dear santa,

I want this dress to wear in springtime.

by Celine.

I’ll wear it with dainty flats on walks to the park, or with really cute sandals on a date, and it will make me feel very, very pretty.
I can dream, right?

this day…

has one redeeming quality: the fact that I made $20 in tips. that helps a little.

it was just insanity today: someone was sick and went home, so Hannah and Ellen and I were there with two salads and a soup to make as well as the usual traffic that a warm day brings into an ice cream store. it looked pretty horrendous in the kitchen by the time someone else came to help around 3:30. we lack employees who are not students.

yesterday I turned in my 6th project and gave a little presentation about Georgia O’Keeffe in art class. that was our final, no exam — which I’m all about. at any rate, painting something in the style of Georgia O’Keeffe was a bit of a challenge. I’m pretty satisfied with it conceptually, but my lack of painting skills made my results less pleasing… for your viewing:

I took the picture crooked. the color is terrible because I took it with my phone. etc.

I have a feeling that Clark is not going to happen.

I sure look hot when I paint.

shirt tied solely for the benefit of this photo. I tend to get a little messy when I paint, so the grungiest clothes are the best clothes.

the project? to “expand” a painting — paint around it. I chose this Matisse.

my efforts thus far:

I have to fix the section about the table on the right hand side, it’s too dark. and obviously, the finishing touches have yet to be applied. but I’m pretty happy with it so far, I think.

I came home to a house that smells of paint. my mom and dad have been redoing the kitchen cabinets and wallpaper boarder. red and cream; I like it.

I’m not too thrilled about going to school tomorrow. it was great to be away for a week, and I’d like to just stay at home getting things done rather than go be on campus from 9 to 4. but some things must be done, and I’ll probably get over it before too long.

Clark University is now bombarding me with mail. I really wish May 15 were tomorrow.

frustration, frustration, frustration.

I hate my art class.

I love art.

have I mentioned to you all that the professor makes the class?

if you’re ever signing up for an art class at State, don’t take anything from the professor that I have (contact me for the name, if you like). it’s… words don’t really do it justice. the main problem is that if you don’t do a project in the exact way she would do it, she doesn’t like it. she gives really bad explanations of what she wants us to do, but she thinks she’s explaining it perfectly. so when you ask a question she usually can’t give you an answer, because the fact that you could even have a question in the first place is so baffling to her. and she hates minimalism. I love minimalism (though you probably wouldn’t guess from that line & shape project I posted photos of). so there’ve been some issues with some of my work. mainly the painting I did for our fourth project (due April 9… I’m working a little ahead). it’s supposed to be an illustration of perspective, so I did a landscape (of course). was it awesome? no; but it was pretty good, and I really liked the way the colors turned out. but, since there were no mountains or random bushes, it was “a little boring.” so another girl in class shows her the cartoon town she’s working on for the same project, and the perfesser has her show it to me, because “it’s actually interesting, there’s some stuff in there.”

bah. humbug. I was basically incensed. I probably shouldn’t have been as angry as I was about this one thing, because it’s not a huge deal, but it was that plus everything. I’m guessing this woman is not a Georgia O’Keefe fan.

I need to make a packing list.

and… I got really happy last night, because I found my cds. :> I haven’t been able to find my wallet thing for a couple of months, but I haven’t looked for it that much — I’m so rarely home and not studying that I don’t listen to much music, unless it’s on the computer. so I finally scoured the house because I was getting tired of the Beatles mix I burned, and I was beginning to think that it had been left in the car and lifted and I’m such a tube sock I didn’t even notice. then I looked behind the stereo in the living room and sure enough, it had fallen back there. since that stupid wallet contains nearly every cd I’ve bought since I was 12, I was pretty happy.

I leave you with a Georgia O’Keefe landscape, “Winter Road.”

I have decided something:

all of my paintings (even poorly-done ones of prosaic objects like lamps) would be better if I did them in black and white.

as is not usually the case with pictures posted on the internet, it actually looks better in person. it’s step three in my three-part project: an object drawn in graphite, then charcoal, then painted. it’s an illustration of value. wheee.

up late tonight working on things I put off/haven’t had time for. “late,” ha — funny how the earlier you get up of a morning, the sooner late comes. I felt as though I could crash around 9, but I’ve been working instead. the looming deadline can inspire such diligence.

need to take out these contacts before they kill my eyes. just a little more work to be done…

I’m ready for this week to end. a great attitude to have on Tuesday night, right? it just seems as though it’s already Thursday or something, even though I guess not that much has happened. I’ll be glad to see Friday and a free afternoon.

the biggest compliment of my life.

we turned in our art projects today and did “critique” — which consisted of going around the room, saying which was our favorite and why. one of the girls in class said that mine reminded her of and M.C. Escher print. I was floored/thrilled:  I love his stuff.

some samples:

this website has a large gallery of his stuff.

it’s finished…

which is good, since it’s due tomorrow.

a closer look at some of the detail:

I had fun with it for the most part, and ultimately I’m pretty happy with it. :]

p.s. I bought my ticket to New Hampshire.

I’m beginning to like Fridays.

I finish school at 1, and then I just get to come home. I can do other things if I want to, but I don’t have to do anything, and that I definitely love.

this afternoon I worked on art class stuff. currently I’m working on a line and shape project which I’m considering scrapping and starting over.

thoughts?

one very unpleasant lingering side affect of my sickness has been that I don’t like the taste of water. yup, ya heard. it’s very weird,  to take a sip of water and be repulsed. normally I drink ridiculous amounts of water, and I’ve been somewhat dehydrated since last weekend. but today it seems to be a bit better and easier to drink water, which makes me happy.

trimmed my bangs last night.

and, since I seem to be in a picture-posting mood this afternoon… this came for me in the mail today:

feast your eyes…

Georgia O’Keeffe is one of my favorite artists.

not so much for her flower paintings as for her other abstracts and landscapes. the colors and lines that she used draw me in.

there are a lot of examples of her work that I could put up as “favorites,” but this one from 1960 struck me today: “It Was Blue and Green.”

http://www.artst.org/okeefe