18 posts tagged “classes”
I have tea and cake. That makes for a good morning.
Last night was our last art class for this session (and probably until autumn, at least) and the very last class at the museum for our instructor, who's worked there eleven years. She's not leaving in the happiest of situations and I wanted to do something nice to make sure the day had some happy memories in it for her, so I did what I do and baked treats.
I spent all of yesterday baking. I made a batch of chocolate espresso cookies first, and as I was putting the last of them in the oven, I noticed that the bag of chocolate chips was still sitting there on the counter. D'OH! I thought that might explain why the cookies weren't spreading in the oven. I made the citrus pound cake next. That came out perfectly. I did cut the hell our of my thumb when zesting the lemon though. argh. While the cake was baking, I dug around in my cupboards and found that I had enough bitter chocolate to make another batch of cookies, with chocolate chips this time, so I did that when the cake came out of the oven. The cookies still didn't come out quite right. I was discussing them with my art teacher (who also bakes - I love that woman!), and she suggested that maybe my baking powder is getting old, and I'm betting that's my problem. They still tasted great, they just weren't as pretty as they usually are. Everyone in class loved the treats though. There was a lot of "MMMMM!" while people worked. :)
I'm really going to miss Tracey (our instructor). Last night while I painted, we talked about baking, glass and knitting, and she talked woodshop stuff with Craig. We just have so much in common and conversation is so effortless that we never seem to have enough time to talk about everything. I'm ashamed to say I get a little irritated when the other people in our class need her attention for something, because there's just so much I want to discuss with her. She even graduated high school the same year we did. She went to a very popular high school in town and I know quite a few people from her graduating class. We're going to try keeping in touch in email, but I know she's an extremely busy woman and I'm thinking that might not work out. I hope it does though, because I'm really going to miss her!
Craig and I were thinking about taking a beginner's welding class at the museum next, but I think we're going to take a few months off. I think art classes might be reserved for the colder seasons when we tend to get a little cabin fever. Now that the days are warming up, I want to be out in the yard or at my torch and Craig's jonesing for garage time. There's so much stuff at home to hold our attention, and a class right now feels more like a distraction than a treat. I definitely want more classes when the weather starts keeping us indoors again though. That was definitely money well spent!
I have some swelling on on side of one of my fingers. It's getting a little uncomfortable. I have no idea what it's from. I don't remember hurting that finger. There's a cut on that finger, but it'sover a week old, on the non-swollen side and it's just about healed, just the faintest mark remains. I wonder if it's a spider bite? Weird.
I didn't want to go to art class last night. I knew I should though, so I made mac & cheese my motivation. Panera's mac & cheese is delightfully comforting, and when you get it with a salad, the portion is just about right so that I don't feel terribly guilty. Guess what Panera has stopped offering? :/ My brain was so broke yesterday, I actually almost cried because I couldn't have mac&cheese. Stupid, but true.
Craig didn't want to go to class either. We're both really burnt out and nearly brain dead. We went though, because we knew we should.
And it was good. Art class is something you can do even when your brain is broken. I didn't enjoy it as much as I normally do. Not only was I not in the mood to draw, but my teacher was showing me her knitting project, and it just got me jonesing for my own knitting project. If I'd brought it with me, I probably would've spent my art class knitting.
It was a weird class, or just a weird night rather. When we got there, the security guard was staring across the street at a guy and what looked like a younger girl. They were just sitting at a picnic bench, but the security guard looked like a dog straining against a chain he was so fixated on the people across the street. It was weird. I don't know why he didn't just cross the street and ask what they were up to. He was very obviously concerned about them for some reason.
Then, in the middle of class, some alarm went off. I was fidgety anyhow, so I wandered off to find out what it was. It was coming from the locked room next door, the only room I've seen with a keypad entry. Weird. By the time I'd come back to class to report my findings and our teacher started to call security, there was already someone out there turning it off.
