party like its 2010

Finally, a day where I was allowed to sleep in. Got a call from Karen saying she would be by to pick me up around 3ish. Plenty of time to finish up my packing.

Came downstairs to find mom had finished my packing for me. Good times.

Breakfast was some wraps that Rubie made, more of a lunch really. They were delicious! Shrimp and vegetables. Very delicious.

The family played Blokus. I lost pretty decisively in both rounds. Oh well. Karen came right on time. I gave her a mini tour of the house and property. She agreed that it really was the middle of nowhere. We sat for burgers and then we piled all my things into her car. Nathan and Rubie departed at the same time.

The ride to Portland went really fast. We had good conversation and really caught up. I've missed my sassy girl since she has been in Kansas City. It was horribly rainy for about half the trip, but Portland is quite fair now.

We three girls got on our party clothes and party makeup. We are going to a shindig at the twins, Kurt and Cody. It should be fun. Blogging now so that I don't attempt it at 2:00am. All the public transit is free tonight to encourage safe transit. How nice!

keep clam

Hurray! Avatar!

The Prius refused to reverse so we took the truck instead. Winslow ferry right on time. Parked in expensive but convenient parking. It was very cold outside, and I only had my coat. Cold but bright.

We went to the Center House in the Seattle Center area. Ma and I ran into Rubie & co. in the women's toilet. Afterwards, they got something to eat and Nate and I got beignets and pop got a hot dog and mom got a muffin and some coffee. Sat in different parts of the place but we all came together to go to the show. We got in line at 11:25 and they let us in to the theater to queue at 12:05 and then they let us into the actual theater at around 12:20. I swapped the glasses they gave me for a smaller pair, and then I had to swap mom's pair for her. Lazy bones! We had really good seats in the center middle of the place. It wasn't one of the domed IMAX, just 6 stories by 80 feet of beautiful screen.

The effects are even more impressive when huge. All the little bits are so much clearer. Flawless computer animation. I noticed so much more. Love Avatar. I'll be sad when I can no longer see it in theaters.

We didn't hang with Rubie's family after the movie. We split and left Nathan behind. Just went back home. No more business in Seattle. Except for Ivar's! Two orders of fish and chips and some fried clam and chowder for pa! They forgot half our order and dad went back to get it. Delicious and had a good time. I love fish and chips soooo much.

Napped most of the way home.

Called Karen to confirm our mini road trip. I am sorry to leave some of my family member so suddenly. They are genuinely hurt by my abrupt departure, but I really don't want to stay here any longer.

Hot tub. Soda. Relaxing.

Ma, Pa, Nate, Rubie, and I looked at home movies for about an hour and a half. So much footage. Lots of film of me being cute and Nathan trying to get attention. We were so adorable.

mmn

Another nothing day. I did get up before noon, but I didn't do anything. Sat around the house. Poked at the fire.

Got in the hot tub later.

Sat in bed.

Just felt really tired and withdrawn all day.

I'm going back to Portland on the 31st. I can't stay here any longer.

farewell to marilyn

Grandma's Memorial was today.

It was a lovely affair. We left the house later than planned, but were still the first ones there. We had enough time to comfortably lay everything out and get the food ready. All that. We being ma, pa, Nate, Rubie, and myself.

The guest arrived in a good and steady flow. Grandma Eleanor and Grandpa Joe, Brynne & Dan, Kirie & Mark, Celia, Ben & Averie, Jeanette & Liam and Jonathan, Randelle, Linda, Carmen, Justin, Rolfe & Allison, Hans, and tons more I sort of remembered and sort of didn't.

I haven't been in a church in a long time. Marilyn's memorial was held at her Episcopalian Church. A cozy little place that was well heated.

Talked to people. Hugged relatives. Caught up with people I haven't seen in a while.

The pastor read a little, we sang a bit, Carmen sang Ave Maria. It was beautiful. People told beautiful stories of Marilyn's life and her kind spirit. She really was truly amazing. I didn't like it when people brought up Alzheimer's though. That was not her life to me. She was a darling to the end, but that isn't what I will remember of my grandmother. I have had so much support from my family, so much support for my artistic pursuits. I am so grateful for that. For someone to be exactly who they were, all the time. Ahh. Yeah.

After the service, it was food time. A wonderful buffet was laid out for us. I got a plate early and scarfed. Sat at the kids table with Averie, Justin, Rubie, Nathan, and Eleanor & Joe Sr. Okay the latter two are not kids. Took pictures with the canon. Chatted with lots of people.

It all came together in a quite neat fashion. And then it was over.

I could go into more detail, but most of the people who read this blog were there.

Went home. Hot tubbed. Went to cozy up in bed early.

wake up shy trilly, wake up

Woke up at 7am to the dog barking at something. Went downstairs and whistled for Holly. She came running, I gave her some pets, then closed the door.

Got up at 9:30. Dad made waffles. Mmm. And bacon.

Made another shirt modification, I think I should have used the fabric for a skirt or something. Oh well. Practice is good. I also made an apron with some help from mom. Seam practice and making strap practice and pocket practice. Looks good. Just needs a neck strap and it is all set! And I did all that before showering.

Ma, Pa, and myself went into town. Got tickets for Sherlock Holmes ahead of time and then filled a cart at Costco. So much stuff. So much plastic cutlery and disposable bowls and food and drinks. And fruit leathers! I could eat a hundred of those.

We got to the theater right as they were cleaning up from the last showing. We got to pick our ideal seats, but unfortunately the Army advert gave mom motion sickness, so she moved to the back corner. I stayed put and just watched the movie. It lacked a certain oompf. A quality that just brought it to be a little bit more. There was some wit and neat action, but something about it wasn't right. Acting was good, costumes and music was good. I don't know.

Drove home. It was icy. Unloaded the car. Nathan and Rubie showed up about five minutes after we got home. Chatted. Then ate a modest chicken and polenta dinner. Then hot tub! It was a good soak. A little overheated because the temperature difference between the air and the water was about seventy degrees.

Tomorrow is Grandma Marilyn's memorial.

ow

Mmm sleep once again. Still managed to roll out before noon.

Poached egg on toast with melted cheese. MMm.

The bruise on my bum isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still hurts though.

Read my Generation T book. Thumbed down the pages of projects that I would like to attempt. Then I sat in bed and computered it up for a bit.

When I came back down, mom was fiddling with MY sewing machine. She couldn't figure out how to thread the thread. Called Grandma, and as we were talking, I managed to get it sorted. It even has an easy needle threader function that is very awesome.

Dad gave me a teeshirt and I completed my first project! It was a tank with a rollover top. I'll post pictures...later. I had to sew in the sleeves a little bit, but overall pretty good for a first attempt. I think went about making a stitch sheet using all of the different stitches on the machine. It jammed, but I got it sorted. I sewed a little leaf pattern on the bottom of my green tank. Looks cute, though now I wonder if it was a good idea to sew a not stretch stitch on the bottom of a tank. Oh well.

Sat with Nathan and played Scribblenauts. Watched the new Doctor Who special. Not a busy day.

sew cool

Oh boy oh boy, Christmas!

Mom and pop's rustling at 7am woke me up, and Nathan knocked on my door at around 9. I was the last to come downstairs. First up was the grand tradition of Christmas Legos. We always get a lego set and always open them first and assemble them while the rest of the family is waking up. Nathan received a Star Wars set, Rubie got a plane, and I got a camper! Even though mine was aged 8-12, it still took me a long while to put it together.

Toast! Bacon! Eggs! Yum!

I gave everyone the teeshirts I made on the final day of class. Lots of wrapping paper. Nate bought Rubie a Canon Rebel. Rubie bought Nathan a WiiFit and WiiResort. I received: Asterios Polyp, Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform and TShirt, Rape of Europa, Blood Meridian, After the Flood, candy, Egyptian Tomb Raider playmobil, bike seat, bike tube, things to remove bike tire, pressure gauge, candy necklace, chocolate, makeup purses, turtleneck, tons of tights, socks, and uhm. Other things. I'm too lazy to go downstairs and check my pile. But it is a nice pile.

Nathan got clothes and chocolate, Rubie got bath stuff, Dad got boat stuff, Mom got a game for her DS.

Showered. Got dressed. Piled food into car. Piled people into car. Drove to Mats Mats. I played mom's Scribblenaughts game. Very fun. Stopped when the challenges became too challenging.

Auntie Joyce and Uncle Dick were there along with Cousin Scotty. Drank soda out of ornament shaped Coke bottles. Chatted and caught up. Before I knew it, people were opening presents! We all got jammies. Scotty, Rubie, Nate, and I all had a mini nerf gun war. Lots of fun. Jam was exchanged. Cookies were exchanged. Snacks we consumed, and I got my first sewing machine! A Brother! It has got tons of stitches and cool things but looks really easy to use. Now I can modify my teeshirts with ease. I'll probably test it out tomorrow. Whee!! It is a nice machine. It doubles as my Birthday present, but that is okay. It is way way cool. Can't wait to start using it. Need thread. Yay!

Dinner was salad, then salmon, then cauliflower in hollandaise sauce, then rib, then steak, with sparkling cider all around. I gorged. Then had a major slice of cake. Then I had to lay down for a while. But once the initial digestion passed, I was feeling better again. Finished off my candy necklace. Played two rounds of Apples to Apples. I didn't do so well in either game. Joyce won the first. Team Nate & Rubie almost won second.

Then we packed up. Filled the car with goodies and hugged and said our goodbyes. What a lovely Christmas. Got so much protein. Mmmm.

