give you a virtual cookie)(no checking google!!)
This post is about cake. Because everybody likes cake. And because I finally solved a problem I've had since the first cake I ever baked: keeping it from sticking to the pan. So I found this Miracle Pan Release post on Apron of Grace (through Pinterest, I believe), and I decided to try.....and it so worked. The cake came out all pretty (I broke it a bit when putting it on the plate of course, but that's another story). And yeah, I found no cake plate, so it's in a pasta plate.
Very complex recipe....mix 1 measure of shortening, 1 measure of vegetable oil and 1 measure of flour (the measure can be any, depending on how much you need, just make sure you have the same for all three ingredients). You can see the whole post at Apron of Grace here.
I think I've liked orange/yellow coloured cakes more than chocolate ones since I was a kid. Absolutely loved carrot cake.
And I wanted to do this classical icing I grew up seeing on orange cakes, but I had no icing sugar and due o the holiday, everything was closed ;.; But anyways, it's reaaally good icing, and all you have to do is slowly mix the juice of a lemon and half an orange to 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar till you get a nice, smooth and white mixture. You can check here for the full cake and icing recipes + pics :)
I have mask neeeews! But first look at this cutie! It's a swallow, and it was standing on the edge of my balcony. I can never get pics of birds cause they fly away before I can get my camera, but this one stayed put as I came closer and closer, completely posing for the camera haha I even reached for it as it let me get so close, to check if it was ok, but yes, it was just fine :)
Now about the masks, we were talking at Alliance Française about the end of the year party, which will be with an expo about french literature and our class will be in charge of Science-fiction and all. So I thought, what if I try to make masks with ancient book pages? So as I've been to Curitiba, I went to the second-hand bookstore and got some books that looked a bit worn out.
The book pages worked beautifully, and molded with no problems. I was afraid it would not work, since I tried using newspaper once and it wouldn't attach properly to the mold, causing bubbles. I already demolded them, but they stayed in the workshop to dry, so no pics yet.
I'm also making paper rosettes to apply to some of them.
(I've been all about yellow lately....before it was blue for about a whole semester.
Wonder if those color changes make any sense)
And, oh, the cuteness. My mom brought Mubbins from Mubbinland (aka, a store in Paris)
So, as I twitted, this first episode of "How I went to work today" is dedicated to my friend Fran. She knows why. The dress is from a brasilian brand I really like (which the name I forgot, shucks...I'll look into it when I go back home). They make a lot of patchwork-ie things, with crochet, embroidery and yarn applications. I already have another pastel-colored dress, and a bright-colored vest. And some scarves.
The beautiful beautiful necklace was a gift from my lovely friend Amana (she's been my best friend since 3rd grade) and her family, and came from a street maket in São Paulo.
And ahm...I've had the stockings and ballerinas for so long, I don't remember where they came from...
The pics were taken in the light well outside my room, and I'm thinking is too much white....Think I should invent some painting project for it? And more plants. Definately more plants.
Am I the only one who remembers these? (in Brazil it seems so)
The Herculoids....this cartoon is so weird. It was one of my favorites, along with the well known Thundercats, Jonny Quest, Ghostbusters, etc.
And I loved G-Force so much, and everytime I bring it up, people are like "wtf you talking about"
Oooh, and Thundarr the Barbarian! I kept remembering Ookla (the kindda wookie looking char) and could never remember the name of it! Took me about 6 years to find someone who remembered him and could tell me the name (yes, I'm that persistent)
Come on, you gotta love it, a meteor passes buy and steals the atmosphere from the Earth.
Ok, I know I haven't been posting about my own stuff lately, and it's because I'm caught in two big projects that are taking a lot of time and work, and I haven't been doing much besides it.
So today I'll make a post about hair, why not...This is something I'd love to add to my looks, but my current haircut is too layered to allow me to do it properly:
Fishtail braid with yarn! Looks lovely. You can find the whole tutorial on how to do a simple fishtail braid and the one with yarns on A Beautiful Mess Blog(which is a lovely blog, you should also check the rest of it!).
I might as well try again this weekend, you show the result in case I succeed :)
A wednesday filled with New! Last night was my first in the house, which was great, I love the light well I have in my bedroom. Mika sang a new song in his gig in Seoul yesterday (maybe you don't know, but he had been quite out of the picture till a couple of months ago, and to me it's nice to hear something new :}), my dear friend Fran made me realize I don't need my camera cable 'cause the new computer can read the memory card (yes, I'm that slow, lol), and I went to Curitiba and stayed a week to go to the opening of the Bienal Vento-Sul.
The weather was surprisingly good! Good weather in Curitiba makes me happy. I went to the municipal market, which is a dream if you like to cook with fresh things, and got artichokes....
Which I made in the oven with a bit of balsamic vinager and tiny potatos, after having them slightly sauteed in a pan while olive oil and fresh chopped garlic. They ended up very good.
Sunday I went to the street market at the Largo da Ordem, and the weather was still good!
And there I found new material for the masks! They are beautiful dryed hydrangeas, dyed in all sorts of colors. They are gorgeaous and very soft. You can find them right in front of the Garibaldi Palace(last pic).
And this, well is a painting on a parking lot wall that I found quite interesting...