I'm thinking of running away for a day or so. Craig and I both really need a change of scenery. We can't leave our elderly bunnies alone for much more than 24 to 48 hours, but that would get us an overnight stay by the lake somewhere. I occasionally find myself searching for hotel rooms overlooking Lake Michigan, something within a few hours' drive, some place with a nice park or preferably a beach and some nice local restaurants. I just want to pack some art supplies and a change of clothes, maybe the kites, in the car, and go be by the water for a day or so. Quiet and lakeside are the requirements. I really think that would do us a world of good. At the very least, it would make it more likely we could get past Wednesday next week before feeling mentally fried to a crisp.
Ok. I need to go ice this stupid finger or something. WTH???
I've been managing to stay off allergy meds so far this season, though the mornings are brutal. My symptoms seem to mellow out by lunch time though, so I'm still not wanting to take my meds and endure the craptastic side-effects.
It's been a rough week or so though. Allergies, hormonal issues, sleeping problems ...all likely related. There have been a few terrifying health crises in the family. There was a yelling match with my dad. (Well, really, he pushed the buttons and I did all the yelling.) My brain has been quite scrambled which makes every minute of work a constant uphill battle. I've had my moments of losing my cool (yelling at Dad, blowing up in my blog, pouting, etc.), but for the most part I've been pretty good about riding out everything going on. What can you do? Life has these cycles. I believe you can choose how you feel about things. I may react in the heat of it all, but when my senses return I choose to believe that everything will work out in the end, and the bigger picture is still sunny and full of opportunities and blessings.
Life has had it's rough spots the past several days, but there's still a lot of good going on.
I spent some time online shopping for warmer weather clothes, and my purchases have started arriving. I have a fun trench coat that I need to exchange for a smaller size, but the dress I fell in love with when I saw it online fits like it was tailor-made for me, *and* the materials and construction are of excellent quality! I *LOVE* my new dress! I don't know if we'll be dressing up for easter visiting, but you'd better bet I'm finding as many reasons as possible to wear my new dress in the coming months!
My interchangeable knitting needles came in the mail today! Just in the nick of time too. The project I'm working on has just about outgrown the circulars I have it on. I love these needles! This was a very good investment! I have to get out my label maker today and label and arrange the storage case. (Organizational lust!) I'm also at a point where I need to make a new set of stitch markers for this project. ...Which brings me to:
BEADS! It's torching weather again! I've got a little cleaning and organizing to do in the mudroom today, and then I'm setting up my torch!!! *SQUEE!* I will be ordering an exhaust fan before next week is over too (FINALLY!) so I can get my kiln fired up here soon! I'm so excited to get back to hot glass though! I've been daydreaming about making ribbon cane and hollow beads for weeks. :)
Craig and I only have two weeks left of art class, and we've been talking about what comes next. We'd discussed taking a break from classes and just practicing what we've learned so far, mostly for the financial reasons, but then the new course catalog came in the mail! heh. I'm 99.99% sure we're signing up for beginning welding! It's not terribly expensive and it's one of the few crafts that neither of us has any experience in. There's an initial five week course, with a continuing second five weeks you can register separately for. It's looking like we're going to sign up for the first five and just try it to see if we want to continue with the second five. ...I can almost guarantee we would though, what with the way we collect hobbies. :)
It's almost noon and my nose has finally stopped running! YAY!!!!!! Now, I've got some work to do if I'm going to set up my torch today. I love weekends!!!!!!!!!!
Monday night we had dinner with a few people from Craig's amateur radio club, very good people. I was at ease with them instantly and really enjoyed getting to know them. ...I enjoyed it enough that I'm considering getting myself a basic, technician class license and joining the club too, just so I can keep meeting with them without feeling like the odd man out. So that's something to add to my already spilling-over plate in the near future. *rolls eyes* Can you say "masochist"?
Tuesday I had my mom over for lunch and a movie. I had "The Secret Life of Bees" out from Netflix and wanted to watch it with someone who was truly interested. (Craig said he'd watch it with me, but it was totally for me and not because he wanted to see the movie - still, points for him for offering!) That was one of my favorite books within recent years, and I was excited to see how the movie was done. I enjoyed it quite a lot. They stayed pretty true to the story, but they left out some of my favorite elements and scenes, the ones that took it from just a feel-good, self-discovery type story into something touched by magic. Very enjoyable all the same but, as usual, the book was better.
