watching people paint. it's really relaxing. half the time, it probably shouldn't be. but it is. especially when paint starts dripping on to the floor in such wonderful colours. yes, i love listening to someone's paintbrush against the canvas and the soft, soft sound of the dripping paint. especially neon paint. neon paint sounds nicer.
it's so nice to be immersed in so much art, and be around people who enjoy talking and discussing and arguing about art haha. it's something I don't get to do at home, even if i lived on campus i probably wouldn't because the majority of people at mica don't like to talk about art outside of class.
i could stare for hours at this painting in front of me right now. it makes me realize how much of a painter i, myself, am not. but i do admire it immensely.
there's worlds upon worlds in there, waiting to come out.
speaking of worlds, i NEED to find my suitable red dress for my photo series. if it can even come halfway close to the images i have inside my head, it will be the best work i have ever done. also it needs to get warmer so it isn't torture to be romping around the forest.
mixed media crit went well today i think. some things were better than others, like always, but it's an enjoyable class. for the next project we already know what we are doing, but it is on the DL and top secret so I can't tell you until after the event is over. heh heh. this is gonna be so good.
anyway speaking of art and inspiration, I usually just write down the facts of what happened in a quick-as-i-am-able play-by-play in between doing other work, but on a deeper level, there are just so many inspiring places and people here, and personas projected on to people, perhaps.
The man in black walks across the burren. haha.
speaking of Stephen king, the other night when we got home from the studio we watched Desperation on tv. It's been snowing a bunch today and now it is hailing so hard I can barely hear myself think over the din on the roof.
I fell asleep in my chair earlier to wake up to harris poking me in the cheek haha. Beki and I are even now on the sleep battle board (where we write where and how often we fall asleep while at school).
I brought ramen with me, and dishware and a measuring cup so that we can make it in the microwave and not have to walk home for dinner.
What if all the rain outside was neon blue?
That would be so amazing.
Dear Harris's family, the only reason I write so much stuff is because I don't have nearly as much work done as Harris does haha. I've never seen someone make so many good paintings in such a short amount of time.
I also feel the need to record everything, probably more than is necessary, but oh well.
I wish I had a camera in my eyes. Seriously, there are so many split second moments that I can't possibly have my camera for and I wish that I could capture.
Things that I am enjoying right now/ things that inspire me currently:
The image of the mythic painter
The man in black
Talking with your eyes
Neon paint drips
Feeling at home among these people
Tom Malloy (enough said)
The miserable and yet exhilarating feeling when the wind almost knocks me over
Comfortable friendships
Beautiful garbage
Using my computer as a lap heater
Slow leaks through the ceiling
Genuine smiles
Genuine laughter
Works in progress
Slumbering ghosts
Back-of-the-knee creases in black jeans
Single specks of glitter
Shoulder rubs after you pull your back out haha
Standing with your eyes closed
Singing along to Jenny Lewis
31 January 2008
30 January 2008
dear harris and franz,
why are we at school right now? haha
so after class i went over to the blue door house and made dinner with harris and drew and then hung out watching tv. noah came down and franz came back from school and then morgan and annie and kristin showed up and we bullshitted for a bit and watched a tv program about saber tooth tigers (smilo-somethings? I think they were "smilodons" haha) and dire wolves (that sounds so badass!). They said something about the smilodons not being around with humans and they showed this stern looking guy so I called him a frownodon and made everyone laugh. A bunch of people left for setdancing, which I had completely forgotten about. So franz and harris and I went to logues for a pint and watched Shelby and Tyler dance with the professionals. :) We left for school and as soon as we were a quarter of the way there, it started pouring and the wind was so strong that harris and I leaned into it at a 45 degree angle and were still pushed backwards. However, you can't help but laugh at situations like that. It was rather exhilarating. I looked pretty ridiculous by the time we got here. Anyway, we are here now and the internet is working, albeit very slowly. I am sitting by hannah's desk so I don't have to be in my studio alone and there is definitely a slow leak so I put one of my water cups underneath it and I will have to tell Robert about it tomorrow. The wind has picked up since we got into the school building and it sounds really terrible. We were just complaining about how we should chip in and buy some sleeping bags so we can spend the night in the studios on crappy nights like this. I am not so much looking forward to the walk back. My wellies leak, so my right sock is soaked (I took my boots off so maybe itll dry) and the front of my pants are sopping. At least we can enjoy a cup of tea when we get back.
I looked pretty amazing when I got into the building haha.
It sucked cuz we were facing the wind so it was impossssible to keep my hood up.
Anyway I'm going to ignore the fact that we will have to walk home in two hours or so. I wonder if those couches are still in the gallery, maybe I'll have a nap
so after class i went over to the blue door house and made dinner with harris and drew and then hung out watching tv. noah came down and franz came back from school and then morgan and annie and kristin showed up and we bullshitted for a bit and watched a tv program about saber tooth tigers (smilo-somethings? I think they were "smilodons" haha) and dire wolves (that sounds so badass!). They said something about the smilodons not being around with humans and they showed this stern looking guy so I called him a frownodon and made everyone laugh. A bunch of people left for setdancing, which I had completely forgotten about. So franz and harris and I went to logues for a pint and watched Shelby and Tyler dance with the professionals. :) We left for school and as soon as we were a quarter of the way there, it started pouring and the wind was so strong that harris and I leaned into it at a 45 degree angle and were still pushed backwards. However, you can't help but laugh at situations like that. It was rather exhilarating. I looked pretty ridiculous by the time we got here. Anyway, we are here now and the internet is working, albeit very slowly. I am sitting by hannah's desk so I don't have to be in my studio alone and there is definitely a slow leak so I put one of my water cups underneath it and I will have to tell Robert about it tomorrow. The wind has picked up since we got into the school building and it sounds really terrible. We were just complaining about how we should chip in and buy some sleeping bags so we can spend the night in the studios on crappy nights like this. I am not so much looking forward to the walk back. My wellies leak, so my right sock is soaked (I took my boots off so maybe itll dry) and the front of my pants are sopping. At least we can enjoy a cup of tea when we get back.
I looked pretty amazing when I got into the building haha.
It sucked cuz we were facing the wind so it was impossssible to keep my hood up.
Anyway I'm going to ignore the fact that we will have to walk home in two hours or so. I wonder if those couches are still in the gallery, maybe I'll have a nap
fun in the studio... means video time!
^tyler doing the air doggy paddle
^franz does amazing dances
^harris trying to be a toughass and not smile, but he has to give in haha
^ franz and harris dancing for me
random
Harris and I made a speaker drawing in the driveway
Thane Harris and I were watching Robert's son Harry for a bit and the guys got beat up haha. On the ride home Harris got attacked because Harry "turned into an alien" and he played dead but it didn't work because that just led to getting stepped on the spine haha
Harry is a piece of work, but adorable
time arts
was amazing.
I'm never really one for drama/theatre exercises and impromptu acting in front of other people, but since the class consists of me, Harris, Franz, Thane, Amber, Beki, and Tyler, and they're awesome, it wasn't so bad and the exercises were pretty good and though I was worried since I was completely out of my element, I ended up having a wonderful time. I got to play with tin foil for an hour haha. and pretend I was walking through honey. And we did the human statues game, which I love, but I can never get anyone else to do with me ever, so that was great.
We went home and I cooked up some delicious ramen and then walked over to harris franz drew & noah's place. franz and harris had gone to the spar so I just crashed on their couch and read more in Animus & Anima and took lots of notes. the simpsons were on tv. When they got back Harris did some watercolour and gouache postcards. Amber stopped over and had harris go with her to the spar so she didn't have to go by herself. She came back and then went back home. franz left a little while later to go back to maries (my) house to watch jurassic park and after a bit harris and I walked to the studio. it is FREEZING out tonight. ugh. we met Chris and Thane on the road up to the school and bullshitted with them for a few. It's kind of creepy being the only ones in here, so I'm sitting in Hannah's seat while Harris is painting.
I made my mixed media project for thursday. the assignment was to react to "Beauty" so I took photos of everyone in the time arts class that I listed above and then combined them into one person, and here it is:
I'm never really one for drama/theatre exercises and impromptu acting in front of other people, but since the class consists of me, Harris, Franz, Thane, Amber, Beki, and Tyler, and they're awesome, it wasn't so bad and the exercises were pretty good and though I was worried since I was completely out of my element, I ended up having a wonderful time. I got to play with tin foil for an hour haha. and pretend I was walking through honey. And we did the human statues game, which I love, but I can never get anyone else to do with me ever, so that was great.
