Goodmorning

Jackson Pollock, Lavender Mist, 1950

"Lavender Mist epitomizes Pollock's ultimate style, in which physical action and emotional expression achieve balance. It is an astounding tapestry of color, poured, dripped, and flung on the canvas." -www.nga.gov

When I am in my painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It's only after a sort of "get acquainted" period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.
- quoted in Possibilities I, Winter 1947-48

La Lune

Last night Mallory and I went out and watched the total lunar eclipse. So did a bunch of other people from West Quad - it was the most I've ever done with people from my dorm aside from being outside together when the fire alarm goes off.
It was pretty sweet: thanks God!

It's Eternal

Talk radio that is. I have to say I used to hate it growing up as my mom listened to the radio. However, now that I have a job it helps time go by so fast. By far my favorite is the Glenn Beck Program. That guy is crazy, but scarily accurate, and definitely the most entertaining. Seriously, if you have a job and need some entertainment turn him on. Also if you read non-fiction I highly recommend his book, an Inconvenient Book.

Valentine's Day

There were lots of jokes running around the retreat with the youth leader's couples about spending Valentine's day with 40 high schoolers - but what a great way to share love with lots of people who really need it, right? I got more hugs this weekend than in the last few weeks combined.
But for our Valentine's day, Josh took me to Nonnah's (amazing dessert place in The Vista) the weekend before. He also got me a gift card to Walmart. Have we been living in the South too long? No really - it was something I wanted: the rest of the set of dishes I got when I moved into my apartment. I just ordered them today!

Winter Retreat

"Day-homie!" Weekend t-shirt

A view of the Smokey Mountains from the slopes.

One of many (much needed) snow blowers.
Josh and I at the top of the run.

Log cabin suburbia.

Apres ski spa night!

Never having worked with high schoolers, I had not realized what a difference a few years makes. Every time the girls in my room cleaned up after themselves, or got up when they needed to, I was amazed. Jr hi is very different. I love both, don't get me wrong, but this weekend really was a bit more like a retreat. We all had such a great time. God worked in the kids and the leaders, as well. It was so fun getting to know the group, too - 40 kids and 9 leaders.
To sum it up: no injuries, lots of prayer, word games and really cool kids.

Big Fan

DCB. They rock. Listen to Never Let Go.

I just got a text from Allison. "Ding!"
That means she's gonna get a raptor.

Rare

This morning I talked myself into getting up on time - and showering - so I could get to class on time. I didn't want to skip class because we have an exam scheduled for Thursday.
I am sick, but walked half an hour to get there anyway. We sat around for about 10 minutes while the prof and ta tried to get a film clip to work (of which I watched the entire thing last night somehow). It didn't work, and he dismissed us, telling us we would watch it Thursday. I went up and asked him about the exam and he said we weren't having one yet. That is a pain because I already started studying, and now that test is going to end up in the same week as another one. Sigh.
But it wasn't all a loss. I left class and decided to stop at the school library on the way home to check out the exhibit of illuminated manuscripts my Northern Renaissance Art History prof had raved about. It was fantastic! There was everything from tiny Books of Hours to huge lectern Psalters. They also had some history books, Bibles, and pages out of similar items. It was very exciting.

Study Browsing

http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/abstractexpressionism/

I just found this website while searching for a Lee Krasner image. It is a fabulous collection of abstract expressionist works. Love it.

April 15th and 600

Yes, it's that time of year. Have you received all your tax information from the church, job, and school. I know I have. Did you know that the total you can earn before having to claim it on your taxes is $600. I am at about $140 so far this year. Here's to the number 599 and sticking it to the man.

Chicken?

I found this add for a slow-cooker. I'm gona call this bad advertising - that chicken looks really scary.

Sweetness.

I was kind of irritated with the world tonight, so as I sat in film discussion after class, I felt very antagonistic and was probably scowling. At the end of class the teacher announced he was showing us our papers from last week (I thought we weren't getting them back till after midterms) and he said he had graded us on a scale from 1 - 10. He wanted to read us some titles so we know what a good topic is, but that we all did well - between 7 and 10. I waited eagerly to hear if my topic was read. No luck. Then, when I got my paper back, it had a 10 circled on the top, and three, scrawled notes. Two of my classmates who I sort of actually know had received 9 1/2 and he told them "great paper". One of them asked why he only got a 9 1/2 if it was so good, and he replied, "well it wasn't *that* good - I only gave out one 10".
It's amazing how fast your day can improve.
Then one of the 9 1/2s told me I should go back to Portland and take my fiancee with me if he's anything like me. He loves to talk trash. It was fun.
Now I'm eating beef barley soup and attempting to finish my French history paper.

Just a shout out to all the Canadians who will understand this, sorta. We in South Carolina are in the middle of a chinook. Well, not really, but it's 80 degrees Fahrenheit, in the middle of winter.

Beautiful things:

-not Starbucks
-warm, flowery smells
-picking a camellia (pamela style)
-being given mardi gras beads from my barista
-talking about good, imported beer with a South Carolinian
-walking on bricks under naked crepe myrtles

You're gonna need pencil and paper for this...

So, here is the deal these are the thirty odd finalists. The choice is yours what happens to them. This is what you need to do. First, go find a Post-It note, 3x5 card, notebook paper, or envelope. Second, your favorite marker, pen, pencil, or Sharpie. Third, your favorite piece of jazz music. If you don't have any I would suggest looking up something on YouTube (Seriously, you need some jazz music cause for some reason there is some bluegrass song on the slide show. Turn the sound off if you have to). Then watch the video and pick your top 10 photographs. They don't have to be in a specific order, just your 10 favs. Then post your fav 10 (if you need you can just make a list of numbers - 1 being the first photograph) That's it, no expository commenting necessary. Oh, and pick one that you think is the worst (not necessarily bad, but the worst at of the bunch)

Advanced Black and White Project 2

Ok, so this really isn't the first project, but I didn't want to be outdone. It's the pre-project goofing around. We were supposed to take photographs of whatever we want. In class we will learn how to make digital BW prints, that are comparable to film prints (such as silver gelatin). So Al was my first subject.

Print Project #1

The project was "Self-portrait as Evil Dopplganger". Pretty fun! This is me as a sorority girl (notice the long hair, pearl earring, dixie cup of cheap beer, and disco light). The original sketch is nicest, but I don't have a picture of it. The sketch on top is the mirrored version with the incorrect hand. The bottom image is more or less what the print actually looks like, only with nicer, creamy paper and a few straighter lines. I made eight, of which two are close to perfect.
I smell like ink, vegetable oil, and baby powder. It's somewhat disgusting.