Wednesday was art class. We did water color under pen & ink. Well, they did. I spent the whole class just putting down the watercolor. I still have to put some ink over it. I always forget how much I love watercolor until I've got a paint-laden brush in my my hand. I think I have to dedicate some space in my room upstairs specifically to watercolor, so I never have to do more than get a fresh jar of water before sitting down to paint.
We got some sad news though: our teacher's position is being eliminated. Not only is she a great teacher, but she's my kind of people. I'm hoping she and her fiance' have a little room in their social circle for us. We're the same age, we share a lot of the same hobbies, from knitting to scroll-saw and lathe work to hot glass even, they don't want to be parents either, they like to travel, her fiance' is a technology geek, ... I just love talking to her, and I'm hoping we can keep in touch.
Thursday was our monthly "writer's group" meeting, where we get together and talk about anything but writing. heh. Always *LOTS* of laughter there. Good times!
So now it's Friday and this introvert is worn out from the week full of people and socializing. I'm not as cranky and exhausted as I expected to be though, which I attribute partially to spring-time energy but mostly to the excitement of reconnecting with a bunch of old friends on Facebook. It was the weirdest thing, but when we were rearranging furniture recently, I had to move all my memorabilia and old photos, and after quickly flipping through some photos, I got to thinking about some of my old classmates and high school friends and wondering what they were up to. Well almost everyone I'd thought about has popped up on Facebook this week, even my BFF from grade school who moved far away and I never expected to hear from again! I've missed all of my old friends, but life has a way of taking you in different directions and you sometimes just lose touch. Things get busy, you meet new people, next thing you know it's been years and you don't know how to get a hold of anyone or (in my case anyhow) just feel awkward about it. I've been working on my social skills this year, reminding myself to check in with people and trying to reserve more energy for get-togethers, and now I'm so happy to have some old friends back in my life, I'll definitely be working to stay in touch with them all!
And speaking of Facebook, I find the uproar over the new layout kind of amusing. Yeah, I think they made some bone-headed decisions, but things change, and not always for the better - that's just life. *shrug* And, it's a free service anyhow! ...I don't know... I 've gotten used to it already and don't even remember how it worked/looked before.
So, tonight is the two-hour final episode of BSG. Bittersweet. *sigh* Like many others, I've long been worried that it'll end with some damn cliff-hanger that won't be resolved until the movie. I probably ought to remove all throwable objects heavier than a pillow from arm's reach, just in case. But yeah, that's what we'll be doing tonight. Craig says after it's over, we're pulling out the DVDs and starting over from the beginning. It's all happened before, and it'll all happen again. ;)
I've been looking forward to art class ever since the last one in November. Tonight was to be the first night of our next class, but the snow came. I can't be mad at the snow; I still love it and want more. It was kind of silly to cancel classes and close the museum so early in the day when the sun came out a short while later and by 6pm (class time) things were clearing up, but my teacher lives even further out in the boonies than we do, so I can't even be mad about that. Still, it was disappointing.
Craig brought home Thai for dinner though, and we had homemade pumpkin pie for dessert. Then I made killer gingerbread martinis and we watched Repo! The Genetic Opera, which was delightful auditory foreplay (mmph, Anthony Stewart Head!) and total hot sex for the eyes! (I must own this movie and commit it to memory.)
So no art class today (pout), but the night was still all kinds of yum *AND* I got to go out and shovel snow! Total win!
The weekend activities started Friday evening and just didn't stop until Sunday night. Now, I'm the kind of person who feels she has a busy weekend if there is even one event planned, so this was crazy chaos for me, but it was 98% fabulous, and that's pretty amazing.
Friday night was the opening of the student art exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art, where Craig and I took our drawing class. Of course it started snowing just as we we're starting our drive into town, but it stayed light and just seemed to add charm to the evening. We met up with my Dad for dinner at Manos and shared a bottle of wine and all sorts of delicious Greek foods, finishing the meal with a lovely sludgy sweet Greek coffee, then we headed to the museum.
