instead of words:dasha's blog

charity: messages of hope

2012-01-15T12:29:00.006-05:00

the SVA health services is sponsoring a postcard show - where all the proceeds from the sale of the postcards will go to benefit this suicide prevention hotline. here are my postcards. please come to the show and support this charity.

boat.

up over the mountain.

california!

2012-01-12T15:43:00.000-05:00

happy new year!

2012-01-04T19:02:00.003-05:00

merry christmas!

2011-12-24T13:29:00.000-05:00

some stuff

2011-12-09T16:26:00.004-05:00

It's not too late to ask me for a postcard! Meanwhile, I had to submit some stuff for scholarship consideration today and I figured I might as well share some of these color studies with you guys too!

happy december

2011-12-02T22:44:00.004-05:00

Happy December everyone!
I cannot believe it's almost Christmas!
My holiday postcards came in the mail today:
HOLIDAY KITTENTS!
Leave me your address in the comments, if you want me to send you one,

xo

a little silkscreening

2011-11-10T16:43:00.003-05:00

I am taking a silkscreen book class this semester with David Sandlin. It's probably my favorite class so far this year, too bad, I don't have enough time to really devote energy to it. This is my first project that I made: a little book of me and my friends when we were twelve. This is the first time I've EVER silkscreened anything, and I am pretty pleased with it.

x

sketchbook

2011-11-07T16:55:00.002-05:00

some recent sketchbook doodles from class - comix and thesis....
the portrait on the bottom is supposed to be david mazzucchelli, explaining comic narrative structure to us - he was amazing.

here we go again

2011-11-07T16:41:00.001-05:00

Thesis starting to ramp up.

happy halloween

2011-10-31T21:26:00.001-04:00

morran

2011-10-29T22:42:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite artists Camilla Engman is making a book dedicated to her lovely dog Morran. It's an open call submission and the proceeds will go to a charity. This is my entry. Here's more information about the project, if you too would like to make a drawing about Morran.

[update: also check out Erin's submission!]

2011-10-17T15:47:00.001-04:00

loves

2011-10-07T23:09:00.001-04:00

have i already shared how much i love the smell of colored pencils?
a lot.

portraits

2011-10-03T12:52:00.003-04:00

starting to work on a personal project of portraits of people who have inspired me...
first attemps at kharms and tove jansson.

incentive

2011-09-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

OPENING!

2011-09-25T12:55:00.007-04:00

hello dear everyone.
our show is now up at the SVA gallery [209 East 23rd St.]
you can come check out the work of my lovely classmates and myself through october 15.
however, if you would like to tell us in person what a great job we've done:
THE OPENING IS THIS COMING TUESDAY, THE 27TH OF SEPTEMBER, 6-8PM - I hope to see you there.

Looking For Wolf [formerly known as The Princess Book] will be on view, and smalls will be available for purchase.

sometimes, jeremy puts on his lion bonnet

2011-09-24T19:53:00.001-04:00

book done!

2011-09-21T12:04:00.004-04:00

you guys,
I apologize for the poor quality of the iphone photos, but the book is finally done and we've even put up our show yesterday [pictures of that to come soon - have been poor at documenting my life as of late.]
the book is 48 pages and I'm so glad to be done with it [for now!]
x

tooting own horn!

2011-09-13T22:25:00.002-04:00

my first editorial illustration in print - for Moscow News!
the article is called: Federalism - the Real and the Imagined

baby

2011-09-11T18:26:00.000-04:00

little books

2011-09-11T18:20:00.004-04:00

If you come to our show on September 27th - you will be able to purchase small instructional books written by Princess Annika.
Sold separately, or as a set, they make a delightful gift for yourself or a loved one.

"Some Things You Will Need to Pack, When You Go to Look for Wolf" will also be available.

back to school kittens

2011-09-11T12:53:00.002-04:00

I made a little postcard to send as my promo this fall - it's called Back to School Kittens. I have a feeling these kittens will have a busy year - what with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day coming up....

Email me your address, if you want me to send you one!

almost done!

2011-09-06T22:38:00.004-04:00

you guys! I'm almost done with the book - it's all laid out and I just have to print it out and bind it!
It's very exciting. And if you are in New York at the end of the month our opening is September 27th. I will undoubtedly be posting more about the book when it's done done done and also about the show - but save the date!

in case you've been wondering

2011-08-24T01:10:00.002-04:00

how far the princess has gotten in her search...
not very far at this point...

show!

