Found This.

I got pretty stoked yesterday when I found this Gray Matter song. One, because it's an awesome song. Two, It was one of the few songs I sang when I was in a punk band back in high school. I wasn't really a singer or anything, but occasionally our front man's voice would crap out in the middle of a set and I'd have to step in. It's a short song and the lyrics aren't too complicated so it was easy for me to get into it. The crowd always liked when I grabbed the mic, because I had to be extra ridiculous on stage in order to make up for my singing. Anyway, I haven't heard it in forever and I thought I should share it with you. (And by you I mean the four people who actually read this blog)  

Creative Cramming

Procrastination is my greatest foe. No matter what, I always wait until the last minute to start any project. I believe I had a month to start this painting and I didn't even buy the canvas until the night before the deadline. My roommates and I had also just moved into our new apartment (conveniently located above our favorite local bar) so we were a bit distracted from our priorities. 

I have a bit of a ritual when it comes to cramming on creative projects. First I get the supplies together and place them in an area I don't care about messing up. Then I get some drinks that will help kick start my creative process. In this case it was two 40-oz bottles of Magnum. Finally, I grab my stereo an play the loudest, fastest music I own. I was in a classic 80s American hardcore mood, so the bands included Black Flag, MDC, Bad Brains, TSOL, and Minor Threat. The picture above was the result of two hours work. 

A lot of people like this piece, because of the energy it shows or whatever... It actually got chosen as one of my better works to be exhibited in my student show in March. I don't know why I posted this. I guess the reason is that I don't feel the amount of time you put into something makes it better. Some stuff just comes out good.

     

Being an Art Major at a Non-Art School

People often ask me, "Why didn't I attend an art school for college?", and the answer isn't really too complicated. For those who know me, I'm not exactly the most "artsy" person they've met (in some cases I am). I never really felt that I would have fit in well with the unusual crowd that is the stereotypical art school collective. It would have probably been pretty funny had I decided to take that route. Another reason is that my parents are conservative Irish Catholics, who believed a Catholic education was the only option. The final reason being, I wanted to have the typical American college kid dream that I was exposed to with movies like Animal House, Van Wilder, and Old School. The university I attend just so happens to do a very good job of providing me with that lifestyle.

(Mike and Patrick with the robot they made from stolen post office boxes)

It's still kind weird being an art major at a small school, especially since I'm one of the fourteen that go here. I decided to make a list of all the positives and negatives of being an art major at a non-art school. So yeah...

Positives
1. Hands down, you have the easiest class schedule of all time.
2. You never have midterms or finals.
3. Most of your homework consists of doodling.
4. Most of you in-class work consists of talking about your doodling.
5. You actually get to do work that you want to do.
6. Girls think your deep.
7. It is completely acceptable to be intoxicated any night of the week as long as you do it for the sake of artistic inspiration.
8. You and your fellow art majors will create the perfect method of getting away with anything, because the most important lesson you learn as an art major is how to bullshit.
9. Your art professors will have a very good relationship with you. This is due to there being only four of them and they teach all of your classes.
10. You have so much free time that you can participate in any club, sport, or activity that you want.

Negatives
1. People are going to ask you "What do you want to do after college?" and you will respond with complete sincerity "I don't know".
2. Everybody thinks your going to be one of those caricature drawers they see in the park...or homeless.
3. Your parents will call once a week to provide advice on alternative career goals.
4. You probably won't need a text book for most of your classes, but when you do it will be almost as unbelievably expensive as it is unbelievably useless.
5. Even more expensive than the text book is the endless list of highly priced art supplies that conveniently run out of when you need them most.
6. If you haven't caught on by now... you're broke.
7. Everybody assumes for some reason that you do lots of drugs and will constantly ask you for them.
8. Your non-art major guy friends think your "artsy" and will judge you. This will lead to you being ashamed and hiding your art supplies as you walk through campus.
9. Everybody expects you to have every single kind of arts and crafts material on you at all times whenever they need it. The truth being, you occasionally forget to bring writing utensils to class.
10. Because of your weird class schedule, your nights become your days.
11. The nude models that you get to sketch are never attractive.
12. With all the free time you have, you will start to question if it was really the smartest decision to become an art major.
13. You and your fellow art majors will ask each other at least once a month "What are we going to do with our lives?"
14. You are soooooo broke. (That needed to be repeated)

Well hopefully this gave you some insight into my lifestyle. Follow me on twitter at @OhNoNeilio.