Archive for May, 2009

I’ve been really busy with school, so I haven’t had much time to write anything here, but I would just like to drop everyone (if anyone still reads this) a quick line to let you know what’s happening.

I just finished reading the Narnia series yesterday, and it was fantastic. I hope the end of the world is as beautiful as Lewis imagined it.

Also, I just started (and will probably finish before bed) Nicole Krauss’s The History of Love and oh. my. goodness. I have never read a more heart-breakingly beautiful book in all my life. And because I just can’t keep them to myself, here are a couple of my favorite bits:

Sometimes these misunderstandings were even desireable, since they gave people a reason to say, Forgive me, I was only scratching my nose. Of course I know I’ve always been right to love you. Because of the frequency of these mistakes, over time the gesture for asking forgiveness evolved into the simplest form. Just to open your palm was to say: Forgive me.

That’s about “The Age of Silence,” where humans communicated through intricate hand gestures.

“Of course she’s real.” “But how do you know?” “Because there’s only one way to explain why Litvinoff, who wrote the book, didn’t give her a Spanish name like everyone else.” “Why?” “He couldn’t.” “Why not?” “Don’t you see?” I said. “He could change every detail, but he couldn’t change her.”

And one last little bit, concerning a pinhole camera:

When it was finished we went into the darkroom and dropped it in the developing pan. We waited. Nothing. Where I should have been there was only a scratchy grayness. My cousin insisted we do it again, so we did it again, and again, nothing. Three times he tried to take a picture of me with the pinhole camera, and three times I failed to appear. My cousin couldn’t understand it. He cursed the man who sold him the paper, thinking he’d been given a bad batch. But I knew he hadn’t. I knew that the way others had lost a leg or an arm, I’d lost whatever the thing is that makes people indelible.

Long story short, go buy this book. But don’t read it on the train, because you’ll cry, and people will look at you funny.

That is all.

I don’t know how I’ve let my poor blog fall to such disuse like this. What kind of blogger am I? Honestly.

Lots of stuff has been going on. School stuff mostly. I started at the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago the first week of April, and it’s now almost mid-term. I’ve been working my tail off on projects and speeches, and between my two hours of commuting four days a week and my two back-to-back studio classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I come home exhausted and just want to fall into bed and read or play solitaire on my computer. (I know. I’m a dork.)

Anyway, I figure it’s about time to share some of my projects on here. :) So, here they are, (minus the first project, which I haven’t photographed yet) in the order they were finished:

Self portrait in warm colors, and portrait of a classmate in cool colors.

The first panel of a three panel spread, showing a size manipulation.

The second panel, showing an overlap.

The third panel, showing a transparency.

The full spread.

My impression of Georgia O'Keefe's "Cross with a Red Heart" in monochromatic violets.

My color wheel (minus the actual wheel) showing the prismatic color, a tint, tone, and a shade for each slice.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m done with the picture overload now. Promise. I’ll start posting them as I finish them from now on so I don’t have to do a huge dump like this.

On the writing front, for the first time ever, I’m working on two novel projects at once. (I know, writers usually have multiple projects going at once, but I’ve never been good at that kind of multitasking.) The first is an urban fantasy type story, and the other is a middle-grade bit of fluff about a little girl named Sophie Beaumont who has the biggest imagination ever, and a poor little boy named Walter Trundle who just wants to make friends. I’ve had the characters for both novels in my head for a long time, and I figured that now is as good a time as any to finally pull them out and give them their own stories. So look for snippets and such to come! And for those of you who actually still check back here now and then, thanks for not giving up on my little piece of the web. :)

Check back soon for some book reviews! All my commuting on the train gives me plenty of time to get lots of reading done.