sing it

Oof my ears are ringing and I'm still a little bit tipsy. Thank god for spellcheck.

Mum called today and we had a nice chat.

Cleaned my room. And by that I mean, actually cleaned it. I now have an almost clear line along my shelves. Almost no clutter in front of them. Amazing. Vacuumed the floor a little bit as well. There are still some areas of clutter but still, yow! Go me.

Raquel stopped by later and we chatted for about 45 minutes. Gave her a Lucky Luna and a comic. She's really nice.

It was Katie's friend Miranda's 21st birthday. I was invited along. We went to the Ambassador for karaoke. I didn't sing this time. Tom was there. Luke. Another Luke. Casey. Brandon. Phia. And a wide assortment of people I didn't know. I drank a long island iced tea and drew in my sketchbook. People got a kick out of my sketches of them. Katie sung a couple songs. They were good. I danced a little. Had a cranberry vodka later. And some spring rolls. Shared the rolls (just slightly). Katie brought me home. There was an after party but I wasn't feeling up to it. On the way back we rocked out to Britney Spears and some creepy guy in an SUV made eyes at us. Ew.

It was fun. Now the weekend begins and the serious work begins. Argh.

"if you liked it, you should have put a magnet on it"

Got up early and arrived early to buy paper and print my photos.

We talked about our flat photos for a bit and then got to drawing. Our assignment was to redraw an aspect or shape from our walk from last week. We had to draw it on big charcoal paper and be dynamic and think about composition. I chose a lamp that was outside the 511 building. Very simple. First, Danny, Madeline, and I had to walk to Utrecht and buy paper. I picked up a blue and a pale orange, as well as some sketchbooks.

I used the blue. Mine was really simple but getting the shape just right took some work.

I took a short lunch. Ate my bagel and played on the computer a bit. Got back to work around 1:10.

The phase two section of the project was just one on one. Talked to Martin. He complimented the daberlack piece and said that I needed more of the figures resolved for the spitroast. It all comes down to rendering the gestures of the figures. It was a good talk. Martin is very honest. Told Samala (formally Somala) right up that her photos were not proper. The piece she came back with was really nice. She's gifted.

After I finished, I sat and talked movies and math with Beth, Danny, and Chase. The final critique of the day's project went well. Mostly harmless.

Rode home. Got enough Internet to watch my stories, then it shut down for 45 minutes. Took it easy. Ate some pasta. Now I have a lot of art to create and a memoir to edit. It's just a constant cycle. Narrative Image and Illustration take up the most out of class time. History of Laughter and History of Printmaking both have a writing assignment due in a week and a half, but they are not big. Just require some thought (and who was it that said, "if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter"?). I think I'll do a rough of the Daberlack for the next monotype project. Do a large illustration of it. Yeah. I need to think up imagery for that class.

Oh, this girl named Raquel found me to tell me how much my Luna print brought her joy. It's hanging up in the print section at school right now. Go me!

snuff

Well, here I am writing another entry because the net is down. It was going so well!

Barry didn’t bring in any chocolate filled buns, so I ate the croissant. He talked about Romeo and that line about how he was without his “Ro” that is to say his roe or his eggs or his fertility. Meo was a word for a sigh or something. Being in love and all that. In the middle section we watched a video about Coney Island and its history. The old rides were so much more dangerous, but looked oodles more fun. And the sheer amount of power to run all the lights! Yow. Then they had the clip of Topsy the elephant being electrocuted because she killed some people. It was a brutal elephant snuff video. Rachel turned her head away during it. We got out first writing response. And that was that.

Diana missed that class but she showed up for History of Printmaking. I tooted my train flute and wished her happy birthday and gave her a card laced with glitter. Heheh. The first hour and a half of class was occupied with looking at a printmaking book and covering the history. Baudelaire and all that. There was an engraving of Japanese girls being ferried on a boat being towed by human swimmers. The mid 1800’s writing that went with the engravings was priceless.

Lunch was lean cuisine and an energy drink. When I was microwaving my meal, this lady named Miss Mona (her name was tattooed on her knuckles) and I talked. When I pulled out my food, she said, “girl you need to learn how to cook!” I was a little taken aback by the comment but it’s true.