2011-08-18T16:02:00.004-04:00

I've been invited to be a part of a show at Think Coffee [248 Mercer St, between 3rd and 4th] by the awesome Alexander Hemming - the opening is this Friday, August 19th at 9pm.
You should come check it out and have a beer with me [and Kate!]!

2011-08-15T19:11:00.001-04:00

dear diary: buying things

2011-08-15T18:46:00.002-04:00

I like things. I like books and I like small dishes and sheets and comfortable chairs and I really like clothes. It's something I've been ashamed of and tried to hide at times, but it's the truth. I like to look at things, and look at pictures of things and I like to touch them [old velvet wallpaper anyone?] and I like to have things in my house. [An aside: in my early twenties I had a craig's list roommate who fashioned himself Marxist and preached "no possessions" - needless to say that living situation did not last.]

The worst aspect of liking things is that I also like to buy things and sometimes I become overwhelmed with the buying of things - I simply MUST have that something RIGHT NOW - it's all quite childish and tantrum-y and unbecoming and I've been thinking recently about WHY an otherwise composed adult such as myself might act in this horrible manner.

And I remembered a little story.

When I was maybe five or six my mom and I went to "Children's World" a giant department store in the middle of Moscow that carried only products for children - sometimes there was less merchandise, sometimes more, this was Moscow [still Soviet Union even] in the 80s. On this particular day there was a great commotion in the toy department and a great mass of people crowded around the display cases - I could not get close, but my mother did - she came back and said: "They are selling toy utensil sets, forks and knives and there is even a little grater." "Would you like to wait in line and see if we can get it for you?" she asked. AND I SAID "NO." Because at that particular moment in my life I had not yet learned to say "Yes" when I wanted something and because the line was really really long and I felt bad that we would waste the whole afternoon there. So we went home, or to the park, or wherever we were going.
But that night when I was going to bed I told my mom, quietly, that I actually really wanted the toy grater.
And she said that she would go back tomorrow and see if she could get it for me.
But the next day she was busy and the day after that, and by the time she went back they were all sold out.

AND I STILL THINK ABOUT THE TOY GRATER SOMETIMES. And that, I think, is at the root of it all.

detail

2011-08-14T00:23:00.001-04:00

central park

2011-08-13T00:04:00.001-04:00

in the public bathroom in central park, there hangs a very beautiful photograph of central park.

moma today

2011-08-12T23:55:00.004-04:00

I've been working on some new secret projects that I cannot talk about quite yet, lest I jinx them, but in the meantime I can tell you that my mom is still in town and today we went to MoMA. She wanted to see the Talk to Me: Design and Communication Between People and Objects exhibit, which was indeed very interesting and strange and thought provoking, and I definitely want to go back and see it at a less crowded time.
But what really caught my eye and inspired me was the Impressions from South Africa exhibit [the link for which I cannot seem to find] - really raw and inspiring etchings, woodblock prints and linocuts - really really amazing, also a couple of William Kentridges thrown in for good measure and that man can do no wrong by me, it seems.
These images below are from works of Cameron Platter and Dan Rakgoathe respectively.

traveling

2011-08-02T10:04:00.004-04:00

here are some sketchbook pages from my travels:

welcome home

2011-08-01T10:07:00.002-04:00

r says the animals got up really early, put on finery [ugly was wearing a tie!] and snuck away to the living room to wait for me. they wrote the following note (apparently foxy knows how to write):

vacation responder on

2011-07-20T05:02:00.002-04:00

Dear blog viewers [mom],

I am on vacation and will be back to post in August.
Meanwhile, please check out some of my older drawings.
Hope you [mom] are having a great summer.

xxd

the met today

2011-07-05T13:01:00.006-04:00

my mom is visiting and this morning we meandered over to the met - right around when they opened. they have the alexander mcqueen show up now and i've been meaning to go for some time without carefully considering why it is that i want to. i was completely unprepared for what it was - which is amazing. these clothes, which are rightfully works of art, exist and are exhibited to create a complex and enveloping portrait of mr. mcqueen - an installation [one of the best i've ever seen] of a dark and whimsical psyche. go see it, if you are in nyc.

afterwards we wandered into the exhibit of richard serra's large drawings - i am a big fan of serra's massive lovely interactive sculptures and these drawings exist as an extension of that experience - you fall into them - they draw you in and bounce you out like water or a black hole. also there was no one in the serra rooms - a welcome break from the overcrowded mcqueen exhibit.

my mom and i were talking about the serra show and i was telling her how i think it's about the space and fullness and emtiness, etc and she said: "so really, the two shows are about the same thing."

those curators in the met are geniuses [and my mom].

animals and small children

2011-07-02T00:31:00.003-04:00

patterns!

