Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Thursday, May 24, 2012

College, Spring 2012

Posting every 5 months is an acceptable amount of blogging, right? OK you may not want to hold your breath waiting for the next post, but I'm OK with that. Maybe I should just resign myself to only posting once I finish a semester, that way there's no pressure while all the interesting portions of my life are happening ;)

This last semester really was fun, though! I had a nutty class schedule, though, because I was in 3 studio classes, which means I was in the classroom about 27hrs per week, not counting homework/project time. So without a job or other commitments, I had roughly 50hrs a week used up. But I really liked all my classes, none of them were boring and most of them were pretty easy, provided I did the work on time. Except, of course, for the 1000 level honors seminar that I though would be an easy 3-hr credit full of reading fun books. No no, this one turned out to be the most challenging class I've taken so far, and I almost got my first B because I bombed the first paper (it had been a few days since I'd last slept when I wrote the paper at 3AM the night before :P). But my teacher liked me, and I did fine with the rest of the class so I managed to squeak out an A.

The class was really interesting, though! The subject was Magic Ring Allegories, so basically we read every significant text that had a magic ring involved starting with Plato's Republic right down to the Green Lantern: Secret Origins. Fun, you think? Technically, yes, but the 2hr essay test final covering all 8 texts (assuming you count the whole of Wagner as one and the LotR trilogy as one) almost killed me. But hey, I never would have read a comic book if not for this class, and I actually enjoyed it, so that's a plus!

Overall, my 3D foundations class was my favorite, because we got to solder and build a chair! Basically, we made 3 of the most beastly projects ever, and got college credit for it. I enjoyed it so much and liked the projects I made so much, I think I'll share pictures of what I made! A mask made from baling wire, a plaster  relief sculpture cast from a mold I made, and a chair (I was only allowed 1 2x4, screws, and dowels to make the chair, nothing else).

I'm even more excited for next fall, because I get to take Jewelry and Metals I, so I'll be soldering and hammering the whole semester long! I also have a job at the front desk of my residence hall, so we'll see how my time-management skills measure up to the challenge.


In the meantime, I'm puttering around at home, looking for a job and attempting to launch an Etsy store. It's funny how after living with people my age for 9 months, there aren't really any people my age that I hang out with now; it's just been so long since I lived here that my growing up experiences are too different to just pick up where I left off with my old friends. I still like them, and we're still friends, it's just that we don't have any strong ties to keep us close. Such is life, and I will just have to practice my long distance relationships with the girls from my hall, and wait for next fall!

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Welcome Week

Well, I realized it has been quite a while since my last post, so I thought I'd share a little of what's been going on in life :)

Tuesday the 9th I had the opportunity to see an incredible exhibit with my grandparents at the downtown art museum called Passages. It is the private collection of Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, containing ancient manuscripts of the Bible starting with the torah and continuing through more recent editions of the Bible. It was absolutely incredible! When you enter the exhibit, they give you an ipod touch and when you put in the number of whichever exhibit case you were looking at, it plays a commentary on the items inside the case telling you all about the history of the pieces and the people related to the pieces. There were so many wonderful pieces: a 1st edition King James Bible, a Tyndale Bible (which I read from through the glass), Esther scrolls, giant hymn books for choirs, even a portion of a dead sea scroll! I especially loved the cases with illuminated manuscripts, they were beautiful! There were so many rooms and cases and Bibles, if you listened to every one and spent some time on every one it might take you all week to get to the end! I could have spent all day and longer in the exhibit, but I only had a few hours. If you get the chance to see this exhibit, go! It really can give you a new perspective on how much was put into the Bible you read today, and how many people gave their entire life to preserve it!

Last week I packed and cleaned out and re-organized my room in the hopes of getting it all packed up by the end of the week.. Didn't exactly get it all done, but I made a dent! Monday morning I moved into the residence hall and my new room! It seems so strange that I am old enough to move out, I don't feel that old. But apparently I am, so here I am. All week there were events and breakout sessions and parties to go to as part of the 'Welcome Week.' I have walked more this week than I have in a long long time! I don't understand how someone could gain the 'freshman 15' when you have so much farther to walk than usual. I do have a bike, though, which makes getting across campus in 10min way easier!

I love my hall, most people are very friendly and everyone wants to make friends and be social, which makes for a happy place to be and get to know new people! We already have 'Stout Hobos,' people who wish they were in Stout so they come just to hang out with us. On the whole, the facilities are so much nicer than most halls, so I'm really glad I made it in!

Thursday morning I went home (and came back Friday), and it was so weird having to pack to come home for the night! But I'm sure I'll get used to it. I just hope I get used to everything pretty quick, like remembering to do laundry and keeping up with a lot of different classes at the same time!

This is a very rough sketch I did of part of our living room :)


Wednesday, June 22, 2011

SAM Camp: Day 3

It's been a long week, and I'm only half done! But so far, I've learned calligraphy and Zentangle, and all sorts of new songs and hand motions.

I also realized that I have a strong desire to know what on earth goes through those kids heads all the time. With some kids, you can tell, but there's always that one that you just can't figure out. One moment, they're poking their neighbor's eye out, and the next they've decide you're their new best friend and won't detach! And then there's those who won't do anything. They just wander from station to station with this blank, glassy stare when you ask them to do something. But they're all cute, which is why they make it through the week alive :P

I think the musical is going to be adorable, which is frustrating cause I'll be missing it :/ Mind, I am going camping with my sister and best friend and we will be going to hear and see some incredible art performances and galleries at Quartz Mountain, but still, I hate to miss the kids.