Looked at books in the library and finished my meal. Checked out a Helen van Meene book. Talked to Terry and BT a little bit. BT is about to make his 100th sale of his homemade moustache wax.

The second half of History of Printmaking was held in the museum. Technically classes were not allowed to meet without prior mention, so we decided to sneak in and have a, “oh my, what is everyone else doing here?” moment instead. It worked! The print exhibit, which is the main reason to check out the museum, was lovely. They had their Durer’s out, some Goya, Jasper Johns, R.B. Kitaj, Kathe Kollwitz, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Piranesi, Rauschenberg, Max Beckmann, Daumier, Redon, Warhol, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Mucha to name a few. A really beautiful collection though some of the layout I felt was a bit weird. A lot of inspiration. One print had something about, “think of me as Rembrant, a little light and filled with darkness.” The Escher exhibit was down. It was a fun class. If we had a question, he would answer it. Told us a great story about Gordon Gilkey. He should be the patron saint of printmaking. Saved a lot of artists during the war (like Max Beckmann).

No Internet. Katie and I decided to take our mind off frustrations and go grab a 3$ burger from the Leaky Roof. Their happy hour is sweet, though I just had a root beer. The burger was delicious and filling. Liz came over a little bit later and we walked to the Goose Hollow Inn. They shared a pitcher and I had some hard cider. We gabbed as girls do and listened to the old men talking. The obvious regulars and the zany stuff they say. While Liz and Katie hung out, I worked on my Illustration homework. Tomorrow I will decided between Daberlack and Spitroast. Have reference pictures and sketches but I still don’t know. If I do Daberlack, it would be silk screened.

11:50pm update: the Internet is back! I got my sketches with some early color and I feel good about tomorrow. Whee!

ramachandran bang bang

Monotype! We had a demo that further confirmed how to paint with the inks and stuff. After than we took another lengthy walk since the weather was good. Erin wanted to show us a dead bird that she was curious about printing. After that we walked up to 22nd and Raleigh to check out this framing shop that the print tech Chris works at. The school is on 13th and Johnson and all the street names are alphabetical. So yeah, we walked far. At 12:15 we broke for lunch. There was a fish and chips man next to the framing place so I indulged myself. The place was called the Frying Scotsman and was a little camper turned cookery. I ordered the cod and chips. The chef was indeed from Scotland. I neglected to ask where he was from.

It took the entire, 35 minute walk back to PNCA to finish my lunch. Well, it wasn't a big portion, it just takes a lot to walk and eat at the same time. It was scrumptious. It's hard to find fish and chips outside of a bar in Portland. I'll have to pilgrimage by bike and visit him again.

Sat with Katie for the rest of lunch.

The rest of the studio time was occupied by doing at least one reductive and one additive print. Reductive is rolling a Plexiglas plate up with ink and using a cloth and mineral spirits to pull the highlights out. Additive is just using the ink and mineral spirits to paint with. My reductive was a portrait of a lady in a hat and a collar with a thick black cloak. I applied the black a little too think and it oozed out a little but it ended up okay. Then I did an additive portrait of myself in a yoga pose. I wasn't so thrilled by it but I did enjoy some of the textures. Finally I did another, smaller additive self portrait. It got great reviews by Tom and he showed it off to everyone deliberately. Go me! Darya did a beautiful and large Bjork portrait. It ended up fabulous but she wasn't so thrilled. The bird did get printed. The claws were cool but it seemed a lot of fuss just to print roadkill. I cleaned the ink station and scooted out of the school right at time.

Katie said she was going to the V.S. Ramachandran lecture at Lewis & Clark college and I was welcome to join her. It was a hurried drive over to the campus. It took a while to find the correct parking spot and there was a great deal of hurried walking to get there not too late. The place where the talk was held wasn't closed to late people, so that was awesome. We got a spot on the floor. Ramachandran is a neuroscientist. He talked about synesthesia, phantom limbs, and how people who want limbs willingly amputated always feel better after they get it removed in Mexico (because US doctors won't perform elective limb removal). It was fascinating and even though it wasn't a subject I was at all familiar with, he still explained everything in a very accessible way. Katie got her book signed after. She was thrilled. A lot of his studies have inspired her work.