We went home and I cooked up some delicious ramen and then walked over to harris franz drew & noah's place. franz and harris had gone to the spar so I just crashed on their couch and read more in Animus & Anima and took lots of notes. the simpsons were on tv. When they got back Harris did some watercolour and gouache postcards. Amber stopped over and had harris go with her to the spar so she didn't have to go by herself. She came back and then went back home. franz left a little while later to go back to maries (my) house to watch jurassic park and after a bit harris and I walked to the studio. it is FREEZING out tonight. ugh. we met Chris and Thane on the road up to the school and bullshitted with them for a few. It's kind of creepy being the only ones in here, so I'm sitting in Hannah's seat while Harris is painting.
I made my mixed media project for thursday. the assignment was to react to "Beauty" so I took photos of everyone in the time arts class that I listed above and then combined them into one person, and here it is:
29 January 2008
animus and anima
after we left the studio last night, drew harris and I watched the most ridiculous program on irish tv called something like "sex in the bush: sperm quest" which was some RIDICULOUS nature program about all these different animals haha. It was crazy. Then we went and watched Arrested Development with Beki and Amber and after that watched some movie Amber recommended which was really weird and depressing haha. I had a really amazing crit/talk with Martina today about my photo project and she is really into what I am doing and recommended I read Emma Jung's Animus and Anima, which is so amazing, that I can't write a long blog because I need to go back to reading it.
28 January 2008
harris is going to post now
cuz apparently this is a competition.
Harris, if you're reading this, give me your flash drive so I can download music on it. okay thanks.
also, you don't have whiskey in your pocket, I know for a fact that it's just water haha
Harris, if you're reading this, give me your flash drive so I can download music on it. okay thanks.
also, you don't have whiskey in your pocket, I know for a fact that it's just water haha
photos
this is that tomb that is older than the pyramids.
the cliffs!!!!
Tyler with his removable monocle - I am sooo sorry!!!
Harris and Franz in my house. This is completely normal. Haha
me and Tyler on crunk rap night haha
me and Tyler again, outside my house. Thanks Harris, for the photo!
just me, being silly
sorry there's been a huge gap
but the internet here does not work well and on thursday at 7am we left for dublin. bright and early, more like completely dark and windy. We stopped for breakfast, which was really quite good. When we got there we first went to Ireland's Museum of Modern art. one of the pieces consisted of these two huge vats filled with maggots squirming around. yummy. There was some good stuff though. After that we went to the hostel to drop off our bags. In our room it was me, Harris, Amber, Tyler, Elizabeth, Shelby, Thane, Carra, Franz and Beki. We dropped off our bags and then some of us went with Aine and some went with Tim. I was in Aine's group along with Harris Beki Franz and Amber. We went to a really great gallery with neon lights and dizzying floor to ceiling wallpaper with "CONCEPTUAL DECORATION" or something along those lines printed over and over and over. Aine ended up leaving without us haha. So we spent a long time wandering around lost until we found the Photography Institute or whatnot. The guy's stuff in there was alright. There was a juggler outside. Hmmm then what...
we stopped back at the hostel, Barnacles, in Temple Bar, by the way. We ate at Charlie's, this chinese chain we saw a lot of. Ohh, first we found H&M actually, and stopped at a pharmacy so Amber could get a toothbrush. But yes, Harris's dinner was much tastier than mine (I got lemon duck and he got cantonese duck) but now I will know what to order next time. We wandered around a lot. Eventually we went to a pub on the north side of the Liffy (the river which cuts the city in two) and found a pub called the Flowing Tide, which at first wanted to see our IDs which none of us had actually brought with us, but they served us anyway but closed at midnight. Amber and Beki were bored and tired so they left. Franz Harris and I texted Brian Kelly and he met us next to the Heineken building and took us to this amazing sort of punk rock dance club/pub back in temple bar. On the main level they had indie rock like the strokes and franz ferdinand and stuff like that, along with a bar, and then downstairs was another bar with a dance floor and dance music. Below THAT is the "dungeon" which is just tables to sit down at, it looks like it's actually an old dungeon though. They bathrooms were delightedly in disrepair, women's toilet's weren't even flushing haha. And on the paper dispenser someone had written "I am a Carrot." Amazing. Also out back was a garage-ish indoor/outdoor they had for smokers (no smoking is allowed in pubs here, which is quite nice). Brian and his friend tried to convince Harris to piss outside there in a corner but he wasn't having it, luckily haha. Some drunk German girl kept bumming cigarettes from him, and later in the bathroom she kept giving me hugs, crazy crazy girl. Harris said there was a guy sitting in the men's bathroom who turned the water on and gave you soap and towels, so he tipped him. We stayed till the place shut down at 4am just hanging out. Franz Harris and I even danced a tiny bit because Brian offered to watch our coats for us. We were the last ones home but it was a good night.
OH and we saw this sweet celtic marching band thing. I have a video on my phone.
We stopped into the Palace Bar but it was too crowded, and we'd rather see an old wizened man play stuff instead of a 20something girl playing for tourists.
In the morning we checked out of the hostel and put our bags in the left luggage room and then went to the National Gallery which was actually AMAZING. There was a Polish Symbolist exhibit that was really impressive and the painting of the pirate ship was my favourite in that part. There was a Turner exhibit and and bunch of other stuff. There was another of my favourite paintings as well, very dark with lightening and hell, I think Franz wrote down the name for me somewhere. Harris and I were starving so we got lunch and Tim told us how to get to the next place cuz he didn't want to wait. After that we went to the museum of history I think and we got to see leatherized bog people!!! It was both amazing and horrific at the same time. They were leather jackets with arms attached. You could see the skin stretched and dried over the bones. Some where only partial skeletons. They're even more interesting than mummies, I think, because they aren't wrapped up.
After that we started walking in a big group to the Hugh Lane gallery to see the preserved Francis Bacon studio, but everyone wanted to go different places and it was really frustrating. In the end it was just Harris Franz Amber and I. But then Franz had to go check into our hostel cuz he made his reservations separate and his check in time was at 3 instead of 6. So he left. We went around this cross shaped pool which was neat, after walking up O'Connell Street. The Hugh Lane was amazing and more than that you got to look in to Francis Bacon's ACTUAL studio. It was, I don't know, I don't even have words for it. You could almost see him walking around in there in front of you. Harris and I sat in front of the window to the room and he sketched the entire thing in his sketchbook.
We then went to an art store and spent far far too much money on art supplies. Then back to Barnacles to pick up our stuff and THEN off to find where Marlborough House was, which we assumed was on Marlborough street. Some people were staying in Avalon house, but ours was cheaper. It took awhile for them to open the door, but eventually we got in. It was Carra, me, Harris, Amber, Hillary, Sam and Josh. And one person we didn't know. But it's okay because they give you metal pullout things under your bed and padlocks so no one can steal your stuff.
Harris and I went to Urban outfitters while everyone else got ready. It was alright but I didn't see anything interesting that wasn't expensive. Franz Beki and Amber met up with us and we went out and everyone wanted burgers. I tried to get chili and fries but everything at the place was disgusting so I ended up not eating.
Oh, p.s. Irish ketchup is more vinegary and sweet and absolutely DISGUSTING. i actually tried it, which is surprising, but it's still gross.
So I forget why but Beki and Amber left, so Franz and Harris and I went and walked around. After seeing Brian's hairstyle, Harris wanted to try to slick his hair back so we found him some hair grease and then tried to go to the "Bad Ass Cafe" to get coffee so he could do his hair in the bathroom but they had a 9 euro minimum per person which is ridiculous, so we left.
