Crazy Crazy

goodness... sorry i didn't write yesterday... i was a bit overwelmed and i couldn't get to the computer. Yesterday i had Basic Design... i was alittle dissapointed in myself because i knew my drafts were not that good and i didn't put the time i should have into them. I have a big problem... i have realzed... with rushing things even when i have enough time not to... i guess it is just in my nature. I am all about finding the fastest route, finishing everything first. I guess maybe it is because in my mind faster is better... even though it isn't always true... maybe it is because i have such sports oriented brothers who have always pushed the fact that faster is better or maybe it is because i like moving fast... not stopping. Like in NY last summer i liked the fast pace of it all but now that i am in a slower "take your time" enviorment i am having trouble stopping myself. But i am learning i guess. Anyways... when i was in BD (Basic Design) we had like a 5 hr Critique of all of our drafts. it was SO INTENSE. we all pin our work to the wall and the whole class comments and critisizes it. I like the open enviorment and everyone sharing their opinions. I think it is alot better to hear from your peers what they like and what they think you could improve on your work then just having a teacher fill out a comment card and giving you a grade. But it is hard sometimes... when you are staring at you work on the wall, waiting for someone to say something about it... and you know EXACTLY what they are going to say is wrong with it... and you are just anticipating it. But i know it is helpful. After the Crit (the cool artzy nickname for Critique) we started working with Gouache ( a water color like paint). It was fun to paint and mix colors again... even though we were just doing boring value scales (which i have done like twice every year of my High School art life!). I missed painting... I havn't really done it since 1st semester Oil painting (which is REALLY different than using Gouache). After we cleaned up the paint the TA (teachers Assistant) who is going to be a Senior painting major at RISD, showed us a computer slide show of her work from her portfolio. she showed us it in chronological order and narrated her progression as an artist and how she grew through her classes. It was really interesting to hear her own interpertation of her paintings (the were REALLY good). After that i wasn't as upset about the kinda bad Critique ( i got a B- on the project which is better than i thought i would get). I just wanted to grow and move forward and learn from my mistakes. hopefully i can come back again with a better piece and my teacher (who i like) will apreciate my improvement.

After B D Class yesterday i had to get straight to work on my collage for my FD (Foundation Drawing) class. We were supose to get a picture of a piece of art work and make a collage of it using neutral colors (tans, browns, blacks, grays, and whites only). I went the day before last weeks class and got a really pretty postcard at the RISD store of this chinesse like flower print with a butterfly. I liked it alot but i forgot it when we had class last week so i had to borrow another picture from a girl named Becca who brought an extra. Hers was of this women playing a piano ( i mentioned it before) and i started it is class for like 2 hrs. But yesterday when i sat down to finish it for todays class i realized i hated it. i meen the original painting is nice but it was so hard and complicated and i hated what i had done. So learning from my lesson from BD that day... i desided to start from scratch on the original postcard painting i was planning on doing in the first place. I closed my door and put music on and got it done and i really liked it! I was proud of it too!

After i finished that it was time for Project Runway! our dorm was PACKED with people to watch the first episode! it was really fun watching it with all my fellow fashion girls, critiquing everything they made. It was fun to watch it with people who really love fashion. I am so used to watching it with Mom or Dad or David or Adam! Major difference. It was a really good episode!My friend Steph called me right after and we discussed everything... it was a blast!

Today... I had FD and i was actually excited to get to class and show my work. Everyone else did pretty good. We all had hung our stuff up and our teacher started asking us what stood out to us and say why (we were not allowed to use the phrase 'I Like...' though so it was tough). On one of the walls with nine pictures on it mine was the 3rd mentioned that stood out (which is really good) They all said it was really good and i got no negative feed back which made me really happy. It was the first Crit that i actually enjoyed. I really got into it and commented on other peoples too. It is such a secure enviorment that i feel ok to comment on other peoples work openly which i really enjoy. After the Crit we moved to a room in a different building. Our old room was hot and sticky and had no windows. the new one had a nice breeze going through and was nice and open. I felt alot more comfortable in it. We started a Negitive space exercize/drawing. It is hard to explan it if you don't know what it is but it can be difficult to understand for the first time (which it was for most of the kids there). There was a giant still life of chairs and easels and tables and we had to draw only the negative space. I have done so many of these kinda drawings in my Highschool drawing classes so i thought it was a piece of cake. But after a while after i finished my outlines with white charcol (horrible for my eyes... they are red and stinging... i had to take my contacts out at lunch and load my eyes up with the eye drops Aunt Kirsten gave me) My teacher tried to get me to draw the negitive space within the negitive space. i was really confused because the way i was taught there can't be no negitive space with in negative space. i could hear Miss J (my art teacher at school) yelling in my ear all the Neg. space rules that i was breaking. I told my teacher this and she said she understood. She was just trying to push me further but i really didn't have enough time to do it her way. But a bit after the TA came up to me and said he really liked my drawing style. That was a BIG complement coming from him (a drawing major).

After lunch we had figure drawing again. the whole shock of it all was gone now that it was the second time (plus it was two women so i was much more comfortable). They did a few short poses that i really didn't like but after a while they did like 15 min poses which i really got into. I started to enjoy it alot and the shading was progressing and starting to look really life like. after a while my teacher said we should focus less on getting the whole figure in and more on only the intresting parts by blowing up certain things on the page. by drawings (in my mind) started getting really good. after the 15 min pose we all walked around the room and looked at everyones stuff. Most of the people you could tell really don't like drawing and have no experience except for in fashion. A few were alright. A lot of people really liked mine.... it was alot different then everyone elses... style wise. I was proud of it i guess. next we did a 30 min pose with both models on good paper. I really like the longer poses because you can really get into the details and finish the picture and shade it and everything. I got SO into my 30 min one. i was covered head to two in charcoal! I think it is really good so far ( i didn't fully finish) and i might put it in my portfolio for college. The teacher said i had some style issues to deal with (i did rough skectching and blending and i should pick just one plus i wasn't finished and i was going to fix it) but it was really well done otherwise. After class i was less tired than i usually am after Drawing class.... i was more excited about what i had accomplished.

After i got back to the dorm... me Chloe and Karissa went to Kinkos to make copies for school work and then we went to Coldstones so Karissa could by a pint for our fridge! tonight i am probaly gonna go to the gym with Abby, Zoey, and Chloe and then i would like to get some Fashion stuff done with. I have Art History tommorow so i get to sleep in a bit and i got my presentation over with so i just get to relax which is nice. Dad is taking off work to visit and take me out for lunch too so that will be fun. I need to go get ready for the gym! TTYL