I'm Back!

After a TERRIBLY long break from the blog, I'm back!  I had some pretty bad computer problems that prevented me from updating.  Long story short, my hard drive died and I thought that I had lost everything.  Thanks to my brother's genius, I was able to recover ALL of my files (and now have everything backed up on an external hard drive).  My computer is still dead, but (once again thanks to my awesome brother) I am temporarily using his laptop until I can get my computer fixed.

So almost a full month later, I can finally update the blog again.  Lots has happened, but I'll just try to hit the major points.

School hasn't slowed down a bit.  We learned marbling and wood-graining for the theatre.  I don't have a picture of the woodgrain, as those projects won't be completed until we do light and shadow next semester.  But here's a shot of my marble piece (about 5x9 feet).

Those of us who were feeling adventurous had the option of trying to book-match the center section (where, in real marble, the stone slab would be split down its center and opened like a book, creating a mirror image pattern in the stone).  So the center section has a book match, which was a bit difficult to paint, but fun to try.

The following week we had a lettering/sign painting seminar.  Much of it concentrated on letter construction, a quick history of letters and fonts, and a lot of practice with the lettering brushes.  The last two days of the week we each made two signs: one logo and one aged sign.  Both had to be painted free-hand with the lettering brushes.

I'm quite happy with the HighHat sign, but wished I had a bit of extra time to add more aging and rust to the Coca-Cola sign.

After that we had a short seminar on drawing in perspective.  It was tedious and a bit difficult, but there are a LOT of nice tricks and shortcuts to drawing in perspective that would have saved me a lot of time if I knew them for past projects!  I don't have any pictures of that stuff, it was mostly practicing exercises from our handouts, etc.

We're currently working on our first official landscape pieces.  The plan is to finish by Tuesday before Thanksgiving break.  Rachel assigned pictures to each of us, and mine is a picture of Mount Ranier, with its reflection in a lake in the foreground.  Quite a pretty picture, so I hope it translates to my drop :)  I'll post pictures of that when it's complete.

Yesterday we had a "faux" Thanksgiving party.  There were about 60 people in the house...it was insane.  The only people I knew were the regulars from the school (about 10 people), the rest were Rachel's friends from all over.  It was definitely a sensory overload, but I'm enjoying the leftover turkey sandwiches, so I'm not complaining.

Other than that, things continue as usual.  No snow yet (knock on wood).  It's still averaging in the 50's, so it's quite nice most days.

One perk of living here is that we all eat really well...but sometimes too well :)  I've never had a bad meal here, and I'm not quite used to eating hearty home-cooked meals every day.  I felt like I was pudging up a little bit, so I've gotten in the habit of taking walks in the morning before class.  I know it's incredibly out of character for me to be waking up over an hour earlier than I need to on a regular basis, but I'm really enjoying the quiet mornings.  And I'm feeling fit again, so I guess it's working.  I wish I could get into running again, but my knees won't have it, so walking it is.

Oh!  And I suppose I should mention one other event recently: I turned 30.  Wow.  Years ago I kind of expected that once I reached 30 I would be traumatized and mourning the passage of my "youth."  But I feel quite the opposite...I'm terribly excited for what my 30's will bring.  My 20's were way too tumultuous, and I'm looking forward to a more stable decade.

Well, I suppose "stable" is relative.  But I finally feel like I'm on a career path that I not only enjoy immensely, but one in which I feel confident in following.

So that's the update for now.  I'll be able to post more regularly again now that I have a working computer.

And in less than a month, I will be in Denver for Christmas.  Can't wait!!!