2011-07-01T00:35:00.002-04:00

first try ever!

reptiles and some words

2011-06-30T23:57:00.003-04:00

dear diary

2011-06-30T23:55:00.001-04:00

beasts and wolves

2011-06-30T00:07:00.006-04:00

lots of doodles yesterday. elizabeth sent me a link to this blog - and i've been inspired to draw bears and beasts all day, plus some other little creatures.

last day at work

2011-06-24T18:06:00.003-04:00

Today was my last day at my job at Enchanted Lion Books. I am so grateful for my time there and so lucky to have met Claudia at the Brooklyn Book Fair last year and gotten the internship, which led to my summer job. Enchanted Lion Books puts out awesome books - and you should check them out, if you are not familiar with their list.

Claudia gave me some parting gifts:

yay working in publishing!!!

[am personally partial to Rooster's Revenge - I wrote the flap copy]

x

some doodles

2011-06-23T13:34:00.003-04:00

working from home

2011-06-21T18:28:00.004-04:00

I'm mulling about changes - to the blog, website, the weight of the line that I use - summer seems like a good time to mull. And while I'm doing that - even though I haven't really made it a habit to post pictures on this blog - here are some picture of my home studio where I am slowly moving to from the school studio - which closes for the summer in 2 weeks.
Am excited to be able to get out of bed and run to my new set up to draw and paint.

auction update

2011-06-20T16:05:00.007-04:00

I know I'm a little late with this, but here's an update about the Art for Japan Auction. It went really well and Art for Japan raised over 10K! My little piece sold within the first 20 minutes, which I was really pleased with.
Here it is on the wall:

And here's my favorite piece at the auction by Kazuki Guzman:

postcard submission

2011-06-16T22:12:00.001-04:00

worked on the princess's apartment some more today - here's a detail - I'm submitting this to be considered as the postcard for our book show in Septemeber. fingers crossed. wish me luck.

the princess's apartment

2011-06-15T20:11:00.001-04:00

this is just the beginning of this page - but I am excited to share with you - the floor plan of the apartment where the princess lives with her mom, the queen.

this is it!

2011-06-10T19:35:00.002-04:00

you guys, this is it! this is the girl! she is the one to go on an adventure across the world!

today's princess

2011-06-09T17:54:00.000-04:00

looks like this:

camping list

2011-06-07T13:39:00.001-04:00

[please click to zoom in]

baby

2011-06-06T19:01:00.003-04:00

for a project that got canned.

today....

2011-06-05T14:38:00.001-04:00

and this is my 200th post. whoa.

imaginary pets

2011-05-22T16:00:00.001-04:00

Since I cannot have a pet, I will just draw imaginary ones.

jam sandwich

2011-05-21T17:29:00.001-04:00

rough night

2011-05-21T16:41:00.001-04:00

and how are you feeling this morning?

girly girls

2011-05-19T14:36:00.004-04:00

So, thanks to my friend Elizabeth, I have found an outlet for all of my hiding girlish tastes and tendencies on Pinterest. As far as I can gather there is just one man on that site and he mostly pins furniture [I know because we are friends.] The myriads of girls pin cupcakes and all things wedding and cute babies and etc etc etc and me - I join the ranks and pin all the same embarassingly girlish things - striped shirts and cute animals and dresses I want to have and diamond rings. In order to justify my obsession I've decided to start drawing some of my favorite girly things.

art for japan take 2

2011-05-17T18:31:00.008-04:00

Now, I know, I planned to do this for Japan.
But inspired by this:

I made this:

I am accepting votes which image you prefer: the sheep or the kids...[not the freaking adorable cat nose - that's from here]

doodles

2011-05-17T14:48:00.005-04:00

I've been out of the studio for what feels like forever. Feeling out summer. Working at my job. Cooking. Lounging. Seeing movies. Acting like a real person for a change. But it's time to go back to work on my book and I am back in the studio.
Here is my warm-up for today.
LOVE japanese cats and LOVE white gouache on colored paper.
x

art for japan

2011-05-08T15:38:00.002-04:00

hello,
this is my piece that will be on sale at the art for japan auction on june 4 (@ ACNY 491 Broadway, 5th FL New York, NY from 4-7pm)
please come if you are in the nyc area - there are 170 amazing artists participating and everything is under 200$ - all the proceeds go to benefit japan earthquake relief.
x

some school mates

2011-05-05T15:33:00.005-04:00

here are portraits of two of my school mates minjin and lisa - who have their thesis opening tonight. hey, school is out for summer! am done with my first year of graduate school [crazy!] and next year it will be ME with a thesis show.....

moscow

2011-04-23T14:52:00.000-04:00

the last spread from my moscow book.

in the woods

2011-04-19T21:54:00.002-04:00

I don't normally like to post great big drawings right after I've done them. I like to sit on them and look at them some more in the privacy of my little studio and then maybe after I've done that for a few months I might share them. But I'm so excited about this piece I just finished for my Princess and the Wolf [tentative title] book that I wanted to share it right away!

eric carle

2011-04-18T17:41:00.002-04:00

Elizabeth and I went to the Eric Carle Museum yesterday. It was awesome. I bought waaaay too many books. Including this jem, which might be my new favorite.
Anyway. I drew Eric Carle as a baby. Did you know he was German? I had no idea.

museum of natural history

2011-04-17T14:42:00.002-04:00

it's from a few weeks ago, but could have been from yesterday. raining all day. oooof

some portraits from last week

2011-04-16T10:08:00.010-04:00

to make up for my less than stellar posting this year: two posts today.
here are some portraits from last week's classes.

cecilia:

embarassingly: this is supposed to be MARK ST. GERMAIN NOT marc sinclair

and then seymour chwast came to speak to our class:

kykuit

2011-04-16T09:29:00.004-04:00

yesterday for drawing class we took the metro north up to tarrytown and went to the rockefeller estate kykuit.
we were not allowed to go inside the mansion, so milled about the grounds like poor relations for five hours. still it was beautiful and nice to be out of the city for the day.

another portrait of natasha

2011-04-14T10:13:00.002-04:00

I like this one better.

moscow book: dad's kitchen

2011-04-14T09:25:00.001-04:00

I am working on a small book about my trip to Moscow last week.
This is the kitchen in my father's house.

natasha n

2011-04-13T06:48:00.003-04:00

imaginary portrait of my friend natasha n

reading at night: sneak peak

2011-04-04T22:39:00.002-04:00

a little something I made for a friend's project. stay tuned for details

update: the project here -->

an opossum

2011-04-03T18:34:00.001-04:00

this week we went to the natural history museum for drawing class.

lonely children

2011-04-02T19:14:00.006-04:00

last week I made a book of lonely children.
please meet:

petey

beatrice

sebastian:

and my personal favorite
gerard:

2011-03-23T17:54:00.000-04:00

i cut my hair.
this is what i look like now.
ha!

childhood

2011-03-20T20:40:00.001-04:00

I'm working on a project as a present for my grandma, who's birthday it is in a few weeks. This is a sketch I did - it's supposed to be her and me, and I did not really do a good job with my grandmother's portrait, but I think I captured the essence of my own miserable mood as a child pretty accurately. Enjoy.

music

2011-03-10T20:56:00.003-05:00

a few weeks ago we had musicians come to our drawing class.
week one - jazz musicians.
week two - bluegrass.

they were really fun to draw - although difficult.
enjoy.

volta

2011-03-07T22:46:00.011-05:00

my good friend jessica and I went to volta this past weekend. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was really really fun.
a lot of art that wasn't too cerebral - which I like - I especially enjoyed richard coleman, and this German street artist evol <--click on the link, it's worth it, I promise, and my friend nina's gallery.

but really my utmost favorite were the following things:

and here we are with a tiny tree:

we also went to the marcel dzama show, pictures to follow. maybe.

paper airplanes

2011-03-07T22:40:00.004-05:00

here's the 3D stuff I promised awhile back.
I was attempting to come up with a fun idea for a self-promotion piece - am not sure I will use this, but definitely want to make more paper structures.

