Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunday

I have had such a great Sunday. I got to hear a wonderful Relief Society lesson on Elder Oak's talk on service. I then got the opportunity to go and hear two of my friends give their homecoming talks. They were brother and sister and were out at the same time, both in Mandarin Chinese speaking missions. I hadn't seen them at all for a few years and not much before that since our freshmen year; I remembered that they were both amazing individuals but I didn't expect the incredible spirit I felt as they both told of wonderful and miraculous experiences they'd had and bore their testimonies. I wish I could always feel the Spirit so strongly and that everybody could know that feeling. I then went to church at my own ward where the Bishop gave us a lesson on faith and referenced the Lectures on Faith, which I'd never heard of but I now want to read them. As I understand it the Lectures on Faith are a sort of study in faith and came through revelations to various brethren in the church. In Sunday School our lesson was on section 135 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was written by John Taylor on the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. I can't recall what the speakers talked on in sacrament meeting, I just remember that it was very good and that the spirit was there. Sunday is a great day and it's nice to be able to go to church and get back on track, ready for the week ahead; to be reminded of your beliefs and to reset your goals to do and be better.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

flowers and geometry

Flowers are beautiful, I know that, I'm sure we all do but lately I've been looking closer at flowers and taking lots of pictures of them. I believe earlier in the summer I was thinking of using flowers in a serise, now I look to find bees in them and also they're really beautiful. I've noticed in this last little while, just how geometric flowers are, you might not think of them like that at first or even second glance, but they are. Take these flowers for example, when the flower's open you can't really tell but in this picture where it's closed you can see that it has five petals and makes a pentagon.This hibiscus is also five sided.And these petunias (I think).This flower has tons of petals, and it's almost like a rose window in a cathedral.And these little flowers have eight petals, like an octagon.Flowers are pretty, but they follow patterns, patterns of shape and number that make them unique and beautiful.

Friday, August 28, 2009

busy, busy and Gloria's Little Italy


Things have gotten a bit busier for me, on Tuseday I recieved the notification that I will be in the 29th Faber Birren National Color Show. I'm really excited because this is the first show I've entered and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to get in. Now that I'm in it means there's a lot to do to get my painting to the show. The show is in Conneticut and so I need to get my picture and frame all set up and then arrage shipping too and from the show, write a biography etc. I've also been busy because deadlines are coming up for more shows and competitions. Utrecht, my favorite art supply store is having a competition to celebrate their 60th anniversary and I'm entering the 40th Annual River Road Show. I've been a little frantic trying to decide which pieces will be entered where and what needs to occour for that to happen.
Yesterday I went to get pictures taken of the paintings that I'm entering in the show. While there my sister and I also stopped to have lunch at Gloria's Little Italy. I've been wanting to go there for a long time and it didn't disappoint, it was delicious, just the smell when I opened the door was simply amazing. I can hardly wait for lunch to have my leftovers.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

It is not exactly easy to photograph bees. Bees are on a mission and very busy, they don't have time to pose for you.
My neighbors have a honeysuckle or something like that and both the bees and the ants love it and are swarming all over.
I went out to get some pictures of bees that I could maybe work off of for my series. It was a bit funny and frustrating but I'd get my camera to where a bee was and then the bee was gone, I have several almost identical pictures, all without bees.I also am a bit frustrated with my camera, the few times I actually did get bees they were blurry...but maybe that's their fault for moving.I did get a few cool shots though. This one had no bees in sight, I just thought it looked cool.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Back to school

Today is a little bit strange, it's back to school for almost everyone, except me. This is my first year not going back to school in the fall and it's a little strange and also kinda nice. I had a dream last night about school and work and crazy kinds of projects and homework and upon waking up it was really rather nice to remember that I'm done with school and so there's no worries there.
Anyway good luck to those who head back to school today or soon. Enjoy it while it lasts...if you can't enjoy it then remember that it doesn't last forever.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I love an umbrella shot


My cousin is apparently rather a natural photographer and after taking engagement pictures for another cousin, she took pictures of me and my sister... in a field of wheat that was by her house.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Wyrd Sisters

This is another Terry Pratchett book, about the same witches and kingdom as in Lords and Ladies. I think this was only the second time I'd read this book, I didn't like it much the first time I read it. The book is a parody of Macbeth, and perhaps a slight bit of Hamlet, anyway I've actually read Macbeth since the first time I read this book and that probably helped the most. I really enjoy these books because they're so in depth, they're so well done, I like that I can read these books time and time again and still find things that are new, still come to understand the plot better; they don't get old.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The creative process.

