Little Housdens on the Grow....

My Stepsons, Dillon and Collin, and my own children Roman and Piper, (ages: 14, 11, 5 and 1) are my biggest inspirations. They've all grown so much, so fast. I love sharing stories about each of them, but my oldest stepson Dillon has been my "art buddy" throughout the last 6 years or so. Watching his talent growing from an interest to a passion, and his abilities grow from interesting to passionate, is really such an awesome process. He reminds me a lot of myself at his age regarding art: always crtitical of his own work, but proud. Yearning to learn as much as he can- and intaking everything I have to teach him. He loves to learn. He does so much on his own, just watching others and their craft, that he reminds me that much more of myself. He takes inspiration from music, culture, faith and family. All of our children are talented, amazing human beings, but I am so interested to see what Dillon does with his artistic talents.

Fundamentally Designed

The FUNdamentals start next week! Okay, I know that was corny, but I really can't wait.
I am so excited to delve into all the different aspects of my passions, some I have no prior experience with. Though many of the formal concepts are things I haven't learned before, they seem to fit nicely into the: "familiar artistic knowledge" file in the right side of my cranium.
I can't wait to see what Fundamentals of Design has to offer.... it's going to be a blast!!

I'll be blogging later on... about my experience  with this newest course- be back soon!!

Reinvention

Having taken only one class so far at Ai, I still feel quite changed as an artist. My techniques are much stronger, and I have more of them now to reference. It's really quite exciting! I now want to go back and redo so many of my past pieces of work- I would love to build an entire collection for a whole new portfolio. I have so much inspiration now- it's as if I've been given license to do something really amazing! I sit now, in front of my roaring fireplace with my used up charcoal pencils and worn array of graphite- erasers at the ready- and clean sheet of sketch paper in my lap.

This is ground control to major Tom...

It's been four months now, since I've started my journey to achieve my bachelor of science in graphic arts, at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I can honestly say I feel as if I'm on a different plane of existence from what I was before this.
 In the few short months I've been attending, I've learned so much about myself not only as a student, but also as an artist- the things I was doing naturally that are considered formal and correct techniques, and those things that I haven't learned to apply yet to my abilities. It's incredible going to school and being asked to do 'schoolwork' that involves the very thing you do for fun... really, it's a very strange feeling. I feel as if I'm cheating most of the time.

 So far the only drawing class I've taken is called Perspectives, and deals with exactly that. Learning to illustrate things from all different angles using nothing but a pencil, ruler, gum eraser and sheet of paper. I'm in heaven! I can't wait to see what my next art class has in store for me.

 If there are any of you out there looking for a great art school- I urge you to seriously consider the Art Institutes. They're truly designed for the artist, whatever your flavor. There are no tests- simply what you put into your everyday work. It's a very thorough and indepth process- no stone is left unturned in each class. The professors are incredible, and hail from all over the world. My current perspectives teacher for example, lives in the Bronx and immigrated from Russia in the early 90's. She's amazing!
  They have professional artists teaching you every step how to become what they are- it's really inspiring!

This was the final of this week's assignments- the idea was to capture several elements of perspective and positioning with 3 human figures and a decent light source. What fun!

Welcome to my page! My name is Krysten Housden- mother of 2, stepmother of 2, wife and passionate artist. I've decided to start this blog to illustrate my journey to becoming a professional graphic designer, and all the little bumps life has and will throw at me along the way. I'd like to start by mentioning my Grandfather, Tom Deady; my first artsitic inspiration. As many of us children do, I spent countless holiday weekends visiting with my grandparents in a very old and beautiful town called Black Diamond, Washington. The view of Mt. Rainier from this small secluded place is indescribable. The house they lived in, which was designed and built by my grandfather and our family, always smelled of fresh garden foods, and my grandmother always had wonderful jazz or blues music playing throughout the house. We did the normal fun things children do: play games, dance, help in the garden, play in the yard with the hose, make homemade icecream and so on- but for me- the real magic was in my grandpa's shop. Just up the hill from the house was a building, again designed and built by my grandfather and family- where Grandpa Tom spent countless hours working on his passion: woodworking. The light was different here than other places. The air was filled with tiny wood particles, giving the effect of softer light- thicker and warm. The smell was wonderful- fresh wood sat everywhere- tools all in thier places. The old chalkboard held all of grandpa's latest ideas and the last few tallies of games played on the dart board. The old worn red boxing bag hung defeated in the middle of the room- and always, and I mean always there was a Mariner's game on the television, counting off the plays. Here was the birthplace of my involved relationship for art.