Inside the Junk Drawer

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Apr
29

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On the Crest of Finals

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Drawing Structure and Expression II:

 

            Our last class was yesterday. We finished our self portraits. I came in an hour early just to make sure all three of my pieces would be done. This was good considering I finished the third one just as class was ending. I would not have been able to fit it in elsewhere this week so that was fortunate. As for my portraits, I had a dilemma about what to put in the background and ended up incorporating fish. I use fish as a symbol generally. I tied both my self and the fish together by using the same color palette. The three also tell a narrative when placed from left to right. On Monday, we moved our crit an hour earlier than normal class time. Gabe also asked me to present first, so I have to make sure I’m there by 8:30 to set up.  

 

Advanced Painting:

 

            Linda told us she wants five finished paintings for our final crit. I asked her to post pone the crit until May 7th because I physically do not have enough time this week to finish those. By the end of next week, I will have decent chunks of Wednesday and Thursday to spend on them. Last Friday, I started two small paintings instead of just one and didn’t even remotely come close to finishing either. I took a look at them today and see a correction I have to make already. At the same time, I was trying to edit some of my other works. To be honest, I don’t think I’m capable of actually finishing a painting: something is always going to need work. So, I’m just going to spend tomorrow and those two days trying things out and seeing where I go. That’s all I can do. Who knows, if I push myself I might be able to do it.

 

Western Art II:

 

            Class was canceled Tuesday. This was good and bad for me. It was good because then I got a decent night’s sleep. It was bad because the paper that was due that morning was completed, but I didn’t have my presentation for social ethics done. Still, it got my last Museum trip paper out of the way, so it’s one less thing to worry about. I also got my flash cards done because I thought Perla and I would be studying after class. Both of us couldn’t keep the arrangement, but have receduled for after the drawing crit.

I’ve also managed to start a very, very very rough draft of my research paper. Today, I confirmed that it is due on the 10th. Afsan also said it was okay to use five artworks instead of just three to get a better understanding how my theme has fluctuated chromatically, but it can still only be seven pages max. Usually I’m verbose, so I’ll have to be more concise with what I have to say. She also said I can use the same painting that I previously used for one of my museum papers. The plan is to have the research paper completed by the day of the final so I don’t have to worry about it later. We’ll see if I can stick to this.

 

English Literature:

 

            It took me seven drafts to get my Rushdie essay completely right, and even then I forgot to put a title on it. It reads better than my Wordsworth paper, so I’m hopeful I’ll get a better grade on it. The more drafts I did, the more I understood the mechanics of the story, so I feel better off anyway. We also have our final exam on Monday, so I have to re-read about two hundred pages for that. He told us which texts will be on the test, but it ended up being about twenty different short stories. I’ll be re-reading this along with looking more my notes again. Honestly, it’s not as bad as it sounds: I remember a lot of what I read so it will probably be more like skimming.  It’s also better than going over everything we covered over the entire year. I’ve also made arrangement to study with Katia in my English class about a half hour before hand.

 

Social Ethics:

 

            I completely botched my presentation on Tuesday. Having stayed up the night before to finish my history paper and complete flash cards, I didn’t have much time to prepare for it; too many other things were going on. I failed to construct a speech and decided improve would be better. That was a bad decision.  So, yes, after reading six different articles, making a presentation, making flash cards, I got up there and suffered stage fright and stuttered through the entire stupid thing. Normally, I’d just complete an extra credit assignment to supplement, but that would mean yet another paper and I don’t the time or the energy to even attempt that right now. Out of the seven, I have three left, and the research paper is going to nuke my brain alone with six or seven drafts. On top of that, I have to at least skim all of the stories we’ve read in English and all of the homework assignments for Social Ethics to prepare for both finals on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Apartment Hunting: On top of everything else, I think my roommate and I finally found a place. Maybe. I’ve asked my parents to sanity check me today by looking at it. The building unfortunately allows cats, and that isn’t good for my roommate’s severe allergies. There were three in the room when we checked it out, so she couldn’t even walk in. I felt bad because the lay out was completely gorgeous. Even better, there’s a laundry mat in the same building, it’s not near a highway, and it’s fairly close to a supermarket. The only bad things are that it’s on the fourth floor and the elevator is incredibly small (four of us pretty much filled the thing), so moving in would be incredibly difficult, and the cats/pets issue. My roommate is under a time constraint, so I feel like she’s settling because this is the only apartment that I’ve liked. I don’t want her to settle, so the plan is to check out the layout of the apartment above it layout so she can get a feel for the space. The realtor wanted this to happen today, but my roommate couldn’t do it, so hopefully we’ll both go Monday before she leaves for home.

