Road Trip

One of the best parts about being in school and freelance is that we get these long breaks between quarters...3 weeks this time. Chris is in a content branding class and his group has chosen to design an Apple sponsored high school. I won't get into details but we are getting to interview some great people, Michelle Rhee, James Victore, and a professor at MIT that I cannot remember his name. So Chris, John and I are headed up to DC today for the weekend. We are staying with friends and get to do some sightseeing....exciting! Chris has never been so it should be lots of fun. On Monday, we are driving to NYC for 2 days then on to Boston! YAY! This will be our first time staying in NYC....wish us luck! We are pretty excited to be able to do this...next year Chris will be working and trips like this won't be able to happen as often. I cannot believe it is almost Christmas of 2008....where does time go?

27 dogs

That was the assignment. Paint 27 dogs with acrylic and a brush, without sketching or planning them out. I have never painted before...but about halfway through, I kind of got into it. I started noticing a style that I was good at and kept going with it. I had a blast, although it did take me about 8 hours. I was not expecting any kind of praise, etc from anyone...I thought mine were just average but everyone freaked out. The teacher called me the "goddess" during class (that was embarrassing!) and she took my dogs and wouldn't let me have them back. I went into school the other day and there they were, right in the front hallway!!!! OMG! I never expected that, especially first quarter! And especially not with paintings!!!
This illustration class is really good for me. When I went to school at UTC, I wanted to be in the art department so bad but I just thought I was terrible at drawing and therefore I shouldn't even think about it. I took an art history class and I remember being so jealous of all the people in that building that got to study it all the time. I think if I had gotten into it back then, I would have never dropped out of school. This teacher, Lindy, is amazing. She makes you feel so good about your stuff, even when you don't think it is good. She sees the artistic value in everything. I wish I had met her years ago! I think I am learning that it is best to always follow your dreams no matter how good you think you are. Everyone is talented, some people just take more coaching than others.
I definitely think I am in the right place finally. It took me 14 years after UTC to get here but at least I finally got here. It is hard but it is definitely worth the work.

Life is a blur

It has finally happened...school started this week. I have been waiting for this for a long time but boy, I don't think I was quite prepared. I am taking four classes plus seminar...Natural Lighting, Illustration for Photographers, Flash 1, & Basic Photography. So far, everything has been great, but the natural lighting class is kicking my butt! We have to be up shooting every morning at sunrise and again at sunset. 7 days a week. Oh my gosh. I did not know how hard that would be! I am so tired and my brain has been going a mile a minute, proceeding to wake me up every morning at 3am on overdrive. I am a little sad to lose my sleep...it was so nice! Seriously, it is every single day from now until the end of the quarter...without a single day off. Wow.

Besides school, Chris and I have had a lot of freelance lately which is a super good thing, but it does add to the stress level around the house.

Here are some links to the stuff I have had to turn in the past few days, check it out. They are not masterpieces by any mean but I am slowly getting better!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Big News...

I have been keeping a little secret. I have decided to go back to school in October...I kind of feel like I am going crazy, I mean most of my friends that are my age are having kids or have already had them. Here I am going into loads and loads of debt so that I can work my ass off for the rest of my life! No, seriously...I am excited. I will be starting at Portfolio Center on Oct. 1, in their photography program. I have decided to move away from design and concentrate on something that I think I will be much happier with in the long run. My goal at this point is to get into advertising photography similar to what Mark Delong or Tony Baker does. I have worked with both of these guys on the art direction side and they are so talented...I hope that I can be as good as they are one day...Wish me luck!