This was a doozie!

Detail #1

Detail #2

Detail #3

Slipping Through My Fingers. (2009). Mixed Media.

I think of all the projects I have done in my lifetime, this was one of the hardest. Not necessarily because of the content or the actual production, but I met with a few twists and turns that truly qualified this one as a doozie. 

My original idea, well Ricky's original idea, called for the easel to be situated inside of a wooden art bin. Inside the bin were crumpled tubes of paint and other miscellaneous art type things. The painting was going to be 9" x 12" or 11" x 14" horizontally and the hand was going to punch through to the side of the body. The paint can was going to be situated at the top of the easel and attached so it would not move. As you can see... very little of that came out in the end and to be honest, I am glad that things turned out the way they did. 

The first dilemma came when I realized how hard it was going to be to attach a solid wooden hand to a flimsy section of the art easel. There was no way on this planet that the flimsy wood was going to be able to hold the weight of the hand. So Ricky decided to attach the hand to the solid piece of wood that worked as the main component of the easel. They were approximately the same density and held each other's weight evenly. Once we successfully attached the hand I discovered a slight problem. The canvas now had to be bigger and it had to be horizontal. 

So back to the drawing board I went. I had to make sure that I could still get the point across based on the new positioning of the hand. Fortunately, and luckily, the hand actually fit perfectly and protrudes directly our of my head. I couldn't have planned that better even if I wanted to.  Yay for happy accidents. 

Then the true nightmare began... the paint dripping. I tried so many different things to get that paint to stand up straight onto the hand... aluminum foil, a wooden dowel, you name it I probably tried it. Finally I decided that I had to bake the hand. Fortunately that wasn't going to be a problem since it was wooden and typically you bake maquettes on a wooden base anyway. So I just started sculpting out the different pieces directly onto the hand. I had a wooden dowel in the part that needed to stand straight up and when i went to put it in the oven I had everything stable. Unfortunately, as the cooking process continued the dowel fell over and was hardening in the wrong position. So I had to remove it and cook the pieces separately with the hope that I could super glue them later. Then it got worse. When I went to take them out of the oven the hand fell off the tray and some of the pieces broke off. More super glue work.. ugh!

Eventually I did manage to get everything painted and went out and purchased some super glue. The only problem was that the super glue was not holding the wooden dowel in place. The only thought I had was to put more sculpey there to hold the dowel in place. Unfortunately, now that I had painted the sculpey, I couldn't put it back into the oven. So I was stuck. Ricky and my aunt then gave me the suggestion of trying a hair dryer. Logically it made sense because those things get extremely hot. So I borrowed Kristine's hair dryer and between my aunt and I, we sat there holding the hair dryer next to the fresh sculpey for over an hour. But you know.. it worked! Who knew! 

After all of the disasters, the last thing I was worried about was the trip to school. The project had maintained its structure overnight and I was happy with the final result. I just needed to get it to class. You never know how many bumps are truly in the road until you have to transport a project like this. Every little bump I would turn and check to make sure y project was still in one piece. Fortunately I made it to class and everything maintained its shape. I got pretty good reviews from most of the class and my professor seemed to enjoy it. So I will find out in 2 weeks how I did. I am not too worried about my grade, I am just happy it survived.  

You got credit?

YAY! Ricky's name is mentioned underneath the photos he took out at the Bay Hill Tournament today. He took all four photos, but his name is only on the first two. I think the shot of Tiger that he got in the bunker is the best. You should check them out:

 http://www.thegolfchannel.com/tour-insider/shag-bag-blog-march-28683/

Check it out!

Welcome Mackenzie... well soon!

Natalie with her adorable diaper cake... I still think it is one of the cutest inventions ever

That plastic tub was filled to the brim with baby goodies.. they just kept coming

Although my tub wasn't as large, I thought I did a pretty good job in the gift department

Let's just say that game is harder than it looks

Sara and Erin working on our scrapbook page for Mackenzie's book

Congratulations Natalie & Richard

Yesterday afternoon after work I headed over to Sylvan Lake Park for Natalie's Baby Shower. It was such a nice afternoon. We played several baby shower games including the Baby Word Scramble, the Price is Right, the Cut the right length of string game, and a couple others. One of the coolest ideas of the afternoon involved one of my favorite past times... scrapbooking. Each table got a special event during the first year of the baby's life, for example, Halloween, Christmas, 1st birthday etc... Then we put together scrapbook pages so that all Natalie has to do is add pictures once the events have occurred. I thought it was a very cute idea because it is personal and very useful. After all of the games we watched Natalie open her gifts and just had a great afternoon. I'm very excited to meet Mackenzie this summer!