 

Summer classes: I’m only taking the Chem class because the English wasn’t what I needed and the Art on the Silk Road doesn’t have enough people to proceed. I haven’t taken summer classes before, so this is probably for the best. They are much shorter and more intense than the fall and spring classes because there isn’t much time. Still, I also managed to get twenty hours a week working at the library, so I’m still happy with the arrangement. I start directly after the end of finals week, but I have the weekend to go home and celebrate before I come back.

Apr
22

By

Crunch Time

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Drawing Structure and Expression II:

Due to the holiday we only had one class this week. We started our self portraits. I’ve deiced to do three smaller drawings instead of one huge one. I’m working on left over gray paper from freshman year and my pastels. Gabe said we could use photographs, but only if it was for a pose you couldn’t hold such as smiling. You don’t want to smile for nine hours. Trust me.

Anyway, I decided to take advantage of her offer and took three photographs with ridiculous facial expressions. I’ve done a number of self portraits and I was tired of the formality it entailed, so I decided it would be better to shoot for humor. It’s also introducing some new elements. For example, one of the photos has my mouth wide open, so I got to draw teeth. None of the models smile, so drawing teeth is pretty new and interesting.

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Apr
15

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White Rabbit Syndrome

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Drawing Structure and Expression II:

We started and finished a two session drawing. Gabe allowed us to stray from pastels because the composition was so complex. Instead of drawing one model, we had two. I chose charcoal, which I hadn’t used since freshman year. It was a bit difficult to get started because we didn’t do any gesture drawing, and being a bit rusty with the charcoal didn’t help matters. I couldn’t be as methodical as usual and ended up just reacting more with the medium. While I have not yet been able to photograph my earlier drawings, I did take two shots to show process and will upload them as  soon as I can.

Note: my photography skills are pretty bad, but well, here they are…


Advanced Painting:

Last week, I complained that I wasted six hours of my life. As per usual, my peers and professor disagreed. This time, I concur. A week provided some emotional distance. When I put it up, I found out my composition wasn’t as stiff as all my other paintings. I think they were stiff because I was planning them all out and being too methodical about it. With that one, it was completely improv and I had to work with whatever accident I created. Linda liked it. She said the piece was much fresher, though she said I should hold off forcing representations.

So, for last week, I used the acrylic to do an under painting. As I mentioned before, the Water Mixables I had weren’t doing what I wanted them to. I wanted to be able to drip and splatter my paint. The Acrylics mixed with mate medium, retarder, and the occasional use of water did. I sort of imitated Pollock a bit, just playing with the paint. I used a lot of red and water at first, picked up the entire board, and let the excess drip off the board. I let myself play with the paint and made an absolute mess. Starting thinking about fire and added a lot of yellow and orange. Then I strayed from fire and ended up imitating the pattern on one of the fluorescent lights above my head. Eventually, it turned into yet another cave interior. This one is much more dynamic than the last, though, and progress is progress, even if I’m not allowed to really have any control of it. As per usual, the right side of my brain just won’t conform to the desires of the left.

Ideas of Western Art II:

We had a museum trip this week. I was late (I hate being late) and missed the Rococo part of the lecture because I didn’t leave my English class early enough. I ended up choosing Courbet’s “The Quarry” and pumped the rough draft out the same day I took notes (this is unusual for me). However, I have seven papers total hanging over my head (the museum paper for this week, the museum paper for next week, rewriting the research paper statement, the research paper itself, my English essay, and my social ethics paper) before the end of the semester. So it’s pretty much Alice in Wonderland White Rabbit Syndrome.

