Celebration

In a love of celebrating--ANYTHING!--and cake decorating, I decided to join my classmates together to celebrate my teacher's birthday, Brother Abegglen. My classmate Bethany and I decided to make and decorate cupcakes with all the characters that our classmates and us are working on this semester. I admit they aren't my best work, however for the amount of time we had to spend and the lack of reference, I'd say we did a good job. For my teacher and the 14 students in my Entertainment Illustration class.

Brother Abegglen served his mission in Brazil and loves sharing his story of the Brazilian birthday tradition of breaking an egg on the back of the birthday boy's head. So I carefully opened an egg, filled it with confetti, and glued it back together. Unfortunately, it didn't break on Brother Abegglen's head, it fell to the floor and cracked, but it still made him laugh. Success!

6 is My Lucky Number

Its been super busy around here the last 2 weeks or so and I haven't been able to update you on the craziness. But with no homework assignments due for 2 weeks and a 5 day weekend, I have a little bit of blog time. So here's whats new:

1. I recently bought a new drawing tablet. I love Wacom brand and they have a good review. I decided to go with a Wacom Intuous Pen and Touch. And since I wanted an "upgrade", I UPGRADED. If you could see the drawing space on the new tablet compared to my old one (that I'm so grateful have had but it doesn't work anymore), you would "ooo" like my classmates when I showed them. About twice the space. This means more correspondence between screen and drawing area. And easier to tighten an image and use pen pressure that was broken on my old one. I need some practice with the new tablet but it fill be fun to see what comes out.

2. I have some awesome roommates: Catherine, Tegan, and Irene. We've hung out a few times and its always a laugh being in the same room. 

 

3. Last week was my first time goinf to the temple since coming up to school and the best part was that I was able to go with one of my old missionary companions, Sister Baker, and her fiance who I also served with, Elder Poole. It was amazing to be with them and to reminisce the happy memories. Especially when we made a quick chilli and cornbread lunch afterward.

  

4. As I mentioned before, I've been super busy with classes and its no wonder. I'm currently taking head drawing, advance figure drawing, entertainment illustration, and landscape painting. So lately my locker on campus looks something like this: 

                                                

And recently I filled it even more. Inside was: a full portfolio case, a small portfolio case, a box of charcoal, full French easel,  a bag of painting supplies, and a bag of clothes for painting outside. 

Second day of painting outside. It got sunny and hot, with lots of bugs from being the middle of the stream on a semi-dry patch of land.

5.Entertainment Illustration and Advance figure drawing are quickly becoming my favorite classes because I have one of my favorite teacher's for both of them. He teaches well, lets us talk while we are working, and encourages laughter. In my opinion these are 3 important ingredients for a successful, creative class that works together and supports each other.

  Before the mission I drew all the funny moments with Bro Abegglen. So I decided to do it again. The other day he was showing us how the exaggeration of the hips makes a character more feminine.I was inspired to make a fez because he said the last time he taught this class, all the students wore critique day. I kept forgetting to buy one so I decided to just make one from poster board, staples and hot glue (I also use paint for more tonal definition and for the tassel). Unfortunately I was the only one who wore a fez on our recent critique day, but still it was really fun to make and now I own a fez!

Recent project included a 5 point turn-around.

 The other day in advance figure drawing I forgot to bring a spare sketchbook (Bro Abegglen was grading the one for the class), so I used my iPad and drew on one of my sketch programs, it actually turned out really nice and I was even able to add shading.

In Entertainment illustration yesterday, Bro Abegglen brought some clay for us to play with. I used it to design the character I'm working on.  That girl behind me is my silly classmate, Rachel.

6. As always I am loving the kitchen. Mom and Dad sent me up with a box of spices--which just makes me smile. And since I recently got a Pinterest, I've using it to experiment with random ingredients. Seen below is Egg in a Basket with a cheesy cream sauce and Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Pasta. I love food!

Though we're far apart I love y'all!

