Probably my final post before returning to the US.
My critique went over generally like I thought it would. They told me I have talent, talked about my previous experience, my attendence, etc etc. They told me I'm too heavy handed (which I am well aware of and I can't seem to break that habit). I found it a little funny how the pencil drawing that they said was my best one was the one I spent the least amount of time on and actually ended up using the comparison method instead of the sight-size method that they teach at FAA. Of course, I didn't tell them that.
Then one of the teachers told me that I was unfocused. She went on a little rant about how she doesn't think that I want to use what I've learned as just a hobby but she doesn't feel I have the drive to be professional. Well. Excuse me.
I know I've been slightly unfocused while here. Mainly because I've been doing all of this for the past 3 years. I didn't feel challenged and it was all pretty boring work for me. You can't get focused and stimulated by boring work that you've done hundreds of times before.
Anyway, a lot of the other students were saying the same thing. They would tell us things that they have been telling us all semester and things we already know and then complain a little about something in particular that most of us would not agree with.
Yesterday Lucas and I finished up shopping and just wandered around Florence. Today, I'm packing some more and doing the last of my laundry. There's a end of the term party that some restuarant is hosting for us not too far from the school tonight so Lucas and I are going to that. We invited some people over to the apartment after for drinks and the taking of our things that we don't need to bring back (extra food, toothpaste, etc etc). Then tomorrow is going to be full-on packing. I'm going to stop by the school to maybe work on my last bargue a little bit, grab the rest of my supplies there, and then talk with Rosemary (the registrar) about booking a cab for tomorrow morning to pick me up and take me to the airport.
I have so much to do between now and Saturday morning. Then when I get home it's not going to be a time to relax either. I have close to every day booked with things I need to do and plans until New Years. Then I have to start classes back at AAA.
Well, here's to the last post. Ciao, vediamo quando torno in America!
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
12/5/10
Last week!
I've kind of been jamming in last minute experiences this weekend and probably the rest of the week. I tried 'Mexican' food. It was good, but definitely not really Mexican food. Just an Italian immitation of it. [Vegetarian burrito pictured below]
I also went to a Chinese restaurant with some friends including one of the students who is Chinese, Nancy. She's a very interesting person and it was awesome to say the least to finally get to sit there and talk to her more one-on-one. She has a perfect American accent because her mom didn't want her to go through the local school system in China and she instead sent her to the American schools in China. It was fun to watch her try to teach John (from New York) how to speak some Chinese phrases.
Alora, the Chinese restaurant was probably the best Chinese food I've ever had. We also each got some fried ice cream for dessert (which is an American thing, but still something I've never tried before). It was delicious to say the least. Especially since it was gelato, not just ice cream.
They also have Christmas decorations up all over the city already. There's the HUGE Christmas tree in the Duomo area and lights on almost every street. It makes me happy that I'm going to be home for Christmas.
I've kind of been jamming in last minute experiences this weekend and probably the rest of the week. I tried 'Mexican' food. It was good, but definitely not really Mexican food. Just an Italian immitation of it. [Vegetarian burrito pictured below]
I also went to a Chinese restaurant with some friends including one of the students who is Chinese, Nancy. She's a very interesting person and it was awesome to say the least to finally get to sit there and talk to her more one-on-one. She has a perfect American accent because her mom didn't want her to go through the local school system in China and she instead sent her to the American schools in China. It was fun to watch her try to teach John (from New York) how to speak some Chinese phrases.
Alora, the Chinese restaurant was probably the best Chinese food I've ever had. We also each got some fried ice cream for dessert (which is an American thing, but still something I've never tried before). It was delicious to say the least. Especially since it was gelato, not just ice cream.
They also have Christmas decorations up all over the city already. There's the HUGE Christmas tree in the Duomo area and lights on almost every street. It makes me happy that I'm going to be home for Christmas.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
12/2/10
Again, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been in my own world lately.
A little over a week left and I will be back in the US. At least that's if I don't run into a snow storm. Apparently it started snowing back home, so there might be a chance that my flight will get re-directed if there is a snow storm. Here's to hoping there isn't one. I'd rather not prolong the travel time, especially since it's already going to be around 20 hours of travelling without any glitches.