It's so exciting starting a new series...strike that, it's so exciting when you've got the inspiration for a new series and you're rolling with it. it is not actually fun when you're working on new ideas that seemed so cool and then so stupid when you put them on paper. When I've gotten the inspiration for a new series it's so awesome, doing research and at times it seems that on every new page that I read there's more awesome ideas. You may have noticed my interest in bees of late, I don't remember how or why it came about but my next series is going to be about bees, and honey and that sort of thing. There's so much symbolism that goes with bees and honey and beehives, it's been really cool learning about them. I've learned the basics of the life of your average honey be and somewhat how a hive functions, it's simply fascinating and I can see why they've accumulated so much in culture.
Now being slightly nerdy about bees it was very exciting when, while taking pictur
es of flowers I spotted a bee at work gathering nectar, a bumble bee but I still got a picture.
I'm excited to start painting again tomorrow, so far this series hasn't left the sketch book, it's all just been in the planning stages and a lot of it still is but tomorrow I'll be happily painting again.

Monday, August 17, 2009

LeftRight...


I am a big fan of the band Coldplay and their music and so I was really excited to find out that you can download an album free from their website. It's about nine songs that are hits from thier other albums performed live. If that sounds good to you too, you should go here

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Times are changing

Things have been happening for the last little while that have been making me realize that times are changing:
I graduated from college
I could buy cigarettes if I so chose
I could buy alcohol if I so chose
I'm one year away from a five year reunion in high school...if they even do those
Boys my age are back from their missions
Girls my age are back from their missions
Missionaries look young
I can't even count the number of friends I've had who are now married
I've had to face the concept that even though someone is married does not mean that their older than me...that one's still blowing my mind
My youngest sibling will be driving soon
I'm not trying to complain or have a pity party because I'm "so old", I know I'm not really that old, things are just changing, for the better I hope.

Friday, August 14, 2009

"A Hot Fairy Tale"

Back at the beginning of summer I thought it might be nice to start a book group, back in mid July I recruited my brothers to join said book group and offered them some reading options, while they protested against this very much they ended up opting for The Princess Bride by William Goldman. We all did it for the first week, largely because they were stuck in the car and didn't have much choice. The next week the first brother dropped out rather incensed that I would suggest he waste his precious time reading when he could be bored or gaming. My other brother and I kept it up for a week or two longer but frankly you need more than two people to have a good book group and I was tired of nagging him to read. So just now I finished it. I quite like The Princess Bride, it is wonderfully funny and I've loved it since I first read it in a book group in 7th grade. I know that most people are more familiar with the movie than the book but I quite prefer the book. While the movie does follow the book quite well there is one exception: In the movie the story is told to the sick boy by his grandfather, in the book the author is just "abridiging" S. Morgernster's classic. When he was a boy the author's father read him the book while he was sick, he decided that when he had a kid he'd give his kid the book. When the time came he gave his kid the book only to find out that there was a lot more to the book than his father had read him, pages and pages of boring details so he decided to make an abridged version. From time to time the storyline is interrupted by the author with comments on what he might have removed etc. So what I'm trying to say is that if you like the movie, you really ought to try the book because it's a lot funnier.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Bookbinding