A Little Between Class Cookin'

Today I had some extra time between classes so I decide to actually make food! So exciting. I decided to make Alfredo and glazed carrots. I used this nifty Whisk Bliss Universal Cooking Base that only required water and Parmesan (and I added some milk to thin it a little more). I used this to make Cheddar Broccoli soup on Sunday that was really good and this stuff did not disappoint with the albedo sauce either! My carrots turned out great but I added too much brown sugar so they stuck to my teeth and left them to simmer on medium so they were slightly burned but all I could taste was flavor! Yum! Its the best way to eat your carrots in my opinion.

It was actually really hard to get a picture of me eating a carrot.

Mom, I'm using my parsley

After all my classes I have Butter Ranch Chicken in the Crock pot for dinner. This is the recipe. I'm excited to see how it turns out.

Flying High

This semester I am taking 2 classes with one of my favorite teachers and at the beginning of every semester he has us draw a 15minute self portrait of ourselves. On Monday I drew the cartoon version of myself just like I normally would. But on Tuesday I decided to draw outside the box. So while everyone else draw themselves smiling, I flew!

Leaving Mesa for Rexburg (And a Day Trip)

Its that time again... and I'm super nervous. Thank goodness I have amazing parents that back me up through the entire process. We left my beautiful home Wednesday morning, journeyed into Utah and into Idaho the next day.

As we traveled through the beautiful red rock country of northern Arizona and southern Utah, I was inspired to attempt a watercolor in the car. Using my watercolor pens with water in them, I tried using simple colors to express the blue shadows cast by the yellow setting sun striking the top of the mesa (the ridge behind the paper is not what I saw when I began). 

 We parked in the Walmart parking lot in Cedar City. It was freezing, so we had to turn on the heater in the camper. The cold plus the parking lot lights made it for a rough night's sleep but it was the surprise in the morning that was really hard to swallow. IT SNOWED!!! Dad wasn't too happy and over a McDonald's breakfast inside the Walmart, we discussed leaving the camper and taking just the truck through the pass. Luckily the road conditions warmed up and we were able to continue on with the camper in toe.

It was a long day of driving through scenic Utah and though (luckily) the snow didn't follow us, the cold stayed along for the ride from Flagstaff, AZ all the way to Idaho. We parked the trailer in the dark next to Henry's Fork River and woke up to the gorgeous view you see below.

We checked in, paid my fee, and got started unpacking. After lots of command strips and a few trips to Walmart, Mom and I stood back in approval of my new room (or half a room). We tried to tone down the owls from last time and added a more Southern touch in honor of my mission.

Then as a last holiday, we took a day trip to Yellowstone, about an hour and a half from Rexburg. With the Teton Mountains in the distance, it was a beautiful if not cold morning. The wind blew strong the entire day but seeing the beautiful sights of Yellowstone helped us to forget the cold as we ooo'd and awed at the colors of the springs and the activity of the geysers and the variety of animals we saw. Animal List: (winter coated) red fox, elk, bison, deer, sandhill crane, raven, osprey hawk. Still on the list: moose and wolf. 

 

Stopping for a bathroom break, Mom saw these cute branches and asked me to take pictures.

I wore my "raven lunatic" hat and chased this guy down for a little photoshoot.

I noticed an osprey hawk while visiting the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and took a picture. Looks like I found it's nest!

After the exciting day we ended with dinner in the little town of West Yellowstone and Huckleberry ice cream from my favorite G's Dairy Creamy. Hugging Mom and Dad good-bye was really tough, but I'm so happy we had an exciting trip together before I begin my senior year of college. Wish me luck as the semester begins on Monday.

HAPPY Pi DAY!

After 2 years and 1 mission later, I'm back! And its time for a new blog.

π = 3.1415

Yesterday's date: 3-14-15

Gotta love Pi!

After working hard in honor of my sister for her birthday, Parker and I went to celebrate. Yay Walmart mini-pies! Plus... Parker said he gets extra credit for eating pie on Pi Day, so it works out for everyone in the end. (don't worry we purchased them first)