Got back late. Ate the bagel I neglected at lunch time. Fun classes tomorrow!

I don't speak Italian!!

Got up pretty fine, even though I was up till 3am finishing things up. After going through my outline, all the things I wanted to write about barely took up six pages. Oops, oh well it is just a rough draft. I had some problems printing because of the two computers that I picked to print from, both of them were not hooked up to the printers. I did find one. Bryan, Robin(different Robin, not Milliken), and I grouped together and discussed some sections from our memoirs.

Mary Slo-something gave us a lesson in punctuation and grammar and copy editing. I'm glad I don't really seriously edit my blog. If I did, I would be up all night pondering about commas.

Kristen and I went to Quizno's for lunch and sat in the library and gabbed. Robin stopped by. We broke away early because I had to scan and Kristen had to call Kris. Rest of class was a review of our thumbnails. Some people worked harder than others on theirs (Danny is awesome). The class moved pretty good for a studio. Next week the final is due with the illustrations. Yay for long weekend. I spent the rest of the time reading the Lyn Ward assignment, which was pretty easy to do because it was just a serious of woodcuts with no words. Course a picture is worth a thousand words but whatever, still didn't take that long.

I've been working at a nice pace getting through the Jokes and the Unconscious reading. Every now and again it gives a joke in it's native French, German, or Italian, and doesn't explain what the joke is about for another two pages. It really kills the fun of jokes with its analysis. And it is going in one ear and out the other. One of the jokes was something along the line of, "well you may have a famous person's name but you are not as awesome as they are." Ha ha ha.

Had a delicious pasta dinner. The three cheese Trader Joe's sauce is fantastic. Mmm. Welp, gotta get to bed. Catch up on the sleep. Monotype tomorrow.

two paragraph blog post

Forgot to mention that I replaced my brake pads yesterday. Only on the back but now my bike can stop on a dime! It was more of a slow stop before. Who needs a man when you have Allen wrenches.

Slept in. Got a late start on my memoir. Payed the electric bill (it is finally going down now that Gabe isn't always simmering something or making bread). Don't want to write too much because I'm still a little ways away from being finished with the rough draft.

posters part two

I had a horrible night sleep. When I decided to stay up and watch the sunrise, that is when I passed out for a couple hours.

Productivity was my goal today! And I was productive. I wrote out ideas for my memoir. Worked on a rough outline. Finished my reading and did a sketch for one of the stories. It isn't much to write about but it was work. I was groggy and stayed home.

Productivity is good! Tomorrow will be write write write draw draw draw.

Here are some more cool movie posters to fill in the lack of words.

interesting

I slept in and then took another heavy nap at around 4.

Between the first sleep and the second one, I read the essay on memoir. There's a whole chunk that rexplains first, second, and third person. It is a huge spoon feeding that left me not wanting to read more of the essay. But I did.

Today's TBA performance, and final one for the season, was Raymund Hoghe's Bolero Variations. The place was crowded, but it was people waiting to get into the other show. The show was in a beautiful blue auditorium with green seats and red accents. The show was another thing that falls under the term of "deconstruction" except this time it was done right.

This was the first time Hoghe was in America. The big debut on historic 9/11. His French but Armenian born performer was held back due to visa issues. Visa issues that none of the other foreign performers had. There was a hole in the performance for sure, but it didn't hinder it.

The majority of the piece was an intense focus on small and calculated dance moves. It takes a long of strength and talent to keep consistent with things like that. There were a few faced paced dance numbers that proved the talent of the performers. Still, the majority of the long piece was slow. The short numbers were mostly there to confirm that they were indeed marvelous and talented. To show they were skilled and it does take skill to do something so intense and minimal. This is lost on a lot of the work that I have seen. It was lost of the audience as well. People left during intermission (the show was 140 minutes long, which is longer than three Angel episodes). At times I did want to leave but I asked myself what I found so dull and then I studied the movements more and became engrossed once again.

The performance included a part where the five male members all poured sand onto the stage. One of the dancers took over the part for the missing performer and a teeshirt was set on the ground in his place. At the end, Raimund bowed the shirt in the performers place. Mr Hoghe was a short man with a hump back. A very intriguing figure that I was happy to see on the stage. The other men were very attractive and it was nice that it ended with them shirtless. The only woman had a very hard to determine age. From some angles she looked 60 and others barely 30.

