Pages

Monday, June 21, 2010

June, the twenty-first, on a monday


Heh heh....heh....yeah that's me, all last week. E-e-everything's cool, even though my face is sliding off and about to puddle around my feet. Gawd what a week I was having! Maybe two weeks? Did I keep the faith? DID I? You bet I did! For the most part. My moods are always swinging. I knew I'd eventually come back around....and sure enough last night I started feeling MUCH better after a really great drawing session in my sketchbook (and thanks once again to my good overseas buddy Jay for providing some inspiration, have I mentioned how many times he's pulled me out of a funk??). I was finally able to just sit the hell down and relax and concentrate. And also, to let go of the outcome and have fun with the -here it comes- Process. Man I love that.

And today.......an awesome ride UP THE BIG HILL to campus (yessssss, I made it without bursting a lung or any major blood vessels! It's been a couple weeks since I rode up that heart-pumper). Followed by a very heartening algebra class, where we are actually reviewing a few chapters from last term before plunging headlong into quadratic equations (sounds like I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it?) -- and the instructor seems pretty damn cool OH THANK GOD.

Hey did I report my grades from last term? Three A+ and an A (in algebra..okay, elementary algebra..or is it pre-elementary algebra?)! woo! I'm savoring the math grade. I anticipate upper levels to be more rigorous (natch) and I will need to work harder. Aim high but be okay with a lower grade.

Anyway, emerging from math class I stepped into

SUNSHINE

suunshiiiiiiiiiiiine!!!! yes! yes! oh baby! yes! It's been so long. So so long. I was withering.

I grabbed an empty locker in the art building, stowed my bags, and went for a walk (hour and a half 'til next class). Campus is situated up in the south hills with woods all around; I knew if I prowled the perimeter I would eventually find a trail, and I did. Was really great to stretch my legs between classes. Came upon one of those cellphone towers, eyesore that they are, but perched jauntily atop was a huge bird's nest. Nice. Also crossed paths with a couple of boys crouched down by some big puddles (did I mention we've had buckets of rain this spring, even more than our usual buckets) - collecting pollywogs. Nice!

So drawing class is very very promising. Our instructor actually used the chalkboard and talked about stuff! It's different than any of the other art classes I've attended so far -- it's what I've been wanting. And, he's enthusiastic in a way I haven't encountered yet either. Maybe because he's been teaching only part-time and isn't burnt out. The course outline is chock-full of goodness; we'll be exploring different mediums and composition trumps skill. Did you hear that?! He wants for us to develop our own style, doesn't really believe in talent - only varying degrees of hand-eye-brain coordination and skill. NICE. This is what I signed up for.

Then Tom starts talking about how we'll be drawing architecture using perspective alongside organic forms (buildings and trees, for example), that there is something very beautiful about this juxtaposition, and how linear and comforting it is to draw perspective. Like math. Very safe, known quantities. Follow a formula, and be gratified with a predictable answer. And it's what I've been thinking about all last term - how math is turning out to be the perfect foil for art. A real nice balance.

I trotted off to the bookstore and bought the requisite supplies, and then I revisited the classroom to stock up on sketchbooks. Oh yeah. Anything left by students from last term, anything that hasn't been picked up by now (it's been almost two weeks) is fair game. It's all going in the recycling bins - so I helped myself to sketchbooks and big pads of drawing paper that were still half-or-more-blank. LOVE IT.

I'm going to sleep so good tonight. Oh, I'm still worrying about the state of the world and how fucked up it all is.......but now I am also feeling mighty fortunate, and resurrected in a way.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

If anyone has any suggestions as to why my formspring thing isn't displaying as a box, or why my flickr badge isn't displaying as usual, please help me out. I changed layouts for the blog (FINALLY), and it looked great in Preview mode, but now it's all messed up. Gah.

3 comments:

Adamandia K. said...

re: the blog display problems...try deleting them and putting them back...

re: sketchbooks find...whoo hoo! cool!

eroica said...

ooooh scavenging! one of the greatest joys in life!
i do love a good treasure hunt. hooray for free sketch books, that is grand indeed.
x

Victoria Koldewyn said...

hmmm....AK: it looks like the blog displays are just fine when viewed in Firefox, but not Safari.

eroica! ello luv!

nice to see you both and three cheers for other peoples' unwanted and abandoned sketchbooks! The bedroom shelf is now groaning under the weight of several saved such sketchbooks :)