I love art.

My friend and fellow artist, Jessica Smith, is moving to Florence, Italy this summer to be a part of a missions program there called Avanti Italia. She was one of the girls who went to Italy with me in 2008 and she fell in love with everything Italian. She's an amazing painter and she's having to sell a lot of her art work before she leaves. So, naturally, I had to snag one of her beautiful pieces and this is the one I chose.

Venice Oil on Canvas 8x10 in

I'm crazy about it! It totally turned my crappy day into a great one. It's weird how art can be so effective. I look at it and just smile. One of my goals this year is to acquire a piece of art from all the girls who went to Italy with me. All of them are amazing artists and I would love to have a meaningful collection like that. I hope everyone could have a piece of art that changed their day in a positive way. Check out more of Jessica's work on her blogs here and here. One is more about the Avanti Italia program and the other has a lot of her art work on it.

Pleasing him

Our topic of study in my bible study this semester is learning our place and purpose in the family of God. Today we talked about having a purpose and not really seeing our potential. In I Corinthians 12:18 it says "But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." Everyone in the body of Christ, whether you realize it or not, plays a significant part. And God is the one who designed you, who made you fit for the role he designed for you. I may not realize right now how I am to be used, or what way I can best serve the Lord, but I need to constantly be looking. I can't sit around and think, "well, eventually I'll realize my full potential." It doesn't work like that. The only time I'm guaranteed is the time I have right now and if I'm not using it fully, then it's a total waste. See, I have a problem. I'm a perfectionist. There's nothing directly wrong with that, but it does hinder me to a degree when trying to reach out and teach others about Christ. I'm afraid I won't have all the answers right away or that I may say something that isn't right. But I can't let my insecurities stop me anymore. There's a reason I'm here, and that's to spread His word.

This is an analogy my teacher had in class today. A girl wanted to do something wonderful for her boyfriend for his birthday. She made him a big dinner and cooked it all from scratch. She worked all day on it and really put her heart into it. Her main goal was just to please him. He came over, looked at the food, and told her he couldn't eat it because he was allergic to something in it. All her efforts were pointless because she didn't know him well enough to know of this allergy. We need to pour our hearts into serving God and doing all we can to please him, but we need to make sure we know him and what he desires of us or else our efforts are pointless as well.

That analogy hit home to me. In the 11 years that I have been a Christian, I have yet to read the bible from cover to cover. I've studied a lot during my years, but I haven't devoted the time and effort into looking at the whole word of God and studying it fully. There's so much that I can learn and focus on in these books and I haven't taken the time to read in thoroughly. It's pathetic to call myself a child of God and to not read the whole inspired word which is so easily available to me. How can I best understand God and what he requires of me if I don't open my eyes and read all he has to say?

So this is my goal. I want to read the whole Bible this year. So many people do it every year and I have no excuses why I shouldn't. Yes, I'm a busy college student who goes to a christian university which requires us to take a bible class every semester, but that's not enough. I should never say, "I already do enough". I'm going to jump around some in reading (partly because I've already started reading John for my bible class) but I'm going to keep a log on here so that I'll be accountable to this goal. I know when midterms come around and I find myself thinking I'm too busy to study, I'll have a constant visible reminder on here of my goal.

Don't worry, I'll still talk about art and design because that's something that God made me passionate about, but I'm going to try to keep posting on things I've studied in His word so that I can not only meditate on these things, but hopefully reach out to you readers and help you as well. If anyone has any questions or things to say, please leave comments. I may not have all the answers, but He does.

Four Eyes

My eye sight has gotten worse and worse over the years. I've been in denial for a long time (I even "lost" my old glasses at one point). But finally, after hogging the front seats in all of my classes for the past few years, I broke down and went to see Uncle Eric (my uncle/optometrist). Diagnosis: one eye is near-sighted, one is far-sighted.... dumb, I know. Anyway, it finally came to that dreaded time where I had to choose the goggles. Now, I like accessories, don't get me wrong, but this is an expensive one that is a huge decision. I mean, it goes directly on your face. Can't hide it. So, I took a cue from these waaaay cute french girls...

images from The Sartorialist

... and went the "Geek Chic" route. Plus, I think I'll actually wear the suckers!

