now for some drawings.

My style of sketching changes with my surroundings and influences. However, there is an aspect of my hand that is seen in each new drawing. Can you see it? I hope so. Now, please tell me what it is.

roughly 18X24 charcoal and india ink, 2008


7.5X6 ballpoint pen and paper, 2009 summer

12X17.5 charcoal on white paper, 2009

most recent

the more i publish these posts, the better the endings will be.

i think that i will work on furthering the technique on the last drawing.

thanks for looking!

the season changes again

Thanksgiving has come and gone. Now it is December and time for Christmas cheer amongst those who celebrate it. The Thursday of Thanksgiving was filled with fun, food, family music, thankfulness, and a time when the family read some Psalms and praised God. My beautiful sister and her hubby were in from Cali. It was nice seeing them. They won't be flying back for Christmas, not until they become big time editors and richie rich. My lovely cousin Erin taught the women of the family how to make a cool craft, kusudama, which can cramp your hands if you are not carefully pacing yourself.

Darren attended Thursday's festivities with me. I took the above picture and this one below whilst we ventured in my grandma and grandpa Jarboe's backyard.

This is Darren and the Jarboe cousin's Narnia Tree, from when we all were children. One had to enter Narnia through it only. Too bad those who are older than the proper age are not permitted, as shown here. Also, Nov the 29th and 30th mark Darren and I's 1 year of dating! So thankful for him.

Well, I hope snow will fall sometime before February. It gets colder in Louisville faster than Bowling Green. So we will see!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat...(beg pardon to all the vegetarians)

Winter years ago...

November cleaning, quick paragraph

I must admit, though most know this well: I am not an organized or cleanly artist...person. Well, after seeing a fellow artist's "clean to the max" room, a mouse in Lacey's room, and how much clutter I have in my room, I have cleaned and started to organize it! I must be off, Darren soon arrives to take me to lunch. Peace out readers.

Gaudioso

It all started with con legno. Then there was col legno battuto and col legno tratto. Then I began looking con slancio (with enthusiam)and found col pugno! (which relates to pianist not string players) Oh my, and then there came at me: con amore(w/tenderness), con fuoco(w/fire!), con dolore(w/sadness) and they kept appearing to me con brio(w/spirit)! That those were only a couple of the C's. Goodness. What would this knowledge do besides giving me great pleasure at learning the language that God gave man for music! Musical dictionaries are wonderful. Now, my portable one is now going to accompany my journal in my purse.

I am now on Chapter 5 of Unceasing Worship by Harold Best. It is titled Worship and Witness which I really need to read, for I battle the fear of being myself in Christ and worshiping unceasingly. I pray for God to open my heart and mind to His majesty. I also pray for His grace in my diligence so that I can lovingly and intellectually study His Word (and this book)!

After all according to Best, as a Christian, one should always be striving to be an "amateur theologians". I am trying. The Lord is with me, whom shall I fear?

I am sick and blogging.

I was just reading some friend's blogs and then some new comments on my own. So I thought I would answer one of them before I try and rest...and my computer battery dies. My beautiful sister asked what was the media of the 'The Lamented'. She guessed correctly! The woman is drawn on tracing paper and pinned with sewing pins onto brown recycled tissue paper. This is taped onto the piece of wood. The image hasn't fallen off yet so I guess that tape is pretty sticky. The background is a mix of oil and acrylic paints on the wood. I took a picture then resized it using GIMP (with the help of a cute physic major who is very computer savvy). The original is 12"X11". More to come! Must sleep. Thanks for all the responses.

dreaming in murals

A while back I had a dream of becoming a "Personal Home Aesthetic Artist". This title would mean that I would go into a home that the owner wanted to increase the beauty of, and tell them what they needed painted on their walls. This would include full detailed or no detailed murals to filigree borders to small filigree related embellishments. Through meetings with the owner and sketches we would create something that brings both of our personalities together and also the house's aroma. Well, I finished the first one...the one the actually sparked this idea, months ago. Well, I am uploading it today. It is on a wall of a two level stair. If that makes any sense.