It was long but moving.

milkoholic

Blaah I'm tired but I don't want to skimp on the day's reportings.

The first hour and a half of Illustration was devoted to walking about and taking pictures. The goal was to find flat compositions in our everyday surroundings. Focus on color and shape and all that over subject matter. Madeline, Chase, and I walked down to Tanner Springs and wandered over towards the train tracks. Took pictures of grass and buildings and stuff. We crossed paths with Danny on the way to the rooftop of Hot Lips. It was a mistake to go past Hot Lips because then I got a craving to have pizza for lunch.

Lunch rolled around. And I got some pizza and bread sticks. Darn it! Oh well. Sat with Bekka and Madeline in the library.

After lunch, it was critique time. We have a magnetic wall in the room so no more painful thumbtacks for us! Awesome. It took an hour and a half to cover the thumbnails but we covered them very well. My slang is down to either daberlack or spit roast. Madelin and Kristen are both doing cockney rhyming slang. Danny is doing double sawbuck. Soloma (or is that Sonoma) is doing cat's pajamas. Rachel is doing weeabo. The critique of "shorty" was hilarious and very matter of fact about what defines a shorty. I have a better idea of what is expected from a thumbnail now. Not that mine were bad, just all over the place. After a break, we played with our photos on the computer and made them colorful and stuff.

Then homeward bound! Watched my guiltiest of guilty pleasure TV shows and did my laundry. After my laundry was folded, I went to see Carter's Erased James Franco.

It was a short video at the museum theatre. The same place where someone removed my bike seat from its column to steal my cheap, and not working, bike light. Erased James Franco is a reference to Erased De Kooning. It is a deconstruction of a film which I haven't seen so I didn't get the references. It was mostly deconstructed acting. Whatever that means. It sounds right. A lot of it was one half of a conversation and non sequential but still wildly entertaining at times. Really hard to pinpoint. Franco was charming.

I sat next to ANOTHER GUY NAMED JASON. Oh my golly, where do they all come from? We chatted but nothing more came out of it. My bike seat was still in place. Went back home and watched Glee and So You Think You Can Dance. The former had really bad lip syncing and the latter was fun fun fun.

land of milk and bit-o-honey

Early morning! Barry brought in delicious pastries. I had the chocolate filled one. This guy in my class, Peter, looks like belong on a detective show. His look and posture just make him appear as a confidant cop or something. I drew a picture of him as such and showed it to him. We chatted a little during one of the breaks. Barry and I had the same shoes on. Class was about Freud and Coney Island and how both came to be around the same time and the differences between dream and reality. A lot was discussed but not so much retained.

In History of Printmaking, we discussed the end of year project. It will be a mini print portfolio which we will bind ourselves. 8x10. The theme is Plague of Pigs/Swine Flu. Mostly because there are three cases within PNCA and Purell stations have appeared all across school. Dang.

I spent lunch in the library. Looking at books and nibbling some delicious Lean Cuisine.

Turned in a form mom sent me. Looked at Daniel's James Jean sketchbook. So beautiful.

After lunch we sat around under a projector and Morgan read out the "best bits" of Revelation and we looked at Durer's very literal prints that covered the text as he read it. I made a joke about one being busy.

Rode home. Hurrah. Worked on finishing up some thumbnails. Killed time till Neal Medlyn!!

Luke, Katie's friend, came over for dinner and later they went to the show.

I left early to meet Jay. Medlyn's show was being held at The Works. The Works is just a large building that gets taken over for TBA every year but the location changes every time. In 07 it was at the Wonder Ballroom(I believe that is what it was called). I saw Some Cats from Japan there. In 08 it was at this little warehouse just off of Broadway and Halsey or something. I saw Neal Medlyn and Ten Tiny Dances there. This year it is at Washington High School, which was abandoned quite a few years ago. Spooky. I wandered in trying to find Jay (I left my cell at home) and the PICA (Portland Institute for Contemporary Arts) lady said, "Your friend is not here." It was really weird. How would she know who my friend was? How would she know it isn't one of the PICA people? Very rude.