Then we found this Russian pub called Pravda. I think that was the name. Everything was in Russian and once we had ordered our drinks upstairs we realized that there were communist mural paintings everywhere (which were actually kind of cool). There were animal skulls on the walls. It was sooo cool haha. Anyway we left because we couldn't find a place to sit so then we just walked, got lost, but in a good way, eventually found our way back and oh I forgot to tell you my phone died Thursday night and I didn't have my pin code with me so I couldn't turn it back on. We were supposed to meet up with Brian Kelly for lunch on Saturday so we went back to the same punk place with the red door from the previous night in hopes of finding him. He wasn't there though. We sat in the dungeon a bit and Carra and Sam and Josh showed up. We tried two other places in search for indie dance parties but one had a 8 euro cover charge and the other was steamingly hot and gross so we left and went back to the original place for a bit. Sam and Carra left, then Josh, then Harris felt like going off on his own cuz he'd been feeling odd all day, so Franz and I walked back to the Hostel and went to sleep. I woke up when Harris came in but fell right back asleep. Amber and Harris broke up, as I like to say, due to creative differences. In the morning Beki and Amber wanted to go thrift shopping but I had promised Brian on Thursday to meet him at his work so we could go to lunch so Harris and I stopped for coffee and then started trying to find the place. He had written something about Henry Street on his hand on Thursday night so we tried that first but apparently it wasn't there. We did, however, find three really great thrift stores/secondhand shops and I got a purse for 3 euros. We also found an amazing bookstore called the Winding Stair, and a bead/incense/tarot card shop. Harris almost bought the Crowley Tarot but it was too expensive. We stopped in a great little art gallery with great little paintings I will find out the name for you later but we talked with the people running it for awhile and it was a really great experience. Then we fiiiinally found the place and Brian and after that we had to go catch the bus and Harris and I were both panicking about catching the bus, but we made it on time. Except the bus was packing and Carra, Olga, Josh and Annie didn't get on. So Brian (the bus driver - I know so many Brians!) said for us to get off in Galway and he'd pick us up and we'd go back to Orranmore to pick up the rest of people on the later bus. The bus ride was incredibly uncomfortable and Harris and I complained to each other about it a lot. We finally got back and all went right to sleep. Well, no, I called Brian and felt terrible since I hadn't been able to contact him for days. Then I took a shower cuz I hadn't had one since right before we left for Dublin (hostel showers are creepy, and also, time consuming. There were too many places to explore and art to see). Then sleep.
I don't know, it just sucks how American politics affect everywhere else. I am definitely not very proud to be an American. Although the desert it just soo... aghh. I love the desert. Anyway, that's a total non sequitur.
On sunday Harris and I woke up early and went to the Tea Shop because it was finally open and I got banana toffee pancakes with cream and a side of bacon (which here are rashers, a bit different, and more tasty) and harris got banana chocolate pancakes with sausage. The pancakes are sort of like crepes. It's not like in America where you start eating pancakes and then you're like Ewww, pancakes. Oh and coffee. Free refills too. It was amazing. We had a great talk about art. Oh actually we had another art talk in dublin with franz in a good coffee shop thursday night and decided we should do a bunch of collaborative work. anyway the tea/coffee place was great and we talked with the waitresses and promised to come back. Then we stopped at the Spar and Petrol station and Harris and I split the 5 euro cost of renting a movie so we could get Hot Fuzz, and went home to gather things, met up with Franz and walked to school. The internet wasn't up, which sucked, but I did some really shitty watercolour paintings while Franz Drew and Harris climbed the mountain behind school. They were super giddy when they came back, it was hilarious. We walked home and luckily it was a bright night because none of us had remembered a flashlight. I hung out and looked through Drew's pictures of Dublin and the guinness factory and the mountain climb while the guys ate dinner and then we went over to our house and watched Hot Fuzz with Franz and Amber and everyone loved it, so that was great. I walked back with them and we drank a glass of wine and two cups of tea and I think the curry chicken rice in a cup that I got from the Petrol station gave me an allergic reaction cuz I had weird raised bumps on my right arm and harris said they were hives. But he said if I wasn't dead already I'd be fine haha and they did indeed go away. Franz went to take a shower so Harris and I went outside and had a really good conversation about life and ireland and art and I got a good critique on my paintings, cuz I am definitely not a painter, per se. We drew, with our feet, into the gravel, a GIANT speaker cabinet into their driveway haha. Rex came over to play and rolled around on the ground wanting to be pet. We gave him pasta the other day so we told him we didn't have anything this time.
I totally forget if I wrote already about the cat Harris and I saw last week on the way to the Spar that we went and bought a can of tuna for, but it was gone when we got back so we left it where we saw it, but the can was completely gone the next day so I hope that poor little skinny kitty got it before it was thrown out.
Harris lent me a flashlight and I walked home and went to sleep.
I thought I'd be really tired when I got up this morning since we ended up talking for like 3 hours last night, but actually I am really energized today.
Everyone says that work starts being done in earnest every semester once everyone gets back from Dublin. Apparently Amber told Harris it's because by that time everyone is sick of each other and hate each other so they don't get distracted in the studio haha. I don't know about that but the work is definitely increasing.
We got coffee in the morning, which was amazing, from the cafe, and I've been working all morning and have written this as quickly and accurate as possible. Yes mom, I haven't forgotten your Cliffs of Moher pictures, I'll go find them now. And when we go back to Dublin (which we definitely want to) I will be sure to bring my camera.
Oh, Amber went to Galway by herself today in order to try to talk a tattoo artist into tattooing a freckle on her face for her time arts project. I'm not sure how that is going to go, she isn't back yet, but i don't know. Pretty crazy.
And dad, I did NOT get a piercing :)
So yeah I don't know how these watercolours are working for me. When I get more money in my account I may have to suck it up and buy some acrylics. Primary colours and black and white from Robert should hopefully be only 20 euros... bah. Well, we'll figure it out. I still don't feel like stretching a canvas, I should have bought some in Dublin, but they're expensive.
Okay picture time.
In a separate blog though.
By the way, no one is talking about heath ledger anymore.
we stopped back at the hostel, Barnacles, in Temple Bar, by the way. We ate at Charlie's, this chinese chain we saw a lot of. Ohh, first we found H&M actually, and stopped at a pharmacy so Amber could get a toothbrush. But yes, Harris's dinner was much tastier than mine (I got lemon duck and he got cantonese duck) but now I will know what to order next time. We wandered around a lot. Eventually we went to a pub on the north side of the Liffy (the river which cuts the city in two) and found a pub called the Flowing Tide, which at first wanted to see our IDs which none of us had actually brought with us, but they served us anyway but closed at midnight. Amber and Beki were bored and tired so they left. Franz Harris and I texted Brian Kelly and he met us next to the Heineken building and took us to this amazing sort of punk rock dance club/pub back in temple bar. On the main level they had indie rock like the strokes and franz ferdinand and stuff like that, along with a bar, and then downstairs was another bar with a dance floor and dance music. Below THAT is the "dungeon" which is just tables to sit down at, it looks like it's actually an old dungeon though. They bathrooms were delightedly in disrepair, women's toilet's weren't even flushing haha. And on the paper dispenser someone had written "I am a Carrot." Amazing. Also out back was a garage-ish indoor/outdoor they had for smokers (no smoking is allowed in pubs here, which is quite nice). Brian and his friend tried to convince Harris to piss outside there in a corner but he wasn't having it, luckily haha. Some drunk German girl kept bumming cigarettes from him, and later in the bathroom she kept giving me hugs, crazy crazy girl. Harris said there was a guy sitting in the men's bathroom who turned the water on and gave you soap and towels, so he tipped him. We stayed till the place shut down at 4am just hanging out. Franz Harris and I even danced a tiny bit because Brian offered to watch our coats for us. We were the last ones home but it was a good night.
OH and we saw this sweet celtic marching band thing. I have a video on my phone.
We stopped into the Palace Bar but it was too crowded, and we'd rather see an old wizened man play stuff instead of a 20something girl playing for tourists.
In the morning we checked out of the hostel and put our bags in the left luggage room and then went to the National Gallery which was actually AMAZING. There was a Polish Symbolist exhibit that was really impressive and the painting of the pirate ship was my favourite in that part. There was a Turner exhibit and and bunch of other stuff. There was another of my favourite paintings as well, very dark with lightening and hell, I think Franz wrote down the name for me somewhere. Harris and I were starving so we got lunch and Tim told us how to get to the next place cuz he didn't want to wait. After that we went to the museum of history I think and we got to see leatherized bog people!!! It was both amazing and horrific at the same time. They were leather jackets with arms attached. You could see the skin stretched and dried over the bones. Some where only partial skeletons. They're even more interesting than mummies, I think, because they aren't wrapped up.