Hope everyone's week is going well! I started classes today and I'm thinking this is going to be a good semester. Hopefully not as taxing as the last. I'll be taking another painting course this semester so I'll be posting pics throughout the months on my projects. Good luck to everyone who is headed back to school/work!

Ceramicify!

These are some of the pots and vases I made for ceramics this semester. This isn't all of them due to Christmas (bartering and giving is so much fun!). If anyone is interesting in purchasing, just leave a comment! Enjoy!

This is a vase I made for my dad for his new office. It's wheel thrown with a slab made leaf attached before it was bisque fired.

After I made the leaf for the vase, I wanted to make some more free standing ones. There's 5 in all (the two others I was just too lazy to bring down).

Petite little bowl

Reminds me of van Gogh's "Starry Night"

Exterior of "Starry Night"

Petite vase

Marbleized bowl

Exterior

Another marbleized bowl

Exterior

Petite marbleized bowl

Exterior

Bowl I made for Kevin. This one I had messed up with the interior glazed so I covered it in another glaze and I got this look. It's really cool in person because you can see some of the reds glazes underneath the blue.

Exterior

The Fall Assignments

I'm finally posting the pics from my Painting and Printmaking assignments from this past fall semester. I know, I know. It's about time I posted these. Anywhoo, here are the goods!

This is a print that consisted of 2 techniques: collagraph and regular intaglio printing.

This is a blind embossing that I did for my final in Printmaking. I had a woodblock that I was doing for my final, but at 10:30 pm (night before the final was due), I pulled my last proof and it looked like sick nastiness so I started completely over (yes, almost suicidal at that point) and decided to do 22 prints of a splattered etching which turned out awesome! Thanks Lyn Rushton for the idea. I don't know what I would have done otherwise!

This is the Holiday Card assignment. The snowflakes are embossed and the text was letterpressed.

This is a series of prints of the Art Building windows at Harding. We had to do a realistic view, an abstracted version of that, and then an even more abstracted image. The three techniques employed were intaglio, aquatint, and soft ground.

Close up.

Pear oil painting for my mother. Not finished...

Christmas present for Matthew and Alicia. Also not finished...

And this is my Copy of a Master for my final in Painting. I copied Edward Hopper's "Chop Suey" (my favorite painting. ever.). I'm actually quite tickled with it!

Pics of the ceramics are coming soon!

The French

Images from The Sartorialist

What's with them? Seriously. How on earth do they do it? Are they just born with extremely good fashion genes or do they take a pill for their impeccable style? I look at a lot of fashion and design blogs and the french always look effortlessly amazing. They even make sweats and a t-shirt look super chic. So this is my plan. I'm gonna try to incorporate some of the Frenchy style into my everyday wardrobe. I've got some of the "french" staples; scarves, stripes, and a fourth of my wardrobe consisting of the color black. So this is a good start. Now if I could just find that pill...

New Year, New Goals!

Morning Ya'll! I hope your holidays have been relaxing! I think I enjoyed mine a little too much and my extra pounds gained can attest to that! I'm so thankful though for my time with my family and friends and now I'm rested up and ready to start 2010. The other night I wrote down my resolutions and I made sure they were ones I could actually keep :)

My Resolutions for 2010

1.) Read my Bible daily and take time to meditate on what I've learned.

2.) Quit drinking sodas and drink more water.

3) Fill up a sketch book every month.

4.) Eat healthier.

5.) Read 10 books that aren't related to school.

6.) Post on my blog more.

I learned a lot in 2009. I had a lot of ups and downs this year, but I know they have all helped me grow and become a better person. Now I'm ready to start this new year with a greater outlook and I can't wait to see what new challenges and experiences are in store for 2010!