I don't have time to post. I'm coming down the final stretch of this quarter, and I shouldn't be blogging until it's over. Too much of a distraction. I've also turned off comments so I don't have to keep up with those, either.
I mean, I haven't been posting very much anyway, so it's not like you're missing anything.
I might post in the next two weeks, I might not. Depends on how much homework I get done.
If you want to keep in touch, you can e-mail me. Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monday, November 20, 2006
Gourmet Coloring
Here's what my "midterm" assignment is for my Technical Perspective and Rendering class. In case you didn't know, "Technical Perspective" has to do with where your vanishing points are in a picture, where your Horizon line (eye-level) is, etc., so that your drawing looks more life-like and things aren't distorted or out-of-proportion to each other.
"Rendering" is kind of like Gourmet Coloring. It involves fancy markers that blend with each other really well, pastels, and colored pencils. It's meant to give things a more three-dimensional feel (adding shadows, etc.) as well as to give the impression of the texture of an object.
So, for our midterm, we had to take a picture out of a catalog (mine was Pottery Barn kids--I (heart) Pottery Barn!), draw it (NOT trace it), transfer that drawing onto colored Canson paper, and then Render it.
Mine isn't completely finished, but I wanted to show it to you before I turned it in or accidentally ruined it by coloring something wrong. The instructor said we didn't have to put in all the detail, or even copy things exactly, but obviously we needed to demonstrate our best work, etc.
Here's the picture from the Pottery Barn kids Catalog (sorry about the glare):
And here's my drawing/rendering of it (so far):
This is my first time doing something like this, so be gentle!
"Rendering" is kind of like Gourmet Coloring. It involves fancy markers that blend with each other really well, pastels, and colored pencils. It's meant to give things a more three-dimensional feel (adding shadows, etc.) as well as to give the impression of the texture of an object.
So, for our midterm, we had to take a picture out of a catalog (mine was Pottery Barn kids--I (heart) Pottery Barn!), draw it (NOT trace it), transfer that drawing onto colored Canson paper, and then Render it.
Mine isn't completely finished, but I wanted to show it to you before I turned it in or accidentally ruined it by coloring something wrong. The instructor said we didn't have to put in all the detail, or even copy things exactly, but obviously we needed to demonstrate our best work, etc.
Here's the picture from the Pottery Barn kids Catalog (sorry about the glare):
And here's my drawing/rendering of it (so far):
This is my first time doing something like this, so be gentle!
Thursday, November 16, 2006
So, I'm a Little Paranoid
About a month ago, the Pete and I helped a friend--I'll call her Emma, 'cause that's totally not her name--move from one apartment to another in Everett, a "city" just north of Seattle. So it's not like we were really having to travel very far to help out. Plus, she and her boyfriend had hired a moving service (which sucked, and I don't recommend it for such short trips), so we didn't even really have to help carry in a buttload of heavy stuff.
Anyway, the Pete worked his engineering/spatial skills on their kitchen, since Emma assigned us to unpack and organize all the kitchen stuff. By the way, The Pete is a wiz at packing things. We always make him organize the band equipment on the truck when we're loading it all to go play a gig. And when he and I travel, I lay out all my clothes and toiletries on the bed, and he expertly manages to neatly cram six outfits, three pairs of shoes, my makeup and hair potions AND my hair dryer into one airline-approved carry-on.
But I digress. Emma is a lovely person and all, but occassionally she says some hurtful things. I don't think she intends to, but every now and again, something comes out of her mouth that just ruins your day. For instance, a bunch of us interior design students were talking in the hallway last week, and another friend--I'll call her Betty--was talking with Emma about their respective weight gain/loss. After Emma lamented the fact that she had gained about ten pounds since starting school, she turned to Betty and said, "I can tell that you've gained weight, too!"
Betty was so taken aback by this comment that she was rendered speechless. See, Emma drops bombs like this without hesitation, and with so much finality that it's hard to recover and think of something appropriate to say in response. Emma usually speaks with no hint of hesitation--no self-consciousness or doubt about her own knowledge or authority on the subject (any subject) that it's next to impossible to refute her or call her on her bullshit. She once (out of the blue) told me, "I don't think God wants people to be vegetarians." (In case you didn't know, I'm a vegetarian, and Emma knows this). I was bewildered by her comment, and asked her to explain her reasoning. She didn't have any. Of course, she had immediately put me on the defensive, and I found myself trying to justify my lifestyle choices to her (as if I even needed to). She couldn't refute anything I said, of course, but said with such finality, "well, I disagree with you" (proof be damned!) that I was left feeling frustrated and annoyed. A few days later, she brought over some clothes she had bought for me at the Thrift Store. They were really nice, and I was flattered. I don't know if it was related to the Vegetarian comments--sort of a peace offering--or if she's just taken pity on me because I'm trying to dress nicer and am a little clueless as to what really looks good on me. Emma is not one to apologize for things she says (I doubt she's even aware of her need to apologize), but the clothes thing did kind of feel like an attempt to make amends.