I've done pretty decent progress on my 3rd Bargue and I'm actually pleased with how my charcoal drawing is turning out.
We have our final critiques next week as well. Mine is on Tuesday. They also wanted us to do a copy of a charcoal model line drawing and then 2-3 copies of Bargue line drawings. Then they also want us to mount all of our pencil drawings on drawing boards. I could understand if they gave all this to us about a month ago, but they can't seriously expect us to finish all that in less than two weeks. Plus the fact that there are no more drawing boards, so I have no idea where they think we're supposed to put our drawings.
Lucas's mom arrived last Friday. They left almost right after she got here to go to Rome and spent the weekend there. She's just been hanging out the apartment and randomly exploring the city since then. She's also been cooking us dinner. It's nice not to have to cook for myself. But at the same time, I've gotten so used to it that it's kinda weird to not cook all my own meals. Everyone back at the house will probably be very happy when I get back because the habit of cooking every meal will probably stay with me for a while.
I'll try for at least 2 more posts before next Saturday, but things will probably be getting a bit hectic this last week.
A little over a week left and I will be back in the US. At least that's if I don't run into a snow storm. Apparently it started snowing back home, so there might be a chance that my flight will get re-directed if there is a snow storm. Here's to hoping there isn't one. I'd rather not prolong the travel time, especially since it's already going to be around 20 hours of travelling without any glitches.
I've done pretty decent progress on my 3rd Bargue and I'm actually pleased with how my charcoal drawing is turning out.
We have our final critiques next week as well. Mine is on Tuesday. They also wanted us to do a copy of a charcoal model line drawing and then 2-3 copies of Bargue line drawings. Then they also want us to mount all of our pencil drawings on drawing boards. I could understand if they gave all this to us about a month ago, but they can't seriously expect us to finish all that in less than two weeks. Plus the fact that there are no more drawing boards, so I have no idea where they think we're supposed to put our drawings.
Lucas's mom arrived last Friday. They left almost right after she got here to go to Rome and spent the weekend there. She's just been hanging out the apartment and randomly exploring the city since then. She's also been cooking us dinner. It's nice not to have to cook for myself. But at the same time, I've gotten so used to it that it's kinda weird to not cook all my own meals. Everyone back at the house will probably be very happy when I get back because the habit of cooking every meal will probably stay with me for a while.
I'll try for at least 2 more posts before next Saturday, but things will probably be getting a bit hectic this last week.
Friday, November 26, 2010
11/26/10
My first Thanksgiving away from home and family. Thankfully I have friends here. Not many 'traditional' Thanksgiving dishes, but we tried. It was even harder because besides Lucas and I, there were only 3 other Americans there. We had to explain the meaning of Thanksgiving to everyone there. I cooked a greenbean casserole and some sweet carrots and got several marriage proposals as reward for my hard work, haha. There was chicken instead of turkey, foccacia bread instead of rolls, no sweet potatoes, and lots and lots of wine. I still really missed the day-long Thanksgiving with family back in the States (and the sweet potatoes and stuffing), but it was interesting and fun to say the least to experience it with people from all over the world.
Staying on the cooking subject, I recently found this at the market:
It's Romanesco cauliflower. I knew that picking it up and I've always wanted to try it, but it's hard to find back in the US. I cooked it and tried it and it was okay. It tastes like a mix of cauliflower and broccoli, only more... earthy? I don't know, it has a weird taste to it that I wasn't 100% keen on, though it could be because of the recipe I used it in. Maybe I'll try it later on with just simple butter and salt and pepper like I usually eat my cauliflower or broccoli.
Staying on the cooking subject, I recently found this at the market:
It's Romanesco cauliflower. I knew that picking it up and I've always wanted to try it, but it's hard to find back in the US. I cooked it and tried it and it was okay. It tastes like a mix of cauliflower and broccoli, only more... earthy? I don't know, it has a weird taste to it that I wasn't 100% keen on, though it could be because of the recipe I used it in. Maybe I'll try it later on with just simple butter and salt and pepper like I usually eat my cauliflower or broccoli.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
11/18/10
I apologize for the long wait between posts!