All of us, minus Mom, had a hot tub soak when we returned. Felt really good. Then, as I was getting out, I slipped on the icy steps that rise into the tub, and hit everyone on the way down. The only injured was my bum, but boy does it hurt. I'll probably have a good and deep bruise for the next two weeks. Just sitting in bed now, trying not to move it.

Merry Christmas everybody! And a happy 2010.

night before christmas

Christmas Eve! Yay! I set my alarm for 10:45, it accidentally went off at 10:45pm. Woke up. Got out of bed. Ate breakfast, and at around noon mother and I faced the traffic.

Took a run of things to the dump and recycling center. Then to Office Max for ink cartridge and other things. Last minute things. Stopped in at Joannes, they didn't have plastic bags either. Saw Kevin Pardee, who I went to high school with. He looks about the same. Then Rite Aid for some other last minute things. Got some night creme. Good skin care routine starts now! And some more cellophane. One tube of it is only good for wrapping three prints so yall better be careful with your art.

We skipped Safeway and went to Fred Meyers. Food, books, other last minute things, erf-Nay, more food. Swung by est-way arine-may for esents-pray for ad-may. Then Emerald City Smoothie and then homeward.

Put up some more lights. Tested the salt in the hot tub, added more salt. Mom prebought tickets for the imax version of Avatar. That will totally blow my mind. A lot. Can't wait.

Nathan and Rubie came home. We all got in the hot tub. It was quite the crowded hot tub. Every few minutes we would rotate. Ate pot stickers. Wrapped more presents. Nate and Rubie brought a huge pile of gifts with them. Very exciting.

Nathan and I looked at Fail blog for about an hour. Now it is time to rest our weary heads and get up and gorge on cinnamon rolls and tear through paper like nobodies business!

shorts

Slept in. Did nothing. Sat on couch. Watched QI. Ate a sandwich. Petted Basil. Sat in front of fire. Read Far Arden. Brought in some of mom's groceries. Ate ice cream. Ate lasagna. Drank juice squeezes. Think I might have another. Watched Crank 2: High Voltage. Go Jason Statham! Didn't do art. Thought about making art. Or just being mildly productive. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Doesn't feel like it. No snow. No ice (thankfully). Presents soon. Watched Glee with mum. Set alarm clock. Will try to get up and be productive tomorrow.

14 hours in bed, 10 out

I should start setting an alarm. Got up at around 12:30ish. Oatmeal and tea for breakfast.

Went up to see dad while he was planing wood. Looked good. Then we conducted some displacement of volume and weight experiments. Lots of fun. I think I get it now. Whoo!!

Sat around on the net mostly. Dad made burgers for lunch and reheated some pasta. I got good and full. Watched a little Space Mutiny.

Auntie Celia stopped by for a few minutes. Just hugs and some chatter.

Ma came out. Dad made up some dinner, but I wasn't all that hungry. Watched an episode of QI and Better Off Ted. Dad went to sleep. Mom and I took a long hot tub soak.

Not a really eventful day. Wrapped a couple prints in the cellophane that dad bought me. It works okay, but I don't think I'll have enough to wrap all my prints. Hmmm.

ducket

Sleeping in later and later. Had to make my own breakfast. Toast and hot apple cider. About 30 minutes after that, mom made me a tuna sandwich. We sat together and watched Pedersen home movies. It was fun.

Ma and I soaked in the hot tub for a long while. I asked about buoyancy and weight and displacement. Well I phrased it "if you have a bucket full of water, and you have a duck in it, does it weigh more?" Moms response was, "hahahaha art student trying to figure out physics!" The joke maintained through the day. I tried to ask dad about the weight of things suspended in water, but he couldn't give me an answer either.

I really want to know about this water weight thing. I think I'll have to do an experiment or something. Just gotta get a bucket.

And a duck.

We ordered pizza. Barbecue chicken from Seabeck Pizza. Mmm. Maddy, a girl I graduated with, was working there. She complimented my long hair and how cute it was. Mom rented Night at the Museum 2. It was a cute, light hearted romp with plenty of cameos. A nice way to spend a sort of wet evening. Now I am back in bed, staying up late.

avatar. go see it in theaters. it is worth $10.

Dad made waffles for breakfast! Yum! Slathered mine in sauce, and then we got in the hot tub.

At 2:10 we left. Got tickets for the 3pm showing of Avatar. Then went to [removed to prevent Christmas spoilers] for a little bit to pick up some things.

Then we went back for the showing. A line had formed and by the time we got into the theater, it was too late to get a section of three seats together. Mom and pop sat near the back and to the right, I sat nearer to the front and middle.

AHHHH oh my god Avatar was an amazing movie! The 3D just left me in a near permanent state of awe. It broke the uncanny valley feeling that most computer graphics have. The world was expansive, the battles were well shot and easy to follow while still being exciting, the plot was a neat little parable. Loved it. What an experience.

It was raining but we still went to the Mall. Had Mongolian Grill for dinner. Mmm. Bought See's Chocolates to eat now. Went to [removed to prevent Christmas spoilers] and looked at some stuff but deemed it unsuitable. Wandered around Sears shopping for [removed to prevent Christmas spoilers].

Couldn't find the proper plastic sleeves at Michael's to protect my prints with. Booo!

Drove home. Everyone was tired so mom and dad went to bed and here I am staying up late in bed once again.

I love life and life loves me

Woke up at 10:30 and managed to roll out of bed just before 11. We were to leave at around 11:45 for the play, so I got showered and dressed and made up right quick.

Dad ate my breakfast toast while I was busy driving. I was amazed at how little food I consumed to sustain myself through the day. Mostly sweets.

Mom was tired of driving so I took the wheel all the way to Port Townsend. Since I am an active commuter by bike, following the rules of the road was still familiar to me. Handling the Prius, not so much. But I was a good driving. Mom and Pop didn't grip the sides in terror.

Dan Stengel was in Scrooged, a musical version of A Christmas Carol. He played a perfect Scrooge. It was quite fun. It was the matinee and there were some kids, but they mostly babbled and didn't cry. The Key City Players is a small theater, but they recently managed to add twenty seats. All shows were sold out, so it was fortunate that I got a chance to see it. Lovely production with some nice set design and some cool effects, like how the Ghost of Christmas Past showed up (she was disguised in his bedding through the whole scene). We chatted with Dan a little bit after the show. I gave him one of the Christmas prints.

I drove ma and pa up to hospital to visit Grandma Spencer. She was doing quite well when we visited. As chatty as ever, a Santa even stopped by and gave us candy canes. We departed when dinner was brought out. I drove back to the other side of town and we sat in at Shanghai. Beef & Broccoli for me, chow mein for dad, scallops for mom. We all shared. I shoveled a gargantuan amount of food down my gob.

After dinner, we went to Mats Mats and visited Grandpa Spencer. Just a little chat. Mom drove home. I fell asleep.

Now I am awake again and just sitting up in bed. Probably should get to sleep again soon. Probably. Might go see Avatar tomorrow.

back to beck

Slept in, but still set an alarm for 10:45. Didn't want to roll out of bed at noon and rush to get things packed.

I had to leave behind the print portfolio. Run out of room in my bag so quick. I think I am packing light but it doesn't turn out that way.

Katie gave me a ride to the station. It was so effortless and wonderful. Just drove down, swung around the front, and dropped me off. No heaving of luggage and heavy sweating from my backpack. Got my ticket. Checked my bag. Got my seat assignment. No biggie at all.

When I got on the train, I realized that I had left behind my Audio Technicas aka my headphones. Dang. Oh well, the movie was Polar Express. I napped for 2/3 of the ride. Ate a hot dog. Cassi was on the train in the car behind me. The lady I sat next to, her son is a comic artist and makes good money doing it. He pencils and his wife inks. How lovely.

The train was late. I saw mom and dad standing as the train scooted in. They had just come from burying Grandma Pedersen. The memorial will be after Christmas.

Stopped by McDonald's because I was hungry. Stopped by Ralph's Red Apple for some food stuffs. Went home. Dad went to sleep. I editioned my Christmas Print. Mom and I got in the hot tub for half an hour. Then it was time to retire. Tomorrow is Port Townsend. Scrooged Matinee!

doneday

Last time I'll have to catch the shuttle, I hope. This whole not having a bike thing is a total drag.

Almost everyone brought amazing art in for the final critique. The almost just refers to Kristen, who unfortunately couldn't get hers done in time. Oh well, she had a nice start. All the work of the semester resolved quite nicely. We all seemed to have figured out what makes our work effective. Me? I'm going for dynamic flat shapes and minimal colors. Yeah. The Stephen Fry sequence was very nice and well received. It went last. Chase and Somala both did their fathers, Madeline did Hercules, Kristen did Patrick Wolf, Beth did David Bowie, Cassandra did Shirley Temple, Danny did Orson Welles, Rachel did Genji from Tale of Genji, and Amanda did Hayao Miyazaki. Pretty darn amazing.

The idea of Illustration is that the majority of people who look at it, will look at it for a second. The challenge for us to is convey an idea that fits in a second while still having a sense of style and skill. Other majors have work that is looked at and studied for a long while, they have to go deep and all that. Not that illustration majors don't think, we just can't make artwork that has to survive on explanation.

After critique, Martin took us out for pizza! His treat! Getting us soft in time for our last semester before we are seniors. Holy crap. Three semester left. Where did the time go? A year and a half and I am done with college. AHHHH!!!!!!!

Oh, before critique we looked at everyone's sketchbooks from the semester.

Not wanting to end the party, Danny and I went to Yur's. We ran into Dominic on the way there and dragged him with us. We grabbed a booth and chatted for a good while. Dom left because he had to get to class, he was replaced with Jon Werrin and Rachel. Morriah showed up as well. Had a great time. The couple hours we were there just breezed by.