Anyway, while we were helping her unpack, she said something that pretty much insulted the Pete's (and her boyfriend's) intelligence. You know, something along the lines of, "I know you Men aren't very bright an' all, but do you think you can manage to drive back to the old place and clean out the fridge for me?"
Now I don't know about you, but I don't think it's wise to insult someone while in the process of asking them for a favor. Also? The Pete and Emma's boyfriend are both very intelligent, witty, and, most importantly kind human beings, and definitely did not deserve such a condescending barb, even spoken in jest. It really bugged me that she had insulted not only her own boyfriend, but my husband as well. Nobody puts Baby in a corner!
But I digress. After we had finished unpacking, we all sat down and watched some Daily Show over a glass of champagne to celebrate their successful move. Somehow, we got on the subject of the war in Iraq, and whether it was or was not like the war in Vietnam. I won't go into who came down on which side, but let's just say Emma started defending her position with absolutely no proof to back up her remarks, and again, spoke with such authority that it was stunning (considering she was talking out of her butt and all). By the way: if someone says, "If you do the research, you'll see that blah blah blah and then they give you no facts, no quotes, no resources to back up their position, it's a pretty good indication that they haven't done their research. It was obvious we were polarized on the subject, but Emma refused to even hear our reasoning. The night kind of ended on a sour note, and we said our pleasantries and left.
The following week, Emma missed class. She wouldn't answer her phone. She wasn't on the internet. In short, she was acting weee-eird. It's very uncharacteristic of her to skip class and shun contact with people. I began to wonder if I had really pissed her off somehow. I tried to chalk it up to her moving and everything, but her behavior was increasingly erratic. Sometimes she would come to class and then get visibly upset when her questions in class weren't answered succinctly and leave in a huff. She seemed to be avoiding everyone, not just me. I began to wonder if she was thinking of dropping out of school, or if she was having some sort of trouble at home.
Last week, she came over to get the notes and assignment from me for the class she had missed, and she brought over...more clothes! They fit perfect (I gotta admit, she has a great eye for knowing what fits and looks good on someone--a feat I seem incapable of). I wore them to Betty's birthday dinner, which consisted of seven people (including Emma). At last, I heard the source of all of Emma's weird behavior: she had switched medications, or changed her dosage, for Bipolar Disorder. She said she hadn't been sleeping well, had lost her appetite, and couldn't concentrate. A-Ha! So it probably wasn't anything to do with me, after all! I feel bad that Emma is having to deal with Bipolar (otherwise known as Manic/Depressive disorder) but I am relieved that her recent behavior probably doesn't have anything to do with me. Perhaps Nicole can give me more insight into Emma's behavior (which part is the disorder, and which part is really just Emma's personality?), but it makes it a little easier on me to cut Emma some slack where her friendly/rude behavior is concerned. I just wish I knew of an appropriate response to some of her more cutting and borish remarks. She oversteps boundaries a lot (telling people how they feel and offering a course of action to "fix" their situation--when she doesn't even fully know their situation) and it's hard to know how to kindly tell her to shove off. Any suggestions?
Anyway, the Pete worked his engineering/spatial skills on their kitchen, since Emma assigned us to unpack and organize all the kitchen stuff. By the way, The Pete is a wiz at packing things. We always make him organize the band equipment on the truck when we're loading it all to go play a gig. And when he and I travel, I lay out all my clothes and toiletries on the bed, and he expertly manages to neatly cram six outfits, three pairs of shoes, my makeup and hair potions AND my hair dryer into one airline-approved carry-on.
But I digress. Emma is a lovely person and all, but occassionally she says some hurtful things. I don't think she intends to, but every now and again, something comes out of her mouth that just ruins your day. For instance, a bunch of us interior design students were talking in the hallway last week, and another friend--I'll call her Betty--was talking with Emma about their respective weight gain/loss. After Emma lamented the fact that she had gained about ten pounds since starting school, she turned to Betty and said, "I can tell that you've gained weight, too!"