There were some absolutely lovely student works on display, especially from the metal-working, glass and advanced classes. Our "Beginner Drawing" section of the exhibit was very ...uh, we'll say "charming" by comparison. :) It was still a hoot to see our stuff hanging on the walls with the professional looking labels next to each piece, ...never mind the staples in lieu of matting and frames. :D Here we each are, posing with three of our lessons, and then my silly garlic drawing that everyone seemed to love, but which I think looks more silly every time I look at it, ...but then it is what it is. :) I'll admit it's really decent for a beginning drawing class, but I'm cheating because I'm not a beginner.
We spent a while walking around the museum with my Dad. There's so much to see there! I absolutely *ADORE* the Toledo Museum of Art. It's rated as one of the top ten museums in the nation, and I'm quite proud of the place, plus I grew up in that neighborhood and spent *MANY* hours there, so it's very much like home to me. There's no admission charge and it was within walking distance of my house, so I just went whenever I wanted. It's totally ruined me for other museums.
Friday we checked out the student exhibit, took my Dad to see the new Glass Pavillion (he hadn't been yet) and finally, checked out the local artists exhibit -which was hella impressive! That's barely a dent in the whole collection and they had all sorts of fun stuff going on for their late Friday evening hours, but we were tired and ready to head home at that point.
Saturday morning I woke up to the alarm clock at 7:30am in order to get ready for the holiday ornament workshop I'd signed up for, and immediately upon sitting up in bed thought, "This was obviously a huge mistake!" I am NOT(!!!) a morning person, but I'd been tempted by the mention of art glitter, and I'm a total sucker for glitter, obviously. So, I grumbled and slipped out of bed, shuffled into the shower, got dressed and drove myself to my Mom's to pick her up. I'd orginally signed up Craig to take the workshop with me, but he had suggested I take my mom, not because he was anti-glitter (don't dare question his commitment to Sparkle Motion!), but because he knows my mom and knew she would absolutely love this workshop. I wish I could take credit for thinking that thought first. :)
The ornament plans looked extremely basic, a couple pieces of balsa fitted and glued together, gessoed, painted with a basecoat, then covered in glue and glitter. It felt a bit like kindergarten at first, but I'd totally be lying if I tried to say it wasn't terrific fun! The two and a half hour workshop blew by and I didn't have time to add all the details I wanted. ...And now I want to glitter EVERYTHING! I'm extremely envious of Tracey's glitter collection and intend to start expanding my own.
It was a very good experience for my mom too. She's always been so very creative, but she's been blocked for ...well, for almost as many years as she's been a mom, so 35 or so years. My drawing instructor (who also held the ornament workshop) is such a wonderful and encouraging person, and she spent some time talking to my mom about creativity and how to get it flowing again. I was so glad Craig suggested I take Mom with me.
It also struck me as kind of funny that my silly drawing lessons were hanging up in the hallway, and without even trying to, I'd taken both of my parents to see them. "MOM! DAD! LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO!!!" :D
Ok. That's just under half of my super-fun, SUPER-busy weekend, but I have so much stuff to do today. I'll be back to write up the rest of it later. ...I know, you're all on the edges of your seats. *L*
The winter course catalog for the museum finally came out this week. I downloaded the PDF and did the electronic equivalent of ripping it open and madly turning pages to find the class Craig and I want to take. It was more exciting than any Christmas morning ever. I found the class we wanted, but was confused by the listing. There were two five week sessions listed, which our teacher had explained would be the new format, but then I wasn't sure if the price listed was for both sessions or just one. If it was for just one, we were screwed, because that meant the class was twice as expensive as I was anticipating.
Friday I called registration and asked about the listing and the price for the class and my fears were confirmed. Because this class was to cover a array of media, the cost for supplies was significant, and the class was WAY out of our price range. I mean, I could absolutely justify the cost, but we just didn't have the money in our budget for it. I hung up the phone and pondered this dilemma. I hadn't been this excited about anything since I was anticipating our trip to Ireland, but I just couldn't afford such an expensive class. My brain was trying to digest this information, and then my eyes started to well up. I felt like such an idiot, like some spoiled brat throwing a tantrum. I willed myself to snap out of it and just deal with the disappointment, but wound up sobbing instead. I went to take a shower to calm down and gather my wits.