Sauntered back to PNCA in a good mood and did my last minute chores at school. Some documenting and all that.

The streetcar was a long time coming, so I picked up a cone of ice cream. Mmm. Heavy traffic kept the streetcar in a permanent state of close enough to stick around to take it/wanting to just start walking.

I'm done and it feels so good. Watched new episode of Misfits, QI, watched some Skins (poor Sid), and just lollygagged. Katie is giving me a ride to the train station. Yay. Will get up. Shower. Pack. Head home.

Christmas Tree Memories

note: if displayed all together, the corner images combine to make a Christmas Tree.

redo

AHhhgg damn lack of sleep. Peeled myself out of bed and got to school. Printed my paper. In class we watched Dr. Strangelove. I have only seen it once before and really did not appreciate how well crafted a film it truly is. Ate lots of pastry. Mmm.

We were dismissed early. Chatted up the fine folk in the library and then went to History of Print. We presented our portfolios. I went first. The majority of people just edited a cigar box. Some people made envelopes. Some decorated resume boxes. Morgan actually bound his. People had seen my box last week, so it wasn't so impressive. Then it was burrito potluck time! Cherish's Spanish rice was favored. Danielle brought meat. Daniel made drinks. All in all, it was delicious. Sat around chatting till 2.

Daniel and I walked down to Floating World Comics. I picked up my much neglected box (Jason the owner still remembers me, whee) as well as another volume that came with a good recommendation. There goes my art sale money.

It was rainy but I was overheated from my many layers. Had a good talk with Daniel, and then I finally passed out in the library for two hours. I woke up to find that yoga was cancelled. Damn.

It took a lot longer to paint my final pieces. So probably for the best that I didn't have yoga. I had to redo one entirely because the ink smeared. But it looks better. Don't know how I feel about them.

Last day tomorrow. This semester went by so fast.

Happy Birthday Auntie Celia! (as it is 1:45am, it is the day of her birthday).

wednes-wait tuesday

Almost done with my paper about Rich Hall, a man so pretty that he became the inspiration for Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons. It is for History of Laughter.

Monotype! Took the shuttle to school. Skipped breakfast because I knew we were having waffles. Phil was late with the batter so we started in on our end of year portfolio sumups. We picked five or six things and spread them out and we looked and commented. Patsy brought her pet bird Bruno in. He was a nice bird.

Phil showed at 11:30 and at noon we had an early lunch. I goggled my chocolate chip waffle right down and had a glass of both apple and orange juice. Yum. Talked to Lacey and Jay a little during lunch, but mostly say with the Monotype crew and chatted. BT came in during the break. That was nice.

Rest of the reviews went well. After that, we printed shirts! You can print monotypes on 100% cotton shirts and the resolution is beautiful. Ma gave me four shirts over Thanksgiving break and I printed them all. One of them I used a circular plexi plate and did a self portrait. It is of me with two thumbs up and it says my name. It is way awesome.

Got out of there at around 5:20. Printed my train ticket barcode. Caught the streetcar back. Went to Safeway and got a bag of white rice for the burrito potluck tomorrow.

Relaxed. Ate dinner. Watched about five episodes of QI and sketched all of my illustration final pieces. Five little illustrations of Stephen Fry in total. Need some touchups, but it probably won't take that long. And coloring them will be a breeze. Probably won't take more than an hour. Which means I can nap hardcore between History of Print and Yoga. I'll need it because I have to get up in about four hours. Damn.

monday

Felt dreary and tired all damn day long. Under four hours of sleep is NOT GOOD.

Got up, went to school with Katie. Had to wait for a critique break to go to the flat files in Illustration 815A. Got my work. Went to library. Got camera and tripod. Documented! Photos are not ideal, but they go a lot faster than scanning everything (if you have odd sized things that won't fit in a flatbed scanner).

I had an hour between getting my stuff on homeroom (the website set up for my school) and the start of class. So I sat at a table and put my head down.

We had a speedy critique. Went through the pieces. Bam bam bam bam. I got a good critique. Actually, everyone had a good critique. A lot of good work went up. Robyn used her hand writing for her own font, so that was nice.

I just chilled in the library while waiting for our final review with Daniella and Sara. Ate a bagel.

My review went well. Just spread out my art and talked.

After I chatted with Darya and Front Desk Doug. Sort of delirious ranting and jokes. It was a good time. Walked to Rite Aid. My favorite kind of lipstick was 40% off, so I grabbed a new shade. "Keep Blushing". I can't wait to use it. And a thing of deep burgundy nail polish. I felt like treating myself to some girly whatnots ya know? Maybe I shouldn't wander the streets when I'm exhausted. I finally retired to the library, and after chatting with Amanda, I took a two hour nap.

Yoga got my blood going with some more upside down stuff and hip openers. I bought some chocolate chips for class tomorrow and caught the streetcar back.

Adam is spending the night before he jets off to Kansas City to pick up my sassy girl Karen. He made us hamburger helper esque dinner with hash browns. I ate two servings. So starved for a big, protein meal. It was perfect. We watched Community. Love that show.

Too tired to be productive (I don't know how people manage all nighters). I'll be productive tomorrow. Goal is to get everything drawn. I have 7+ hours to do it, and write a paper, but ehh. I'm not so worried and stressed.

sunday

I'm 50 away from 1000 blog posts. Pretty amazing, huh?

Got up before noon (about 20 minutes before noon). Decided I would hitch a ride with Katie tomorrow morning instead of documenting today.

Finished the rest of the first season of Skins (it was only 9 episodes in its entirety). Finished my piece. Added some snazzy bold black and white graphics. Just a V shape mostly. Eh, it isn't really "finals" quality work, but oh well. Now I am realizing I should have just jumped on the chance and adapted my short story into an actual comic for the final. Oh well.

I'm tired.

Just worked on stuff.

Writing is hard.

Listening to Pandora and goofing off is easy.

Four days left in my semester.

saturday

Had a good sleep in, which extended to being too long of a sleep in. That put me in a state of being perpetually tired all day.

Drank a lot of juice. Ate some sandwiches and pasta.

Watched Skins mostly. Didn't go to school to document. Drew and just drew. Finished drawing and lined it with micron. While I like my brush work, I couldn't have gotten the detail that I wanted with my lines.

Started shading with marker. I am really out of practice with Copics. Not turning out as well as I would like. I just need to rest on it, and start again in the morning. Well not start again, just continue my work. It should resolve itself.

My eyes hurt. Sleep time.

friday

Whatever stress I am supposed to be feeling must have just gone into a sedate mode of non panic. I know I will get it all done, so not doing it right now doesn't make me feel bad.

Tomorrow I will wake up. I will write. I will hitch a ride to school with Katie, if she goes to school. Document my work. Come back. Pop in some Tudors and draw. I have plenty of food.

But right now, I just want rest. To relax. To recuperate.

Lacey and I walked to school together. We had the same 2:30-5:30 shift at the Holiday Art Sale. The school should know better than to put us together, we give each other the comic giggles. Jim trained me in the cash section, Lacey got credit card, and Nathan Henry-Silva was the one who ticked off what specific pieces were bought. Didn't make a whole lot of sales. About forty bucks on my end, and about the same on Lacey's. But still, people bought stuff. Got some good time to chill and relax. Robin came in and I trained her for cash. Darya (descendant of a samurai apparently) took over Nathan's section. I counted the bills and all was in order.

I wanted to document my art but the library was closing in ten minutes. They have a nice photo station and their own camera. It is a good set up. I'll do it over the weekend. Oh well.

Ate egg salad sandwich for dinner. Ate bananas. Watched stuff. Feel like I am in a haze.

Ohh laundry is done.

farewell Marilyn

My grandmother Marilyn Pedersen passed away today. Her kind and open spirit maintained through it all. Now she is in a better place. I'll miss her so.


Had a really good pep talk with Martin and got psyched about my final project. I was having some issues but now I am in a good place. Yeah. During lunch I went through the Holiday Art Sale and picked out some prints and pieces. Ended up not buying one of Mark's luchador stuffed creations. Tomorrow is my shift, but not till 2:30.

Beth brought in Ben & Jerry's. The heat in the classroom was cranked way up, so the ice cream wasn't too off for the actual heat. Worked on a color composition. Beth and I walked to Utrecht and bought supplies for finals. I needed more of my beloved Speedball acrylic pigmented ink.

Finished sketching in class. Left at around 4 and took the remainders of the pint of Phish Food ice cream back with me. Yum.

Bought my train ticket home and called to tell mom, which is when I found out about Grandma. Katie gave me great hugs.

I spent the rest of the night at Scooter's. It was Liz's birthday. Gave her a [item removed to prevent spoiling it for the family]. Liz, Agnes, Daniel, William, Taryn, Katie, Tuna, and myself somehow managed to crowd a table. I had a girl drink and boostered it with helping Liz finish her many whiskey & cokes that were bought for her. It was a good time to spend with friends. Got drunk, had fun, took my mind almost off of things.

Now to watch QI and then sleep. No matter how much I sleep in, I don't think I will miss my shift. Also, no way should Ryan have been in top six over Legacy. Legacy was so much better.

Soon I'll be home with my beloved family.

earning money with my art

Net went down again. Oh well.

I took the 7:15 shuttle to school, which required me to set my alarm at 5:30, and get out of bed at 6ish. Uhg. Loitered for about 20 minutes. No one is at school till 7:30. Chatted with Serenity, who loved my print box. I of course credited dad for helping with it. Gave her a Nomi Malone print.