My headaches and neck problems haven't been getting any easier. I've just felt like falling asleep every possible second as well. No idea why considering I haven't changed my sleeping or eating or daily patterns at all.
For some reason I have been getting dizzy as well. Mainly whenever I stand for more than 30 minutes at a time, but sometimes when I'm just sitting around or within a couple minutes of standing. Probably not a good thing.
Anyway, enough whining.
As I said before, we started the new charcoal drawing. Actually started working in charcoal this week instead of just study pencil drawings of the pose. The picture below is one of my pencil studies of the pose (different angle than the one I'm doing though).
I also have an updated of my second Bargue. Another week of the teacher telling me little things to change and then the next day the other teacher telling me a different thing (we have different teachers each day of the week, except Wednesday and Friday we have the same teacher).
I feel like I've learned all I can from this semester here. I know if I stayed, I would learn more because they start you on new things further on, but I'm not willing to stay. It's simply a matter of them ingraining the precision they've taught us. Practice practice practice. I understand the necessity, but I really want to be working on my own stuff right now, especially since I have to think about getting a complete portfolio together for graduation in less than a year now. I don't really know how I'm going to pull a professional portfolio together in that time. At least the students back at AAA had this past semester to work on it as well. Lucas and I only have the spring semester.
And this is just a fun photo. Vlado kept making disgruntled faces (subconsiously or conciously, I don't know) because one of the other student's daughter came and sat next to him and wouldn't shut up. Lunch is always amusing.
Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary with Erik. I'm not extremely upset about missing it because I've never been much of a romantic, but it still hurts not being able to be there with him. Especially with something as big as 5 years. It's hard to think that we've been together for that long. It definitely doesn't seem that way but the more I think about it, the more I cannot imagine my life with him not in it. We've agreed to just celebrate it when I return. A month late, but still better than nothing at all. We're trying to find something to do that's special but not too expensive. We've done the nice romantic dinner and the time with just the two of us and the jewelry for previous anniversaries so we're looking for something different. Erik suggested going and staying at a 'romantic hotel/spa' for a couple of days. I would love to, but I know those places are not cheap.
Less than a month left and I return to reality!
My headaches and neck problems haven't been getting any easier. I've just felt like falling asleep every possible second as well. No idea why considering I haven't changed my sleeping or eating or daily patterns at all.
For some reason I have been getting dizzy as well. Mainly whenever I stand for more than 30 minutes at a time, but sometimes when I'm just sitting around or within a couple minutes of standing. Probably not a good thing.
Anyway, enough whining.
As I said before, we started the new charcoal drawing. Actually started working in charcoal this week instead of just study pencil drawings of the pose. The picture below is one of my pencil studies of the pose (different angle than the one I'm doing though).
I also have an updated of my second Bargue. Another week of the teacher telling me little things to change and then the next day the other teacher telling me a different thing (we have different teachers each day of the week, except Wednesday and Friday we have the same teacher).
I feel like I've learned all I can from this semester here. I know if I stayed, I would learn more because they start you on new things further on, but I'm not willing to stay. It's simply a matter of them ingraining the precision they've taught us. Practice practice practice. I understand the necessity, but I really want to be working on my own stuff right now, especially since I have to think about getting a complete portfolio together for graduation in less than a year now. I don't really know how I'm going to pull a professional portfolio together in that time. At least the students back at AAA had this past semester to work on it as well. Lucas and I only have the spring semester.
And this is just a fun photo. Vlado kept making disgruntled faces (subconsiously or conciously, I don't know) because one of the other student's daughter came and sat next to him and wouldn't shut up. Lunch is always amusing.
Yesterday was my 5 year anniversary with Erik. I'm not extremely upset about missing it because I've never been much of a romantic, but it still hurts not being able to be there with him. Especially with something as big as 5 years. It's hard to think that we've been together for that long. It definitely doesn't seem that way but the more I think about it, the more I cannot imagine my life with him not in it. We've agreed to just celebrate it when I return. A month late, but still better than nothing at all. We're trying to find something to do that's special but not too expensive. We've done the nice romantic dinner and the time with just the two of us and the jewelry for previous anniversaries so we're looking for something different. Erik suggested going and staying at a 'romantic hotel/spa' for a couple of days. I would love to, but I know those places are not cheap.