After that we started walking in a big group to the Hugh Lane gallery to see the preserved Francis Bacon studio, but everyone wanted to go different places and it was really frustrating. In the end it was just Harris Franz Amber and I. But then Franz had to go check into our hostel cuz he made his reservations separate and his check in time was at 3 instead of 6. So he left. We went around this cross shaped pool which was neat, after walking up O'Connell Street. The Hugh Lane was amazing and more than that you got to look in to Francis Bacon's ACTUAL studio. It was, I don't know, I don't even have words for it. You could almost see him walking around in there in front of you. Harris and I sat in front of the window to the room and he sketched the entire thing in his sketchbook.
We then went to an art store and spent far far too much money on art supplies. Then back to Barnacles to pick up our stuff and THEN off to find where Marlborough House was, which we assumed was on Marlborough street. Some people were staying in Avalon house, but ours was cheaper. It took awhile for them to open the door, but eventually we got in. It was Carra, me, Harris, Amber, Hillary, Sam and Josh. And one person we didn't know. But it's okay because they give you metal pullout things under your bed and padlocks so no one can steal your stuff.
Harris and I went to Urban outfitters while everyone else got ready. It was alright but I didn't see anything interesting that wasn't expensive. Franz Beki and Amber met up with us and we went out and everyone wanted burgers. I tried to get chili and fries but everything at the place was disgusting so I ended up not eating.
Oh, p.s. Irish ketchup is more vinegary and sweet and absolutely DISGUSTING. i actually tried it, which is surprising, but it's still gross.
So I forget why but Beki and Amber left, so Franz and Harris and I went and walked around. After seeing Brian's hairstyle, Harris wanted to try to slick his hair back so we found him some hair grease and then tried to go to the "Bad Ass Cafe" to get coffee so he could do his hair in the bathroom but they had a 9 euro minimum per person which is ridiculous, so we left.
Then we found this Russian pub called Pravda. I think that was the name. Everything was in Russian and once we had ordered our drinks upstairs we realized that there were communist mural paintings everywhere (which were actually kind of cool). There were animal skulls on the walls. It was sooo cool haha. Anyway we left because we couldn't find a place to sit so then we just walked, got lost, but in a good way, eventually found our way back and oh I forgot to tell you my phone died Thursday night and I didn't have my pin code with me so I couldn't turn it back on. We were supposed to meet up with Brian Kelly for lunch on Saturday so we went back to the same punk place with the red door from the previous night in hopes of finding him. He wasn't there though. We sat in the dungeon a bit and Carra and Sam and Josh showed up. We tried two other places in search for indie dance parties but one had a 8 euro cover charge and the other was steamingly hot and gross so we left and went back to the original place for a bit. Sam and Carra left, then Josh, then Harris felt like going off on his own cuz he'd been feeling odd all day, so Franz and I walked back to the Hostel and went to sleep. I woke up when Harris came in but fell right back asleep. Amber and Harris broke up, as I like to say, due to creative differences. In the morning Beki and Amber wanted to go thrift shopping but I had promised Brian on Thursday to meet him at his work so we could go to lunch so Harris and I stopped for coffee and then started trying to find the place. He had written something about Henry Street on his hand on Thursday night so we tried that first but apparently it wasn't there. We did, however, find three really great thrift stores/secondhand shops and I got a purse for 3 euros. We also found an amazing bookstore called the Winding Stair, and a bead/incense/tarot card shop. Harris almost bought the Crowley Tarot but it was too expensive. We stopped in a great little art gallery with great little paintings I will find out the name for you later but we talked with the people running it for awhile and it was a really great experience. Then we fiiiinally found the place and Brian and after that we had to go catch the bus and Harris and I were both panicking about catching the bus, but we made it on time. Except the bus was packing and Carra, Olga, Josh and Annie didn't get on. So Brian (the bus driver - I know so many Brians!) said for us to get off in Galway and he'd pick us up and we'd go back to Orranmore to pick up the rest of people on the later bus. The bus ride was incredibly uncomfortable and Harris and I complained to each other about it a lot. We finally got back and all went right to sleep. Well, no, I called Brian and felt terrible since I hadn't been able to contact him for days. Then I took a shower cuz I hadn't had one since right before we left for Dublin (hostel showers are creepy, and also, time consuming. There were too many places to explore and art to see). Then sleep.
I don't know, it just sucks how American politics affect everywhere else. I am definitely not very proud to be an American. Although the desert it just soo... aghh. I love the desert. Anyway, that's a total non sequitur.
On sunday Harris and I woke up early and went to the Tea Shop because it was finally open and I got banana toffee pancakes with cream and a side of bacon (which here are rashers, a bit different, and more tasty) and harris got banana chocolate pancakes with sausage. The pancakes are sort of like crepes. It's not like in America where you start eating pancakes and then you're like Ewww, pancakes. Oh and coffee. Free refills too. It was amazing. We had a great talk about art. Oh actually we had another art talk in dublin with franz in a good coffee shop thursday night and decided we should do a bunch of collaborative work. anyway the tea/coffee place was great and we talked with the waitresses and promised to come back. Then we stopped at the Spar and Petrol station and Harris and I split the 5 euro cost of renting a movie so we could get Hot Fuzz, and went home to gather things, met up with Franz and walked to school. The internet wasn't up, which sucked, but I did some really shitty watercolour paintings while Franz Drew and Harris climbed the mountain behind school. They were super giddy when they came back, it was hilarious. We walked home and luckily it was a bright night because none of us had remembered a flashlight. I hung out and looked through Drew's pictures of Dublin and the guinness factory and the mountain climb while the guys ate dinner and then we went over to our house and watched Hot Fuzz with Franz and Amber and everyone loved it, so that was great. I walked back with them and we drank a glass of wine and two cups of tea and I think the curry chicken rice in a cup that I got from the Petrol station gave me an allergic reaction cuz I had weird raised bumps on my right arm and harris said they were hives. But he said if I wasn't dead already I'd be fine haha and they did indeed go away. Franz went to take a shower so Harris and I went outside and had a really good conversation about life and ireland and art and I got a good critique on my paintings, cuz I am definitely not a painter, per se. We drew, with our feet, into the gravel, a GIANT speaker cabinet into their driveway haha. Rex came over to play and rolled around on the ground wanting to be pet. We gave him pasta the other day so we told him we didn't have anything this time.
I totally forget if I wrote already about the cat Harris and I saw last week on the way to the Spar that we went and bought a can of tuna for, but it was gone when we got back so we left it where we saw it, but the can was completely gone the next day so I hope that poor little skinny kitty got it before it was thrown out.
Harris lent me a flashlight and I walked home and went to sleep.
I thought I'd be really tired when I got up this morning since we ended up talking for like 3 hours last night, but actually I am really energized today.
Everyone says that work starts being done in earnest every semester once everyone gets back from Dublin. Apparently Amber told Harris it's because by that time everyone is sick of each other and hate each other so they don't get distracted in the studio haha. I don't know about that but the work is definitely increasing.
We got coffee in the morning, which was amazing, from the cafe, and I've been working all morning and have written this as quickly and accurate as possible. Yes mom, I haven't forgotten your Cliffs of Moher pictures, I'll go find them now. And when we go back to Dublin (which we definitely want to) I will be sure to bring my camera.
Oh, Amber went to Galway by herself today in order to try to talk a tattoo artist into tattooing a freckle on her face for her time arts project. I'm not sure how that is going to go, she isn't back yet, but i don't know. Pretty crazy.
And dad, I did NOT get a piercing :)
So yeah I don't know how these watercolours are working for me. When I get more money in my account I may have to suck it up and buy some acrylics. Primary colours and black and white from Robert should hopefully be only 20 euros... bah. Well, we'll figure it out. I still don't feel like stretching a canvas, I should have bought some in Dublin, but they're expensive.
Okay picture time.
In a separate blog though.
By the way, no one is talking about heath ledger anymore.
23 January 2008
The Hole
It's amazing how Heath Ledger's death has somehow left 30 American art students reeling in Ireland. Today feels like the aftermath of a national tragedy. It's all anyone can talk about. Harris and I found out last night while we were at the pub. Four or so hours later Brian sent me a text about it. Most people found out this morning or after word got around. At least it was accidental and not suicide.
Dude, how can Heath Ledger be dead. It's going to be so weird watching Batman and knowing you're watching someone who was alive yesterday.