English Literature II:

My English Professor was irritated I had to miss his class. I can’t blame him: I wanted to be there for the analysis of The Prophet’s Hair (it was really really cool; read like Arabian Nights and the ending is fantastic)-and now I’m stuck with second hand notes. Worse, with my luck, it will be on the final. Anyway, I fortunately have the luxury of going on the next museum trip on either Tuesday or Thursday of next week. Tuesday in English we’re going over outlines, and both of us agreed that would be the best day, attendance wise, so I (hopefully) won’t miss anything else important.

Social Ethics:

We discussed Capital Punishment a bit more and finished Nicomachean Ethics. I still have to use the text in my Aristotle Lab, but now I’m free to write about anything that strikes me instead of answering certain questions. As for the Presentation, I just barely managed to squeak mine into the 27th. If I hadn’t, I would have been presenting this coming Tuesday, and that would have meant trying to write three papers during the same weekend as my brother’s birthday (which is impossible, I never get work done when I go home to my family). I’m going to focus on Euthanasia as a topic. After discussing Capital Punishment, discussing mercy killings shouldn’t be too difficult and everyone will be in the right mind set for it. Plus, I’m honestly curious. Also, Professor Fried told us to treat the presentation like a work shop because the class will be discussing it and the paper should come after. Anyway, I’ve printed out about eight or nine articles to read over in preparation. I should have plenty of time if I’m careful.

Apartment Hunting:

After looking at one expensive apartment on Boylston, I finally had enough. I picked up the phone and finally called a realtor. I told him what I was looking for and asked to see everything they had to offer that fit that description. On Monday we spent most of the day on Beacon Hill. My roommate liked this; she’s not a Nesad student and would prefer to stay close to campus. I found it a complete waste of time. It was the same exact street I lived on during freshman year and I had no desire to go back to it. I left because the commute was too long and towards the end I had to start dealing with mice. Clearly, the mice were still an issue because I found a loaded mouse trap in one of the apartments we were looking at. Considering my roommates severe allergies, I doubt she’d want to live there either. Also, we only looked at one apartment in Back Bay; that one seemed nice but I wasn’t sold. The Saturday after next we’re going to head up to North end. Before that, I should call and ask if they had anything else in Back Bay. Things aren’t looking good from a time stand point. My roommate has to fly back to New York, so she needs to find something by the beginning of May before the term ends. So far, I haven’t seen anything I want and I don’t want to be pressured to settle.

Summer Classes:

I tried to order books for both my Chemistry class and the Art on the Silk Road (?). I found neither in the Suffolk Book store. This was extremely unusual. Luckily, I happen to have Afsan for the latter class. According to her, the books aren’t up because not enough people are enrolled in the class, meaning that it might get canceled. Which is bad. Very bad. I want to get these classes done with. I have to in order to obtain my creative writing minor. And I still have not set up an appointment to discuss it with an English advisor. Crap. I guess I should go talk to Audrey, see if she can do anything…

Apr
8

By

Switching Strategies

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Drawing Structure and Expression II:

 

            We finished the three session drawing. Gabe saved me again-my drawing needed more contrast. She also pointed out this dark purple which really brought my vase to life. On Monday we have two models coming in and we had a vote on doing self portraits or having the models pose together. Considering our final piece is going to be a self portrait, a lot of people are leaning towards the latter. Personally, I don’t mind either way.

 

Advanced Painting:

 

            I pretty much wasted six hours of my life last Friday. My cave painting wasn’t that great compositionally. Normally, I’d do some sketches and then pick something. This appears not to be effective anymore. I’ve also become envious of Julia’s paintings. She’s using oil paint and thinner to drip and create these atmospheric pieces. They come out so gorgeous, it’s not even funny. Also, it appears so much more relaxed than my own strict scripting.

            So I tried to do something improv. I put my canvas on the floor and threw paint on it. Made this huge swirling mess of lines. During the crit, Linda suggested that I really look at the shapes after doing this-see what my imagination could come up with. In the end, it ended up being a really weird underwater environment or maybe the habitat from an alien planet (the creatures were weird).

            Or that’s what I thought. Then Braden came into the room about five hours after I started working, looked at it, and asked what it was.