I was second to arrive to History of Laughter. No chocolate pastries this morning. Oh well. We had another discussion about health and medicine and it turned into another “rejecting society’s conventions” pissing contest. Some of the people in that class are really annoying and go over my head. Also talked about Holden Caulfield. I think I’ll try to finish that book over break. Diana and Rachel liked my box.

Wore many layers, and I kept snug and warm through the day.

The room was occupied with more Schnitzer Collection prints, so I waited in the print lab with Cameron, Daniel, and Diana. They were editioning their prints. Both Diana and Cameron expressed delight with the print I finished last night.

The prints today left me almost hyperventilating. Francis Bacon, Man Ray, Alex Katz, John Currin, Marcel Dzama, Chuck Close, Longo, Armis, Devencorn, Lockney… Just masterpieces in our classroom. We could get our noses to the glass and not have any guard nag us. To be so personal with masterpieces was a moving experience. Cameron and I were looking at the Bacon and he asked me to pinch him. And there were more prints, more brilliant works made by people who have names that escape me. It was hard to focus.

We have to show a full sketchbook at the end of illustration class, so I’ve been sketching my classmates. I’ve got some good little sketches. I should make silkscreen transfers out of them and make sketchbook prints.

During lunch I went to the Global Studios presentation. The two summer programs are to China with Wei and Italy with Pelzner. I went wanting to learn more about the Italy program, but the China one captured my interest a little more. I’ll have to ask how much using airmiles will dock the price down. Italy is a month long homestead in Parma, China is a couple weeks worth of travel to Shanghai and Beijing. Something to think about. The forms for it are due in February.

Rest of class was spent discussing the potluck and the proper way to order our prints. And we discussed art a little more. The way we did our prints is we put out piles of our work and we went in a circle, collecting each others in numerical order. So I have 1/19 of Danielle’s, 2/18 of Cassie’s and so on. An edition is the series of identical prints you have made. I numbered 19 for the print exchange. The Christmas print is 20. The cards I sent home to friends and family is 29.

After we collected our amazing prints, I took a nap in the library. A really good nap. I was hazy from six to yoga time, and it didn’t help my haze wandering around the opening of the Holiday Art Sale. Crowds of people and way too fancy for me finger food. It took me a long while to find my comic (it was buried under some of the stuff in the box). Lots of people in nice clothes were buying cheap artwork. Some guy had a stack of Liz’s bowls and she was so happy because she was selling them for $20 a pop. Handmade bowls make good presents.

Yoga was held on the mezzanine. Tatum and Desiree were there as well. We did headstands and other wall exercises. I managed to catch Katie and grab a lift home. It sucks not biking, but I’ve been managing. And now I can haul a portfolio back and forth much easier.

Watched Glee (so good!) and then my internet cut out right as they were narrowing down the final two girls on So You Think You Can Dance. Worked on sketching Stephen Fry for my final project. I look at my thumbnails and it just looks boooooring! Blah.

I got a nice compliment from Lacey..Basset? I think that is her. Anyway, she said I had sparkling eyes. How nice is that? And Daniel said that Joelle Jones (the comic artist) saw someone pulling my cat print out of the box and said, “Hold on, I need to buy that.” Awesome!

the weariness sets in

Portland remains chilled.

I bought and cut down paper during the first chunk of class. Needed it for my Christmas present for the family types. It is bound is be awesome, totally reflects my aesthetic and sense of humor. So you guys better like it! Did a group print, as usual.

Loitered in the library for lunch, as usual. Chatted with Madeline, Terry, and Daniel. Drew Terry and Madeline. Accidentally added a second left arm onto Terry in my sketch.

Did some more viscosity prints. Turned out all rainbow like and some of them were good. Moved on to screenprinting at four and was done at around 6. Took the streetcar back. I had to take off my long underwear while working in the print labs. So toasty. Put it back on to walk home. So frigid.

Sketched and tried to think about finals. Have a better focus now.

Jakob or Legacy for So You Think You Can Dance! Or Ellenore.

Time to sleep. Gotta get up at 6:20 so I can catch the shuttle instead of walking it what is probably 32 degree temperature.

tired, no will to work

Thanksgiving and Focus Week have always tripped me up. I get a break and then it is time to do the hard stuff. Pick at what is due a little bit until I can pick no more and have to buckle down.

For the first chunk of class, we reviewed our final project sketches and stories. A lot of comics, and some other stuff. I didn't have my printed out story, but I should have learned better by now to get printouts.

Oh, I took the shuttle to school. I'm just going to wait for break to deal with my bike tire issues.

Chipotle for lunch! Needed protein and something not starch with sauce. It was delicious.

Rest of class was a work period. Sketched a little. Wrote a little. Should have focused and done a lot of one. Blegh. Only one more Narrative Image class now.

Got my Christmas Present exposed on my screen. I'm very excited to start printing it.

Mama: Auntie Brynne won't be visiting Portland. What day should I take the train up? The 18th?

After Yoga (with Fawn, not Bonnie), Katie picked me up and we went to Safeway. I bought a whole pile of much needed groceries, shampoo, poofy thing for body soap, face wash, peanut butter (creamy), juice, and a whole pile of other things. I was eating pasta and sauce every night, not a good way to maintain health.

Then I watched Tudors. The episode with the "sweating sickness" epidemic. Pretty nasty. Swine Flu ain't got nothing on that bad boy.

Can't muster the mustard to work tonight, but since I am walking everywhere I can tote a portfolio with me. Two major art projects due next week and an essay.

Inspiration! Determination! Desire for effort!

uhg

Bluugh. Without a bike, I can't get food as easily as I could before. Just picking at what I have left. Will go food shopping after yoga tomorrow. It sucks being hungry. And lazy.

Started watching The Tudors, a Showtime show about, well, the Tudors. Pretty darn good. Worked on drawing stuff for narrative image. Lots of time spent drawing things that didn't look like much. But I have my composition and a long studio class to work on them.

Feel so groggy. Time to sleep. Felt woozy all day. Have a sheet with my final two weeks planned out.

fun fun fun

My feet hurt. I did so much walking in heels today. Ouch.

Slept in. Got up. Worked on art. A little bit. Not as much as I should have, but I'm not feeling the pressure. Tomorrow I will write my Narrative Image thing and start on the final. I got a little done, sure, but it needs more. I don't have much in the way of heavy finals due. Well I have two major ones but the rest. EHh. I thought this semester would be a lot more intense than it really was.

I can't focus hardly at all right now.

Cherish's birthday party was tonight. Dressed in a cute skirt and tights from Auntie Brynne, heels and shirt from Karen (the one with the belt), and jacket from Jeanette. Mostly black with white accents. Walked to Safeway and got a mini dinner I could eat on the way there. Sushi. The streetcar was five minutes away. Perfect. Ate my sushi.

At Bridgeport Brewery was a crowd of Cherish's old Art Institute friends. No one I knew from PNCA, but some almost familiar faces from her previous shindigs. Eventually Phil and Andy showed, but they sat at the second table (there were about 20 spots spread between two tables). Heather sat at my end, with Colin, Royal, and Rich. I had a great time. Blood orange margarita followed by lovejoy lemon drop followed by a wee glass of a pitcher of beer. I was fairly tipsy through the night. Well, drunk when it was time to walk to Cherish's. A fellow in the walking back party bought two six packs so I took part in having another beer. It was fun. It was a good sort of drinking night. It stayed jovial and no one got nasty. Just the right amount spaced through the night.

Four teams of two played Cranium. Cherish & I kicked butt until everyone elses mind wandered too far. Sat about. Drank. Chatted. No major shenanigans. Rich was the RA for the Art Institute students in Goose Hollow, so we walked back together. Pretty cool dude.

Time to sleep, as it is 3am. Go me having fun! Now to work hard and be stressed until I can get in that hot tub once again.

countdown: 14...13...

Katie gave me a ride to school! What a sweety.

Terry's thesis was set up in the new illustration room. A grand christening. He had half a wall full of his concept sketches and several competed character illustrations. He worked on designing an adaptation of The Tempest and his interpretation of the story. His defense was long and really showed how well thought out his work was. Most of the questions were about culture. It was quite good.

Madeline and I chilled in the library till Bryan's. I checked out these really cool books about mythical beasts and they were all illustrated and the like. Really neat.

Bryan's proposal was full of charisma and had almost no ums. He was really smooth. His final project is about illustrating his created robot mythology. Tis good and it ran long, but it didn't run into Katie's.

Adam came to the proposal. She got through her information pretty well. Some ums, but she managed to pronounce anthropomorphizing three times. It ran right up to lunch, grabbed some food and went to the mandatory holiday art sale meeting. The training session to learn how to sell people my work. Hope I earn some money!

After that, I sat with Adam and Katie and Robin for a bit. Then we went home, popped a bottle of champagne and celebrated Katie's well doing (well not Robin, she stayed at school and printed). Then it was nap time. Then it was second round of zitti time. Heated and wonderful food for us all. Afterward, Katie left for the studio. Adam and I sat around and talked and then we watched Community. Love that show. Karen called and we both talked to her. Miss my sassy lady!!

Then it was finally time to sleep and start finals. TWO WEEKS LEFT!

champagne: the choice of 310

Adam is in town for the night so he totally bought us Champagne and we had a great night so keep with me for a minute here, kay?

I took the shuttle to school this morning. Just didn't bother touching my bike at all. I'll deal with it later, not now. Deal with it when I have the time. The shuttle got to me to Jay's proposal in time. She is doing her thesis on the world of ASL. She is doing some larger illustrations and a book to accompany them. She got through her presentation okay, a small case of the uhs but in general it was good. I like seeing all the different ways Illustration majors illustrate their thesis presentation powerpoints. It is amazing to think how this blog will, hopefully, cover my whole four years at PNCA. Step by step, day by day. A whole college education in one blog (all though not quite because I don't go into the best of detail).