Less than a month left and I return to reality!
Friday, November 12, 2010
11/12/10
Ok, so now that I'm bumming around at the school, I'll post some of the recent work I've done. 
This is of my first charcoal drawing here (5 weeks worth of time). Honestly definitely not one of my favorite pieces and one that I don't care much about. All I can really see that I got out of it was a better understanding of getting the correct proportions and seeing shadow and light shapes better as well as slowing myself down... a lot.
Here's my second Bargue again. Still not 100% finished with it and this isn't an updated picture. It's from a couple of days ago. I was told to get softer pencils to darken it even more and to focus on the little shapes now instead of the large shadow shapes.
Today has been a bad day so far. I wake up and take a shower, then as I'm getting ready in my room, the power goes out. It went out a couple of nights ago and the landlord came and reset everything, explaining that when you use a certain amount of electricity your power gets shut off. We were using the oven, washing machine, and had a lot of the lights on in the apartment during that time so I can understand why it shut off then.
But today, Lucas was still sleeping so the only use of electricity was when I had the light on in the bathroom and then the light on in my room. I left for school but Lucas stayed behind to meet with the landlord when he came. I saw that the power box for the building had the red light on as well when I was leaving (instead of just the power meter for our apartment) so I think the entire building has a problem. I'm hoping the situation is resolved by the time classes are over because I don't want to have to throw out all the food in the fridge and have no light and no way to charge my computer and cold showers and no microwave.
This is of my first charcoal drawing here (5 weeks worth of time). Honestly definitely not one of my favorite pieces and one that I don't care much about. All I can really see that I got out of it was a better understanding of getting the correct proportions and seeing shadow and light shapes better as well as slowing myself down... a lot.
Here's my second Bargue again. Still not 100% finished with it and this isn't an updated picture. It's from a couple of days ago. I was told to get softer pencils to darken it even more and to focus on the little shapes now instead of the large shadow shapes.
Today has been a bad day so far. I wake up and take a shower, then as I'm getting ready in my room, the power goes out. It went out a couple of nights ago and the landlord came and reset everything, explaining that when you use a certain amount of electricity your power gets shut off. We were using the oven, washing machine, and had a lot of the lights on in the apartment during that time so I can understand why it shut off then.
But today, Lucas was still sleeping so the only use of electricity was when I had the light on in the bathroom and then the light on in my room. I left for school but Lucas stayed behind to meet with the landlord when he came. I saw that the power box for the building had the red light on as well when I was leaving (instead of just the power meter for our apartment) so I think the entire building has a problem. I'm hoping the situation is resolved by the time classes are over because I don't want to have to throw out all the food in the fridge and have no light and no way to charge my computer and cold showers and no microwave.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
11/10/10
A month left before I return to the US.
Here's some pictures from Rome like I said I would post.
I was a little sad that the Pantheon (first picture) was under construction. Half of it was covered in scaffolding. I would have liked to see it in person completely. But we were also able to go inside and nothing in there was under construction. The day was utterly exhausting, but we got to see what we wanted, even if we ended up taking a train 2 hours later than we originally timed.
We started on new model/charcoal drawings this week. We have a male model this time. I already had to start another preliminary pencil drawing because as the model 'settled' into the pose, his shoulders rotated a little to a different angle. I have a picture of my 'finished' charcoal drawing from the past 5 weeks, but the internet has been bad lately, so it took me all day to even get those few pictures from Rome up.
Here's some pictures from Rome like I said I would post.
I was a little sad that the Pantheon (first picture) was under construction. Half of it was covered in scaffolding. I would have liked to see it in person completely. But we were also able to go inside and nothing in there was under construction. The day was utterly exhausting, but we got to see what we wanted, even if we ended up taking a train 2 hours later than we originally timed.
We started on new model/charcoal drawings this week. We have a male model this time. I already had to start another preliminary pencil drawing because as the model 'settled' into the pose, his shoulders rotated a little to a different angle. I have a picture of my 'finished' charcoal drawing from the past 5 weeks, but the internet has been bad lately, so it took me all day to even get those few pictures from Rome up.
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