            Like I said. Six hours of my life wasted.

            I still plan on trying to get this improv thing to work (planning out my compositions makes them very flat and dull-plus all my ideas are generally very bad). My next bright idea is to bring in the acrylic paint I bought for color in freshman year and throw that around a bit. I’ve got tons of mat medium, so it’ll be more fluid than the Winsor and Newton Water Mixables I’m currently working with. They’re great because they remain the same color, dry or wet, but take more than a week to dry. Acrylics, on the other hand, turn darker when they dry, but also dry really fast. I’m hoping this will help speed up my under painting. Also it might produce an opportunity for more glazing, which might my give my work the push it needs.

 

Western Art II:

 

            My museum trip will be taking place on Tuesday instead of today because Afsan is taking another class on a field trip. This was fine by me. I didn’t have class this morning and I still need to gobble down the rest of our chapter reading. I’m falling into this procrastination stage which really isn’t good. I plan on finishing the reading either during the weekend. Hopefully I’ll read ahead on Saturday at some point: I’m expecting a peapod delivery (groceries) and also looking at an extremely expensive apartment which I’ve mentally already discarded, but the realtor might have something cheaper. Realtors always show the expensive stuff first.  Also, Sunday I’m headed to the ICA with Perl for our last trip, so after that I can start writing my research paper. Hopefully during the remainder of the weekend I won’t get too side-tracked.

 

English Literature:

 

            We went over two of H. D. Lawrence’s short stories and a few students gave presentations. Rushdie is next and our final paper before the final. I’m trying to read ahead because, again, I feel like I won’t have much time during the weekend. I also just read Prophet’s Hair and found it completely entertaining.

 

Social Ethics:

 

            Professor Fried wasn’t there on Tuesday and we had a sub instead. She was very good and pretty much treated the material the same way he does. We were focused on Capital Punishment-being for or against-and probing the issue. I decided I’m against it. Death is just a bit too final, even if there are some extremely vicious people in the world. It’s also just too easy to miss use. Next week, we’re finishing Nicomachean Ethics (yes!) and discussing presentations (NO!). I’m dreading presentations. Also, I have to go back and pay more attention to my Lab journal.

 

Library: It looks like I might have summer work hours!!! I’m so excited it’s not even funny. Last year I was too chicken and failed to get a job. I really need to boost my finances, so this is really good news for me.

 

Summer I: I’m taking Chem 101, the lab, and Art on the Silk Road (?). Audrey told me it was called something else, yet it’s still labeled as that on my class schedule. Also Afsan teaches it, so there won’t be any surprises. It will be nice to explore some eastern work after a year of western.

 

Photographs:

               I really need to take some time out and make sure I grab my camera for Monday. Or, if I can convince myself, I’ll take pictures after painting tomorrow. My drawing drawer is located in the same room. I’m just being really lazy about it because it takes forever to uncover everything and get good photos. Also, after discovering people actually read this, I’m a bit nervous throwing my work out there to be judged. Which is probably stupid: I’m pursuing a BFA in fine arts-having other people look at my work is going to be my future. Now’s the time to get over it while I’m not in the field. Alright, alright-I’ll get photos. Promise.

Apr
1

By

No This is Not an April Fool’s Joke

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Drawing Structure and Expression II:

Finished the two-session drawing and started a three-session piece. For that, I’ve continued change my compositions. Before, I focused on head and torso. Now I’m trying out extreme cropping and paying more attention to the still life. Right now, I’m focused on a right leg and a weirdly shaped vase. Also continued to pick my own color palettes. Gabe’s been pretty respectful and has left me alone to muddle through it.

Also, one of you commented about there being a lack of pictures. You’re right, so I’ll try my best to get some in the next two weeks.

