Hi guys,
So, There's just one day left to my Kickstarter, and I think I can let you all in on one of the new projects I was talking about. Really this is the biggest one that I've been working on this week.
I'm applying to take a summer course at Penland School of Craft. I've been creating my scholarship/studio assistantship/workstudy application the past few days. Today I completely revamped my resume, and have been calling in the folks I will use as references. It's an exciting process, and I don't mind the work. It feels good to be doing some solid work towards a goal. I didn't know if the Kickstarter would work out, but this is something that I can handle. I know I can get it done and sent, even on a tight schedule. The application is due Monday the 17th, and if all goes well I'll have sent off everything on Tuesday the 11th. Penland is here in North Carolina, but up in the mountains so it may need the time it will take to get there. I'm applying to two different classes, one is a photography based course that would involve darkroom work, learning new techniques and ways of working that I think would go quite nicely with my collage work. Some of which should be out of darkroom techniques that I can use existing negatives, photos, and digital files for. The second class is a collage class that would survey a variety of techniques within the scope of collage, plus encaustics, and monotype printmaking. (Monotypes are a printmaking process that creates a one time only printed impression or uses a base that will print fairly or even very differently each time it's used.)
I like the idea of both the classes, and honestly can't decide between the two. The photography one has a possible assistantship, but no possibility of full scholarships. The other could yield a full scholarship, but has no assistantship available. Then both could have workstudy or partial scholarships, though that would mean I'd need to pay some portion as well.
So, it's exhilarating to see things come together, as taking a class at
Penland is something I've had in mind for several years now. Ever since
one of my friends went and came back raving about how great it was I've
been itching to go myself. While she's not able to make it this year,
I'm still happy to try for it on my own. It'll be a fantastic way to
meet some new people and shake things up with my own work. A kick in
the pants is just what I need! haha
Other than all that I spent my evening with my husband and my brother in law, having dinner together and watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics. While writing a letter of intent for Penland too of course. It felt like college all over again...not that I mind! I've also been working on the "Bianca" piece too, but at the moment I'm not rushing it with the Penland app unfinished. I was still able to enjoy the ceremony, and I always love seeing each country's Olympiads carrying in their flags. The nods to great Russian artists throughout the production were great to see as well. I just hope we've seen the last of the failures to finish preparations in time so that all will run smoothly for the games. I always look forward to watching them, and this year I've got lots of willing family members to get together and watch with. I think my biggest problem is wanting to see all the events and only having so much time for viewing. As a kid I loved the figure skating routines, but I grew to love pretty much all the winter sports as the years went by. Do you all have favorite events or do you like all of them equally?
Until next time!
Love, Lydia
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Days 32-36
Hello dear readers,
Over the past few days I've been hard at work promoting my Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lydiadickson/art-for-all-year-2014 Any help spreading the word and getting pledges in would be fantastic! Things are close to the end, but haven't progressed too far. However, as I said in an earlier post I'm not giving up hope on accomplishing my goal of creating at least one piece per week. It will just be a harder later in the year if I end up getting another job to go with it.
In any case I've got lots of works in progress, the character portrait, which is to be titled "Bianca" is progressing nicely. And I'm also working on a couple of other projects, but I'm keeping them under wraps at the moment. Once I get done with the Kickstarter I'll probably be able to mention more. I feel like I'm being very secretive this past week, and I'm kind of sorry, but most of it is just having a lot to do, and being more of a private person in general. I do have things to share with you all, they just don't always flow out of me steadily. Also, sometimes my life is a bit boring. I keep busy making stuff, and do housewife stuff. (All the while planning crazy trips to new places and scheming to make things happen which may or may not ever pan out) At least I dream big!
So, going on to the next topic. I was thinking earlier today and wondering what music people favor when they're working on creative projects. I'd love to hear from you all about particular songs or albums that you've found helpful or inspiring. I'm always looking for more new music and have found that lately I'm listening to a lot of the same thing. I have a lot of music, but am looking for some new perspective too. So please hit me with your best shots! As for me, lately I've found Fleet Foxes album Helplessness Blues to be pretty inspiring and I'm starting to get into the latest Avett Brothers album as well. They're rather similar in feel, so they don't cover all the moods I need music for while working, but are good for many occasions.
Beyond my creative work I've also been working on health plans and such to keep up with my goals there. I've been keeping track of my food intake and monitoring it to see how it compares to what my ideals are....and was surprised to find I'm not quite as great at estimating everything I'm doing. Some days I'm great, but other days I don't realize at all! So I'll be keeping up with tracking things for a while longer until I see more permanent changes in my habits and choices. I'm trying to keep things vague here because I don't like talking about numbers, it gets to being very specific to an individual person and I don't want to make anyone's ideas any worse than our society is already making them. I'm also keeping up with exercises, between dance games on the Wii, yoga, walking, and doing a challenge focused on squats. The biggest thing I'm looking for is getting more energy and feeling better. Over the past couple years I've had a very noticeable dip in my energy levels, which is partially due to some thyroid issues, but something I want to overcome if possible.
Sorry I'm all talk and no pictures this time, but I want to hear back from you all. Let me know what you think, I want to get some conversation going!
Love, Lydia
Over the past few days I've been hard at work promoting my Kickstarter - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lydiadickson/art-for-all-year-2014 Any help spreading the word and getting pledges in would be fantastic! Things are close to the end, but haven't progressed too far. However, as I said in an earlier post I'm not giving up hope on accomplishing my goal of creating at least one piece per week. It will just be a harder later in the year if I end up getting another job to go with it.
In any case I've got lots of works in progress, the character portrait, which is to be titled "Bianca" is progressing nicely. And I'm also working on a couple of other projects, but I'm keeping them under wraps at the moment. Once I get done with the Kickstarter I'll probably be able to mention more. I feel like I'm being very secretive this past week, and I'm kind of sorry, but most of it is just having a lot to do, and being more of a private person in general. I do have things to share with you all, they just don't always flow out of me steadily. Also, sometimes my life is a bit boring. I keep busy making stuff, and do housewife stuff. (All the while planning crazy trips to new places and scheming to make things happen which may or may not ever pan out) At least I dream big!
So, going on to the next topic. I was thinking earlier today and wondering what music people favor when they're working on creative projects. I'd love to hear from you all about particular songs or albums that you've found helpful or inspiring. I'm always looking for more new music and have found that lately I'm listening to a lot of the same thing. I have a lot of music, but am looking for some new perspective too. So please hit me with your best shots! As for me, lately I've found Fleet Foxes album Helplessness Blues to be pretty inspiring and I'm starting to get into the latest Avett Brothers album as well. They're rather similar in feel, so they don't cover all the moods I need music for while working, but are good for many occasions.
Beyond my creative work I've also been working on health plans and such to keep up with my goals there. I've been keeping track of my food intake and monitoring it to see how it compares to what my ideals are....and was surprised to find I'm not quite as great at estimating everything I'm doing. Some days I'm great, but other days I don't realize at all! So I'll be keeping up with tracking things for a while longer until I see more permanent changes in my habits and choices. I'm trying to keep things vague here because I don't like talking about numbers, it gets to being very specific to an individual person and I don't want to make anyone's ideas any worse than our society is already making them. I'm also keeping up with exercises, between dance games on the Wii, yoga, walking, and doing a challenge focused on squats. The biggest thing I'm looking for is getting more energy and feeling better. Over the past couple years I've had a very noticeable dip in my energy levels, which is partially due to some thyroid issues, but something I want to overcome if possible.
Sorry I'm all talk and no pictures this time, but I want to hear back from you all. Let me know what you think, I want to get some conversation going!
Love, Lydia
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