Happy Birthday Chach!

Happy Birthday Chach!

Last night, Ricky and I went out to celebrate Chach's birthday. The plan was to have everyone meet at Medici's Cigar Bar and Lounge. Now, when I hear "cigar bar" I think wooden fixtures, leather chairs, jazz music playing, and maybe a few glasses of brandy circulating around the room. Smoke normally isn't too much of an issue because it generally has either a section for the smoking or they are have an excellent ventilation system. This was not the case for this particular location.  

This location had the beginnings of what might have been a cigar bar at one point in time, but things have definitely changed. After you pass the initial area, all of a sudden it appears to be more of an underground club (cinder block walls, pool tables, and a great deal of cigarette smoke). Not to mention the fact that they had techno club music so loud you had to be right on top of someone to hold any kind of conversation. Let's just say when I first got there, I was completely uncomfortable. Once we got in there, one of our other friends had a section of the back roped off for us where they brought out different components of mixed drinks and had really comfortable leather couches. Only our group was allowed beyond the ropes so we didn't have to worry too much about any strange individuals bothering us. Once we got settled there, I became much more comfortable. I sat next to Ricky and for the most part I spent the time talking to Ricky and just watching everyone around me. It was still a bit too smoky for me, but we stayed for a while to be there for Chach and then we headed home. I don't know that I would ever go back there, but for Chach it was nice to be able to be there for him for his birthday. 

Summer Classes, Registration, Cumulative Tests.. Oh My!

Well, after being sick for most of my spring break, I managed to stay at least slightly ahead with my work for my classes. I was worried that I was going to feel the work overload once I started up with my classes again this week, but to be honest it wasn't all that bad. I think it is because I have artfully mastered the skills required for appropriate procrastination. Every one at work always laughs when i am about to leave because my typically response consists of.. "I'm head home to write a paper that is due in 5 hours." I think everyone thinks I am a slacker, but to be honest, I write better when I am under a little more pressure to get it done. When i know I have time, the creative juices just don't seem to flow as they should. Or if they do, the juice is mediocre at best so I ultimately end up rewriting the paper later anyway. 

There are only 6 to 7 weeks left in the semester depending on which class I am talking about (I only have one exam during exam week, the rest are papers that are due the week before). At first I wasn't going to take any summer classes, but I found out that they do in fact offer financial aid so I figured why not. They offer one of the classes at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna. The great thing about this class is that it is a 10 day intensive course. You go every day for ten days (not including Sunday) and then you are done. How great is that? Semesters are typically 13 weeks give or take and the summer sessions usually run about 6 to 7 weeks. I will be done in 10 days (not even a week and a half). Don't worry though, I will make sure to give everyone a heads up when those days are, especially since I will probably be pulling out my hair in the process. The good thing about it though is that a friend from school offered her place to me to so that I could crash there instead of having to make that drive everyday. 

On top of everything else, registration is next week so I will be able to set up my schedule for the next year. I have already mapped out the courses I will be taking and I am fairly excited about them. Assuming all goes according to plan, after the spring of next year I will only have 2 classes and my cumulative test left for the fall. Since I am doing the Masters of Education program, they give you 3 options for the completion of the program. You can do a thesis, you can do a research report (this includes a couple extra classes), or you can take 6 extra hours and then take the cumulative test. At first that seemed a bit daunting of a thought, but one of my classmates is taking hers this week and is going to let me know how it is. It's supposedly essay based, so I am not overly worried, after all you know me and multiple choice. 

So thats all for now, if anyone is interested, we're going to see Collective Soul tomorrow at Mardi Gras! 

A Little Jazz at Angell & Phelps

Ricky and me out for a date night

Ricky's band director is playing the sax....

Dennis jamming out on the sax..

One of the other band members... he was great to watch because he bounces when he plays.. 

I found it to be extremely amusing

Last night, Ricky and I decided to go to Daytona to see his former band director and his band play at a restaurant and chocolate factory. It such a great little place to eat or to go and have a social drink. We sat at the bar and just spent a great evening talking and listening to the music. It was such a nice time and a great atmosphere. Apparently, he and his ensemble play there frequently, so Ricky and I are considering going back in the future. 