There's pictures of him in a black body bag on a stretcher leaving his apartment.
Harris is going to paint a portrait of him. I feel like there's going to be a lot of Heath Ledger inspired work showing up in the near future.
In two completely separate conversations so far, the "Mythology of Heath Ledger" has come up.
Maybe that's why we all felt weird and socially awkward yesterday. We had a spiritual connection with Heath Ledger.
Weird.
Dude, how can Heath Ledger be dead. It's going to be so weird watching Batman and knowing you're watching someone who was alive yesterday.
There's pictures of him in a black body bag on a stretcher leaving his apartment.
Harris is going to paint a portrait of him. I feel like there's going to be a lot of Heath Ledger inspired work showing up in the near future.
In two completely separate conversations so far, the "Mythology of Heath Ledger" has come up.
Maybe that's why we all felt weird and socially awkward yesterday. We had a spiritual connection with Heath Ledger.
Weird.
21 January 2008
paddy and soda
is one possible name for our band haha.
beki amber and i cooked dinner (no burnt fingers this time), said lots of funny things that we wrote on the quote board that i can't remember now, and then harris came over and we sat around drinking paddy and coca cola and drawing pictures of each other and talking about bjork and francis bacon.
most of us are staying over the extra night in dublin, so theyre going to get a larger bus so everyone can get home saturday night. we will have until 5pm in the city saturday so that should be awesome.
hey dad, how much would you kill me if i got my nose pierced? huh? huh? haha. no, but seriously?
I think Carra is getting either her lip or nose pierced. Chris said he would show us where the good photo store is so hopefully we can buy good fiber paper even though it costs far far too much here. bah. oh well, no help for it.
i hung up the sketches that were done last night in my studio, and one picture of amber, so at least i have something up haha. hopefully the wall will get filled up entirely by the time i leave.
harris is downloading his entire music library onto my harddrive so have good music since my ipod deleted everything i had brought. that will be exciting.
i like using brian's camera to take video and not saying anything and just waiting till people become uncomfortable and ask what i am doing.
i found a sheet of metal out in the junk pile that someone etched the word "monster" into so i have that in my studio now as well, and i feel like it is fitting.
josh downloaded pictures from the pub the other night onto amber's computer for me so i'll upload those this afternoon.
okay well time to go work, and by work i mean go eat lunch and then finish reading Through the Looking Glass and start working on my story.
beki amber and i cooked dinner (no burnt fingers this time), said lots of funny things that we wrote on the quote board that i can't remember now, and then harris came over and we sat around drinking paddy and coca cola and drawing pictures of each other and talking about bjork and francis bacon.
most of us are staying over the extra night in dublin, so theyre going to get a larger bus so everyone can get home saturday night. we will have until 5pm in the city saturday so that should be awesome.
hey dad, how much would you kill me if i got my nose pierced? huh? huh? haha. no, but seriously?
I think Carra is getting either her lip or nose pierced. Chris said he would show us where the good photo store is so hopefully we can buy good fiber paper even though it costs far far too much here. bah. oh well, no help for it.
i hung up the sketches that were done last night in my studio, and one picture of amber, so at least i have something up haha. hopefully the wall will get filled up entirely by the time i leave.
harris is downloading his entire music library onto my harddrive so have good music since my ipod deleted everything i had brought. that will be exciting.
i like using brian's camera to take video and not saying anything and just waiting till people become uncomfortable and ask what i am doing.
i found a sheet of metal out in the junk pile that someone etched the word "monster" into so i have that in my studio now as well, and i feel like it is fitting.
josh downloaded pictures from the pub the other night onto amber's computer for me so i'll upload those this afternoon.
okay well time to go work, and by work i mean go eat lunch and then finish reading Through the Looking Glass and start working on my story.
20 January 2008
skateboarding in the studio
right now harris is skateboarding back and forth through the studio. not sure where the skateboard came from haha.
i am talking to jen (from paris) and marissa (california). gotta love time differences haha.
not sure what we are gonna do tonight yet, but now drew's on the skateboard, oh wait, beki stole it. yep.
drew has a huge painting of a sloth he did on his entire studio wall. i will have to remember to take a photo of it. it's pretty impressive.
amber is painting one of the other photos i took of her from the other night. i'll have to post that when she is done too.
i am talking to jen (from paris) and marissa (california). gotta love time differences haha.
not sure what we are gonna do tonight yet, but now drew's on the skateboard, oh wait, beki stole it. yep.
drew has a huge painting of a sloth he did on his entire studio wall. i will have to remember to take a photo of it. it's pretty impressive.
amber is painting one of the other photos i took of her from the other night. i'll have to post that when she is done too.
new hotel/laura's half birthday/franz dancing
if only I had a photo or video of franz dancing. why oh why did I not bring Brian's camera to the pub??
After we walked home from the studio, Harris and Franz went home to eat dinner and Amber and I made a pizza and then decided to "dress up" in our actually kind of casual black dresses. we both had grey stockings and black boots, so, effectively twins.
Aiden was there of course, and Robert who for some reason I thought was named Conner. Harris and I met this guy named Andreas who is apparently bad with names and told us we needed three letter names so henceforth, we are now Tim and Eva. Haha. This is the second not-really-my-name I have here. (Jennifer to that one old fisherman guy).
There was a guy there with a guitar plugged in to some speakers playing covers of a lot of actually really good american songs. I know he played Simon & Garfunkle, Kings of Leon, NWA, the Offspring, Green Day, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'll report back on when someone reminds me. I know there was lots more. Very random, but very good.
I had two pints, some people got pitchers, but they don't have pitchers of Bulmers and I don't like Bud Light. Lots of people were dancing, the best of which of course was Franz, although Thane comes in a close second for the ridiculously awkward dance contest. Josh took some good pictures of everyone so hopefully he will give me those soon so I can post them.
Amber asked Harris to be her boyfriend which was really really cute. Beki and Amber and Harris and I all slowdanced at the end to some song, I forget which, but we definitely all ended up bumping/tripping in to each other haha.
We walked home instead of going to some party that was apparently going to either be at Shandalia's house or the garage in Orchard house, but either way, it seemed unnecessary so we went home and made potatos (I got a burn on my OTHER thumb this time. I need to stop doing that. Although I guess they make me look tough haha). Harris walked home just to get ketchup.Oh and Rex ran in the door when we got home and ran into the kitchen and laid on his back with his paws in the air and it was so pitiful, so we fed him some salami and used it to coax him back outside. :/ So Beki, Franz, Elizabeth, Amber, Harris and I watched an episode of the twilight zone, all fell asleep before it was over.
Today I woke up around 11am and took a shower, which is great, since there is not enough water, much less hot water, for 6 girls to all take showers every day. At 2-ish Shelby and I met Chris at the Petrol station and he showed us how to get to Mikey's house. He gave us tea and cookies and we talked for a long time. He is a really nice man and has all these cats (forget cat lady, this is a cat man) one of which you can ask in both english and gaelic to "shake hands" and it will lift up its paw for you. Smart smart kitty. We called Tom (Baird) and talked to him for awhile which was great. Tom is so funny. Mikey agreed to let me come back and photograph him and his cats and his farm, so that is awesome. He had a sweet motorcycle in his barn that I will definitely be photographing.
Chris was going to the studio, so I walked with him and we talked about MICA and Grad School and how we could picture Tom and Mikey galavanting together haha. Also he showed me a back way to get to school that involves being on the main road much less, so less contact with fast moving cars.
Now I am on Amber's PC so hopefully I can figure out how to load my photos onto here so you can see some new stuff!!!
^ Amber has tons of fake temporary tattoos. They are sweet.
Oh, and before we watched the Twilight Zone, Harris put on Beki's sweater:
After we walked home from the studio, Harris and Franz went home to eat dinner and Amber and I made a pizza and then decided to "dress up" in our actually kind of casual black dresses. we both had grey stockings and black boots, so, effectively twins.
Aiden was there of course, and Robert who for some reason I thought was named Conner. Harris and I met this guy named Andreas who is apparently bad with names and told us we needed three letter names so henceforth, we are now Tim and Eva. Haha. This is the second not-really-my-name I have here. (Jennifer to that one old fisherman guy).