I went to see Tyler Wallace and Nicole Dill's piece on the south lawn of the school. It was a camera rigged up in their car so that we could listen and watch what was a supposed private conversation. Pretty cool watching people you know in something as big as TBA but in knowing the people, I know that Dill's laugh sounded really inauthentic. Sat with Daniel and chatted. Jay showed up.

The venue was an auditorium. It wasn't standing only like his last show. But this show wasn't like his last one. There was singing, sure. It also had a narrative about purity and stuff. It was not at all what I expected but by the end, I still continue to be in awe of Medlyn. He knows how to keep something new and conceptual but still accessible. That is really hard when it comes to performance and contemporary art. His foil was an amazing singer.

Jay bought me a soda pop. She's a sweety.

Rode my bike back and almost accidentally went over the Morrison Bridge. No bike lane on that thing. Now to clean the makeup off my face and wake up and hope I didn't space on anything for Illustration. I don't think I did.

gold shimmer eye shadow rocks

I'm still picking the ink out from under my nails.

A nice morning. Ate some oatmeal, creme cheesed up a bagel, and rode to school. The bike parking is crazy full now. I discovered that Sonoma is the scooter bandit. That is, she is the person who parks her scooter with the bikes to avoid paying for parking.

We took a long walk in monotype. Walked up to a thrift store to look at fabrics and scavenged material along the way. Talked with Tarryn and Chelsey and Robin and Tom. It was a great day for a walk.

I wasn't all that psyched about my prints. I scratched into one with my fingernail and did a drawing but it didn't turn out that well. There is a bleed print that I am happy with. I just printed the string and stuff that was left over from the stencil print that I did. Finally, Tom gave me a quick demo about painting with the ink and I did a quick print with that. The ink was very hard to move around. Didn't move at all the way I am used to painting. Have to relearn how to draw with each new medium. I was satisfied with the print and was pleased to be moving on to the thing I wanted to take the class for. I don't mind stencil printing, it just isn't how my mind words. Patsy did a breathtaking piece. That girl sure can print.

During lunch was the first meeting of the Illustration Drawing Club. We had a portrait party in the library. BT, Daniel, Kim, Bekka, Madeline, two foundation students whose names I didn't commit harder to memory, Jay, and Lacey were there. I did a couple little portraits and we all sat and gabbed. It was fun.

Rest of the evening was spent with udon and eggs and the bible and other readings. I was taking it easy a little too long because then I remembered I have to get up a lot earlier on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. Oh well, week is almost over now.

Neal Medlyn is tomorrow night! I can't wait.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Whoo, Happy Birthday!

mmm food

Last night was really fun. After District 9, Adam bought a bottle of bubbly and we popped it open and watched Hot Fuzz. Katie came back and fell asleep between us on the couch. It was cute. At around 3 I went to sleep. Adam had to catch an early flight so he was gone before I regained consciousness.

As I was sorting out my muddled thoughts, Jay asked if I wanted to get brunch. I said sure and at 12:30 I got on my bike and went to the other side. The place, Jam, had a line. Inside was cozy and the waitstaff was friendly. Service was a little slow but I was in no hurry. I ordered hash browns with cheddar and bacon. Classes and assignments were discussed. It was a wonderful brunch. I finished my plate off entirely. Jay didn't have her femlans packaged. We rode across the Hawthorne bridge together and parted ways at the other side.

I'm almost done with Revelation and I took a little bit of a bite out of the Narrative image packet. Long weekends get wasted a lot easier than short ones.

does anybody want a peanut?

The Internet has maintained! Whoo hooo!!

Worked on reading mostly. Kept well fed. Katie went to see Miguel Gutierrez. She is off with JP, her sister, and her sister's friend at Dante's.

Adam was in town for one night only and he came over. I popped open my bottle of Riesling. His glass conferences have been totally awesome. He made a glass fish that is cool. We decided to catch the 10:10 showing of District 9 because District 9 is awesome. We toddled over quite happily tipsy. On the way to the theatre we passed a long line of Anime nerds. A convention I suppose. Reminds me of being 15 and totally geeky. Anime nerdom is such a clique in itself. You are either in or you are out. It is weird.

District 9 was just as good the second time around, if not better. Still highly recommended to all. Low budget movies should be supported.

