New Camera!!!

My new Holga came in the mail today! I am so excited, I am definitely taking it to Maryland on my trip next week!!

I can't believe it came so quickly. I think I ordered it on Sunday.

YAY!

Noses

Shadow: Overlay Emulsion Version 3

I Miss Summer

I took this picture in July in Chicago in Grant Park ... it was such a nice day ... I miss summer.

Professional Progress Reviews: Resolution

I didn't write about what happened at the progress review.

Actually, it went really well.  Talking about it beforehand made me realize that what I was most worried about was Judaism coming up in the review like it did in the initial advising session I had back in the beginning of September.  I met with my advisor like everyone else but also to talk about the absences I was going to have because of Jewish holidays.  I think the meeting did not go very well and I left feeling like I had to prove myself and defend my religious observances.

So... I was nervous that was going to happen again.  But instead, they said that the way I dealt with my absences was admirable and professional and it ended up being really great.  What a relief.  I almost cried, I was so nervous and to hear them be so nice almost made me cry.  They said a lot of nice things about me and said I was doing a great job and doing well in the program and to keep it up, basically.

PHEW.

Also, my psychopathology teacher mentioned how we have a common love for The Simpsons, Seinfeld, and classic SciFi.  AHHH.  We are going to be best friends.  (Our class is basically his fan club, he is leaving the school this year to go with his wife and start a new medical school so we bought him a bottle of scotch and decorated the box and the bottle and gave him a ton of cards)

So... I'm glad that's over with.  Now that the progress review is done, I'm finding it hard to really get nervous about anything else.  I used up all of my stress on it.  I have the psychopathology final, the gallery opening (and closing) for my materials and media class, and my final critique in my studio class, and I'm just like, whatever!

Shadows: Landscape

This one happened because I printed the blue onto another piece that I had been struggling with.  Lately my solution to pieces I've been struggling with is to simply print over them.  It's been working out, though!  Again, this piece turned out like it did because of my bad printmaking skills.  I hope that as I get better I can still make things like this on purpose!

When I look at this one it feels like a landscape, maybe even reminiscent of Japanese landscape prints.  It has a similar color palette.

Shadows: Mysterious Blue Woman

This is still in progress.  I am printing like crazy before the end of the semester because I am really inspired by this shadows stuff.  The green underneath was printed with one screen that was a semi-successful shadow capture, and was printed over with a blue globby screen that came out differently every time I printed it (a completely unsuccessful shadow capture but the results are interesting).

I see a woman appearing in a few of the globs and also a few of my other shadow prints.  In this one, the woman is sad but determined, bracing herself against the wind and the rain.  She is alone in a strange forest.

Professional Progress Reviews

I haven't had mine yet.  It's later this afternoon.  I am SO NERVOUS.  Last night I was sitting at dinner and my stomach felt weird and my palms were sweaty and clammy.  I said, "I feel weird."  JewishGuy asked what did I mean weird.  And I said, "Give me a minute, I will think of the word."  And after a little bit of contemplation I said, "Anxious?"  At which point he reminded me that I had my progress review coming up tomorrow (today).

Every time I think of it I get really nervous, my heart races and my palms sweat.

The weird thing is, I think I am doing pretty well in the program.  My exams come back with good grades, my papers are not returned for revision, my presentations seem to go over well, I participate in every class, I am on time and my assignments are on time, and so on.  But the idea of 6 faculty members sitting around me and talking about me TO/WITH me makes me EXTREMELY nervous.  Also, they have all prepared packets with their feedback that I am supposed to read before I go in front of them.

I am more nervous than I was at my interview.

Everyone is really nervous.  I'm trying not to talk about it too much with everyone because I don't want to feed other people's nerves.  So here I am, writing about it on my art blog, even though it's not necessarily the right place for it.

Dec 1: The first snow! (Part 3)

Dec 1: The first snow! (Part 2)

Dec 1: The first snow! (Part 1)