When I was at BYU I kept hearing about this bookbinding class, where you made books (as is stated in the title of the course). As a lover of books and from hearing rave reviews I decided that I'd take the class sometime; that proved a bit harder than expected as the classes filled up almost immediatly. After trying a few times I finally got in, I wasn't quite sure what to expect since the majority of books I'd encountered were machine made.
When I got to the class I loved it, tearing through (pun unintended) my assig
ned books, coptic, flat back and "sweet" I also made multiple other books on my own time, one I gave away as a gift which I regret now, I think it can be hard for people to realize the significance of being given a hand made book or the amount of work that goes into it. Anyway I enjoyed the class so much that I decided to take it again...sort of, because I had the same teacher as the first time 'round and she'd never minded if we worked in class or at home, I barely went to the class at all, quite frankly I'd only come for the lectures the first time I took the class.
Anyway I made a whole lot of books. The reason all of this comes up is that I just started using one of the books I made as a journal and frankly it may be one of the best books I've ever made, the front cover is a thing of beauty if I do say so myself. There is one halting flaw in the fact that I punched the covers wrong so one is actually upside down of the way it was intended but oh well. Oh and for those who are interested, this style of binding is called 'coptic' and is one of the oldest in the world. To learn/see more about book binding go here.

Lords and Ladies

Terry Pratchett is an absolutely hilarious author, best known for his Discworld series. Discworld is a world very much like our own in some ways and completely different in other ways and it is the setting for many satirical plot. Lords and Ladies takes place in the very tiny and rural Kingdom of Lancer with Lancer's three witches returning from several months away (that story is told in Witches Abroad). Upon returning back one of the witches learns that she will be marrying the king and the other two set about trying to thwart the impeeding elf invasion. Unless you are a reader of these books this probably makes very little if any sense at all, however if you like satire you must try Terry Pratchett and it's better to just jump in and go along until things start to make sense.

Monday, August 10, 2009

bzzzz


My latest read has been Nature's Little Wonders Bees by Candace Savage. I've been researching on bees for some painting ideas I'm working on. I really liked this book it was very interesting and easy to read for a new comer to bees. I appreciated that the book was simple and informative and seemed to be intended for laymen like myself, it didn't bog me down in scientific mumble jumble or the details of study that are boring for those who don't study bees. I recommend this book, I really learned a lot from it about bees, and more specifically about honey bees.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Vitruvius

I just finished reading Vitruvius' 10 books on arcatecture. I've been working on that pretty much all summer. Vitruvius' work has influenced many over time, the most notable of these is probably the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci. It was very interesting to read Vitruvius, I'll admit a fair amount was over my head but some things were simply fascinating. I gained a whole new perspective on what life was like back in Roman times. I think this is something everyone should try and read once.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

A day in the park

We went to the park today and had a picnic there, it was pretty fun. We got to go and play in the water, wander around, play on the playground, there was even a small museum in the park for arts and crafts and that was interesting. I was a bit disapointed because a really cool playground that was there when I was a kid, wasn't there any more. I also forgot my camera and so I don't have any pictures.
We stayed there for a few hours but it was a very warm day today and we just got too hot. It's funny how much heat can drain the energy out of you. Anyway it was a nice change to the daily routine.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

I'm grateful...

I was thinking today about things I'm grateful for, one of them is the plan of salvation. When we were in Washington we went to the memorial for an uncle of mine who died about a year back, most of us hadn't been there before and a lot of us hadn't seen each other in years. Most of my family are Latter-day Saints but this uncle hadn't been for years and years, his family isn't really religious and they had a really hard time dealing with his death. While is was hard for the rest of us, we knew that we would see him again, that there's a heaven above and that we can be together forever as families.
While we were all there one of my uncles led us in a sort of memorial service, my aunts and uncle and my dad told their memories about my uncle and then my grandma did. It was really interesting because I'd never know this uncle very well and this was a chance to learn a bit about him. After they all told their memories about him my uncle dedicated the site. It was a good experience for all of us as a family.
It's so different to see death in an LDS setting and out of it. Death isn't so sad in the church, we know that through the ordinances we perform in temples, that we can always be together and that people who die are in a better place. Of course we miss these people but we are comforted at the same time. I remember going to the funeral of a childhood friend who died very young and the different feeling that was present at his memorial service/ funeral but even there because of their religion, I think the family felt some comfort. I can't imagine what it would be like not to believe in God and not to have any idea what was coming after death. In life as well I've seen a sort of difference in people who don't believe in anything too religious, it seems like it could be very daunting, very lonely and at times quite terrifying. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have a loving Heavenly Father and that I can pray and talk to him. I am grateful for Jesus Christ and the atonment, that I can be forgiven and return to be with him. I am grateful.