Yaaay four day weekend!

war and wigs

Guess what I woke up to this morning? If you guessed a severe case of the Internet gone-awaysies then you would be right. Blargh. Again. The Goose Hollow desk people say that we should write a letter to the property manager.

Without the net, I can’t access the Freud reading assignment. But it isn’t the only thing I have to read. Worked on the Bible some more. Revelation 2:23 was a little redundant. “And I will kill her children with death.” Yeah. Of course death will kill someone. DUUHHH. Still, that whole living creature and sacrificed lamb and seals stuff. Neat.

While watching Saving Private Ryan, I worked on my Illustration assignment. For the Slang assignment I am looking at foreign words. The Albanians have 27 separate words for moustache and an equally different number for eyebrows. There is the Czech Vyspat se do Cervana/Rusova. Which means to sleep into the red, or to be well rested. The Ullans/Northern Ireland has daberlack, which is to have wild untamed hair like seaweed. Some fun stuff. Have a couple rough sketches.

Today’s TBA was Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People. They were performing Last Meadow. All the James Dean references were lost on me. I met a PSU nice theatre major named Mark. We sat next to each other and talked about words. He knew the word for the fear of long words (it itself is a very long word).

The show. Uhhh. It was either great or unbearably loud. Some wonderful intense dancing and then some weird reinterpretations or deconstructions or whatever the kids are calling it these days. Some parts I was lost, others I became very distressed, and sometimes I couldn’t get the smile off my face. It was a real mixed bag but the performers really gave it their all. I saw Neal Medlyn, who composed the performance. I wanted to say something to him but I didn’t. I feel like dancing now.

"I want to play Library"

Internet is still going strong.

I worked on sloooowly reading Revelation today. It's the reading for History of Printmaking. Some weird stuff going done. God is all like, "yo yo yo my tongue is made up of swords!" Yeah.

Katie cleaned the apartment and tidied. I took out recycling the other day and unloaded and loaded the dishwasher. Keeping things clean is never ending. I need to work on sorting out my room a little.

TBA for today was Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company's performance The Shipment. Reading the description it sounded like another white guilt trip. The line was full of rowdy ladies in their 60's who got grumpy the moment they had to stand in a crowd for more than a minute. They complained that as ticket holders they were being treated as second class citizens or something. Annoying.

The show was really good. It far surpasses my expectations. The first part was a monologue of the standard how white people different from black people humor. The performer was good and kept the (very much dominantly white)audience on its toes. No one walked out, which surprised me. From there it went to a very dramatic tale of Omar; a young man who dreamed of being a rapper. There were five actors and they switched out roles. It wasn't smooth acting but more exclamations of stereotyped dialogue. It was good. Three of the members got together for a song and then the final act commenced. I knew that the five actors were playing white characters from the get go because the opening lines were about the characters highly selective diet (no dairy, no red meat, no alcohol, no gluten, etc.). It was a riveting little drama though the end line, which revealed that they were all playing white people, lost its impact because I figured it out. It was a good start to TBA. A little bit of controversy. A little bit of dancing. A few new ways to think about things.

Saw Robin after the show. We didn't really chat as she seemed to be chilling with other people. Went back. Hung out with Katie. Watched some Buffy and some Angel. Now to return to my Bible studies.

just a word about missing posts

The Goose Hollow internet is now frequently going down every couples nights. Sometimes it lasts an hour and sometimes it is out for a night and a day. If there is no entry, assume that this is why. I like writing my blog and only don't write it if I am completely and totally unable to do it.

the bike came back (as did the internet)

Wednesday:

Nets down. Again. Writing now so that I don’t have to write later.

6am alarm for my only 8am class.

Ran into Bekka on the way to History of Laughter. She is in the class with me! Whooo. The class is full with a few waitlisted. Diana is in there. Gavin and Taryn as well. A guy named Marshall is in the class. He went to School of Visual Arts in New York. Really nice. There are a few MFA’s in the class. They mostly kept to themselves. There are about 25 people in the class.

Discussion went all over the place. Barry talked about how comedy is better than tragedy because comedy includes tragedy. The origin of the word laughter is unknown. It was also a sum up of his lecture from the day before. I listened but didn’t take notes. I learned in 10th grade that if I focus on just writing what the teacher writes, I won’t learn anything.

