vixen jawbone

Prioritizing has never been my strong suit.  For example:

Of all the many things I was supposed to accomplish today, I accomplished none.  However, I did make a really awesome necklace out of a fox jawbone and horn/talon charm.  Found the jawbone in the woods, did a little jewelry surgery to use the charm (it came from a charm necklace).  Now my fingers are coated with a thin layer of dried epoxy resin.

Addendum

update:
Another finished drawing/painting.

Self Portrait as the Sacred Heart of Mary

A detailed view:  I USED ACTUAL GOLD LEAF! 

How fancy!

all images copyright Katelyn Roof 2010

the countdown

Why is it that when Spring chooses to come out of hibernation, it carries the scent of nostalgia?  Everything (and everyone) seems to come out of hiding, too.

2 days until the Joanna Newsom concert.  I can barely contain myself, actually.  The month of March will be marked solely by this event.

I've been working on more drawings...I wish I had a larger scanner -- my scanner is too small for the paper I use, so I'm forced to photograph my drawings.  Unfortunately, this method doesn't do justice to the small details...because I make a lot of little lines and designs with really little pens.

This drawing is based on a bad dream, involving a brown recluse spider embedded in my hand, visible phalanges and muscle fibers curling up and all over from the bone.

The omen on the side of the road: brutal blackbird roadkill.

All drawings copyright Katelyn Roof 2010

the great search

I have been searching for inspiration lately, you know, as a way to promote growth in my life and my art.  Upon searching for inspiration, I re-realized how much I really do love Billy and Hells.

Billy and Hells Photography and Art Website

Seriously, take a look -- the website is really worth spending some time scrolling through.
I love fashion photography, I love costuming, I love makeup, I love things that are cryptic and slightly creepy.  They satisfy all of these loves.

-Kc

Spiders and cold weather clothing.

Today was a day of searching for jobs, resume revamping, and random rain.  Oh yeah, also working on my phalanges/spider drawing.

I had this dream a while back, in which I was trying to escape from a building made of cement.  I was being held captive there.  I eventually crawled through a labyrinth of tunnels to exit the building, only to discover a giant, metal fence preventing my exit.  I dug into the earth with my hands, creating a path of escape under the fence.  Suddenly, I realize there is something in my hand.  I look at my right hand, and a brown recluse spider is embedded under the skin, lifting the muscle up.  I can see every single bone in my right hand, even through the skin.  Eventually, the spider broke out of my hand, through the skin.
That dream haunts me to this day -- I had to illustrate it.

Outfits of note from the past week (Saturday - now):

This is a vintage zip-up corset... with a vintage prairie/square dance skirt.

I don't usually like long dresses, but this 60s/70s  full-length dress looks pretty great with my long, black coat.

I just recently got this awesome old camel-colored, wool coat.  It makes me feel like a dandy.  

This dress represents me so well.  It is super 60s, really whimsical, and reminiscent of an Austrian dirndl.  It's vintage, I'm assuming from the 60s or 70s.

Vintage anchor chain belt!

A loose braid and a vintage bow fascinator.

-Kc

South of West Self-Death

So, I apparently posted the last post without knowing it.  In a weird, (explainable), semi-unconscious daze, I made a false promise of drawings posted the next day.  Apparently, in this daze, I started about 5 or 6 drawings, but didn't finish any one of them.  I am currently working on finishing them.  I'm almost there. The series is titled:
"South of West Self-Death"

 Here is what I have so far:

all images copyright Katelyn Roof 2010

In other news, I've been dressing like a winter appalachian snow queen in a frozen flower garden lately.  The weather is intolerably icy and damply dim, but I've been amusing myself by trying to walk in snowy, icy streets (and parking lots) in 3+ inch heels.  Outfit reenactment pictures will be posted soon.  I didn't have the time to take pictures at the time the original looks occurred.

-kc

The night lurkers

Last night was a dream.  (When you see photographic evidence of last night below, you might think nightmare rather than dream...it's a matter of opionion, I suppose.)  Alex, Amber, Shannon, George and I had a "photo jam sesh" at George's studio in Allentown.  I brought lots of black clothing, fur collars/stoles, and even some neckpieces I made out of deer remains (skull and antler) found in the woods.  The funny thing is, when Amber and I unleashed our bags full of clothing we brought for the shoot, it was a sea of black (with a little sparkle, or even some grey, here and there).  

This is the deer skull and the deer antler.  I bleached them before I made them into neckpieces.

Click to see the larger versions.

Amber also took some shots of Shannon and me, I'll post them later after I have a chance to send her the files.

-Kc

All photos copyright Katelyn Roof 2010

Blustery Blizzard Snow Day

Today is a blizzard day. Every time I look out the window, all I see is a fog of furious, swirling white.