Tonight we had another incredibly beautiful sky, and it was all I could do to watch the road while driving my car and riding my bike! I suppose that's one good thing about the big, flat plains without forests, you get to see the sky whenever you want.

Whelp, I suppose that's all for now.

Here's a picture of the Zentagle I drew yesterday :)

Sunday, June 19, 2011

SAM Camp: Day 1

This week, my mother is putting together her usual children's musical and day camp at our church, and I have the privilege/misfortune of helping all week. I do enjoy helping, I just don't always have as much patience as it requires.

For my jobs this year, I am helping with the musical rehearsals, the drawing and calligraphy classes, hand chimes, and I have a group of kids to keep up with at lunch. The musical went well, I think it'll be a lot of fun! And although I enjoyed helping with the drawing and chimes, calligraphy turned out to be my favorite class, because I got to sit there and learn and practice with the kids! You'd be surprised how difficult it is to make nice, even strokes in the correct order, direction, and size! But it was neat to practice, and maybe by the end of the week I'll have something to show for it.

I ended up feeling rather awful by the end of the day, and slept through the last hour of rehearsal on the most fluffy, pillow-y youth sofa imaginable! I may just spend the night there this week, seeing as I have to be there so early anyways..

Tonight, I think we are under some sort of thunderstorm warning, which always gets me excited. I don't enjoy the damage they bring, but I am left in awe after watching clouds and rain and storms, they are magnificent! It's not really reached us yet, but it started raining with the sun shining through the clouds, like something out of a painting. Amazingly, my camera actually captured the sky decently! Now I may have to sketch or paint it, or some variation of it.

This is pretty much what I actually saw, while the next one is my extreme just-for-fun editing, and not remotely what it looked like :)



Adventures in Chain-Making

Since November 2009, I have had the opportunity to work for a locally well known and respected jeweler, Rafael. I work only Saturdays and mostly just file paperwork, open the always locked door for customers, file new jobs, answer the phone, etc. But every so often, Rafael will teach me little bits about jewelry making; nothing too much or too complicated, but still, I will take any experience he offers to me.

This week, after telling me how much he wishes I was a jeweler and could help him, he offered to let me come in after hours and teach me about anything I asked (within reason). My first project is to make a large-ish chain. I started by pulling some silver into wire, which might have worked well if I hadn't lost my grip on the wire, slipped, and fallen on my behind :P After I accidentally pulled the wire much thinner than originally intended, Rafael annealed it, and I wound it onto a mandrel to make round links for a chain. I started to solder a few closed, but had to go home before I got very far.

Yesterday, I stayed late after work to finish soldering all the links together into a chain that was prolly about 14in; I think I will make a big clasp for it next time and make it into a necklace. I got progressively faster at the soldering, and figured out how to make it work [almost] every time. I even got lots of practice lighting and tuning the torch, since I accidentally put it out every other time I used it! Maybe sometime I'll post all the little tips Rafael has given me and I have figured out.

A side effect of soldering is all the discoloration on the silver, which makes for an interesting look, so I took a picture of all the rings I soldered closed before putting them on a chain.


Thursday, May 17, 2007

Watermelons and eggshells ;)





So I guess I'll post more pictures since I found some really cool ones that my grandma sent us.
-Ellentia

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Frisbee golf (and other happenings) (and now Cats and Seussical Jr.)

Ahhh! The end of a long week! Last Tuesday our grandparents came up for a choir concert. The concert went well although I almost lost a most beloved (and valuable) mirror. Thursday we went to the Cowboy Museum and played some frisbee golf. Saturday we went to the arts festival and I saw some absolutely gorgeous jewelry! To read more about the festival, jc posted about it so you can read her post.

Sunday we went to church and watched Americas Funniest Home Videos.

Monday we played More frisbee golf and had a few adventures on this one particular hole. It was a tricky hole to play because it went over a small creek and had one small path cut through a big group of trees. So my grandpa went to throw but right as he let go he slipped and fell! It was like something you'd see on Americas Funniest home Videos! Then, my grandpa saw something on the bank on the creek (it turned out to be a frisbee) and then when he went to get it he couldn't get back up! I almost died laughing! But unfortunately my laughter was silenced.


As we were going towards the next hole I decided to try a different path then everyone else that ran parallel with the one they were on. Then I made the mistake of trying to cut across to the other path. Big mistake. As I was about halfway over I looked down just as I was taking a step and came within a 1/4 of an inch of stepping on this snake that was bout the biggest snake I've seen outside of a zoo! I screamed louder then I have screamed in a long time. But d'ya know what really got me? Afterwards my grandpa asked me what the head of the snake looked like and was surprised that I forgot to look! Anyways.

I found this cool test that is really funny! To take it click on this link. I am 86% Dixie! Haha!

-ellentia

**edit**
WE ARE GOING TO SEE CATS! Mom got jc and I tickets to go see Broadways traveling Cats production this Saturday! I have the movie but I haven't ever seen the play! But wait! Theres more! Sunday we are going to see a local theater perform the Seussical Jr.! Ordinarily that wouldn't be so exciting but this last summer jc and I were in the Seussical! It will be interesting to see how they do it differently!