After Jay's, I went to the library.

Oh I think I forgot to mention yoga yesterday. I did yoga, yeah. It was just Bonnie the substitute who sounds line Winona Ryder and myself for the session. She left the window blinds up, so I just waved to the passers by I recognized. It was a good session as I got a lot of help from her.

So I found out that in the library I would have to review with Martin(during lunch) my stage one for the final project. The final project is a biography of someones life, so I am going to work on Stephen Fry because he is awesome. I was stuck so I admitted to him I was stuck and he helped. It was nice.

Oh, before that I saw Anthony Roberto's thesis proposal. I knew he was an amazing artist, but by god is he truly spectacular. An amazing etcher with just this depth to his work. Wow. I have one of his pieces on my wall, bought from the last Holiday Art Sale. I was so happy to find something of his for $15. He is doing something about the apocalypse. It is cool.

After lunch, I spent the rest of my hours in the print lab. I kept quiet and did my drawing fluid final layer and my emulsion and washed it out with a sponge. Other people used the power washers and that I found to be really disrespectful. Seriously? I behave and you guys use the noisy stuff while someone is doing their thesis? Or maybe it wasn't even in the room that was above the washout room. Anyway, yeah. Got my final layer printed and it looks GREAT. I am finished with my printmaking thesis. Go me. One down, threeish to go.

Waited with Junko for the shuttle but it never came so I took the streetcar home. Adam and Katie arrived right as I finished making myself dinner, which sucked because Adam then made dinner. Katie left to go to a friend's birthday, Adam and I watched the new episode of QI and then we walked to Safeway. At Safeway he bought Champagne and orange juice and we went back to my place. We drank flutes of delicious bubbly, watched Hulu, then Katie returned and we all stayed up and drank and chatted. She also gave us a run through of her thesis. Should be good.

I slept with my hair in braids and I used hairspray in the morning and it stayed big and poofy and wavy and all that goodness. I'm a big fan of big hair (on myself).

bike misery

My bike tire went flat at school again. So I borrowed the student services pump and filled it, but it was flat when I got done with Agnes' thesis. So I had to streetcar it home. Once home, I couldn't get a good enough seal on the nodule to fill my bike tire with air. I tried for an hour, but no matter what, it would either not inflate, or go flat again in a minute. I can't keep an inflation to tell where the leak is, and I can't inflate it because the bike pump I was given is totally crap. It cannot get a seal, no matter how much I am told it is a quality pump. It isn't. It's crap. The school one worked perfectly and told me the pressure and everything. I'm afraid the horrid pump mangled the little inflation node and that is where the leak is coming from. I do not want to buy my third tube this year, nor a new pump. Though I think I will have to do both. I did not need this right now. Some time this weekend, I'll wheel my bike to a shop and talk to them. See if something in the tire is damaging tubes or what. Gahhh.

I wore aunties shirt today. Got lots of compliments. First proposal was... uhh. Oh I got to school for lunch first. Enchilada day. Sat with Liz while some girl did some horrible thesis defense that was her public speaking awkwardly and introducing a band. I heard she failed last year's thesis as well.

Lacey's proposal was amazing. She is doing a small, wordless comic about dealing with depression, it is called Dealing With Dealing With. Her proposal was just, wow. No words on the slides and no cards in front of her. She didn't stutter or anything. Nailed it. We (Robyn, Rachel, and her friend Liz) waited with her while the panel deliberated and then talked to her. We were there when she was all happy after because hers got accepted. Whooo! Go Lacey. You may remember her as my partner in graphic novel crime last semester.

Loitered around school. Inflated my tire. Photocopies.

Agnes, formerly Amanda, had her defense. She was dressed quite nice. Her illustration thesis was five large oil painted pieces which depicted the childhood horror she saw in fairy tales. Her paintings were massive and quite well executed for only having had minimal practice with oil before. As usual, reading from the notes made her a little stiff but when she got into the discussion she was splendid.

As said before, returned to find my bike flat. I just shrugged my shoulders in defeat and headed to the print studio. Morgan was finishing up his print and Danielle was cutting paper. She was still cutting paper when I finished my third color. It looks okay, hard to tell without the final color. I went a little more red than I was planning.

Walked my bike to the streetcar and walked it home. Struggled with it. Took a break. Struggled some more.

Katie was working on an electrical piece and the apartment was full of current and I felt funky.

proposal x 2

Still ill, mostly just nauseous.

BT's B is for Beard was the first proposal of the day. 125 was stuffed with people. Not Jason Powell stuffed, but still really full. There may have just been more room. His thesis project is that he is making an alphabet book about facial hair. It was a great presentation with wonderful design. Half of the followup questions were about facial hair, and the other half were more productive.

This year I am participating in the Holiday Art Sale. For a weekend, the commons becomes a selling place for artwork. In exchange for three hours of minding the sale, you can put as much properly labeled and packaged art as you want. It needs to be put on cardboard boards with cellophane, which is time consuming. I put in about sixty things, but 25 were the comic which I did not board. It took a lot of time to wrap my prints. If it all sells, I will make over $300. I don't think it will, but I should sell something. I have a wide enough net and David Lynch is always a crowd pleaser (as is Luna). Took a break to eat, and apply emulsion to my screen. After that I resumed packaging.

At 2pm was Taylor's proposal. He is designing merchandise and a music video for local band: Wizard Rifle. He said "uhh" a lot, but in general he got his point across. It is amazing to me the difference in what different majors present. The concepts are different and what the artist wants to refer to changes.

Back to packaging. Finished at around 4pm, and tired and icky feeling I just went home.

Watched Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and her Lover. It was colorful but weird.

Now I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance. Colorful and delightful.

illin' again

Woke up with a tickle in my throat. Gargled some salt water.

This week is Focus Week, which is when all the thesis people either present or defend their senior project. First up was Ursula's Road Trip. She is doing ten large illustrations that represent her 6 month cross country journey through the lower 48. I arrived just at the start. It was a pretty good presentation. Good concise graphics, well put together.

Lunch was sandwiches. I had two halves, which make a whole. Sat with BT, Kim, Lacey, and a few others. BT was wearing tan pants that made him look pantsless out of the corner of my eye. I was still feeling sick, even though I ate a lot.

Drew in my print for the portfolio. Water resist yaay.

Still felt sick.

Went to Erin's proposal. Pretty nice slides for her proposal. Some of the questions she got were weird and off topic. Mostly weird suggestions and not questions at all.

Meghan's defense was good. Beautiful work, even though they drilled into our beautiful magnetic wall to put it up. I guess they didn't know it was magnetic. She did prints about the creation and destruction and reincarnation of life. Mumbled a little bit but overall it was good.

After that, Diana and I went to Yur's. I wasn't starving but I knew I needed a good meal if I wanted my health to hold. Fish & chips makes a good meal, right? Yeah, I'm sure it does. We sat and chatted. She had a shot of gin, like a classy lady.

I opted out of yoga because I felt so weak and terrible. You know it is bad when I don't do yoga. Think it is just a cold, I'm not too worried. I think if it was the swine flu, I would have gotten a lot worse by now. Fluids, sweaters, rest.

Sorted out things to put in the holiday art sale. Got a fair pile of things. My comic. My card. Old prints.

Started watching Better Off Ted episodes on Hulu. Mom, you should watch it. I bet you would like it. It is charming.

Bed time. Have to get up for BT's proposal (thankfully it is at 11, so that gives me a good time to rest and be healthy).

box

I set my alarm so that I would get up early and finish my box with dad. Unfortunately the time on the clock was twelve hours off. Still, I managed to get up to the garage by 10. We got the pieces sanded and planed the places where the hinges would go. When it was glued, we took a food break. Waffles! Dad made waffles.

Pa and Ma puttered around outside while I watched the second half of the Nazi Art Theft documentary. Soon it was time to finish the box. Sanded down the edges and sides, drilled holes and then nailed the side panels in. Did more sanding. The box for the portfolio looks great. It is a delightful mini briefcase. Now I want a larger one for some purpose. It’s very light and charming.

We three took a fifteen minute hot tub soak and then it was time to hop and scoot to Tacoma. Departed at 4:59 and arrived a little after 6. I don’t like cutting things short, but I got on the train safely. It is a booked one, but they often are. Pretty uneventful ride. Worked on editing my short story. The movie was Julie & Julia again.

The green max was about an 8 minute wait, so I just strolled to catch a red or blue one. If I am going to wait for a max, I'm going to wait for the one that takes me directly to my place, not the one that takes me to a transfer where I have to wait again.

There was some Ecoli found in the water on the west side of Portland, but apparently it has been taken care of. The first thesis proposal I go to isn't till noon tomorrow. Sleep in!!

art spy!

Got downstairs before noon today. Dad made me breakfast. Digested a little, and then it was off to the garage to work on my box for History of Print.

Dad had gotten a jump on it, but I helped measure and sand the pieces. He lost a piece to his table saw and had to use a magnet in the pile of sawdust to fish it out. He never recovered it, but found a nice drill bit. There was a replacement part, so all was well.

Our break turned into finishing for the day. Hot tub. Burger. Internet. Then Celia came over and we went in the hot tub again. Then she, mom, and I played Settlers of Catan: Seafarers. The expansion makes it really hard to get a few items needed for settlements. Mom won, with me second and Celia third.