I am choosing to spend this blizzard day on Ubuweb. Ubuweb has long since been one of my favorite websites for scoping out artists I already love and finding new artists to obsess over. It's really great for video and audio art--I started really getting into it when I took a Cinema Studies class at Tisch called "American Avant Garde Cinema."

My first link way-worth-clicking-on is to a Ryan Trecartin piece. He's seriously a genius. I strongly suggest reading the description under the piece.

Ryan Trecartin "P.opular S.ky (section ish)" 2009 (via Ubuweb)

The next link way-worth-clicking-on is to a piece created using the work of several different artists in the Lux Archive, one of them being Lawrence Jordan (also known as Larry Jordan), a collage animation artist I've admired for a while.

People Like Us (Vicki Bennett) "Resemblage" 2004 (via Ubuweb)

So there you go. Brain fodder for a snowy day. Ubuweb can truly occupy me for hours. When I feel the old attention span start to wane, I'm going to go back to my Twin Peaks marathon. This is probably the 7th time I've watched the series, but somehow it never gets old.

So, basically, right now it's all about coffee, being a human blanket (with my giant plaid fringed shawl), cuddling with mini-dachshunds, and staring into the white abyss of a blizzard outside of my window. I'm not sure why the coffee is necessary, for there is truly no need to be awake.... I can't possibly leave the house. Hey, at least it's warm.

-kc

The Music from Down the Hill

Oh man... I went to type in "blogspot.com" and I accidentally typed in "bogspot.com."  I think that's actually very true.  This is definitely a bog... not a blog.  It's a messy, sludgy, humid clustering of thoughts.  It's a bog, totally.

Anyway...I'm in this play.  At Civic Theatre of Allentown.  And you all must come, not just because it is only $10 (cash only, at the door) but also because I am fictitiously homicidal, possibly schizophrenic, and most definitely really loud and out of control (in the show.... maybe in real life, too, that's up for debate).

MORE DETAILED INFO, please come and support local theater!

To elaborate on the subject at hand, this play is definitely one of the biggest challenges in my acting career.  It's strange -- the character is so much like me, but she is a very magnified and extroverted version of many personality flaws that I keep internal.  I have to yell/scream/cry so much, I come home with a raging headache nightly.  I'm not saying this is a bad thing, actually, it's very therapeutic.  I am undoubtedly learning so much, about myself and acting.   The other night, my nosebleed could probably be partially due to all of this intensity, yelling, etc.  It's so physically and mentally taxing running through this show nightly, but so amazing at the same time.  I come home every night physically shaking (with adrenaline), while simultaneously being drained of all emotion and energy.  

Come see it!

longhorn lobotomy

I can't seem to focus on finishing one drawing right now. Instead, I'm manically working on about 12 -- overworking them to the point of ridiculousness and back (just the way I like it).

I had a dream last night that I suddenly decided to move to Chicago, but I had to drive there myself. I google mapped it in my dream, and it came out to be 11.5 hours, and the bizarre thing is -- I've never Google Mapped Chicago before, so there is no way I'd know the length of the drive. I woke up today, and I Google Mapped it out of curiosity, to see how close I was...and I was right on (11 hrs 28 min, says Google). A lot of weird stuff happened then, but that's extraneous (involving plastic, glowing santa heads in my car, and lost keys to a mysterious spirit-filled house I was supposed to live in for a week) . Maybe I should move to Chicago, maybe that's what this means. Maybe I also need to find a job and build some sort of a productive adult life, since I'm drawing 12 drawings at once and having dreams about Google Maps, wanderlust, and glowing santa heads.

Anyway, here's a simpler drawing I have (actually) finished. (My scanner is horrible, beware of that).

i wrote a careless love

i woke up today, with this horrible feeling. The kind where...I know I had experienced something less than desirable, and I know that it must have been in my subconscious. I soon shook it off, chalking it up to whiskey and sleep aids. The day goes on, mostly -- especially summer days misplaced in fall (even though I truly dislike humidity; it was excusable).



-k

my life doesn't look familiar to me at all anymore. isn't that strange?




(scan of a drawing by me, 2009)


(scan of a picture at a friend's roller skating birthday party, early 90s)




two and two don't add up, but i've never ever EVER been good at math.

-kc

listlessness

humidsweaty summer sweetness, here you are.
sometimes i want to do everything, so much so that i do...
NOTHING.
And it's wonderful!

Late-night television is awesome...most notably infomercials.







Close-up of the ewok dog


There's an ewok in my yard!


no comment


you can find slutty halloween costumes displayed in the thrift store.


Worn-out wiener pet on the deck.


Another tired wiener, resting by the grill.


DRAWIN'


i was working on this.


the aftermath.

also of note:
strange, horrible dreams involving sea creatures (an octopus, angelfish, siamese fighting fish, eel) swimming in the toilet of an abandoned house that creepy people are lurking/sort of living in.
(illustration to follow)

-k