By the time I'd gotten out of the shower, I had it all figured out. We had it in our budget for half a class, one five week session, so we'll just take that first half of the class this winter, and the second half in the spring. No big deal.
Craig came home and I told him my thoughts on splitting the class up, and he said we should just sign up for the whole thing since we'll be getting our tax refund in February and can just use that to pay off the second session of the class. Just like that he was ok with totally blowing our budget, saying the class would be totally worth it. I tried to sit on it and think it over for a while like a reasonable and fiscally responsible person, but I was too excited and before long I had the phone in my hand and was calling to register. YAY! ART CLASS!!!! You might think you know how excited I am about this class, but I can guarantee you I'm even more excited than what you suspect! :D
Yesterday was Craig's birthday and we started the day with coffee and presents. I gave him the traditional Hallmark Star Trek ornament of the year and a couple of Cylons to start building his army. We ate a lovely breakfast and then got cleaned up to run into town for some shopping. We picked up some home-improvement/craft stuff at the general store and then hit up Kohl's so Craig could find some new work clothes. (I hate Kohl's with a fiery passion, but they do have decent deals in mens' wear.)
We drove across town in the direction of a newer Japanese restaurant in town and met up with Dave and Kelly for dinner. It was one of those restaurants where you sit around the hibachi and watch the chef prepare your food, which was quite entertaining. Well, we watched him prepare everyone else's food. Craig was there for birthday sushi, and I figured I'd be adventurous and share some sushi with him. I can say that I give it an honest try every once in a while, but sushi just doesn't do it for me at all. Now, don't get me wrong! We had some delicious rolls, and the white tuna and shrimp pieces were pretty good. I just can't ever imagine ordering sushi for myself. It just doesn't do anything for me. And the texture thing gags me once in a while too, especially that red tuna piece I choked down. Does the world not realize that fish is raw??? :) Craig was in heaven though. Even a sushi novice like myself could tell just by looking at the food and the presentation that it was excellent quality, and as long as the birthday boy was happy, all was absolutely as it should be!
After feasting, the four of us drove out to the zoo to see the Lights Before Christmas. It had only just opened Friday night, and the air temperature was well below freezing, so the place was practically empty. Every other time we'd been to see the lights, traffic had been backed up a long ways in the street before you even got to the parking lot, so this far less crowded night where we could drive right up to the front of the lot was a new experience for us. It was ten times as fun having Dave and Kelly with us too. We walked the whole zoo, drank hot chocolate, sang along with the "dancing lights" presentation, had a hundred laughs or more, saw some fish and bugs and snakes (most animals were tucked in for the night), and talked at length to really nice guy in the reptile house about reticulated pythons named "Fluffy" and how to die by snake.
It was a fabulous day, but all that walking in the cold air *really* kicked our asses. I haven't been that thoroughly wiped out in a long time. We came home and had birthday cupcakes and quickly gave up and called it a night. Slept like logs too and still had trouble getting out of bed this morning.
Today was supposed to be productive, but my ass is still dragging from all the fun we had yesterday. Sundays are designed for slack though, so no worries.
I've been very stuck in my head for days now. I blame the insomnia I get when my hormones go whack once a month. Anyhow, it hasn't been terribly unpleasant in my head here, so that's good. There was a touch of acedia trying to take over, but I now know the cure for that is to ignore it and do something, anything. So, I chased that off pretty quickly, and now it's just me, sitting here alone in the middle of my head, listening to the dust settle. It's not very exciting, but I'm ok with that. Sometimes you need a little nothing and a breather. Well, I certainly do, at least.
I've been wanting to blog for days, but when you're stuck in your head... well, it's sometimes hard getting a message out. I just spent twenty minutes pulling the most beautiful arils out of a large pomegranate though, and I felt the need to mention that beauty somewhere, so here I am, finally able to put down some words. ...They really are one of the most gorgeous things produced by nature, IMO, pomegranate arils. They're succulent, sparkling garnets. I found myself pondering possible ways to preserve that beauty but, like some of the other most beautiful things in nature, the impermanence of their beauty is part of the allure. Still, I am going to have to try to make glass beads that shape and color some day, though garnets already are pretty darn close.
