I Talked to the President

.... of Gordon College. Twice. One day. What, you didn't actually think I was going to say the President of these United States did you? You know, the sad thing is that I think he actually knows who I am now seeing as I serve him food, frequently occupy his lobby, and met him in art shows. We're basically BFF's. Just thought I would share.

Okay, I'll expand, starting with WHY I am always in his lobby. Answer: He's judging (commissioning) a drawing competition that I have been unwillingly submitted into along with the rest of my class - the subject that I am drawing just so happens to be his lobby. And yes, I did see him in an art show and serve him pizza and basically he's everywhere on campus ALL AT ONCE. So now we're BFF's.

In other news I'm mentally preparing for hours of drawing, a psych test, and another new testament test - yes midterms have begun. T minus 1 week exactly until I'm in San Fran. Then it's T minus 10 hours in the car. With my darlings...

... oh, and my dad, because he's important and going to be there too :)

In other news winter finally decided to come to Mass. No really Mother Nature, it's okay, take your time and then only snow a few inches. It's all good, because THAT'S WHY I'M GOING TO OREGON.

I'm A Pin-er

What is the right way to say that I am one who pins things? As in, pins things on bulletin boards? I am not quite sure. Regardless, you all need to check out Pintrest. I don't know if you've heard of this latest hipster fad, but it is actually pretty great. I mean, I like it. Mostly it's great because you can find things like this... which actually sums up my life right now. But with midterms. And really, just a lot of extracurricular stuff in general.

But in all seriousness, life is pretty fun right now. I AM super busy, but I have the feeling that it is all worth it. And even though some days I just want to curl up with hot chocolate and read a book of MY choosing or do an art project that I PICK, I can't really imagine my life being any less active than it is right now. And hey, you can't really complain when you are getting more sleep than last semester, fitting in decent workouts, and get to draw for homework. The job is also going well and not TOO much of a time commitment, though it does sometimes put a damper on Friday nights - though I have successfully been making up for those on Saturdays.

In other news I ventured into Boston this weekend for an art midterm and an unexpected adventure, I was able to go to the mall and share some really special quality time with a friend, and I am SUPER excited to see my fantastic family in a week in a half and to hit the slopes with them for the first time! All in all, hectic, but wonderful as I live out this [extra]ordinary life.

NYC: Further Musings Upon Art.

First off, so I don't get fined a ton of money, I did not take these photos, I stole them from here. 

Now that I have my disclaimer, we can move onto business. Rene Lynch, whose paintings are below, and Anne Appleby were by far the best galleries of the day for me. 

Lynch's paintings are fantastical and magical. They are giant and you feel as if you are stepping into a dream land, which, if you read her information, you kind of are. They are excellently executed and have a surreal, fairy tale quality to them, but they are provocative too - which I love about her work. Though I love 'pretty pictures' and masterpieces in art, it adds so much more depth to a piece when you actually have to stop and think about it - when you start to wonder why an artist did what they did. I think that this is also a mark of successful art. 

The two pieces below are my favorites of her latest collection, which I had the pleasure of seeing. Be forewarned however, if you click on the link above to her other work, it is significantly more graphic and provocative.

"Swan Prisoner"

"War of the Roses"

I still haven't quite 'figured' out "War of the Roses" but I love the contrast and the dramatic flare. This is a beautifully painted piece that has a great terribleness to it as well.

I also loved Anne Appleby's work. I am not putting her work on my site however because I do not think that photos of her work do her any justice, please do click on the link however so that you can know what I'm talking about. 

Appleby's work is hard to explain. When my art teacher was first describing it before we went into the gallery my thought's were, "What? Squares? I can do this. Why are we looking at this? This is going to be another boring one...." etc. I was wrong, happily. Her work seems to glow in person, as if illuminated from within. Though simple in concept it is worth seeing in person. Her paintings suck you in and hold your attention. Honestly, I could have sat in that gallery for a long, long while.

So there's more about my day in NYC. I hope that my further musings on the art world haven't bored you but if they have, fear not! I will blog about something else next time!

Have a good weekend and a relaxing Friday all! 

:)

Gordon Globes

Have I talked about Gordon Globes before? I have a hunch the answer is no... In that case, I will explain. Think "Gordon Globes," what comes to mind? Another famous awards show with the word 'globe' in it? Good. You have the basic premise. The catch is that there are no famous people, the movies are student made and mediocre, and dresses and suits probably (hopefully?) do not cost millions. They are also not designed by famous designers and we do not have red carpet coverage by funny TV personalities.

Regardless, the whole event is still pretty great for those of us who are not Hollywood A-listers.

Taking pictures after like all the cool kids do because we were too busy getting ready to take pictures beforehand. Thankfully there was no physical activity involved at this awards show so we still look pretty great.