There was a guy there with a guitar plugged in to some speakers playing covers of a lot of actually really good american songs. I know he played Simon & Garfunkle, Kings of Leon, NWA, the Offspring, Green Day, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I'll report back on when someone reminds me. I know there was lots more. Very random, but very good.
I had two pints, some people got pitchers, but they don't have pitchers of Bulmers and I don't like Bud Light. Lots of people were dancing, the best of which of course was Franz, although Thane comes in a close second for the ridiculously awkward dance contest. Josh took some good pictures of everyone so hopefully he will give me those soon so I can post them.
Amber asked Harris to be her boyfriend which was really really cute. Beki and Amber and Harris and I all slowdanced at the end to some song, I forget which, but we definitely all ended up bumping/tripping in to each other haha.
We walked home instead of going to some party that was apparently going to either be at Shandalia's house or the garage in Orchard house, but either way, it seemed unnecessary so we went home and made potatos (I got a burn on my OTHER thumb this time. I need to stop doing that. Although I guess they make me look tough haha). Harris walked home just to get ketchup.Oh and Rex ran in the door when we got home and ran into the kitchen and laid on his back with his paws in the air and it was so pitiful, so we fed him some salami and used it to coax him back outside. :/ So Beki, Franz, Elizabeth, Amber, Harris and I watched an episode of the twilight zone, all fell asleep before it was over.
Today I woke up around 11am and took a shower, which is great, since there is not enough water, much less hot water, for 6 girls to all take showers every day. At 2-ish Shelby and I met Chris at the Petrol station and he showed us how to get to Mikey's house. He gave us tea and cookies and we talked for a long time. He is a really nice man and has all these cats (forget cat lady, this is a cat man) one of which you can ask in both english and gaelic to "shake hands" and it will lift up its paw for you. Smart smart kitty. We called Tom (Baird) and talked to him for awhile which was great. Tom is so funny. Mikey agreed to let me come back and photograph him and his cats and his farm, so that is awesome. He had a sweet motorcycle in his barn that I will definitely be photographing.
Chris was going to the studio, so I walked with him and we talked about MICA and Grad School and how we could picture Tom and Mikey galavanting together haha. Also he showed me a back way to get to school that involves being on the main road much less, so less contact with fast moving cars.
Now I am on Amber's PC so hopefully I can figure out how to load my photos onto here so you can see some new stuff!!!
^ Amber has tons of fake temporary tattoos. They are sweet.
Oh, and before we watched the Twilight Zone, Harris put on Beki's sweater:
19 January 2008
i did not take the following photos (sort of)
or at least, not most of them.
Here are some of us at Zam Zam's this Indian-run pizza and chips place. Amber took this one:
Amber took this one of Beki (on the left) and Carra (on the right) :
Annnd she took one of Harris and Chris Attenborough:
I took this one in Logue's of Franz, Elizabeth & Tyler, respectively, with Amber's camera:
& this one I took with Amber's camera of her and Harris gesso-ing her canvas:
I think Harris took this one of me and Amber:
Here are some of us at Zam Zam's this Indian-run pizza and chips place. Amber took this one:
Amber took this one of Beki (on the left) and Carra (on the right) :
Annnd she took one of Harris and Chris Attenborough:
I took this one in Logue's of Franz, Elizabeth & Tyler, respectively, with Amber's camera:
& this one I took with Amber's camera of her and Harris gesso-ing her canvas:
I think Harris took this one of me and Amber:
pics now up
I got online again and tried uploading them a different way and now it works.
so after thursday's post, I walked with Harris to the petrol station because he wanted cigarettes and I wanted an apple and some ice cream - they have this fruit ice pop/creamsickle/twisty thingie, I don't know, but it's the best ice cream I have ever had haha. Then we walked back and as soon as I got back Robert said he was taking the bus home so I packed my stuff and went. Most people went to Limerick but I stayed home and took a nap and did some work and then woke up from my nap after Amber and Harris and Franz and Beki got back and we hung out in the kitchen and talked forever about funny stories about our cities.
Friday we had another field trip. We went to the Natl Park. It was cool but very rainy and windy. and the bus started to reek. We stopped to get coffee and tea and then came home. I went home and took a shower. After the guys/girls got home from the studio, Amber and Beki walked me to Franz and Harris's cuz I thought they were going to the New Hotel, but they wanted to go to Logue's for some reason, so we went and as soon as we walked in they decided they didn't wanna be there after all so we left to go to the New Hotel like I had wanted to in the first place. Aiden was there and we hung out with him and talked about American politics and how you have to have your pet in quarantine for 6 months if you were to move here.
Aiden wanted to go get Amber but we said we'd walk home. Amber was asleep in the living room. A bunch of people were over watching a movie. We played card games for awhile which was fun. I went to close one of the windows and accidently stepped on Tyler's glasses and the lens fell out and then almost started crying cuz I felt so bad but he keeps telling me not to worry cuz he was gonna get new glasses anyway, and we superglued the lens back in. Today we went to Gort and I bought him cookies. :(
But yeah, we went to a food store that was like Save-A-Lot in Baltimore, except without the bums. Haha. I got a loooot of food. Hopefully I won't have to go foodshopping again till next month. We went to Harris and Franz's cuz I picked up some groceries for them since they didn't get on the list to go to Gort. We dropped them off and watched some ridiculous movie that was on tv and drank coffee. Then we went back to our house and I took reference photos of Amber for her to draw from. They turned out really well I think, and I will post one. We walked to school which took forever, and I discovered that messenger bags here on 40 minute walks are no fun and hurt. So Amber is going to let me use her backpack on the way back.
Anyway after foodshopping we dropped our groceries off in Robert's shuttle and then walked to O'Sullivan's Hotel Lounge or something like that and met Brian Kelly for lunch. He went to the Burren a couple years ago but currently lives in Dublin. He was in Galway last night for a gallery opening he had work in so he stopped through Gort to meet up with us before he goes back to Dublin. He was pretty cool. Amber, Beki and I got chips and coffee.
Tonight is Laura, one of the girls who works in the school cafe,'s half-birthday and there's going to be a musician in the New Hotel so we will prolly go there. Chris Attenborough said he had to go to Mikey's tomorrow to drop off a christmas present from Tom so he is going to take me with him to meet Mikey, who is a local farmer. Hopefully I can take some portraits of him since Martina said I have to focus on just one person (GRR).
I am talking to Brian on iChat right now. He is in Kentucky on tour and apparently it's pretty snowy.
I am eating "Madonnas biscuits (cookies) with hazelnut cream filling" and they are delicious.
The Amber-ism of the day:
"People have been drinking beer for like millions of years."
so after thursday's post, I walked with Harris to the petrol station because he wanted cigarettes and I wanted an apple and some ice cream - they have this fruit ice pop/creamsickle/twisty thingie, I don't know, but it's the best ice cream I have ever had haha. Then we walked back and as soon as I got back Robert said he was taking the bus home so I packed my stuff and went. Most people went to Limerick but I stayed home and took a nap and did some work and then woke up from my nap after Amber and Harris and Franz and Beki got back and we hung out in the kitchen and talked forever about funny stories about our cities.
Friday we had another field trip. We went to the Natl Park. It was cool but very rainy and windy. and the bus started to reek. We stopped to get coffee and tea and then came home. I went home and took a shower. After the guys/girls got home from the studio, Amber and Beki walked me to Franz and Harris's cuz I thought they were going to the New Hotel, but they wanted to go to Logue's for some reason, so we went and as soon as we walked in they decided they didn't wanna be there after all so we left to go to the New Hotel like I had wanted to in the first place. Aiden was there and we hung out with him and talked about American politics and how you have to have your pet in quarantine for 6 months if you were to move here.
Aiden wanted to go get Amber but we said we'd walk home. Amber was asleep in the living room. A bunch of people were over watching a movie. We played card games for awhile which was fun. I went to close one of the windows and accidently stepped on Tyler's glasses and the lens fell out and then almost started crying cuz I felt so bad but he keeps telling me not to worry cuz he was gonna get new glasses anyway, and we superglued the lens back in. Today we went to Gort and I bought him cookies. :(
But yeah, we went to a food store that was like Save-A-Lot in Baltimore, except without the bums. Haha. I got a loooot of food. Hopefully I won't have to go foodshopping again till next month. We went to Harris and Franz's cuz I picked up some groceries for them since they didn't get on the list to go to Gort. We dropped them off and watched some ridiculous movie that was on tv and drank coffee. Then we went back to our house and I took reference photos of Amber for her to draw from. They turned out really well I think, and I will post one. We walked to school which took forever, and I discovered that messenger bags here on 40 minute walks are no fun and hurt. So Amber is going to let me use her backpack on the way back.