bubble gum

2011-03-04T17:21:00.000-05:00

2011-03-03T20:00:00.002-05:00

to meet sneaky sneak turn back to yesterday.

sneaky sneaks

2011-03-02T18:04:00.000-05:00

2011-03-02T17:56:00.000-05:00

2011-03-01T14:28:00.001-05:00

dear diary

2011-02-26T14:11:00.005-05:00

dear diary:

yesterday was the best day ever! in drawing class we went to draw at the shops at columbus circle and THEN on a backstage tour of the metropolitan opera house.
our guide was the amazing eliot rosengarden, age 85, who has been leading tours at the met since he retired twenty years ago.
eliot took us EVERYWHERE! to the prop shop and the wardrobe department, and the costume department [two VERY different things!] and the wig shop and back stage right and left and up and down. at the end we sat on the red velvet seats and watched the sets being put together for the night's performance of la boheme.
I only wish I had drawn more, but it was all too exciting to focus.

oh! and eliot gave me a lucky pin!

meet the princess:

2011-02-21T20:58:00.000-05:00

warm ups

2011-02-20T20:07:00.002-05:00

I like setting goals for myself and then stressing about not getting them done - recently I've decided to do a warm up collage [it's just called collage - in reality it's a doodle of some kind to jump start drawing] every day - as you can see it's the 20th and I'm just posting the warm up for the 17th...
But I've been working on some fun 3D things....soon to come.
x

2011-02-16T17:42:00.002-05:00

oooof, trying to get back to a more structured schedule after the excitement of my mom's visit and our opening last night! our show is up until march 3, if you haven't made it over there yet!

for nina

2011-02-16T14:28:00.002-05:00

My dear friend and classmate Nina, is having some pretty serious surgery today and I wanted to post this, so we can all think good thoughts for her recovery.

immediate family

2011-02-09T16:29:00.001-05:00

Only people I have met. I think I forgot some people.

life chart

2011-02-08T21:02:00.005-05:00

Winter has been bringing me down, so I made this chart in an attempt to distill what't important to me.
R asked why [drawing] and [money] were a separate color - they are a separate color because I messed up the type....but I guess it's symbolic. I like charts.

ooooohhhh!

2011-02-04T11:34:00.002-05:00

A detail from an upcoming project - more from which later!

2011-01-30T23:32:00.002-05:00

typography

2011-01-30T17:24:00.003-05:00

First efforts for my typography class:

my favorite people

2011-01-29T15:35:00.006-05:00

So, in all of my free time [ha ha ha ha] that I have between the old book and the new book and the flash animations I cannot figure out and typography that I live in fear of, I have slowly started working on my little side project: people that have inspired me in my life: portraits. I would like to make a little book of them.
This week I've been working on Degas. Here's my favorite sketch.

pineapple

2011-01-28T12:07:00.002-05:00

I've been sequestered at home - trying to avoid the cold and the snowfall - so have been drawing small householdy things. Unfortunately, this pineapple was not very good.

KATYA KATYA

2011-01-24T15:09:00.019-05:00

Ta-Da!

sketchbook

2011-01-24T11:42:00.002-05:00

On Friday after class, my friend Gant and I went to the Morgan to look at the Degas sketchbooks. In the middle of the courtyard there was a string trio, we had to sit down and sketch for a second [and have a glass of ginger lemonade] - ahh New York, this is when I love you.

new project

2011-01-17T17:25:00.003-05:00

I am beginning to dip my feet in with the new book I have to make this semester.
So far nothing is certain, but I want it to be about magical adventures of some kind.
This is a first character study of the princess.

PS I am still plugging away at the previous book - getting it all polished up before I share the final images. The title is now "Katya Katya."

sneak peek

2011-01-07T19:58:00.004-05:00

I apologize for not having posted in ages, holidays, guests and now I am slaving away at a project - trying to finish it before school starts next week - it's a book!
Here's a sneak peek.
x

2010-12-14T23:29:00.000-05:00

2010-12-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

this took forever....

famous hero

2010-11-23T16:44:00.002-05:00

I finally made some new pages for the sketchbook project today.

acorn: for nina

2010-11-23T14:29:00.001-05:00

nina says: acorns are as cute as the animals that eat them