PS: Did I forget to mention that I had work before this? Hence the time crunch. Also, don't girls just take forever to get ready? The answer is a definitive yes. Regardless, I had a fantastic time.

My gorgeous dress was borrowed from a friend who has attended multiple proms - Thank you God for friends with great taste (even if the dress is falling off...)

Of course we took pictures on stage by this fantastic sign that I can only assume GCSA made. Would you expect anything less? This was a classy event people, there was even a live band and a humorous plot running throughout this whole evening.

Finally a look at my hair. Yes, I am a girl who takes pictures of my hairstyles. Yes, I was in fact in yearbook for 3 years where the motto was "10 pictures of everything isn't enough!"

All in all, a magical night where people get to dress up like fairy princesses <3

Artsy, Artsy NYC

This time last week I was trying to sleep. But, let's be honest, I was lying in bed, unable to fall asleep, because I was so excited to be going to New York. That's right - the Big Apple. From 5am to 11pm I was on a whirlwind pace while my mind ran marathons trying to keep up. But it was worth it, I'll be the first to attest to that.

Just to give you a small taste of my nonstop day, here a just a FEW of the many photographic scenes and art I saw last Saturday.

Perhaps I should give you some background information, but before I do... pretty snazzy collage right? 

I finally had time to put effort into one of my blog posts, and I am pleased with how it came out. I am also pleased to announce that the process was simple enough that I can duplicate it - though perhaps with not so many photos. I do apologize if you cannot see each photo clearly, but there were just many that I wanted to share!

But back to the beginning. This NYC trip was not just a random trip where my friends and I decided to hop on a bus - and I do hope that if you are reading this, you would know me better than this than to expect that I would EVER do that - unplanned and on a whim - though I guess one can never say never. Anyways, this NYC venture was a trip through our art department. It is required of some Art Majors to go for their classes, however, it is open to the whole art department which, if you will recall, I am now a part of! My drawing teacher strongly encouraged our class to go on this yearly trip as the day promised adventures. I jumped at the opportunity to do something different for a weekend and, not having work, I signed up with a couple of friends. So that's the background information.

A (very brief) summary of the day then? Obviously the day started out as a very early morning. However, this was all rewarded. I chose to spend my time in the Chelsea Galleries - a tired looking part of town but thriving in art life. I can't even express how many galleries I saw last week, and we were only there for a few hours! Thankfully my art professor (and fantastic advisor!) was there to guide those of us in Chelsea and picked a great selection of post-modern art for us to view. While most of the group opted to go get lunch, I, and 3 other students stayed with Prof. Z and continued our whirlwind journey, after which we walked 5th avenue (and quickly stopped at Starbucks), to catch our bus at the MOMA, where the rest of our group was. 

In general sum, that was my day. I throughly enjoyed gallery hopping - as I have never done that to THIS extent before - and I came back inspired and ready to produce great works... kind of. If you have not experienced galleries before I do recommend doing it once in your life. It is a very different experience than museums and there is free stuff involved. Not to mention all galleries are free to get into, fantastic right?! 

I appologize for my verbose post, but perhaps it will make up for my lack of posting recently. :) Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Feelin' the Love

Happy Valentines Day Everyone! I'm feeling the love (from my family people!) with this awesome dancing flower....

... these fantastic quotes and inside jokes of all my best friends...

... and more packages from home. Yum. 

Okay, to be honest, I had bigger hopes for this blog post. I was going to be all cute - as I have many more photos depicting my life - and collage them all into one, artsy, hipster photo block like all the cool kids on blog world do. I didn't have the time. Disappointment, I know. I am terribly sorry, as much for you as for me. Excuse me as I go read the longest book in the New Testament now, take a shower, and wake up before 7am to make it to my 8am. It's happening. To say I'm excited would be a lie. Nevertheless, I would understand if you were excited for me. Have I mentioned Tuesdays are my busiest days? Gah! Bleh! Yikes!

Skills, Food, & Traveling

I know, it's an unusual title for a blog post. 

But guess who learned how to make pizza this Friday at work? It's so much fun, and I learned that I really like the smell of fermenting dough - or at least that's what I'm calling it.  My coworker was great, she taught me all the inside tips and tricks so now I can even do this...

... make fancy crust! It takes more time, but really, it's not like the deli where you always need to cater to someone. It's pretty great stuff, especially when you're allowed to make your own pizza for after work. A whole pizza?! No, I didn't eat all of it... only 1/2 of it! It was delicious and the perfect starter to the weekend.

To give you a little preview to my next post, THIS is where I spent my Saturday. Along with 8 hours on a bus. So worth it, stay tuned.

When I came back I found this outside my door. I can only assume that it was meant for me. And yes commentators, this haiku is winning and I do like it.