Anywho, the image might look like a trapezoid because it was hard to photograph, but I assure you, it is a large rectangle.

tree detail

floral filigree detail

I am thankful for that opportunity and looking forward to others.

first Sojourn devotional cover

The Lamented


“Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I will hope.
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul
‘therefore I will hope in him.’” Lamentations 3:19-24

The lament is from the lamented daughter of Zion. In the first verses of Lamentations, Jerusalem is referred to as a princess who has become a slave. Later verses show God’s wrath poured upon the rebellious people through the image of a rain and the reality of graphic bloodshed. Desolation stands where a once beautiful city now lays slain. One motif that has stuck with me is God’s glory shown through fire, gleaming metal, and flashes of brilliant light throughout Lamentations and Ezekiel. As I read these passages, my heart became increasing heavy under God’s judgment of Israel but mostly His majesty and power. However, “the Lord will not cast off forever” as in Lam 3:31. To the repentant He gives hope, mercy and grace. The girl in the picture is the mournful daughter of Israel but also this daughter of God that I am through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. I encourage everyone to read Lamentations and Ezekiel to increase their view of our Lord’s power and awesome majesty.

project update

Good news on the "let me rip up an old book and make a new piece of work" piece. I have started drawing on it!!! This is it so far:

The whole of it before the black lines of delight.


This is the start of the main skeleton. I was thinking of adding smaller ones as well. Any thoughts on how complete I should make this skeleton? Pretty realistic or (as it is now) some parts missing?


thank you for your time.

writing on literature

why not?

what's new:

the book.

Yesterday: the deconstruction.



the new creation (or part of it) how it will appear on the wood, perhaps not so tall and without my feet.
i am pretty excited about doing this piece. the finish date is in October...October what? perhaps it will be a Halloween present.



Today: Quills Coffee through my camera lens

after some time of silence.

Is it so horrible of me, having bought a book published in 1909 (for less than 10 bucks), and knowing that I have no interest in the content of it...cutting the pages out for the sake of art?
The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay Vol. II. It is a beautiful book, such lovely feeling pages. Just perfect for drawing on top of. OH, how I am torn. I was just skimming through it and stumbled upon this sentence :

December 26th- I bought Thackeray's 'Rebecca and Rowena'- a very pretty, clever piece of fooling; but I doubt whether every body will taste the humor as I do.

"clever piece of fooling"/"taste the humor" who talks like that now days? I cannot take the time to read this 500 paged volume. But I can use it in a piece of art where if one wished, they could still read some of the entries. It has beautiful typed letter which were pressed into the pages by typewriter or letterpress (shout out to Newsies), which means there should be misspellings and perhaps more letter mess ups. oh the history fills me with glee.
Desire to have drive to read all the letters and journal entries flows through me. But I know it is a lost cause. I can always buy the completed two volumes online at ABEbooks later. Sorry to all the book lovers out there who will forever have a lowered opinion of me for this inhumane act.
forgive me.

"Not this, but the Maker of this, is the Desire of my soul" - John Piper talking about the universe
i use it now because in Him and through Him all was created, visible and invisible (Col 1:16).

creating is exciting.

-ms jarboe

goodbye to a season.

I'm done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

school is out friday, for good.

in light of my college career ending. i suppose i should show some evidence that i have improved.

old piece from spring 2008
drawings, mixed media piece and painting from this semester




tada. now i must find something else to do! :)

i was present in an art conversation but didn't actually participate.

The Hazards of Love 3 = creepy and inventive.
The Decemberists using harpsichords and distorted guitars = melodious delight


Today I was enjoying the wonderful sunshine, just drawing my female nudes for my painting, when a coffee shop acquaintance sat down beside me. We talked small talk until one of his friends, who i know to be a poet and quite good, came to chat. They both commented on my skill and then preceded to talk about art. Well, I don't know how this came up but Dadaism quickly became the topic. I have no knowledge about dada. i know Duchamp and that is all. As to its philosophy....i haven't a clue. Personally I like the idea that they went against the art world at the time. I know better and more now. Both of my seat fellows had previously loved Dadaism. But, alas, had gone there separate ways. In conversation like these...i just like to listen to people talk their viewpoint up or down, seeing how the conversations go. I chimed in about how the epoch of Dada was short, similar to the Fauves, because it didn't really have any true depth. This chime was not out loud, it was in my head as i heard the two view points. When the converse was done those guys decided to f*** English Club and go grab food. I decide not to do that, for i am not a member. Instead i just went to class. 20th century Art...where we will soon learn about Dada. better late than never...and better in class than on my own time.