I can’t wait to get into the discussions. First reading is some Freud. It’s an interesting crew. Next class I will sit next to Marshall. Well, I will sit on the side of the table facing the white board. And try to sit next to Marshall. Seems nice.

We used the whole class and off I went to 207 for History of Printmaking. Cherish, Daniel, Robin, Diana, Antonia, and Danielle are in that class. When Morgan entered, he declared the room unsuitable for class and went to claim 204 instead. We sat on the floor and had printmaking story time. We tried to narrow down a definition of printmaking. Talked about Durer and the Bible. Our first reading is Revelation. The syllabus he gave us is genius. Very minimal but very Morgan. The date that we take off for Thanksgiving is simply listed as, “Bird”. There is one big project for the class and we also have to read two books. Any two. I was thinking Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch for one.

Lunch came and we were told not to return after it. Diana and I went to Laughing Planet. Mmm burrito. We sat on the roof of the building (there is a dining area up there). Very warm. I picked up my TBA tickets and we walked back.

I was very sweaty upon my return and took a second shower and relaxed. I got my mail and my package. After that I wheeled my poor bike to Bike Gallery. The tire deflated not 6 blocks out the door. The tube fix and brake pads came up cheaper than I expected. Occasional repairs > constant gas money. I now have my precious bike! I have to attach my brake pads myself but I’m sure I can do it. The tube was a bit beyond my comprehension.

Now I get to sleep in 30 minutes more and go to Trader Joe’s.

Katie and I made a Safeway run. Halfway through I experienced a sharp pain in my stomach. Very sudden and very much ouch. In 10 minutes the pain was gone but it sure did suck. Bought a pile of Granny Smith and some bagels and some crème cheese spread. Emergen-C is on the Trader Joe’s list.

I haven’t been productive these nights. I have a four day weekend so I’ll be productive then. Friday and Saturday I have TBA shows but Sunday and Monday I have nothing. Lots of reading to be done!

Thursday:

Night two of no Internet. You would think that they could figure a way to resolve this within twenty four hours. Booo!

Final class of the week is Illustration. It’s the biggie. It is why I am here.

Danny, Kristen, Madeline, Sonoma, and Chase are in my class. And about 5 others with names I can’t recall. It’s a cozy little size.

Martin talked about the market and his experiences and how hard you should work yourself (the hardest possible). He asked us about the first images that inspired us and if we had any initial questions. We broke for an early lunch. I sat the commons and waited for Mel (I am loaning her my History of Design texts). Kristen joined me, as did Katie for a bit. Later Madeline came and Katie went. We girls talked about hair.

The last half of class was a character assignment. There was a list of archetypes and we had to select one and create a portrait of a character taking the archetype in a new way. I made a triad formed by a prophet, her twin brother the messenger, and a warrior who protects them (who is a lady). The initial designs I liked, but the final wasn’t to be desired. I didn’t have my good ink or my good brushes. Only my crummy ink and my gunked up brush. Still, I finished it before 5pm.

Bryan gave me his TBA pass and I gave it to Kristen to give to Natalie. Nats will get whatever she wants to see, and I will use what is left. I’m pretty fine with the five shows I have picked out.

Went to Trader Joe’s. The kitchen and cupbards seem to be finally rounded out with enough food to last me a decent while. Hurrah!

Made myself some udon with two eggs. Later had a banana dipped in chocolate. Mmm. Watched Shallow Grave. Definitley not the movie I thought it was. The apartment is a good piece of set design.

day two of year three

Katie made me breakfast! Egg and toast and bacon! We walked to school together as well.

Monotype looks like it will be fun. You draw with oil on Plexiglas plates and print them on paper and it looks cool. I'm excited. It's my "no reading required" class. Hopefully a little chance to relax. In the class are: Robin, Phil, Ali, Patsy, Chelsey, Danielle, Taryn, Darya, Erin (different Erin), Antonia, and another one who will have a name I remember eventually. There is a TA as well. Also has a name. Tom is our teacher. Seems really cool. There is a half jovial spirit, half seriousness thing in the class right now. I lean towards jovial though Robin didn't seem impressed. Oh well. We had a quick explanation and we broke early to get food and paper (that will be the main cost this semester as all the other supplies are there in the studio).