After Auntie C left, mom and I watched two episodes of QI. The Families one and the Film & Fame episode. The latter is particularly funny. Then it was bed time. Have to get up early to finish the box. Not that I am going to bed at a totally decent hour either. Watched a neat documentary about Nazis looting art and Rose Valland, who kept a record of all the theft right under the nose of the Germans.

making memories

Had a good long sleep in. The bed back home is so very comfortable.

Rubie came over in the morning. We helped haul the couch into ma's mini barn to prepare a spot for a Christmas tree. Nathan took a hike to gather some moss.

When they departed, mom and I watched a few episodes of QI. Then we three went to Kunie's to get a Christmas tree! Like the grand old tradition. Mom stepped in dog poo. There were other people getting trees as well, but it wasn't quite picked over. There were so many nice trees. We didn't even have to search for that long before finding what we desired. No brown spots. Even all around. Plenty of body with still some space to let ornaments dangle. Just right! Ma payed while Dad stuck it in the Shakee-Tree to shake off the needles.

We had a wholesome good time putting on ornaments. Dad removed them from the plastic bags and I put them on. I made sure to space them all around, even if it isn't the side commonly viewed, you should still decorate it.

Tree looks nice. Can't wait to put presents under them.

Rolph and Alison came over again. We all sat and drank apple juice and chatted. I drank hot cocoa instead. Showed them a slideshow of our Amsterdam/Brussels trip. After they left, we tucked into bed. Well mostly dad, he conks out pretty quick these days. Stayed up watching television as usual. Have to try to get up before noon so I can work on my box.

family & food

Turkey day. Mmm.

Threw my clothes in the laundry and ate a piece of french toast and some bacon. We all got in the hot tub before leaving. Ma, Pa, Bro, and Sis. Every few minutes someone would say, "rotate!" and we would trade seats. Got some fresh clothes on and off we went. Nathan let me play Patapon on his PSP portable gaming system.

Our Thanksgiving was to be had at the house of Grandma and Grandpa Spencer. No Rubie. Straight in the door, they asked where she was. Heh. Grandpa made root beer. It was quite tasty and went well with some ice cream. Dinner had all the classics: gravy, cranberries, mashed potatoes, salad, and of course turkey. I had good portions of what I liked and was well fed. The taters came from our garden and were very good. Quite cozy family meal. Talked about old memories and all that.

We left early to visit Grandpa Pedersen and Celia. Grandma is now resigned to the bed, but she still has a sweet spirit. She responded and ate well from a plate of leftovers.

Nathan and I got in the hot tub when we got home. Mostly had a soak because I think the jets have been hurting my back. Played more Patapon while Ma, Nate, and I watched Night at the Museum on television.

Staying up catching up on So You Think You Can Dance and QI. Tomorrow I will make my box!

turkey train two

Thanksgiving break! Yay!

In History of Laughter we had a minor discussion about Charlie Chaplin, and then we watched City Lights. A delightful comedy that was enjoyed by all who bothered to attend. During break, Rachel and I looked at the horrid Design I projects. Just really bad design with horrible use of stock images and Photoshop. There were only two that we agreed were decent. I returned to class to find them watching the Kick Ass trailer. Zach and I talked a bit about Millar and making comics just to get them optioned. And then we finished the movie and got out early. I sought out Martin but learned he wouldn’t be around till noon. Talked to the library people and killed time.

History of Printmaking got into Hogarth. Lovely lovely Hogarth. And Harry Potter Puppet Pals (Morgan brought it up). We got booted from our room by a conflicting room assignment, so we returned to our cozy second floor space. More Hogarth. I tracked down Martin and gave him my piece. He said, and I quote, “this turned out really great”. Whee!!

Got another Chiptole burrito for lunch. Addictive buggers, but I wanted something to eat later on when I was on the train. It burst when they folded it up, so I got a second tortilla wrapping. I love the wrappers. Mmmm.

Morgan gave us a lesson in good story telling and advised Cameron and Carla on effective thesis presentations (it involves pointing with a stick). Then we returned to Hogarth and the Rake’s progress.

I left class to find my back tire flat! I wheeled my poor baby to the streetcar. Jim was there and we chatted all the way back. I inflated the tire and I hope when I return, I don’t find my bike resting on a flat tube. I lasted a year and a half on the original tubes, why are they suddenly failing?

Packed, said goodbye to Katie, and hauled butt down to 10th. I missed the streetcar I wanted to catch by a couple minutes, so I walked down to the Finnegan’s stop. A guy was solving a Rubik’s Cube and all I thought was, “I can do that a lot faster.”

Andrea boarded the streetcar and we had a three block chat. The train station was pretty stuffed but it had good order. Most of the crowd was for the 6:15 train. Got my ticket and aired out my sweat. After I picked up my seat assignment, I got some corn nuts and gummy bears for the train ride. First I finished my burrito.

Speaking of burritos, in History of Print our final potluck is going to be a burrito assemblage. Everyone will be responsible for bringing the ingredients, that way we will all be well fed and none of us will have to pay or make a full dish. I might get dibs on rice when the food assignments are handed out.

Fairly quiet train ride. Finished watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Napped. Nathan and Rubie were queued outside the train station and I was quick to toss my suitcase and backpack in. Some families really took their sweet time loading while at the same time holding up traffic.

It was a nice, familiar ride back into Kitsap. Chatted about class and vegans and all that usual stuff. I find it interesting that I can explain silkscreening to Nate and he gets understands in, but trying to explain it to some classmates is near impossible. Some minds just don’t work like that.

Mom and Pop were still up when we got home. No late night hot tubbing. Chatted, looked at holiday catalogues, and Nathan showed Dad how to Facebook.

printing queen

Got to school right on time. We looked through our prints and discussed why monotypes would be hard to critique, then we did a communal print as per usual. Then we had open work time till 1:30. In that time, I finished the final layer on my silk screen! Madeline texted me wondering where I was, so she came to the print lab and I gave her a print.

After lunch, we had a guest come in and show us his monotypes. He was a nice fellow. Tom and Chelsey left early to catch a train. I finished silk screening my other print, the one for Morgan. It is looking good. Two more layers to go!

I also did another monotype, just to do one for the day. Played with abstract but it wasn't much of anything.

At five I helped them clean up. By them I mean the four other students who hung around after Tom left.

Rainbow asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat at Yur's, so I agreed. Yur's is the faux dive bar that all the PNCA students go to. It is only a couple blocks, so a really easy walk. Comfy seats and very clean while having standard bar decor. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a Mirror Pond Pale Ale. I showed Rainbow Grandpa John's silkscreen textbook. She loved it. Some other PNCA people joined us, namely Anthony, Tesar, Tesar's girl, and this other fella. We all sat and chatted about thesis and a good time was had, even though I didn't really know the other people. I left at 6:30.

Talked with Natalie about silkscreen and showed her my stencils. Tried to help her figure out how to use the systematic process of silkscreen to aid her own sense of image making. She left with a pleased look on her face, so I think I did manage to help.

Now just chilling out. Nothing left to do but the last few classes and packing. Whoo whoo!!

three down, one to go!!

Argh, was going to go to bed and then remembered I had to write an entry.

Back to the grind. The pre-lunch chunk of class was spent reading some of our better poems and looking at our pieces. From now on in class, it is just work on final project. Need to get my USB back from Katie so I won't be working off of emailed files.

I went straight to the print lab and got in some quality printing during lunch, when no one was around. Got all the green boots in. They dried only semi opaque, but I think when I finish, they will all tie nicely together. Then I went to Chiptole and ate a steak burrito during class. Talked to Sarah about how to expand my short story. Kind of sat around for class. Sketched a little, mostly chatted with Danny. Talked with Danielle about my final project. Scanned my reading response images and typed up my responses. Apparently there were only two turned in last class, and I was one of the ones who did.

After class, I printed the red umbrella. Cherish is really excited about her fancy dress birthday party, as am I. Finished that printing with time to spare, and I used that time to apply emulsion onto my print for the print exchange. Then yoga time!

Fawn is out of town, so her friend Bonnie took over teaching. She sounds so much like Winona Ryder. She was an intense teacher and most of the poses were way too hard for me to sustain. I've appeared to have gotten worse at Yoga, now that I have been doing it twice a week. Still I tried.

After yoga I exposed the emulsion on the screen and washed out the drawing fluid. It didn't wash out as well as I would have liked. Still, I will continue with it.

It was a painful ride home. Liz stopped over and hung out with Katie for a bit, who made us all delicious hot cocoa. I relaxed and watched House and Lie To Me. When I got up for a between show intermission, my back had a bad spasm. Eventually it sorted itself out. Yoga is supposed to make me stronger, not injure my body.

return to work

Had a good sleep after that late and most horrid return. Mom even made me breakfast! Poached egg, muffins, bacon, and orange juice. My ideal morning meal.

Uncle Rolfe and Aunt Alison stopped by in the afternoon for a catch up chat. Talked about drains and ditches and hot tubs. Basil melted for Alison’s pets. She wasn’t so pleased with me. Oh well.

Soon it was time to depart and pick up dad at the airporter drop off in Silverdale. He was there when we arrived. He had a spoon and fork salad set for mom and myself. I picked the cat one and mom received the giraffe set. There was also a decorated (hollowed out) ostrich egg to put with our collection of around the world goodies. The three of us went to Skipper’s. Hurray for fish & chips!

Once we got home, we all promptly hopped in the hot tub. Dad tested all the different seats. Mom floated over the main powerful jet. I just soaked and relaxed. It is such an excellent way to relax. I wish I had one in Portland. So easy to hop in for a few minutes and rest.

Then it was time to get dry and dressed and head to Tacoma again. Mom tucked a tired and weary dad into bed and then the two of us set into the descending night once again. It was dry and a delightful drive. Arrived with time to spare.