current up to date paintings:


remember the bubble/circle/shapes/orbs painting from before? well here it is now. it is not done.

a bad pic but the work is finished...i think.



and say welcome to my hipster culture series.

just a starting sketch.

geeking LOTR and Joseph Cornell

I totally just geeked out. Erin has begun to read The Fellowship of the Ring. I am so proud of her! She asked me the simple question of whether Gandalf was a human wizard or if the wizards were human at all. (in LOTR, i am sure about this in real life)
How could I explain what a Maiar was unless I explained the creation of Middle Earth? And how could I relate that creation with out telling about the Music of Iluvatar or Melkor? I had too. Then I had to tell who the Valar and Valier. I attempted to tell about each...then she walked away from me and bought a Latte.








These pictures are from the imaginative mind of Joseph Cornell. I am doing a research paper for Sculpture 270 on his works. They are amazing. The vision in them is enchanting.
This is what they are: enchanting.
Enchanted 3D collages that tell of the child's simple creative grasp of reality or of the story, of the fleeting nature of beauty, and of the exploration between the spiritual and nature worlds by way of studying the cosmos. Such weight for what looks like a pack rat just put things in a box and stood it on its side for "artsy" people to see and admire. Thus was my thought process once. Since I began to study art, I have found that I was rather hardened to ways of creative expression. So people can call me a snob for loving the Abstract Expressionists or those who make collages for a living. Visual subjects we don't understand at first glance are the visual subjects that should be understood. Just put forth effort.
same in life. such is life. in most instances, they deserve it.

You enter the room- that's being born;
And then you must live- work out your soul,
Aha! - lines from a poem by Edgar Lee Masters

o me, o life. why must i always go about blogging with a depressing air? well...today for the first part of this day. Another line from Masters is "As they read this empty rhetoric." I will tell you what the lines of empty rhetoric was in a moment...sit on the edge of your seats, please. in order for language to be persuasive....motive and belief are very important elements. Motive to persuade the other, belief that you are correct in your stance. This is why, i believe, I have trouble understanding and using rhetoric. I must stand on solid ground in order to stand straight. I shift on so many ideals and emotions...mainly pertaining to the art world. This world of aesthetics seems to be at times just a curse to me. Perhaps it is because I find it a struggle to proclaim the solid ground which I stand on in life, in this "other world" i step into everyday. This world consists of my sketchbooks, the studios, the critics, and my own mind. I know the light of Christ is there with me...but in expressing through art....it isn't coming. i think i am looking too hard. Enough. my posts do not follow any form or outline. Another example that I am not praticed in rhetoric.

the lines were from another poem by Master about a man who life had beaten but everyone thought that life was kind to him.


Good news today! I found civa.org!!!! Here is what it is: "Christians in the Visual Arts exists to explore and nurture the relationship between the VISUAL ARTS and the CHRISTIAN FAITH." (and later in another paragraph) "It is our purpose to encourage Christians in the visual arts to develop their particular callings to the highest professional level possible; to learn how to deal with specific problems in the field without compromising our faith and our standard of artistic endeavor; to provide opportunities for sharing work and ideas; to foster intelligent understanding, a spirit of trust, and a cooperative relationship between those in the arts, the church, and society; and ultimately, to establish a Christian presence within the secular art world." Praise the Father of Lights, which all good things are from!!! I have been praying to find out about artists who follow Christ to learn from their worldview and see how this is evident in their work (without it being kitsch or cliché). This is the start! And it renewed my spirit today in the studio. I read in Art & Fear that art is about beginnings....or did Ben Shahn write that....both i have read recently. I would have to agree and this is a new beginning!
ended now.

this painting is flipped. it is a mirror image because of photobooth. dag. so mirror it in your mind. photoshop was not available.