Anyway after foodshopping we dropped our groceries off in Robert's shuttle and then walked to O'Sullivan's Hotel Lounge or something like that and met Brian Kelly for lunch. He went to the Burren a couple years ago but currently lives in Dublin. He was in Galway last night for a gallery opening he had work in so he stopped through Gort to meet up with us before he goes back to Dublin. He was pretty cool. Amber, Beki and I got chips and coffee.
Tonight is Laura, one of the girls who works in the school cafe,'s half-birthday and there's going to be a musician in the New Hotel so we will prolly go there. Chris Attenborough said he had to go to Mikey's tomorrow to drop off a christmas present from Tom so he is going to take me with him to meet Mikey, who is a local farmer. Hopefully I can take some portraits of him since Martina said I have to focus on just one person (GRR).
I am talking to Brian on iChat right now. He is in Kentucky on tour and apparently it's pretty snowy.
I am eating "Madonnas biscuits (cookies) with hazelnut cream filling" and they are delicious.
The Amber-ism of the day:
"People have been drinking beer for like millions of years."
17 January 2008
fotos
this is the boat on the way to my house:
this is the major crossroads in town haha. if you keep walking straight, you'll get to the New Hotel/Limestone pub.
on the sidewalk on the way home from town there's an area of the sidewalk that has a series of kitten paws in the cement!
here are the cows that were in my lawn:
more cows:
the Petrol station:
behind our studio (and the boat I want to photograph Amber in) :
Harris's Bob Dylan photo I took last weekend:
Rex:
My house (Maries house - you pronounce that Mary's not Maree's) from the main road:
behind the studios again:
Rocks on the Burren:
An old sign in town:
Some of many fairy forest pictures to come:
Another:
Diagram of some of the school, so you can imagine it:
I know that some of them aren't showing up and I'm sorry. The internet has been REALLY slow today and it doesn't want to upload anything and I ran out of time, so next time I am online I will upload the rest of them and then they will show up. :/
More soon!
this is the major crossroads in town haha. if you keep walking straight, you'll get to the New Hotel/Limestone pub.
on the sidewalk on the way home from town there's an area of the sidewalk that has a series of kitten paws in the cement!
here are the cows that were in my lawn:
more cows:
the Petrol station:
behind our studio (and the boat I want to photograph Amber in) :
Harris's Bob Dylan photo I took last weekend:
Rex:
My house (Maries house - you pronounce that Mary's not Maree's) from the main road:
behind the studios again:
Rocks on the Burren:
An old sign in town:
Some of many fairy forest pictures to come:
Another:
Diagram of some of the school, so you can imagine it:
I know that some of them aren't showing up and I'm sorry. The internet has been REALLY slow today and it doesn't want to upload anything and I ran out of time, so next time I am online I will upload the rest of them and then they will show up. :/
More soon!
oh and
we just watched the 3OH!3 "Holler Video" and have decided we need to make music/photos/video of our own and make it totally crunk rock awesome. idk we'll see. Amber can rap pretty well, and I can when I'm singing along with someone and apparently Harris knows garage band, so we'll see what we can cook up. Hopefully I can use it for Time Arts somehow haha.
set dancing
Shelby and I went yesterday and explored the enchanted forest. After I post this I will go through all the photos and upload lots of them. The forest was awesome, as usual, and soon you will see what I am talking about. We photographed till it got dark and when we got back there were cows in our back yard! Not in the field on the other side of the fence like last time, but inside between the fence and the patio. I took a bunch of photos of them till Robert came back with people from school and shooed them away :/ they were nice. I got pretty close cuz they couldnt go over the wall of the patio so I got really up in their faces hahaha. The one was scratching his chin on the bush by the wall.
I need to think up a new screen name to use while I am here so if I sign online I don't have random people messaging me that I don't feel like talking to haha. but I can't think anything good up that isn't already taken, grr.
(Right now I hear Harris in his studio going "Noooo wayyyyy, Nooo way is this for reaaaaal". I have no clue what he is talking about.)
Anyway after the cows went away I walked with everyone down to the Spar and then saw Amber Harris and Franz so I turned around and walked back with them and Amber and I cooked pasketti and I fried up some potatoes and then Harris and Franz came over and we all walked to Logues and had a guinness and watched set dancing. It was pretty awesome watching the professionals. Also, Franz and Shelby and Beki and Thane and Jason are all really good at it.
Some guy asked me if I was from Serbia or Lebanon or something and I was like nnnooooo, I am italian and irish and german.
weird.
After that we went home and Amber Harris and I listed all the stores and restaurants we could think of to see if we had the same ones where we lived. Amber and Harris had a lot that were the same and Harris and I had a lot that were the same, but Amber and I had lots of different stuff. (Detroit - Cleveland - Baltimore/NJ)
Today I had mixed media with Aine, (Anya is how you pronounce it basically), and it was amazing. I love Aine. Also I think I found a way to fix my schedule. I talked to her and I am going to add the Time Arts class which is basically a performance art class, which at first I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of, but she said that I can do things and take photos of myself doing it so hopefully it'll count as a photo credit and then i'll do the independent study work over the summer to count towards fall with Tom the way I had been planning in the beginning. So we will see what happens haha.
Lunch here was delicious as usual and now I am sitting in the studio with Amber about to work on photos and when I am done you shall see them. :)
I need to think up a new screen name to use while I am here so if I sign online I don't have random people messaging me that I don't feel like talking to haha. but I can't think anything good up that isn't already taken, grr.
(Right now I hear Harris in his studio going "Noooo wayyyyy, Nooo way is this for reaaaaal". I have no clue what he is talking about.)
Anyway after the cows went away I walked with everyone down to the Spar and then saw Amber Harris and Franz so I turned around and walked back with them and Amber and I cooked pasketti and I fried up some potatoes and then Harris and Franz came over and we all walked to Logues and had a guinness and watched set dancing. It was pretty awesome watching the professionals. Also, Franz and Shelby and Beki and Thane and Jason are all really good at it.
Some guy asked me if I was from Serbia or Lebanon or something and I was like nnnooooo, I am italian and irish and german.
weird.
After that we went home and Amber Harris and I listed all the stores and restaurants we could think of to see if we had the same ones where we lived. Amber and Harris had a lot that were the same and Harris and I had a lot that were the same, but Amber and I had lots of different stuff. (Detroit - Cleveland - Baltimore/NJ)
Today I had mixed media with Aine, (Anya is how you pronounce it basically), and it was amazing. I love Aine. Also I think I found a way to fix my schedule. I talked to her and I am going to add the Time Arts class which is basically a performance art class, which at first I was a little uncomfortable with the idea of, but she said that I can do things and take photos of myself doing it so hopefully it'll count as a photo credit and then i'll do the independent study work over the summer to count towards fall with Tom the way I had been planning in the beginning. So we will see what happens haha.
Lunch here was delicious as usual and now I am sitting in the studio with Amber about to work on photos and when I am done you shall see them. :)
16 January 2008
misprints
So finally got an email back from MICA about the odd number of credits on my degree plan, and it turns out they have totally screwed me over because there were an EXTRA 2 advanced photo electives required that I have never been told about till yesterday that I now have to try and fit in before december!!! So, after panicking and cursing for a small while, I emailed Tom to see if I could still do the independent study with him (somehow I went from 12 credits to 18 in the matter of three days) and either do another independent or internship as elective credit over the summer or see if Alex will let me apply digital 2 work to senior thesis in which case i will take 18 fall semester as well (apparently they recommend 12, and i already have to take 15 but it seems like such a waste to have to stay another semester for just 2 classes).
So aggrivating.
Apparently Alex is out of the country until friday though so I'll talk to him then and I'm also waiting to hear back from Tom and Kara.
