Guess what? I went out and got my own place! jazzisplace.net

I will be turning in my finished and bound sketchbook tomorrow night.  I was excited to find I would be learning how to bind a book myself; it is actually quite easy!  Getting the contents to put in the book, now that was the not-so-easy part.

Before binding everything together, I thought I should scan some of the things I had drawn, so I could have them in an electronic format as well as the paper book.  So I thought I would show you 2 or 3.

Don’t ask me what it is, I started with a circle, then added another one, and it went from there.  This is what I ended up with.  I just had to make sure I had something that had colors that went together.

For this one, the instructions were “Color in Discord”.  You would think it would be really easy to make colors that look horrible together.  I thought it would, considering how many times I made awful colors with a previous project.  But when I WANTED to make them clash?  Oh, no, they didn’t ever come out looking awful then!  Although I think this yellow-green circle is pretty blech with those other colors.  And remember, the background of the paper is gray, not white.  I guess it’s cheaper to give us gray paper than white paper.

This is from the our “Using Text in Art” period.  I’m not sure if you can tell, since I had to downsize the picture, but the picture is made up of words.  The flower petals are made of the word “flower”, the stem is made of many “stem”(s), the leaves are made of “leaf”, and the grass is made of the word “grass”.

Next class up will be Computer Graphics.  I’m going to miss drawing by hand!

It’s time to make a decision on a Christmas tree.  We have an artificial one that is actually in fine shape, considering it’s been around for several years now.  The problem is the size of the thing.  Or, perhaps I should say, the girth.

Our house is a lot smaller than any other house we’ve lived in before.  And last Christmas, trying to squeeze around the tree to get to the coat closet was interesting, to say the least.  So, I’m thinking about getting one of those slim trees.

Or maybe I could get (gasp) a REAL tree this year!

That could cause a ruckus in my house.

What’s your preference?  Real or fake?  Why?

Last night I volunteered to help at a fundraiser for the Art and Design Department at the University.  I had no idea it was such an event!  All I knew was I was there to sell hats, posters and aprons.    When I arrived, the place was packed to the gills, the auction had already begun and the place was hopping!

If you were somebody, you were there, and I saw all kinds of people that I thought I knew, but couldn’t place.  The problem is I’ve lived too many places and been involved with too many things.  I can’t remember everyone.  Someone thought he recognized me, too, but when he asked my name and found that I was working the event and was simply a lowly art student, he moved on rather quickly.  I got sort of tickled by that one.

My stint with my art class is coming to a close.  I’m going to an extra session this morning (yes, on a Saturday!) to finish inking a poster, and then I will just have to work on binding my six signature sketchbooks into one book.  I’ll be able to work on that in Monday night’s lab.

Everything finishes Wednesday, Dec. 5.  There’s no final exam, just a final critique, or as they call it in class, a crit.  Then we’ll be able to pick up our projects or if we don’t want them, they get thrown away. 

I think I’ll pick mine up.  This class has been an eye opening  and mind expanding experience.  I’ve enjoyed it immensely, and I would recommend anyone who has always wanted to experience an art class to dive in and try it out.  I’ve found you’re not always surrounded by artists.  There are some, but not the entire class. 

And I guess I’m doing okay.  My instructor has recommended that I look into enrolling in Drawing and Painting classes, much to my surprise!  When she told me that, I had already signed up for Intro to Computer Graphics, which is an evening class.  But I’ll keep her thoughts in mind.  I just hope they’ll offer them in the evening at some point. 

Have you ever thought about taking some classes at a local college?  If you’re not interested in getting credit, sometimes you can audit the class; take it and only pay a nominal fee.  At the university where I’m attending, you can audit a class for only $25, I think!  You still have to pay for supplies and fees, but it’s a far cry from the cost of tuition.

Today, one of the student workers was going around the building with a camera taking pictures of everyone.  Some people got their pictures taken in front of their desks, and some didn’t want their messy desks in the picture.

When the kid walked into my office, he asked, “So, do you want it on the desk or up against the wall?”

My boss overheard him with a full mouth of coffee, and it took all her being not to spew.  He realized what he had said, and he started cracking up, and finally I caught on to what was so funny. 

Later, someone told him that the girl down the hall wanted him, and his comeback?  “Romancing the middle-aged women, that’s me…”

That kid’s a hoot.  And it was nice to have some full-on belly laughs at work today!

My oldest son proposed last night, and she said yes!  They want to have the wedding maybe next fall, so I guess I know what I’ll be doing with my vacation time next year!

I wonder if it’s safe to go into the stores yet….

I WILL NOT go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  It’s draining.  It’s not worth it.  I don’t care how great of a bargain there is on such-and-such (and this will really shock my relatives, that includes computers), people can become insane on that day.  I don’t look at the sale ads to keep myself from getting drooly at the thought of the bargains passing by.

Last weekend’s shopping trip with my sister reminded me of what it’s like to shop in the city at Christmas time.  Blurgh.  Every time I wanted to step back and contemplate something, someone would step in and stand in front of me. 

As I was picking up my ticket at Union Station to head home last weekend, I told the man I was ready to get out of Chicago.  There were just too many people here.  He told me this was nothing.  Only about 30,000 coming through today.  On the day before Thanksgiving, there were supposed to be 100,000.  I told him I was really glad I was leaving.

Anyway, I digress.  I need to go get some laundry detergent.  Maybe I can just run into the grocery store quickly.  No one will be shopping for groceries this weekend, will they?

I’ll volunteer to go work out of town if I get to stay in a plush hotel (Hyatt Regency McCormick Place) again.  That place was niiiiice.  Up there was the view from my room on the 25th floor.

Once I made it to sister’s, we had a great time!  We were supposed to go to a karaoke bar the first night, but it wasn’t quite what Sis expected.  We ended up at Houlihan’s with 3 of her co-workers and didn’t get home for another 4 hours!

The next morning my sister made breakfast…

and, oh boy, was that good!

The next day, we helped a relative move, then went to a fun pizza place to eat. 

The place was all set up for Christmas, and we got to sit by the fire to eat.  It was really nice, and fun to visit with family. 

Shopping and a massage on Sunday rounded out the weekend, and I just relaxed on Monday until I caught a train back home that afternoon. 

And how was your weekend?

Off to work a conference in the Windy City!  Then I get to kick back and visit my sis.  I’m taking my computer along, so who knows, I might be able to blog along the way.

Did you know today is World Kindness Day 2007?

Found another online catalog.  Catalog Favorites.

I’ve been playing with pictures and sound for another website, too.  Here’s the first of my fun.   Sorry, this one won’t be good for those of you on dial-up.  I’ve got to figure out a way to do something fun for the dial-up folks!

If you are interested in something different and easy to listen to for the holiday season, try A Midwinter’s Eve by Nathan Clark George.  You can hear and purchase by clicking on the link here.