Personal thoughts and ramblings that have nothing to do with other content.
What a quarter! And what an end to the quarter!
Saturday of the last week of school as I was still reeling with the relief of no classwork, Theresa and my brother, Stephen, added the 19th grandbaby to our family.
Sweet Shalome gave my heart a healing balm. I look forward to many Sundays ahead, rocking her and bonding with her as I have done many before her. Such a precious gift! Such a joy! Such a blessing to our family.
This was the quarter that stretched my emotions in all directions.
From the beginning, allergies hit quickly and very hard, causing some scary moments. The remainder of the quarter was spent identifying and clearing my system of these sensitivities. Evening classes were the most challenging, specifically in a classroom that was stuffy hot with little circulation.
A few weeks into the quarter I was diagnosed with a wheat sensitivity (gluten / gliadin), which contributes to the multiple sensitivities that I have been battling. This upended my eating schedule as we also began a candida cleanse in order to calm my over-reactive immune system. By the end of the quarter, I was getting into the routine, but it was quite the struggle. Lainey and Charlotte stepped up and helped in so many ways that made it possible to stay on such a strict diet while attending school and concentrating on homework.
As if that were not enough, my beloved companion and sweet, sweet kitty became sick one night. The next day she was diagnosed with acute kidney failure and she had to be put down right then to end her suffering. Outside of the loss of friend or family member, this was the hardest loss I have ever experienced. The fact that it was so sudden (she was only 14 years old and seemed quite healthy), added to my stress.
This quarter definitely goes down as my most difficult on an emotional level. The renewal of hope is that all this dietary work will end in a lessening of the sensitivities and better health all around.
Our Typography final was a 4 week project to create a book. I chose to print mine on one sided canvas paper (meaning I had to sew the pages back-to-back) and to bind it with leather (for durability.) I also sprayed each page with a Krylon protective spray.
This book should be able to endure many, many years of loving hands flipping through it.
Process:
In other words, we were to have 20 typographic illustrations, 2 of which were required content.
Simple enough, but I was not interested in re-typing a book that did not impress me (I never did read it all.) So I came up with a whole different take on the same concept and turned it into a gift for my mother. Since 20 pages were required and I have 18 nieces and nephews, the subject matter was pretty much a no-brainer. The rules were turned into “Boundaries” and “No Boundaries”, which seemed an appropriate word for kids.
The pages were laid out in a spread format, so each spread (the boundary on the left and the broken boundary on the right) actually went together. Something that is not noticed when each page is read separately in the slideshow below.
The photos are all my own and taken in 2010. The writing is also my own and strives to capture something specific about each child.
During this process, I fell in love with these kids all over again. This has to be my absolute favorite project I have ever done at the Art Institute. How in the world will I ever top it?!
I ended up making two of these. One I turned in to my instructor and the other I gave to Mom as an early Mother’s Day gift. Keeping something like this secret just isn’t in my skill set.
For the entire book and photos of the process:
The first week of Feb. I think we had an ice storm that beat all within living memory. It also closed down school for a few days, which gave me my first break this quarter. It was a hugely welcome break, but I ended up working harder busting up ice on the driveway. We had 6 – 8 inches of sleet/ice on every level surface. This stuff was hard as rock. My brother was even able to drive a tractor on top of it!
The most harrowing part was using a mallet to bust 4 inches plus of ice off of Lainey’s new Lexus. It makes me shudder even now and has made me determined to tear down my studio in the garage so she can bring the car inside next winter. All three of us worked hard on the drive just to clear a path. Then it snowed. The sky just kept on giving.
That ice stayed around and was a hassle for 2 weeks before unseasonably warm days (50 – 65F) worked their magic on it. If it hadn’t, the piles would have stayed until Spring!
Christmas break was approximately 4 weeks long. With all that time, you would think a lot would get done, but on the contrary, it seemed I only accrued more to do! I did fit in some fun with the family with our seasonal cookie day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, visits to the Eiteljorg museum’s first train setup, and visits with friends.
Incidentally, this was also when one family of kids broke out into chicken pox (Christmas Eve) and promptly shared it with their cousins on both sides of the family. Kids at our church were dealing with the result of that all the way through Jan.
One design related item I did accomplish was the annual family calendar that did not get printed until the end of January due to printer breakdown.
This year I chose a theme of vintage children’s books and had a lot of fun with that. This has always been a favorite topic, but the more research I did on it, the more in love with it I fell. I even purchased a couple of vintage books… a Mother Goose book that my Mother grew up with and one of my own first books that is falling into tatters. Now I want to start collecting vintage children’s books! The art is so amazing (especially because it is not computer generated!)
I did not include all the months, but here is a slideshow of some of them and some wonderful links are included below.
Vintage Kid’s Books My Kid Loves – a blog with wonderful images
Project Gutenberg – Free vintage e-books – the children’s books have gorgeous photos and you can download these to your e-reader
Another thing I used my sketchbook for this quarter was to practice drawing dogs. Charlotte ordered 4 ornaments to give as gifts to her agility friends. So first I practiced with Bailey and Toby just to get a feel as to whether I could even draw the semblance of a dog!
The final weeks of my sketchbook for Life Drawing were gearing more towards the topic of Christmas. This included documenting my ornament painting, a poinsettia we had, as well as reaching back into my photography class last year and using my Mary/Jesus images to create this year’s Christmas cards.
“I no longer question why did I come into this room? I just adapt to what the room is about. Sleep. Chocolate. Reading. Study. Shower. I enjoy them all. So no problem. I never have to worry about the question.” – Ed Brogden Sr.
I love that comment from my lifelong friend, and am posting it in honor of my birthday this weekend. It fits well with my emmersion in the self-branding activities. May I always have this attitude no matter the circumstances of the moment … adapt to them and make the most of them!
The zoo is a favorite Indy destination of mine and I hope you enjoy it too since I will be going there a lot with my membership. This time, Rachel Leigh joined me and we spent a day downtown before before classes start up on Monday.
However… we hit the zoo early and found that there were few visitors and the animals were up and about! There is always something different to see no matter when you go, but during the week early before lunch has to be one of the best times for catching the animals and avoiding the crowds!
So if you enjoy zoo photos…here are a few for you.
We also visited the Eiteljorg once again… they have added 2 new exhibits, one which is by Robert Griffing, (an Art Institute of Pittsburg graduate! I take my online classes through that facility.) When here with the kids last week, we went through these a bit too quickly so I wanted to return. Rachel and I had a lot of fun critiquing the 2010 paintings on exhibit and examining the history behind Robert’s paintings.
Flexing My Wings 