Advanced Painting:
Had out midterm. As expected, it was like a crit. Linda had us present five of our paintings and talk about them, where you thought you were going, what you accomplished, what you need to work on, etc. Also, you get feed back from the professor and you’re peers, so then you start to see stuff that you weren’t conscious of doing and give you suggestions on who to look at or how to improve your work.
For instance, Linda concluded all my pieces were night pieces, dream-like, and seemed to have something to do with the apocalypse (which I still think is really funny). I was so focused on trying to create the illusion of space that I didn’t consciously think of anything else.
After the midterm we started another piece. That one was pretty much cave like. Yesterday, Katia had me come upstairs to give her some feedback about our current painting. She also looked at mine and confirmed the suspicion that, yes, it’s too dark. Hopefully, I can get my butt out of bed early tomorrow morning and paint before lecture starts at ten. I have to leave at five tomorrow anyway, so I’m really constrained with time (friends are coming to stay for Anime Boston this weekend ^________^).

Western Art II:

Our midterm results came back. I didn’t fail (I saved myself by being an attendance junkie. I’m a visual and tactile learner, so taking notes really helps). Nor will I have to write an extra credit paper to raise my grade. Still, I’m rather pleased- I went to the Durer exhibit taking place in the MFA currently. It’s impressive. If you live nearby you should definitely check it out, especially if you like fine details. During the same trip (I went to both the MFA and Gardner on Sunday) I found about six different pieces I can use for my research paper. I think I still have to retype my thesis statement, but I’d rather make my last museum trip and pick the pieces before I do that.

Social Ethics:
On Tuesday, I noticed we had one section left in the Aristotle book we’re reading. So, to get ahead, I read half the chapter. Then I walked into class and found that isn’t next week’s homework. Instead, we’re reading four different essays on capital punishment and perhaps giving a presentation…? That will freak me out-my rhetorical skills are pretty terrible. See, I have the luxury of actually seeing what I’m writing and making revisions before I post (I do about two or three drafts before posting). Speaking, you can’t do that. Nor can you erase your mistakes. Instead, you have to focus on keeping your language completely fluid and trying not to ramble. Unfortunately, ramble is pretty much all I do, so this should be an interesting experience…

English Literature II:
I had a doctor’s appointment today in between Western Art II and this class. I was frantic to get to English, not because I was worried about my attendance, but being I really wanted to discuss the S.T. Eliot poem we read “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”. I went over it in high school and pretty much dismissed it. However, I re-read it and my jaw dropped. I found it more likable than Virginia Wolf’s rambling anyway. I’ve also been listening to the Crash Test Dummies song “Afternoons and Coffeespoons” which was inspired by the poem, so that might be effecting my judgment too…
Katia also suggested some reading material for me based off of it: Crime and Punishment and Diary of a Madman. I’m most excited about checking out the latter, but currently I’m on a ten book series. Hopefully I’ll get them all read before my summer classes start. Or maybe not. I keep thinking I have a month, but it might only be a week between spring and summer term. I’ll have to go check again…

Apartment Hunting:

My potential roommate seems to have her heart set on an apartment in East Boston. Yes, it looks like a dream come true: it’s a short commute to the main campus (and she goes there primarily), the bedrooms are huge, there’s laundry in the unit, plenty of storage space, fully furnished, it has separate leases.
However, the area is really bad. I checked the crime statistics-there’s been tons of assaults and at least one shooting in the last three months. The realtor said it was safe at night, but I’m really starting to think it was sweet talk. They were renovating apartments too (the last two apartments were basically construction sites)-She also wants us to tell our friends-so I think she’s trying to get people in there fast.
But, my roommate seems totally snowed. She doesn’t have furniture, so the place seems ideal. This is also her first apartment-she’s a freshman moving out of the dorms-so she’s new at this. I’ve done it for two years already-this will be my third time. During my freshman year, I saw an apartment in Southie-beautiful inside-but it was in an extremely scary part of town. Personally, I’d rather live in a safe area.
I’ve contacted two more realtors to look at other places and I’ve asked her when she’s available about three days ago. I haven’t heard back. If I don’t hear back by tomorrow, I think I’ll be asking them to show me studio apartments instead of two bedrooms. Honestly, I’m really starting to believe dealing with roommates isn’t worth it. Only do it if you’re certain to get along with the person.

(And please excuse spelling mistakes. I’m trying to write this and scan slides at the same time. There isn’t enough time in the day to do everything, I swear…)

(EDIT: And then again, I just talked to Tim who happens to live in East Boston. He says its pretty safe, so maybe I’m just paranoid…)

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