Fate 'n' that?

This has been a pretty weird week for me, mainly on a personal level. My ex boyfriend and I got back together on Saturday. I'm happy about it, even if a little cautious. But its better because things are slightly more on my terms - my time being single has really gave me back my independence and I don't intend to lose it. But for now we are just taking it easy and having fun which is nice.

Anyways! In terms of school this week, it's been pretty quiet. My chalkline drawings were, in my eyes, unsuccessful. Slightly disappointed but think my work is going to be much more scientific next term as I intend to investigate it from a medical point of view. I had my Final Project Crit on Wednesday (10am - 5pm) with Lynn Hynd and Craig Mulholland. I was really impressed with some of the work by the other students in my crit group - it's nice to see and understand what the other students are working on. The tutors gave really good and relevant advice to everybody and the group was quite chatty so it was pretty successful. Crits are notorious for being brain draining and very tiring...and I had to go to work after mines! I was exhausted! I was representing the school at a careers event at Calderglen high in East Kilbride. I fell asleep on the train there and back hehe. It was a lovely big school, a new build I believe. Staff and students were all lovely!

Also, I was commissioned by someone (family friend) to do a portrait of her son. I'm quite pleased because I've had quite a few requests now but also slightly concerned because I don't want people perceiving me as a portrait artist. Concept is a big part of my practice now and my investagation is much more interesting than doing portrait after portrait. But it keeps my drawing practice up and earns me a wee bit of extra cash.

The next deadline I've to meet is for my H&C essay which is due on Thurs 19th March. I'm getting very worried now because I haven't even started it yet! It is a tough question so its been putting me off tackling it for ages but now I have simply GOT to do it. I'll make a start on it over the weekend hopefully. So probably not going to be many blog entries from me next week as all my attention will be on getting this essay done and dusted!

Fieldtrip to Norway

Tomorrow I am going on a fieldtrip to Norway. We will drive from the airport and go around half the southern part of the country in three days. Should be really exciting!

I am doing Photography and Drawing as a part of the research for the trip, and hopefully it will be possible for me to make it into finished work for the exhibition which opens in the Atrium Gallery Thursday 19.March. If not I can exhibit some other time.

Will keep you posted with images. Tonight it is time for the State and a wee pint - hopefully Leeanne will come as well. Also have too pack - always nice to pack and plan a journey when you start too late :-)

Lovely day

Today is my Interim Rewiew - a kind of informal assessment toward the end of term 2 to allow you to prepare better for final assessment in term 3. I am quite looking forward to it, but what makes it a lovely day is that after this I can work and focus on studio and stuff without having to worry about assessment, deadlines and all the other stuff. I am really looking forward to a couple of quieter weeks.

In addition the weather is absolutely lovely. Sunshine and a little bit of wind. It`s really nice. Finally the spring feeling is kreeping back.

This week I am visiting Uddingston Grammar School and next week I will go to Ayr. I am looking forward to it. It is so nice to go to the different schools - for me its really interesting to see the differences between the schools and the kind of school I went to, and then also I get to see more og Glasgow and Scotland.

Finally weekend

Monday and Tuesday are interim reviews and I have to work on that through the weekend, but somehow it doesn't worry too much and I am looking forward to a "relaxed" weekend. At least the worst of my worries are now past me, and I can start thinking about the really big ones - final assessment, but because they are over Easter I am not going to panick about it just yet.
Doing and inke rubbing printing class today at the Rice Gallery. I am really looking forward to it - just to do something different, to unwind myself and just because I want to, and not because I have to.
There is also an exhibition going on in the Hillhead Street Project Space. It looks quite interesting and I think I might stop by during the weekend to see what they are up to. In the beginning I was thinking about putting stuff in it myself, but the timing was a bit wrong - and I didn't feel I had any work which could be finished on such a short notice. I have to get better at that - to finish things on short notice.
Enjoy your weekend.

Rabbit Skin Glue

This week has been pretty productive. On Tuesday I had a tutorial with Craig Mulholland. It was very interesting and has given me another slant from which to look at my work. He works a lot with digital art himself and there is a little element of my own work which is digital so he really helped me think about developing that side of it. On Wednesday I was meant to have a tutorial with Sam Ainsley but she was off ill. That gave me the chance to start making preparations for my final project crit coming up this wednesday. Thursday I cracked out the ol' rabbit skin glue (not used it in ages, it stinks!) and started sealing some MDF boards I had. I had to do it in my close though because there was no space to do it in my house. I got some funny looks of a couple of my neighbours hehe.

Then I very very carefully had to replenish the iron oxide in my chalkline (that's what I'm going to use to make my next series of drawings). Me, being so clumsy and iron oxide being super permanent and in powder form is not a good combination! Got some on my floor...so now it is VERY red. Ah well. However, I'm coming down with the cold again! This is the most number of colds I've ever had in the space of a year! So tonight I think I'm going to chill out a wee bit. Might have a bath and a bottle of beer while watching the telly...sounds like heaven!

PAP presentations

Yesterday we started doing the presentations for the Public Art Project. It was ok, but people were not very well prepared for it and we were a small group. Tomorrow I fear we will be a bigger group, there will be less time and I am the last person to present. Horrible! We are all going to tired and devastated by the time it is my turn.
At least I have something nice to look forward to at the end of the whole thing - I am going to Tchai Ovna for tea with a friend. Tchai Ovna is a little tea place by the river. They have tons of different teas, and were the first place which really opened my eyes to this custom - I didn`t like tea before. Its very small, very relaxed, and not too pricey. I have just gone over my finances again - I do it every month to keep track of my spendings and I really have to spend less money for the next couple of months - for fear of running out of them before I am supposed to. They will run out eventually, its only a matter of timing it to a month when it means I won't starve even if I have no money.

What a hectic wee while this has been for me. Things in my personal life have been a wee bit turbulent so coursework has suffered a little. The main biggy recently was my Interim Review tutorial on Tuesday 24th Feb. I was feeling quite nervous about it with regards to my practicle abilities (I felt as if they hadn't developed much) but was confident about my research (both primary and secondary) and my conceptual development. Thankfully it went really really well! I was so pleased. The tutors said they'd saw a big improvement in my work and have seen me become more ambitious. Thank goodness. I think a lot of that was to do with not having the distraction of a relationship anymore but I was aware of making much more of a concious effort to produce work and note thoughts/reflection more often. It obviously paid off. So that's made me pretty happy.

Also I've been going to a lot more openings lately if I've had the time. I find that's really benefiting my work. Tonight I went to the 2nd Year photography exhibition in the Newberry Gallery. I was quite impressed. Some interesting work. Also, the opening itself went really well - there was a good range of nibbles, beers and wine so I think it kept people there looking at the work a little longer.

Today in the studios, John, Gillian and I held mini informal crits of each others work and it proved invaluable to me! I've now generated a 'to do' list of work which should help me develop my work further. I think they both benefited from it too. Next week are the final project crits. I hope to try to make more work before then but lack of funds is making it difficult since my materials are running low. Roll on Friday.