Its a shame that Orlando doesn't have enough of those types of places instead of all of the bar scenes of downtown. I definitely prefer the calmer, more mellow atmosphere where you can actually have a conversation without losing your voice. 

Spring Break = Sick and Coughing

I had the best of intentions this week to get ahead with my school work. I wanted to make sure I had at least 2 weeks of work done so I wouldn't have to procrastinate, but what happens? I get the illness. Yay!

If you have spoken to me at all this week you would know how horrible I sounded. I sounded like I swallowed a frog and then possibly swallowed his brother just for a little extra depth in my voice. Yeah, it was bad and although I am feeling better the worst is still upon me. Not that I am getting worse, but that annoying lingering cough is here now. I think that is worse than being sick. It pops up just when you are trying to get something accomplished and then you feel like your lung should be in front of you. I think it is just more annoying than anything. 

Fortunately, over the past few days, I have managed to at least brainstorm a bit about my art curriculum that I have been working on. I think I have finally narrowed down my focus and it is all starting to come together. Once I finish the curriculum I will share the info, but until its done, I need to keep it secret =). 

I can't believe there are only 7 weeks left of the semester. That's ridiculous. Time has just flown by. I have decided that I wont be taking a "class" this summer. I can't afford to have an actual class this summer, but I am in the process of potentially taking a free class. If I can get approved to take the class, I will probably be doing that on Wednesdays. We'll have to see if that works out or not. If it does, I will again keep you posted on that info. 

Mardi Gras Part I: Bare Naked Ladies

Yay! We made it to Mardi Gras! (Orlando)

Ricky decided to be funny and pretend he was not having a good time...

Then I made Ricky feel bad so he decided to make up for it...

Well, just as an update, Saturday did turn out to be a nice night after all. I actually got to go to at least one of the events I was hoping for. For a while I was worried because on Friday I started getting sick and I was worried that although the weather was great outside, I wasn't going to be able to go. fortunately, I felt well enough to go out with Ricky. 

Barenaked Ladies recently lost one of their band members and we didn't know if their older songs would sound the same, but to be honest they sounded just fine to me. I don't know all of their songs, but they did play all the ones I knew which is all that mattered. I like being able to sing along when I go to a concert. It was the perfect night for the concert though, just cool enough were it wasn't muggy, yet not too cold where it was uncomfortable. 

Our next attempt at Mardi Gras is on the 21st of March when we go to see Collective Soul. The big Mardi Gras day though will be on April 4th when MC Hammer comes to town. If for no other reason than curiosity the show should be fun. The only thought that keeps lingering in my mind is the fact that we tend to get rain at least once when we go out to Universal for Mardi Gras, so we shall have to wait and see what happens in the weekends to come. 

Please let Saturday be nice!

Sometimes all of the signs just fall into the right place at the right time to tell you that things just aren't meant to be for that particular week. For example, tonight Ricky will be attending the Flogging Molly concert without me because I have to give a presentation in class. Being the good student that I am, I decided that it would not look very good if I were to miss the one class that happens to be before spring break and that happens to be the day I am supposed to be giving my second article presentation. So Ricky and his friend Drew will be listening to the sounds of the season at the House of Blues tonight. I know they will have a good time, but I wish i was the one that was going with Ricky instead of Drew. Fortunately, Flogging Molly is supposed to be part of the Warped Tour this summer, so we shall try again.

Then, yesterday I found out that Robin Williams cancelled about 4 shows because he is sick. Granted, when i see Robin Williams I want him to be at his best, but now that they are rescheduling him, we are worried that they are going to pick the week that we are going to be in DC. I pray that doesn't happen. I would really like to see him.

Now, Ricky and I are planning on going to Mardi Gras on Saturday night to see Barenaked Ladies. According to the weather it is supposed to be a nice day combined with a nice evening. No rain is in the forecast. Let us hope that everything else goes according to plan. In a week where 3 different events were on my agenda, I would like to go to at least one of them. 

By the way... if anyone else is interested, we are going to see MC Hammer on April 4th. If for no other reason than morbid curiosity, everyone should come. 

What's My Resolution?

What's My Resolution? 2009. Mixed Media. 18" x 24"

Recent Studio Work

Representational 

Alana with Glasses. 2009. Prisma Colors on Paper. 11" x 14"

Abstract

Cameron and Carter. 2009. Acrylic on Paper. 11" x 14"

Non-Representational

Play. 2009. Cut Paper on Paper. 11" x 14"

Conceptual

Mommy and Home. 2009. Baby Food on Bibs. 12" x 17"