Betty was so taken aback by this comment that she was rendered speechless. See, Emma drops bombs like this without hesitation, and with so much finality that it's hard to recover and think of something appropriate to say in response. Emma usually speaks with no hint of hesitation--no self-consciousness or doubt about her own knowledge or authority on the subject (any subject) that it's next to impossible to refute her or call her on her bullshit. She once (out of the blue) told me, "I don't think God wants people to be vegetarians." (In case you didn't know, I'm a vegetarian, and Emma knows this). I was bewildered by her comment, and asked her to explain her reasoning. She didn't have any. Of course, she had immediately put me on the defensive, and I found myself trying to justify my lifestyle choices to her (as if I even needed to). She couldn't refute anything I said, of course, but said with such finality, "well, I disagree with you" (proof be damned!) that I was left feeling frustrated and annoyed. A few days later, she brought over some clothes she had bought for me at the Thrift Store. They were really nice, and I was flattered. I don't know if it was related to the Vegetarian comments--sort of a peace offering--or if she's just taken pity on me because I'm trying to dress nicer and am a little clueless as to what really looks good on me. Emma is not one to apologize for things she says (I doubt she's even aware of her need to apologize), but the clothes thing did kind of feel like an attempt to make amends.
Anyway, while we were helping her unpack, she said something that pretty much insulted the Pete's (and her boyfriend's) intelligence. You know, something along the lines of, "I know you Men aren't very bright an' all, but do you think you can manage to drive back to the old place and clean out the fridge for me?"
Now I don't know about you, but I don't think it's wise to insult someone while in the process of asking them for a favor. Also? The Pete and Emma's boyfriend are both very intelligent, witty, and, most importantly kind human beings, and definitely did not deserve such a condescending barb, even spoken in jest. It really bugged me that she had insulted not only her own boyfriend, but my husband as well. Nobody puts Baby in a corner!
But I digress. After we had finished unpacking, we all sat down and watched some Daily Show over a glass of champagne to celebrate their successful move. Somehow, we got on the subject of the war in Iraq, and whether it was or was not like the war in Vietnam. I won't go into who came down on which side, but let's just say Emma started defending her position with absolutely no proof to back up her remarks, and again, spoke with such authority that it was stunning (considering she was talking out of her butt and all). By the way: if someone says, "If you do the research, you'll see that blah blah blah and then they give you no facts, no quotes, no resources to back up their position, it's a pretty good indication that they haven't done their research. It was obvious we were polarized on the subject, but Emma refused to even hear our reasoning. The night kind of ended on a sour note, and we said our pleasantries and left.
The following week, Emma missed class. She wouldn't answer her phone. She wasn't on the internet. In short, she was acting weee-eird. It's very uncharacteristic of her to skip class and shun contact with people. I began to wonder if I had really pissed her off somehow. I tried to chalk it up to her moving and everything, but her behavior was increasingly erratic. Sometimes she would come to class and then get visibly upset when her questions in class weren't answered succinctly and leave in a huff. She seemed to be avoiding everyone, not just me. I began to wonder if she was thinking of dropping out of school, or if she was having some sort of trouble at home.
Last week, she came over to get the notes and assignment from me for the class she had missed, and she brought over...more clothes! They fit perfect (I gotta admit, she has a great eye for knowing what fits and looks good on someone--a feat I seem incapable of). I wore them to Betty's birthday dinner, which consisted of seven people (including Emma). At last, I heard the source of all of Emma's weird behavior: she had switched medications, or changed her dosage, for Bipolar Disorder. She said she hadn't been sleeping well, had lost her appetite, and couldn't concentrate. A-Ha! So it probably wasn't anything to do with me, after all! I feel bad that Emma is having to deal with Bipolar (otherwise known as Manic/Depressive disorder) but I am relieved that her recent behavior probably doesn't have anything to do with me. Perhaps Nicole can give me more insight into Emma's behavior (which part is the disorder, and which part is really just Emma's personality?), but it makes it a little easier on me to cut Emma some slack where her friendly/rude behavior is concerned. I just wish I knew of an appropriate response to some of her more cutting and borish remarks. She oversteps boundaries a lot (telling people how they feel and offering a course of action to "fix" their situation--when she doesn't even fully know their situation) and it's hard to know how to kindly tell her to shove off. Any suggestions?
Thursday, November 02, 2006
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