Lunch was free pizza and cupcake! We had convocation in the commons. I sat with Jay, who had a magnificent new short do. I sat next to a new fella named Jason. We talked about movies and names. Barry Sanders led the convocation and talked about the dawn of humor and how laughter is what creates our soul. It was a lovely speech and I cannot wait to get up and go to class tomorrow. Sucks that it is early in the morning but oh well. I'll probably get my tire fixed after History of Printmaking gets out.

Ran into Katie and we walked to her studio together. She has one in the Stevens! I drew a picture of Luna and her doing a jig on Luna on her wall. It is awesome. Afterwards we went to this grocery that Fawn recommended. Cheap by Whole Foods standards, expensive by my Trader Joe's standards. Picked up a yogurt and some mochi thing that didn't look like any mochi I had ever had. And some fancy apples. Ginger Gold. Had one later on in the night. Way too delicious. Juicy and just. Yum.

I planned out the first five TBA events I am going to go to. Once Bryan gets me his thing, I'll see what else I have time to attend. Right now it is "The Shipment" by Young Jean Lee, "Last Meadow" by Miguel Gutierrez and the something something, "Bolero Variations" by Raimund Hoghe, "Erased James Franco" by Carter, and "...Hers a Queen" by Neal Medlyn. I saw Neal last year with Averie. He is back and seems twice as awesome as he was.

Still beat and recovering from the return to school. Once I get my tire back, I am going to Trader Joe's! Good deals, here I come!

good girls wear green

Still no fixed bike tire. Walked to school. Not so bad. Just takes 20 minutes longer. More time to think I guess.

Narrative Image is going to be TOUGH. The first assignment (due in four weeks) is a 8-40 page memoir. We also have to illustrate three images for it. Huge. We don't have class next week so by next class we need the rough draft and some thumbnails. It's scary right now but hey, I write every night. No biggie. We also have some reading but I can read.

Bryan, James, Danny, Kristen, Natalie, Rachel, April, Alex, and about 9 others I don't know round out the class. A fair size. The room is the new 815B classroom. The large open section is reserved for a computer lab, the narrow part is where the two tables are grouped. There is already a table division with the people who sit at the different tables. But whatever, my table is cool. Bryan shared some of his M&Ms.

First exercise was a contour drawing of the person across from us. I did James. Then we traded paper and wrote some adjectives about ourselves. Then we traded again and did a proper portrait of the other person. James trimmed his hair but not his beard. He has a major Rip van Rasputin vibe going on.

We worked on time lines off our remembered history, lists of family memories, analysis of the family memories and three events from our history and our fears from around that time. Daniela always has a ping pong effect with her class structure. It bounces around but it is always fun. There is a lot of writing in the class but that is good. By this point it is assumed that we know how to draw and don't need that coaching. It's a hardcore class but hey, I'm up for it. I'm a Junior.

Lunch broke early. I bought some sushi and animal crackers from Safeway. I recon I can buy some seaweed and cucumbers and make a big sushi roll and eat it like a sandwich. A pretty low impact meal. I'm getting ideas. Kristen and I sat in the park and chatted. We migrated around the school. Saw people. Old faces. Leah, Tabitha, Robin, etc.

All the Freshmen look alike. Same styling and all that. I feel like I stand out when I loiter near them. I need to be more filthy or something. Oh well. I was rocking huge fluffy hair today and even put on some makeup. The mascara is giving me trouble. I need to buy some fresh stuff. Right after I buy more freaking food!

After class I waited around for an hour for yoga. I looked through the TBA book. Tons of cool dances and a few neat videos I for sure want to check out.

Yoga was just Ruth, Fawn, and myself. It was fun though. Tough. I'm so out practice for it. Wrists were paining. Fawn helped me go into a hand stand.

Exhausted, I slumped over to the streetcar. I had a wait so I bought a soda from Cool Moon.

So exhausted. Adam was in town for the night. He and Katie went out on the town. I was exhausted. Just watched True Blood and organized the Narrative Image handout.

Monotype tomorrow! Back in the Print Lab. Whooo!! But once that is done, my week will be half done! Four day schedules ROCK!