We had our last "Beginning Drawing" class last night. I'm going to miss it. We will be taking the next class offered in January though, where we'll be exploring various media like pastels and colored pencils and such. I'm super-psyched about that because as much as I love to draw, playing with color is definitely the icing on the cake!
I'd forgotten how much I love to draw. ...How is it that I keep forgetting all of the most important things? Life sure is tricky that way. I'd forgotten that I'm good at it too. I was confident in my skills in high school, when I was taking classes and working those skills on a regular basis. Then college came with the rigors of engineering, then jobs and all the responsibilities of being an adult. The last time I remember really losing myself in a drawing was on a blackboard in the ME (mechanical engineering) study lounge, when I was supposed to be studying something like thermodynamics or something almost as unpleasant. My classmates thought I was a flake, I'm pretty sure, and I can completely understand why. My interest in engineering was in knowing how things work, not in a career. I enjoyed the lectures and really got into some of the classes, but my heart was never in an engineering career, and I only ever worked in my studies enough to satisfy my own curiosities. While everyone else was eating and breathing equations, I was taking a ton of lit. electives and drawing pretty pictures and wanting to take walks around campus or play euchre in the student union. I knew I didn't belong there even back then when I was constantly trying to convince myself a career in engineering would be the profitable way to go.
But I digress. Drawing class. I missed last week's class due to being sick, but Craig went and was able to clue me in on what I missed. My advantage in doing the lesson at home was that I wasn't constrained by the two and a half hour class. I spent four hours plus a little more drawing a head of garlic. It came out looking pretty good, mostly because I spent so much time on it. But I am good at this, I always have been - I just forgot for a few decades. I was excited to show my drawing to my teacher, because I knew it was good. And she gushed over it. She told me I nailed it and there was nothing else she could say about it. I was glowing.
Then, a while later while she was helping another student, she asked me to hold it up so she could point something out to him, ...and I about died from embarrassment. The whole class was complimenting me, telling me how good it was ...and rolling their eyes in mock (I hope) disgust, and I wanted to crawl under the table. I did actually drop my head behind my very large sketchbook and hide. I honestly believe that *anyone* who puts the time into it can draw well, and I was just really embarrassed and felt undeserving of all the attention. While everyone was complimenting and groaning over my drawing, I divulged the fact that I'd studied art in high school and was just taking this class as a refresher, hoping that would take some of the pressure off. Then I felt like a total jackass when the woman who sits next to me said, "Yeah, so did most of us."
Anyhow, it's obvious that I need to keep drawing, now that I've remembered how much I enjoy it, and also obvious that I need to work on accepting compliments ...and to some extent, work on not fearing being good at something. I know that sounds really arrogant and ridiculous, but I also know there's a part of me (probably the introverted part) that hates being singled out in any way, even with praise. I want to be excellent at a thing or two in my life by the time I check out, and yet at the same time, I don't want to be better than anyone else. Yes, I know. I'm not making sense.
We did all have to submit three of our lessons for the student art exhibit by the end of class. As much as I was dreading that, I am tickled to death to be able to say that my work will be on display at the Toledo Museum of Art, one of the finest museums in the country. :D
The class has done exactly what I'd hoped it would do for me, and then some. Not only is that huge mental block gone and I'm not afraid of my sketchbook any more, but the brain is flooded with creativity, almost too much. I really like our teacher too, and I hope we can build a friendship there. We (Craig and her and I) have a lot of common interests and she's just an awesome human being. She's holding an ornament making workshop that I really want to get into, because she says she doesn't know what we'll be making yet, but it will involve art glitter ...at which point I looked up with eyes as big as hers, and we both declared, "I LOVE GLITTER!" :D
Oh yeah! I also have to mention that Craig gave our teacher one of the pencil extenders he'd turned, and she was so thrilled she almost cried. She thanked us profusely and wanted hugs. She's such a sweetie! :)
Well, I'd wanted to share something, and I've babbled on for way too long now - opened the floodgates, it seems. With that pressure vented, it's back to the quiet of my head now and some work.