My seatmate was a young girl in a cookie monster hat. Worked on typing up the poetry that is due tomorrow. The train movie was Julie & Julia.

The 506 (or was it the 509?) arrived fifteen minutes early in Portland and I just managed to catch the Green line. The red took a while, so all in all it took me thirty minutes to get in my front door.

Katie said she missed me.

I got right to homework. Did two stencil images for my reading response to Dylan Dog (it was a free choice this week). I don’t like construction paper for stenciling. Newsprint cuts so easily. Then I did some character studies of people in out of my poems, including myself. Cut them out and put them on blue paper then cut that out and put some lettering to indicate which poem they are from. And I think that is it for things that are due tomorrow. Now all I have to work on is screenprinting.

dance / snow my god

Ma's mini barn was completed. She is going to put a framing workshop and sewing station in their.

Took a hot tub soak before getting dressed for the show. It was so very very cold. And wet.

Put on a skirt and tights and grabbed the big coat. Don't know why I didn't bring more layers. Oh well. It was fairly dry heading over, just cold. Picked up Rubie in Tacoma and then headed to Everett. Left at 3pm, arrived around 5:45. Long long drive. Ate a meal at McDonald's. Something easy, ya know.

There was a line outside the Comcast Center but it was assigned seating, so you didn't have to show up that early. Rubie had an umbrella, I had a hood. Mom waited outside for Averie and we went in to get our seats.

We were a ways back, but there were screens so we could see the show. Seats were uncomfy and the place was cold. Oh well. Averie and Mom came in at around 7:15 and then come 7:30 it was time for So You Think You Can Dance season five tour!!

The top 12 were there: Jeanine, Janette, Randi, Caitlin, Kayla, Evan, Brandon, Ade, Kupono, Jason, and Phillip. I hooted and cheered and clapped plenty. In between dances, they hammed it up. There was a narrative about that unfortunate Russian Dance that went through the whole show. And every now and again they would switch things up. Other dancers would come in during the numbers or they would mix up their outfits. It was soooo much fun. Saw a lot of the numbers that I loved so much over the summer. All our favorites were there, and Averie who had not seen much of the show also had a good time. Oh oh and there was Bollywood! The lights were bright and the sound was loud. It was great. Made me wish I could dance...

It was hell getting back. It was pouring rain, the roads were pooling water and ma did her best not to hydroplane. Dropped Rubie off and then off we went into the dismal night. It was horribly slow going and when we got to Seabeck, there was SNOW. Actual snow coming from the sky. It as only a slush and it wasn't at our house, but for a few miles it was bonafide snow.

Tomorrow I return. Then I am in Portland for three more nights, then I am back in Washington for Thanksgiving.

blue underwater lights and bright stars

The water heaters were being replaced, so I had to wait a bit for my shower. Piled all my things for the weekend. I am almost getting better at pairing down the supplies I think I need for visits.

Katie was cleaning hardcore. Apartment will be all nice and shiny. For a week.

It was raining as I departed, but it wasn't so bad. Waited for streetcar, got to the station at a good time. Didn't have to wait around forever to board. Got an aisle seat. I read a chapter out of Dylan Dog, bought my standard train hot dog with mayo, mustard, and ketchup. Then I took a nap for a couple hours. I didn't think I napped for that long, but I woke up to mom calling me at 4:30. Train ended up getting into Tacoma a bit late.

Mom took me, Nate, and Rubie out for dinner at a nice little place in Tacoma. It was uhh some dude & some dude. I don't remember the name. Fish and meat mostly. Rubie and I both had Mojito's, ma and brother stuck to water. The mojito was tasty tasty. My grilled steak salad was enjoyed, except for the steak which took too much effort to cut. The onion rings and salad part was quite good. My portion was gigantic compared to the others, and I think mine was the cheapest. After eating, we played some Wii. I mostly lost, except at Wii Golf.

After the drive home, mom and I got in the hot tub. Just perfect. It is a really fabulous unit. Huge and better than the one at the Bremerton athletic club. And it has a great view of the stars. Mmm, nice.

I'm so ready for that hot tub

Ohhhh man, yoga really ran me over. I felt so sore and beat the whole day. Anyway.

Got my images ready for class like a good girl. We had a run down of where we all are, and we are all pretty awesome. Loaned Madeline my copy of Raw Shark Texts. Gave her a little drawing for her birthday.

It was a work day. During lunch I put emulsion on my screen and loitered in the print lab while it dried. Katie came in and we gabbed. I showed her the exposing room. Cool stuff. I left my screen to dry and returned to class. Worked on digital stuff.

Finished my digital version and printed it out. Martin ordered me to do another illustration, seeing as how I had the time. So I worked on finishing up the other one and printing it out. Ha.

At around 5:20 I returned to the print lab and found Mark and uhh oh dang I forgot his name. The boys working in the lab last night. They were in the lab and Heather was showing them how to stretch a screen. So I jumped to get a piece of that action. Ripped the silk off the screen that had the razor accident in the drying room. The stretching process is a combination of hydraulics, metal bars, silk, and glue. It's pretty cool and the hydraulic operation box looks like cheap sci-fi with it's two knobs and two gauges. And it is all sky blue. So yeah, I inhaled some intense glue fumes and we three got our screens stretched. Looks all shiny and new. Now I have three proper screens, and one wooden one. Heather was talking about how she has so many screens because she just takes old frames and stretches them. $10 for a great screen, versus the $30-$40 it costs to get one ready made. Whoo whooo!

Then I printed the first layer of my rain piece. There is so much printing to be done on it. Heather even gave me some of her left over mylar so that I could use it for registering the small details (otherwise I would be hefting a big piece of mylar back and forth for each print, and that just bogs down the process). It pays to hang out and be friendly in the print lab. I had a great time talking with Heather, who told me the origin of the Christmas tree. I made sure to reuse some of the left over ink for my printing (she was going through all the ink and sorting through it).

I got out of there at around 8pm. Went to Safeway to pick up dinner and train snacks. Theatre size candy was one for a dollar. Runts, Gobstoppers, and Nerds oh my! Got Sushi and Perrier and cheese puffs and tried to find corn nuts but had no luck. Outside the store, I had a chat with another biker about how awesome helmets are.

It is really believable how tired I am. Lots of roaming, lots of bumping into things, lots of work, and biking here and there.

Oh, I also collected a file of the best of my kitten and cat photos for Samala (she is doing a plague of cats piece). Sent them to her for reference. Afterward I thought "oh crap, there are pictures of my family members in there, she will realize we all are crazy, not just me." I hope I can see a little bit of Basil in one of her 30 cats.

Just relaxed. Ahh. So nice. Sushi was good, even though it was just Safeway.

Rain - Red Umbrella

Photoshop.

if both knees are bad, do they both become good again?

Moved on to the Lenny Bruce segment of History of Laughter. First there was some discussion about the breakdown of communication due to technology (I agree on the idea that the easier it is to say things, the less important those things are). Discussed...more stuff. Yeah.

Today, I wore this shirt Celia gave me way back around 8th grade. Red with wild prints. I love it. It is loose and stands out, which you think wouldn't happen in a place as wacky as art school. But there is a set system to how to combine prints, and big floppy actual 90's shirts are not in that system. Normally it is a boho dress or some torn tights under a patterned skirt. Flannel everywhere, but not old school flannel. Just as a print, not the real deal. Anyway, I love the shirt and got many comments on it. I took them for compliments.

Lacey and her blues dancing crew were giving a demonstration in the commons. She brought cute boys and one, Andrew, asked me to dance. I sort of moved through one song then went for Quizno's. Diana really cut a rug on the cement floor. She danced with all the boys (all three of them). It was a jolly lunch.

Some prints from the Schnitzer collection were on loan to us for today. 60's minimalism mostly, with some Josef Albers thrown in there. Really top notch stuff in name; only about half the pieces held my interest. But it was productive and insightful. Some of the other printmaking classes joined us in our learning. Morgan told a story of how some guy he met in the gym said that he looked like an artist and this led to Morgan meeting him at his place to look at his art work. The guy lived in a purple house with no floors and they had to line his huge paintings outside along the fence and the peacocks came out to be fed. All the while it was snowing. Morgan says that experiences like that are why you should 1) say yes and take a chance and 2) be an artist. He said that things like that just seem to happen to artists. Maybe because we pay enough attention to realise what is going on? Or maybe we would appreciate it more. There is more to the story buy I can't disclose it here.

I had to loaf around for two hours waiting for the print lab to be free enough to print. In the downtime I cut my paper down. I'm doing a huge edition to make up for the fact that I'll probably lose a few just to me not caring enough. Well I do care. I need to get good practice, but registration is such a bother.

In an hour and a half (between the class getting out and yoga) I: applied emulsion, put an image onto the screen, exposed the screen, washed the unexposed emulsion off the screen, let it dry, mixed a color, set up my station, and printed the some 40-50 prints. About 30 are at 8"x10" and 15 are 8"x6" or whatever. The image I was printing today is 8"x8". It is on tan paper and I used a transparent brown. I will layer the brown and make a nice soft toned image in keeping with the aesthetic I utilized with the Katie with Jade Plants piece. I didn't get an exact count of the numbers. 6x6=36. Ohh. Wow I should have just bought five sheets of paper. Ha, oh well. 36 8x10 and (lets see, 3 8x6 a sheet, 6 sheets, 6x3 is...) 18 8x6 prints. That's a lot of art. Whoo! Enough for the edition, and if I am lucky, I'll get some stuff in the Holiday Art Sale for the first time.