After class we made dinner and then went to Zam Zams for a pizza party at which I ate no pizza. Then we went to Logue's and I had my first full guinness that I didn't split with someone. It was good, I had them (or rather, I had Harris) put blackcurrent? blackberry current? one of those. some kind of strong fruit juice in it. It was good. We also came up with a name for the collective videos they will eventually be posting for the Time Arts class (Which I am not in fact taking, but I get to be an honorary member regardless haha). I forget the exact spelling but it is something like "Rafjeed; The Perfect Human" or something along those lines haha.
Then we went home (And the "we" that was at Logues and then went back to our house was me, Amber, Harris, Franz, Beki, Elizabeth & Tyler) and watched Watership Down (again, well last time it was only Amber and I).
Today I re-read all of Alice in Wonderland. Martina keeps telling me to only focus on one tiny thing, when I'd rather take bits and pieces and form them into something new, but I'll do it her way for next week but do it my way in general and continue on with that, because I cannot make a whole 15+ body of work on, say, "the rabbit pulled out its pocket watch but she didn't find it strange". I don't want to focus on a piece of an existing story, I want to be inspired by different scenes and have them help me make my OWN story. I mean come on, they already won't let me do creative writing, they could at least let me do that.
Well, anyway, I say with Chris (Attenborough) at lunch today. He's going to take me with him when he goes to see Mikey Sunday so hopefully Mikey will let me take portraits of him for the next three weeks ago since Martina said I had to choose only ONE person to photograph instead of several. ARGH.
Anyway I think Shelby and I are going to go explore the fairy forest behind our house so hopefully it stays sunny.
So aggrivating.
Apparently Alex is out of the country until friday though so I'll talk to him then and I'm also waiting to hear back from Tom and Kara.
After class we made dinner and then went to Zam Zams for a pizza party at which I ate no pizza. Then we went to Logue's and I had my first full guinness that I didn't split with someone. It was good, I had them (or rather, I had Harris) put blackcurrent? blackberry current? one of those. some kind of strong fruit juice in it. It was good. We also came up with a name for the collective videos they will eventually be posting for the Time Arts class (Which I am not in fact taking, but I get to be an honorary member regardless haha). I forget the exact spelling but it is something like "Rafjeed; The Perfect Human" or something along those lines haha.
Then we went home (And the "we" that was at Logues and then went back to our house was me, Amber, Harris, Franz, Beki, Elizabeth & Tyler) and watched Watership Down (again, well last time it was only Amber and I).
Today I re-read all of Alice in Wonderland. Martina keeps telling me to only focus on one tiny thing, when I'd rather take bits and pieces and form them into something new, but I'll do it her way for next week but do it my way in general and continue on with that, because I cannot make a whole 15+ body of work on, say, "the rabbit pulled out its pocket watch but she didn't find it strange". I don't want to focus on a piece of an existing story, I want to be inspired by different scenes and have them help me make my OWN story. I mean come on, they already won't let me do creative writing, they could at least let me do that.
Well, anyway, I say with Chris (Attenborough) at lunch today. He's going to take me with him when he goes to see Mikey Sunday so hopefully Mikey will let me take portraits of him for the next three weeks ago since Martina said I had to choose only ONE person to photograph instead of several. ARGH.
Anyway I think Shelby and I are going to go explore the fairy forest behind our house so hopefully it stays sunny.
15 January 2008
classes
last night i made a friend at the pub named Marion who is actually going to be leaving for UMBC in baltimore as an exchange student till sometime in the spring, and after she was going to new york for a little while so i told her when i come back she could come stay with me and we'd hang out. she was really sweet and i liked her a lot and the two guys she was with bought us a round of Bulmers (the irish cider) so that was fun. Dan walked me home also, which was nice of him, especially with the apparent cow invasion in full swing. -- when we left to go, kristin came in and said there was a pack of bulls milling around in front of our door. turned out they werent bulls, but there were 5 or 6 big tons of beef chewing the grass in front of our doorstep, so we gave them wide berth and luckily they were gone by the time i got home.
today i had photo classes. apparently we're going to have to give a 45 minutes presentation on a research or photo topic sometime in the semester for each of my photo classes. eek! not fun! but i'll survive i guess haha.
i finally think i got my schedule sorted out too. rebekah emailed me back and said that we could do an independent study with MICA faculty back home via email, so I am going to email kara since she said at the end of last semester she'd be willing to do an independent study with me. so i figure i will either find in Gort or order off of Amazon a text book or two and read them thoroughly and write a couple papers and research and all that. (no presentations though please!) So depending on how much or quality of books I can find i'll either do Celtic art, because of where I am, or Egyptian art, because I am fascinated with it haha.
so i'm not taking their art history any more (which would have also been another 45 min presentation haha) because it's too much like Modernism and After that i already took (it's surrealism and after). Instead I am going to do the ind. study and also I am adding Mixed Media because Jack said it could count as a photo elective as long as I am using photo. So I will have a full 15 credit course load and hopefully only need to take the Renaissance through 1855 class over the summer.
So, in case you're wondering, my schedule:
Tuesday: Independent Photo & Advanced Photo
Thursday: Mixed Media
Friday: Irish Studies
& Ind. Study Art History with Kara
on Wednesday we also have guest artists come to speak every week
Brian sent me another really nice email that made me happy and I was telling him how its hard to get photos done because it gets dark at 430 here and then theres also the rain on and off all day every day. hopefully i will get everything done.
Yep!
I have to go though because I have a meeting with Martina (photo teacher) at 2
today i had photo classes. apparently we're going to have to give a 45 minutes presentation on a research or photo topic sometime in the semester for each of my photo classes. eek! not fun! but i'll survive i guess haha.
i finally think i got my schedule sorted out too. rebekah emailed me back and said that we could do an independent study with MICA faculty back home via email, so I am going to email kara since she said at the end of last semester she'd be willing to do an independent study with me. so i figure i will either find in Gort or order off of Amazon a text book or two and read them thoroughly and write a couple papers and research and all that. (no presentations though please!) So depending on how much or quality of books I can find i'll either do Celtic art, because of where I am, or Egyptian art, because I am fascinated with it haha.
so i'm not taking their art history any more (which would have also been another 45 min presentation haha) because it's too much like Modernism and After that i already took (it's surrealism and after). Instead I am going to do the ind. study and also I am adding Mixed Media because Jack said it could count as a photo elective as long as I am using photo. So I will have a full 15 credit course load and hopefully only need to take the Renaissance through 1855 class over the summer.
So, in case you're wondering, my schedule:
Tuesday: Independent Photo & Advanced Photo
Thursday: Mixed Media
Friday: Irish Studies
& Ind. Study Art History with Kara
on Wednesday we also have guest artists come to speak every week
Brian sent me another really nice email that made me happy and I was telling him how its hard to get photos done because it gets dark at 430 here and then theres also the rain on and off all day every day. hopefully i will get everything done.
Yep!
I have to go though because I have a meeting with Martina (photo teacher) at 2
14 January 2008
Carra Ricci?
i think that Carra reminds me of Christina Ricci.
yeah?
or am i thinking of a different actress?
her hair is a lot shorter now, but she definitely reminds me of someone in this photo and i *think* that's who it is
p.s.
for some reason a lot of these look darker to me once i posted them on here, but oh well. i need to learn to not be so critical haha. enjoy!
Also: the post called "butter crinkle crunch attacking cookies," i'm not sure if i mentioned it, but i called it that because on the way to the school to use the computers the other night i had a roll of cookies in my jacket pocket and as we were walking it fell out and hit harris in the back of the leg and he screamed and it was hilarious! although he got us back by jumping out from behind a wall when we got to school and scaring us, but i mean.... cookies! hahah
Also: the post called "butter crinkle crunch attacking cookies," i'm not sure if i mentioned it, but i called it that because on the way to the school to use the computers the other night i had a roll of cookies in my jacket pocket and as we were walking it fell out and hit harris in the back of the leg and he screamed and it was hilarious! although he got us back by jumping out from behind a wall when we got to school and scaring us, but i mean.... cookies! hahah
A View from Connemara
okay. mom and dad. i am pretty sure you should move here when you retire.
okay thanks, glad you agree
except i am being totally serious
a who's who of Team Burren
if you click on all these photos they get larger, by the way
this one is labeled with some names so you can know who i am talking about when i write people's names :)
what's wrong with this picture?
this is at that famous abbey that used to be a castle. i can't think of the name off the top of my head but i know my mom knows and if she would click on "comments" below for me please, she could leave me a comment with its name *wink wink*
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