So that was basically my weekend rolled in a very condensed blog post because I'm finding it harder and harder to make time to update the interweb on my life. But more on that later.

Other than that I also consumed more healthy food last night by road tripping it to Sonic... and guess who had their Sonic gift card and got free tater tots?! This girl. It was great, but unfortunately I don't have pictures of this feast or the friends that came with it - so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

In other news it's Single Awareness Day tomorrow. Please go enjoy some chocolate while I break into an early morning snack of homemade fudge. Don't be jealous, I've been up since 6am so I think this is justified.

Scarves and Family

Guess who finally finished their Harry Potter Scarf? Yes. That's right, me. And by finished I mean I finished the crocheting part of the scarf - still have to tie in all the loose ends but that's okay, that's the easy part.

Looks good right? Despite the bad picture quality. :) For those who are counting, that makes 2 Harry Potter Scarves for me, reference here.

And don't judge, I know that the Ravenclaw one is better. Also don't judge, I really don't like Harry Potter. I just think that JK Rowling has excellent color combinations. Now for a Slytherin and Hufflepuff scarf. (To be honest, I'm not even sure that's how you spell any of those things)

Anyways, because Harry Potter isn't really that exciting and family members who send you great things are...

I'm moving on to that. For the record, this places those who live in Bend in 1st place. Just saying, you know, for anyone who might want to change those results...

I'm just kidding, but it really does make a day to get a thoughtful package full of wonderful things :) Notably, these...

A circle scarf! I've been wanting one forever - no lie! And it's a fantastic color and warm and comfy and soft :) So it's pretty great. And I wore it today and it made me look pretty great. (Well, after my 8am psych test that is. For reference, I wore sweats for the first time to class today and I can see why people do it every day. Regardless, I'm wasn't proud. So I immediately came back to my room and changed.)

Also these are pretty fantastic. No explanation needed, if you don't know what it is you're missing out on life. Sorry that your life is terrible and you don't even know it. My personal favorite is the Annihilator one - I think I am allowed to try this now because I'm in college, and when you come to college you automatically become a good coffee drinker. Okay, so that's a lie. I never drink coffee here. 

Have a good weekend! I'm off to serve food with a smile :)

Being Sick is Boring.

Sorry for the lack of updates my committed readers, but nothing of monumental excitement has been going on here recently... at least for me. If you will recall I have not been feeling good, and when you don't feel good, it kind of puts a damper on activities planned.

Fortunately, my sickness struck after I vacuumed and did laundry. How convenient.

I also changed the posters on my wall! Improvement right? They also don't fall down and hit me in the middle of the night like all of my photographs did when they were held up by (non)sticky tack. I like it.

Anyways, I feel mostly better now. I'm attributing this to copious amounts of sleep that were entirely necessary and my Asian friends and their drugs. NOT REAL DRUGS - don't worry family! Just yummy vitamin C which I probably took too much of and special Asian tea which is reportedly supposed to 'clear everything up.' 

Whatever they were... they worked. I feel a lot better. Great, just in time to study for this major Psych test that I haven't studied for at all... Hello College.

Super Sunday.

This picture, does not need explaining, but who is excited for Super Bowl Sunday?! I would be, if I didn't look like this...

That's cold medicine and a tissue box people. I'm not terribly sick yet thankfully, just a stuffy nose. And I'm doing everything that I can not to get sicker, which might include sleeping for the whole day. (After church of course.) Anyways, I am excited for the Super Bowl, not that I care who wins. But apparently the Patriots are a pretty big deal around these parts so that could influence my vote. 

On the same subject, I'm tripping out how the Super Bowl is at 6pm here.... not 3. Whatever happened to Super Bowl lunch? Come on now east coast...

Relearning Drawing. Again.

Hello world, I am learning how to draw. Again. And again and again, and I feel like I'll never be quite finished learning how to draw and develop my talents. Ha, talents for drawing. I'd rather be painting. But it's really nice to have an art class again and it's better than nothing.

Here was our first 'larger' assignment - one that I'm not completely happy with but am pleasantly surprised with the results. This was from our first section, contour drawing. Apparently I draw like Matisse, and perhaps I'm even a distant relative. I have my doubts, and I'm not quite sure if I should be offended or pleased. I think I'll be pleasantly confused for the moment.

This is a quick sketch done in charcoal. I don't know how I feel about charcoal. It is very forgiving but also hard to control, and very hard to indicate detail. However, out of all the drawing that I've done, this feels the most natural to me, not that drawing will ever come natural to me. However, this gesture drawing is relatable to painting and, for now, is in first place for me.

P.S. Notice the plant theme? I like it, though I believe that we're moving on next week. Sad, I could be very happy just drawing the organic lines in plants.