The Holiday Art Sale is an annual sale where students put their work in the commons and people can buy it right on the spot. The paintings are crowded on the wall and there are tons of cool prints and goodies to purchase. Good for last minute gifts. I've always slacked on getting things in it, but now I actually have a reasonable stock of things.

I think I forgot to mention that I slipped in the print lab yesterday. I was wearing my Romeo's and those shoes have no traction left on the bottom. There are tons of puddles of water around the studio left from people moving wet screens about. I stepped in one and my foot went out from under me and I hit the cement floor with full force on my good knee. It hurt but I got up and went back to what I was doing. The bruise isn't so bad, and it isn't really all that injured. Just when yoga came around tonight, it kicked my butt. I couldn't do anything that required strength in my left leg.

I can bike just fine though. Caught a little bit of rain coming back, but nothing too hostile. Relaxed. Ate food. Drew a little something something for Madeline's birthday. Drew the stencils for my silkscreen project for illustration. I drew them at relatively small scale, and I will see how they look blown up. I'm excited for this project. Just sucks that there is a print class in the studio on Thursday. Boo!!

And I can't print Friday because I am going home for So You Think You Can Dance! Yaay! I haven't watched the elimination episode, no spoilers.

screenprint season begins

Getting to an entry at a reasonable time. Whoo!

Monotype introduced a "rainbow roll" which is when you roll up several colors on one roller. That way you can get a nifty gradient on your plate. Whee! For the first half of class, Phil and I collaborated. We did two images with his backgrounds and my stencils. First one we tried to put the ink over the stencil and that proved most difficult. Mainly because Phil didn't quite figure that it would be best to put the stencils LAST. But it was an experiment. It had a different look than regular cutouts. Still neat, but not perfect. Then we did one of Ahab going after the whale. A combination rainbow roll + stencil + multiple layers. It was okay.

Then we went our separate ways. I did another stencil image. Just this one girl on a rainbow roll. The paper was bumped on the plate so I got a double line. Not perfect. Bah. Oh well. Cutting out the stencils takes so long.

Got my schedule. I am in all the classes I signed up for. Go me. confirmed for intermediate silkscreen: Diana & Patsy.

After class I hung around in the studio and kept Cherish company while she printed. I also bought another screen because I realized there was no way I could do the print final AND illustration piece with one good high mesh count screen and one low count mesh screen. And since I am taking intermediate silkscreen, it is probably for the best that I have another one. Yay for new clean never used screen! Cherish's screen is so used.

Went home. Ate an apple. Ate some pasta. Wow, where did the last four hours go?

Anyway, I think I will do the silkscreen for print using the reductive method. I can get started on it tomorrow and hopefully print the first color. Just need to get paper.

Also need to think of Christmas presents for the people back home. What would you guys like? Art? Okay, art it is!

bad poems

Ahk, how did it get to be 1:36am? Well, I don't have to actually roll out of bed till 10, but still. Day after that I get up at 7. Bah.

Okay.

Narrative Image critique: check. It went well, just minor suggestions. Danny brought in a piece with some hot dogs that made us all hungry. It's interesting to know the mediums one goes to when forced to work on short notice. I've done a lot of ink and watercolor, no digital yet because digital printing is such a fuss.

Before lunch, the people who hadn't read their flash fiction read theirs. Then it was food time! And food on days when I didn't pack a lunch beans: Burrito! Chipotle! A meal that lasts me all day.

Talked with Robyn and Rachel and then did the things that needed printing out. Unfortunately I forgot that we needed a poem for when we got back to class. A poem we liked. I would have done with one about rain, but oh well. I've done all my work so one little poem flub ain't no thing. We spent an hour struggling to write poetry and then we did some weird writing exercise using found text. That is, creating poetry using terms and words we find in other sources. My favorite was:

When will I die?
When will the world end?
When does New Moon come out?

I came up with it by entering "When..." into Google and forming a narrative based on the automatic fill in that Google does.

Then class got out and I read an article in Esquire about this hippie commune/video production team. They made this video:

Then I took a nap. Then it was time for yoga! Only three people in it today. Did a lot of warming exercises.

Nick, Katie's friend, had made dinner. Yay! Chicken and pasta and sauce! And I got some because they used my pasta and my sauce. Fair trade I say.

In the mail, we got a large mysterious cardboard flat package. The gold spray paint and fancy lettering could only indicate one sender: Karen Berger. We opened it to find a Hammerpress 2010 Calendar! Probably printing by our beloved sassy lady in the KC. Oh my god so AWESOME! We can't wait to put it up. It is soooo cool. It has a great design and a lovely little month tear sheet.

House was good. Exciting character developments. Then I put in Showgirls to inspire me to start my printing final. I have her face all drawn out. Now I'm not sure how I will progress. I'll screenprint it sure, but I might change how I do the layers. Thankfully I'm printing such a small area. Only 8"x8" on a 8"x10" piece of paper.

Finals time is here. Project list:
-extend a previous Narrative Image assignment
-monotype something (I don't know what our final quite is, or if we even have one)
-write a paper for History of Laughter most likely
-print piece for the class portfolio in History of Print
-finish current illustration piece + final illustration assignment
and somewhere in all that, I'll have to document it all. Not actually so bad in terms of finals. Last spring semester was hardcore.

the scent of ripped out perfume ads

Another late Sunday night.

Got up at noon three days in a row. It's nice.

Katie came back from her wedding. We watched Misery together and ate breakfast. Good movie. Very tense. Kathy Bates was perfect as a deranged fan. While working on homework, we watched The Good Son. Early Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin movie. Not very good. High points in creepy though. Then I watched the new AMC remake of The Prisoner. Decent enough premier. I shall watch more. All in all, a lot of weird and creepy things watched. Best of them was Misery.

My painting is okay. I don't like bristol paper for watercolor, but it isn't worth it to buy better stuff. The poetry packet was interesting, though I mistook some of the descriptions as poetry (but maybe they were, oooohhhh). Did some drawings.

Yeah. My eyes hurt. I want to go to sleep, even though I have been staying up late. Another week. Then it is So You Think You Can Dance! Then Thanksgiving break! I have to get on top of things NOW because if I don't before next weekend, I'll run out of time, yeah.

movie posters

Some cool posters, none of which I made.

yaawn

The the sketch for my Narrative Image piece. It looks pretty cool. I'm looking forward to painting it tomorrow. Mostly ink.

I like Sunday because I just get up and get stuff done. Not going out because it's Sunday. Saturday feels like I should be doing something, but I just do nothing.

Watched Thirst. Korean vampire movie. If you don't like the sound of people chewing and slurping their food, this is not the movie for you.

Tea. Toast. Pasta. Apple. Banana. Cookies. Peppered salami. Fed Luna.

blah

Uuuhhhgg. A more do nothing day than regular Fridays.

Katie is out of the apartment for most of the weekend due to a wedding. Not her wedding, of course. A friend's.

So no Friday Burger. Maybe I should have still gone on my own, but eh. Lazy.

Banana, apple, and toast breakfast. Mmmm.

Pasta and alfredo sauce lunch/dinner. Mmmm.

Candy cane Trader Joe's JoeJoes. Mmmm.

Bought the second batch of train tickets. The next two weekends, I'll be out of town. Need to get ontop of all that I need to finish. Can't silk screen if I am in Washington.

Due next week: flash fiction final piece + flash fiction writing. Illustration stage two. Some History of Laughter reading. Not much, but that just means I have time to get a jump on things. Need to draw out my printmaking portfolio piece.

I'm excited about Dad's woodcraft for Christmas. I won't give it away but I'm sure it will be cool. I'm sad I'll just miss his return this weekend. But I'll see my pop pop in a week after that. Then I'll get steak and bacon and Basil and all those things.

Fire alarm went off again. This time, when they turned it off the firemen forbid us from reentering, so we had to stand in the cold for another 10 minutes. This nice couple with two cats offered me their old cat carrier! Their cats were named Theo and...well I forget the other cat's name. After the alarm, they stopped by my place and gave the the carrier. No more suitcase for Luna! Thanks Joe & Belinda.

food! and art!

Ahh a nice end to a relaxing week. Calm before the flurry of finals. They loom, yes they do.

The first stage critique was amazing! Everyone had a lot of ideas and well developed concepts. I think because we were not hindered by only being at a certain stage, we felt free to go further. It was refreshing. Lots of work to look at and talk about.

For lunch I chilled in the illustration room with Madeline and Danny. Brought a peanut butter sandwich with me. Mmm.

When class resumed, it was an open work period to develop our images. I worked on taking my two main concept sketches and planning them out and refining them in photoshop. It took all class, plus an extra 20 minutes. I'm trying to think how to take them out of the computer and into silkscreen land. Do I take the photoshop layers and print each one out as a black transfer? But that would require further refining and not use the organic ink work that I am fond of. I'll probably redraw them and just hand draw the layers, utilizing a light box.

Right now, the weather goes from day to night with almost no warning. I can be in the computer lab and turn around and suddenly the sky is like ink.

After class, I went to Trader Joe's The candy cane Joe-Joes are back! Joe-Joes are the imitation Oreos that they sell, but now the seasonal kind are back! And they have Advent calendars, which I didn't get because I couldn't avoid eating them for a month. Picked up bananas and cereal bars and pasta and apples and peppered salami and this spiced apple bread mix. Lots of stuff. Stocked up so that I won't be consistently hungry. Oh and bread and bagels. Mmm.

I'm not surprised all the tappers are gone on So You Think You Can Dance. Nigel is rough on the audience, but he does have some truth. The people are not stepping it up like they should. Katie has wedding stuff to attend, so the regular burger is out of the question. Boo. Maybe I should still go, and just sit at the bar and talk to Shelley.