so…quite a bit has happened since i last dropped in.

firstly: I’VE OPENED AN ETSY SHOP!

**FestiveRoad**

i’ve only got three things listed, but i’m working on more, so my short-term goal is to just build up my shop. we’ll see how things go…but yeah, i’m excited! it was a long time coming…i just let myself get a little bit too busy with school, but proactivity is the name of the game now.

other than that, i’ve been overcome with stress over finding another apartment to live in. in less than a month’s time, i’ll be homeless! hopefully that will all be changed this week, as i’ve got a lease that i’m looking to sign as soon as possible. *BIG SIGH*

school has been busybusybusy, and i’m glad to have leaped over the hurdle of our big illustration assignment. sophomore year illustrators all do a large-scale oil painting in the second semester, and the assignment was to reinterpret a master’s painting. i chose gustave caillebotte’s “paris street on a rainy day”…so here’s my reinterpretation:

that’s rittenhouse square, instead of a paris street, and that’s my dog, koko on the right! it was fun to do an oil painting (i’d never actually done one before, let alone a painting that measured 24″x30″!), but the process really did consume my life for about three weeks. tough stuff, guys! but it’s all over, and it’s all behind me. hallelujah.

here is a little bit more of my schoolwork, starting with a poster that i had to design, some anatomy class photos, and a couple of hand reference shots:

now for other gratuitous photos, because apparently the only thing i’m good at keeping up with on this blog is the photo supply!:

p.s. spring has sort of sprung! it’s been hiding for today and yesterday, but !! it’s here, otherwise.

stay good, kiddies!

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how could i have neglected this for well over a month?  a month and a half!!  i am terrible.  and i do apologize.

since my last entry, i’ve aged one year (the big 2-0!), been to a civil war ball, i’ve done A LOT of school work, a lot of paid work, enjoyed my friends, been to a concert, met my new baby nephew, and i’ve made it most of the way through spring break.  want some photos?  yeah, i think that you want some photos.  i know that i do.

school stuffs:

civil war ball at the union league of philadelphia (2/10/08):

my baby nephew, who was born 2 months premature…please think good thoughts for him:

a trip to the academy of natural sciences with my roommate, mike:

pink martini (i.e. 12-piece musical bliss) at the kimmel center:

good times!

i’m really busy, but it’s good.  on the agenda: find a new apartment (ha!), finish my 24″ x 30″ oil painting (double ha!!), make my accordion book for typography, and don’t forget to breathe.  let’s see if i can manage it…

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…but only sometimes.

last week was INTERESTING, to say the least.  my schedule was pretty obscene, with two days of straight 9-hour blocks of class.  a girl can’t handle it!   alas, my finalized schedule is as follows:

monday- nothing!, tuesday- anatomy, wednesday- pictorial foundation and major artists: balanchine and graham, thursday- typography, and friday- non-silver printmaking.

i did do one night of ceramics, but it ended at 10pm!  on the night before one of my biggest core classes!  that arrangement was more or less impossible for me, so i dropped it and decided to tack on the extra 1.5 credits via non-silver printmaking, as i had the  option to make it a 6 hour, 3.0 credit course.  i’m excited about it!  i foresee the class being a very important tool in terms of new techniques, and this is really the time for me to be exploring.

as for other aspects of life, i’m definitely having a weird time of adjusting to being back at school.  those feelings of inadequacy, failure to meet personal standards, lack of inspiration…they’re all back, unfortunately.  i’m trying to remedy it, though.  i’m sketching everything that pops into my head, and within the past week, i’ve purchased three art books!  my collection is becoming quite impressive…

   

i would highly recommend all three of them.  the rodin book has been helping me with anatomy, the penguin book has been helping me with typography, design concepts, and general insight into the richness of the publishing company’s history, and the gnomes book is really reminding me what creativity and attention to detail is.  i REALLY recommend “gnomes” to all prospective illustrators.  ever watch that old cartoon, “david the gnome”?  this book was the basis of that entire world, and it is bar none the most vividly described and ingenious approach to creating a believable world full of believable creatures.  go out and buy it!  particularly if you can find the book for $4, like i did. 

the rest of my time recently has been filled with homework:

work at the butterflies exhibit in the academy of natural sciences:

taking pictures:

cooking:

and watching project runway.  by the way, THANK GOD RICKY WAS VOTED OFF!  i’m just surprised that he didn’t cry like a wee little baby, seeing as he thought it appropriate to do so every other episode.  i’m rooting for jillian, personally.

what else?  oh yes!  tomorrow night i’ll be going to the annual lincoln ball for the third time at the union league of philadelphia, so it should be a fun night of civil war-era fun and food and music, so you had better believe that there will be photos!  also, my birthday is on monday, so let’s hope that i am showered with gifts and praise and general goodness.  in all seriousness, it will just be a relief to finally be 20.  it’s funny how wearing it can be to have “teen” suffixed onto your age.

have a good weekend, everyone!  see you next week.

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it is absolutely FRIGID in philadelphia.

the new semester has begun, but i simply cannot mention school things until i give a run-down of my break.  in between working two jobs (56 hour weeks), i spent most of the time enjoying my family and the holidays.  my sister audrey came home from russia specifically for the holiday season, so it was great to see her and feel like a complete family again.  the best things that i got for christmas were some art books, a daylight desk lamp, and a complete cupcake-making supply package, including a comprehensive cupcake cookbook!  i’m living the life, guys…i really am.  as for new year’s, i spent it in the city with some friends, and until you’ve rung in the new year on the roof of a 13-story apartment building in center city, you’ve not experienced a truly fun new year.  from that vantage point, i got to see fireworks going off over both rivers, and heard pretty much ever party in the city get about 10 times louder.  it was really perfect!

i also had a chance to get some artwork done (as i promised myself i would), and i was able to spend a week in london before returning to school.  my boyfriend lives there, see (long story), so it was good to see him again, and to have a genuine vacation.  working two jobs straight through break wasn’t the brightest of my ideas, but at least i have money at the moment.  want to see some photos?  sure you do!

at the end of my trip, i put all of the sketched studies that i had done into a small book.  it was my first go at it, but i managed to do a tight little 3-hole bind.  i’m intrigued now, and hope to figure out ways to do some more complex bookbinding techniques.

now onto school.  the first week is over, and as excited as i am for all of my classes, the homework is already piled on!  luckily, i foresee myself enjoying the assignments quite a bit.  my schedule is currently as follows:

tuesday: figure anatomy, wednesday: pictorial foundation and major artists-balanchine and graham, thursday: typography, and friday: non-silver printmaking.

i’m particularly excited about my lib. arts class (about ballet/modern dance’s two most influential choreographers) and non-silver printmaking.  the former will be a nice break from traditional visual arts studies, and the latter will be a great tool for me as the illustration curriculum chugs along.  i’m anxious to use new techniques.

apparently my fabric printing class had to bump me out of registration due to the section melting in with a graduate class, so precedence went to fibers majors.  it’s a shame because i was really excited about it, but at the same time, a bit of a relief, considering the class wasn’t scheduled to end until around 10pm.  i’ll have to find something else, so i’m thinking of taking on another liberal arts class…we’ll see what i end up with.  you’ll be kept posted, surely.

at the end of the day, i’m really glad to be back.  being here stirs up this inspiration to work and produce that sadly seems to fizzle while i’m on break, so i intend to really make the most of it.  should be an interesting semester, to say the least!

hope to see you guys around on a uarts chat in the near future, assuming that i don’t accidentally fall asleep like i did last thursday!  doh!

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