And then, coming back from taking these pics, I stoped by the Contemporary Art Museum, and found out the entire second floor were exhibitions of some of my college teachers! I took some pics too ♥
Rossana Guimarães (was my engraving teacher on the 1st year)
Juliane Fuganti (etching teacher, 4th year)
Roberto Pittela (photography teacher)
Pedro Gória (etching teacher, 3rd and 4th years)
Beatriz Nocera (Composition and plastic, painting ,and semiotics teacher)
Ok, I think that's enough for one post right? Right. So see you soon...I'll bring news on the hydrangea masks :)
Music of the day, Ben L'oncle Soul. I'd read about it somewhere, and completely forgot to look it up. And found it while looking for Mika's Elle Me Dit (Ben L'oncle Soul also has a song with that name).
And you know who ele has a song with a similar name? Cali, with Elle M'a Dit. All three quite different, and I love each one.
I just finished watching Le Concert. I actually started yesterday, yes, but I was tired and not paying the attention it deserved.
I guess I could start rambling about it, but you know, just watch it. Let me know what you think then. And just in case you're wondering, it's about a Maestro who, 30 years after being casted out of the Bolshoi Orchestra in the middle of a concert, tries to take a chance of putting his orchestra back together and finally finish it. Andreï Filipov (Aleksei Guskov) was inspired by Evgeny Svetlanov, who was the Bolshoi leading conducter from 1955 to 1962. With Mélanie Laurent (who also played in Inglorious Bastards) as Anne-Marie Jacquet, the talented young violinist asked to play the violin solo and from whom a big secret is being kept.
And if you're interested, here's a very interesting review and about the film-maker post, and here's the trailer.
Yesterday went funny. This week I was invited to go on a group photographic walk, organized by a photography group here in Maringá. So I spent last night organizing my beautiful Yashica and her lenses. I happen to have no internet at home, 'cause we are in the process of moving from the appartment to a house, and by a planning error, the phone and internet wen't to the new place before us. Anyway, my father decided to come to his clinic to check some things, and I took the chance to come and borrow some connection ( ok, this was just babbling to illustrate the oddness of the sittuation).
And it seems like I'm in a photography themed day today! First thing, there are new posts on Eriko's flickr. She's a MFC fellow from Japan, and her pics are just lovely, you should check out her gallery. Then, I was going through Pinterest (which I love) and found a pin to a Drawings in Motion blog post about camera straps, that led me to this fantastic ribbon store called Les Bon Ribbon. Might as well try it myself, my own strap is as old as I am, and is starting to show some signs....or a lot. And going on with it, I'm also gonna share a link to another photography gallery, this time from my wet Curitiba city, where I went for college, in which I had my own first photography lessons. Her name in Fran Correa, and to me some of the pics just have a lovely Oren Lavie feeling to them, such that I can't help but playing it in my head as I go through the gallery.
Anyhow, I ended up not taking that many pics (way too many people on the square we went to), but I'll be posting them soon, along with some other that have been waiting too long to be developed (hey, I have to go all the way to Curitiba for that....sad).
Just so this post won't be completely picture-less, I'll give you some of the photograms I did in college, using negatives that were taking with that same Yashica I'm using now :)
Oh right, yes, that is my mom, my dad and I in the pics.
Going to Curitiba on friday and gonna stay there till the 20th, will go to the Bienal VentoSul opening, and try to get some new material for new masks, since my mom is bringing me paper from Italy.
I haven't been showing much, but it doesn't mean I haven't been doing much! Some previews on some of the masks I started these last couple of weeks (although I didn't really give names yet...Just to the one in the middle, but I'll keep it a secret for a while)
This one is quite different, I used paper applications for the texture on the face, paprika and saffron for the eyes and forehead, and wooden flowers, coloured burlap, and seeds for the head applications. She's still missing flowers, which I'll go get in Curitiba.
Well, this one has an oil paint base, and the applications are of a textured paper usually used for covering boxes and such. I know the light isn't helping here, but she's in black with the applications in black, dark blue and an other lighter, slightly metallized blue.
Last one, she has a dark blue acrylic base, with a light cream coloured lace on top, and embroidered lace applications. Although she's a mezzo viso, I decided to give her a low gaze, so she's not really for wearing (unless you don't mind not seeing anything of course)
More to come! Hopefully three more till next week.
Just to let you now I won't be popping up so frequently these next weeks. We are moving to a new house, so the internet connection is gone for now. Hope to back soon :)
Oh my, I wanted to write about so many things I already forgot half of them!
So I'll start by telling you a random fact, wich is...every freaking time I end some sort of project (exhibition, fair, lalala) I get completely lost for about two weeks. True. For a while, I have no clue how to start over. So I just...go and look at things, on the internet, in the streets, movies, theatres, read a lot, search for new things. Now, inspiration back on track (thanks mostly to new music) I got back to the masks.
Finished putting one down to the mold on thursday, waiting it to dry. Using the same mold as Hanabi, will make a full face with flower applications (like Fleurs de Saison) but using natural materials, wooden flowers, seeds, and maybe even some curry (the spice, yes). And on the side, working a new clay base, different shape. It's a moon, how do you like it? :D
And since of course music is always present, I'm gonna leave you with The Platters, who we got to see live last night. Amazing group, great energy, great presence, Mitchel is just the loveliest. I have no vids of my own cause I'm stupid and didn't take a camera. But I do have pics with them, just have to find when they get uploaded to the photographer's site. AND they sang in portuguese.
Oh my...and just heard of Amy Winehouse's death...So sad, such a young talented woman.
