School: May 2004 Archives

I stopped by school today to pick up my portfolio from photography. Nice, quick drive in, which is pleasant, compared to early-morning arrivals which involve an hour in heavy traffic.

There was a file cabinet in the left two lanes on 880, but I saw it in plenty of time. I hope nobody was whipping through there like some people do, because that thing could cause a lot of damage. Anyway, by the time I came back an hour later, it was gone and there were no accidents reported, so I guess all was well.

Now, because I am free, free, free, Rosie and I are going to pack up and go hiking with some cameras on the Kennedy Grove trails. There are some nice paths there, with views, and it's OK for dogs to be off leash away from the developed parts of the park. I think Rosie will stay on leash because she's a bit of a spaz and her ability to control herself with freedom is limited.

I just got out of my last final of the semester. Math was harder than I'd have preferred this semester, but not unmanagably so. I think I did well on the final, even though something's in bloom that I'm allergic to, so I was snuffling and snorting all the way through it.

Afterwards I walked across campus and sold my math and physics books back to the bookstore. They didn't take my calculus physics books because I guess there's been a version rev, so I'll have to sell those on eBay or Amazon or something.

In the meantime, I'm done with school, at least until summer school starts next week!

I spent the day doing all sorts of bits and pieces for final projects: making the crate for the Gnome Garden, finding a frame for the Kitties piece, and matting seven of eleven prints for photography. I was spotting some of the prints, and botched four of them, so I need to go back and rewash those tomorrow, so matting will have to wait until after they're done-done.

In the evening Christo came over and made me feel good by flattering my artwork and gamely eating my first attempt at fillozes from one of the cookbooks my mom gave me. Um, the fillozes did not taste so good. Don't know why. I think I will try the yeast version of malassadas next.

Printing all day tomorrow. Noel will be drywalling, so I will attempt to feel lucky that I'm in class.

Lots of glazing today in the sculpture studio. We're out of wet clay and into bisque, and I have lots of stuff to work on. Unfortunately, a bunch of my greenware had not yet been fired, so I didn't have as much to work on as I might have hoped.

On the other hand, the kiln programming was faulty, and most of one of the bisque loads blew up, so maybe I'm glad my stuff was not fired over the weekend.

I did get my birdhouse and bird feeder glazed and into a kiln for firing, and I'm still trying to get the right amount of glaze on the winged gnome, so he's drying and waiting for layer two. I also put a layer of tea dust glaze on the gnome pot, and glazed a bunch of eggs for the gnome garden. I do appear to have gone overboard with the gnomes, somewhat.

I came home to a couple more molds arrived from eBay purchases. I really cannot wait to try them out; I may even join a ceramics studio in Berkeley for the summer, if there's time.

Once home, I went out to run errancs and bought a box to "grow" the gnome garden in (three buried gnomes, several eggs, and some plants in dirt in a box). I was looking for a shadow box or nice frame for my "girlhood" wall piece, but no luck. Maybe I'll find something at a thrift shop. I'll have to go Thursday or Friday afternoon, because the last day of school is Tuesday next week. Yes, I am a little panicky.

The other bit of school news for today was an irritating conversation with the admissions office at Calpoly. I have to get general ed certified by City College, because if I don't it counts against me and I can not be allowed to transfer. But City College appears to have a dimwit as a registrar, because they think I need to take freshman composition. I guess I'm going to have to go in and go over my transcripts with them, line by line. Sheesh.

I also put my name on the wait list for a weeklong speech class, which I need for Calpoly, again, and really do not want to have to take. But I will. Anyway, the class was full and I'll have to go and try to get in on the first day of class or something. Because I'd really rather not take it over any longer time period.

A brief two-hour session in the darkroom this afternoon (after printing my pages for my printing class) yielded five of the eleven prints needed for my final project. I have a math test next Wednesday, so maybe I will mat the prints between studying tomorrow.

The semester is starting to get really tight.

We have to present a final portfolio to the teacher in my photography class. About 11 photos in all, from all the assignments through the semester, in their best condition and at least four of them mounted.

I've been deciding which photos to use. Here are some of my choices:

Contrast in Nature: Down Down Down

Variable Contrast Filters: Hands on Keys

Self Portrait: Up High

Lighting: Just One More Chapter

Series: Graffiti (Joon, In a Corner, Trash on Trash)

I have others for the other assignments and more in the series, but I haven't scanned them in yet.

After school today I stopped by Photo Supply downtown and picked up mounting boards, tape, bags, and a box. I grabbed two new tongs while I was there, because my darkroom tongs are starting to fall apart, and new ones would help a lot with my frustration levels. I figure I'll need to reprint all of the images for the portfolio, so the final results are all the same size and can be mounted too look uniform (which will be more important when they get hung on a wall than for the final portfolio).

This summer I should mount all the prints I bought at the print sale, too. Then I should get back to getting things framed once a month; all this art will never get on a wall if I don't get off my butt.

I came home to find a mold had arrived. A gigantic bust of George Washington; I mistakenly believed it to be 5 inches tall when I bid on it, and it turned out to be, um, considerably larger than that. But I'm sure I can find a good use for him. Maybe an army of Washingtons buried to their chins in the back yard will keep that idiot cat from digging in the lettuce.