This is the first day this week I've functioned outside of a NyQuil coma, and I had trouble sleeping last night without, but it's good to be feeling healthy again. Now I'm just tired.
I spent an hour and a half raking a lot of wet leaves into piles this morning, so my arms are noodly ...and I'm even more tired. I'm not even sure why we rake leaves and pile them up to be taken away. What's the point? BESIDES grass ...the grass lawn being the dumbest thing ever conceived of. The leaves that made it into the backyard will be mulched with the mower eventually; some might be raked up and put in the compost pile, but the front yard gets raked to keep peace with the neighbors, who all rake their yards because ...? They like grass???
Craig took a sick day yesterday so he could sleep in. That worked about half as planned. He slept in, but then he logged more than half a day's time doing work, so his sick day became comp time. Once he shut his laptop off though, after our late lunch of medicinal chicken soup, we snuggled together under a blankie and played Champions of Norrath for the rest of the day. I think it was the Playstation that cured our colds.
I wasn't up to driving around town Tuesday, so I missed art class, dammit. Craig went though, and he came home and explained this week's lesson to me. I still have to actually do it, but I'm glad he went because at least I know what I missed. Next Tuesday is our last class, which bums me out. But, we've decided that instead of buying holiday gifts for each other this year, we're signing up for the next art class! *SQUEEEEE!* We're both really excited about that, even though it doesn't start up until January. I'll have lots of time to practice while I wait, I guess. :)
Apparently, our teacher wants three works from each student to submit to the student art exhibit. Craig tells me it's not mandatory, but that's what she's asking for. We don't have to do anything but surrender three of our lessons from our sketchbook, and she says she'll do the necessary cropping, ...but ...those are lessons, practice! There's nothing there that's exhibit worthy,. There are all sorts of measuring marks and such on those drawings. I mean, I guess of the point of the exhibit is to demonstrate what's being learned... but it just seems *REALLY* weird surrendering anything less than polished work for an exhibit.
There was more I wanted to write, I'm pretty sure, but I'm tired and my brain is mush and I can't think of anything else that's noteworthy. I just want Craig to come home so we can have pizza, watch the shuttle launch (7:55 EST) and campaign some more.
I have so much I need to do today that I'm confused and overwhelmed by it all. I've paced the circuit of my house ...I don't know how many times now, just trying to figure out where to start. I'm so confused. I figure my brain might just need some fuel, so even though I wasn't feeling hungry, I sat down for some left-over Thai. I hope it helps.
The problem is I have a dozen projects and ten times more of smaller things I need to do. I feel like I should dig into to one of the projects, but ...all those little things? Put that in the cupboard, throw that away, put that in the laundry, that in the mudroom, that in a pile of things to ebay and that in a box to donate... Wash that thing, dust that one, given Jasmine her eye drops, answer some email, ... ARGH! Where do I start? I like efficiency and systems, but I think I just have to dive in this time and take care of one thing at a time, starting with whatever is closest to me. ...After my late lunch.
My sugar skulls have set up nicely. They need a little more drying time, and then I need to glue the halves together. I'm slightly disturbed by how much I enjoyed hallowing them out. It was bizarrely satisfying to gouge a hallow into each half with a spoon, scraping and twisting to remove the excess sugar/weight. Mwa-ha-HAA!
Drawing class last night was most useful. It was more lecture this time than drawing, but I learned a ton. It's amazing how much there is to learn about something as simple as drawing. We got tips on everything from how to get consistent and cohesive values on your paper to how to hold your arm for the steadiest hand and how you can get a different value from your pencil just by changing your grip on it. This is really a fantastic class. I mentioned that I'm considering a degree in the visual arts for my mid-life crisis, and my teacher asked if any of us knew what was involved in becoming a pharmacist. heh. That was a little depressing, to know that someone with all of her training and knowledge is looking for a second career to make some money. *sigh* I guess when they say "Do what you love," they aren't necessarily talking to the artists and writers. :/ Still, it doesn't discourage me from wanting to know more. I still want a ton more classes.
Dang. Lunch is done. Time to figure out how to hack through my over-grown to-do list. ...Some coffee might help.
