So, I suck

At blogging. Sorry guys. I dropped the ball.

But my summer in France has been absolutely wonderful - although extremely full and busy. Which was definitely a good thing. I've learned so much, was able to be an inspiration for a handful of people, and made a bunch of new friends. What more can you ask for?

I just had my apartment check-out, and my apartment is spotless and empty. So I'm here in the countryside for one more night, a shoot in Paris, then one night at a CDG airport hotel, then a looooong Sunday of air travel - including a stupid 6 hour layover in Chicago. Bleeeh. But it will be all worth it when I'm greeted by my love with a Jimmy John's sandwich (been craving one for 2 1/2 months) and big hugs and kisses. ;)

I do plan to make a few blog posts about highlights from my time here, including a couple of the festivals that happened in this small town, and of course, I'll post some of the students artwork. But after I get home I'm going on a week-long vacation camping at my most favorite location in the world - the North Shore of Lake Superior. I think I deserve a vacation.

But right now, I'm going to soak in my last hours here, eat the escargot I saved for tonight as my last dinner, have coffee with the group at the Le Calimero (the local cafe), and then a good night sleep. Or at least try to. This is all so bittersweet, but its not the last time I'll work for this school....

For now, I leave you with this picture that the painting instructor, Michelle Tully did of me during a two week, 30 hour pose. Photographs of oil paintings do them no justice - just keep that in mind.

1 month

It's been quite a month here. I've met and become friends with some amazing people, I've seen things I've never seen before, and I've helped create art.

It's about time I showed you some pictures of the studio.










And here are a few poster studies that have been done over the past few weeks. Most of these poster studies are 6 hour long poses, but there are a couple 3 hour poses thrown in.





















And this last week I did a 12 hour pose spanning over 4 days. Here are a couple of the results.



(artist: Joshua Press)


(artist: M. Tobias Hall)

the first fortnight

Who uses the word "fortnight" anymore?

Anyway, its been great. Actually, its been a lot of things, but to sum up - its been wonderful. I'm exhausted and energized. Tired and excited. I've been tempted, and I've indulged. I've met so many wonderful people in this program - so much so that I want to do this full-time for as long as I can. Well, let me amend that: This job is HARD. It's hard on the body and hard on the mind (especially when overwhelmed by the physical pain). So I need a lot more off-time to recharge than I would need in an office position, perhaps. But its worth it. I'm in a place where EVERYONE dearly appreciates what I do, loves the energy and effort I put into it, and they don't treat me like just a subject or even a model - they treat me as an artist in my own right. And that feeling is amazing and touching.

The last two weekends, all of the students and I have gotten together and put together a potluck at least once a weekend. (Here's an image of our first potluck). Pretty sure this is going to be a weekly event, which is awesome.



I have to say, there's something in the air out here. I'm not a cook, never had the confidence to try anything ambitious mainly due to my anosmia and (therefore) my questionable lack of accurate taste. But I've been adventurous here... with my 2 hotplates and toaster oven!. The first potluck night I made a fritatta with onions, garlic, broccoli and ricotta cheese. The second potluck, this past Friday, I made a pasta bake with a fucking amazing tomato sauce, and then Saturday night I made blueberry baked brie. The brie turned out amazing, and I think it will be my staple contribution from now on. (I might vary the different types of baked brie... with sauteed onions, or other fruits, with or without a pastry wrap, or whatever... but I really should live up to my namesake)



I figure, if I gain 10 pounds this summer by making and eating all of this wonderful food, it will be totally worth it. :)

first day of work

...Officially.

I worked a 3 hour beginning/introduction session with the director Saturday afternoon, which went very well. But today was my first day in front of all 14 of the students.

I'm going to be working with these students for 3 months. All of them paid thousands of dollars for this intensive program. It was important that I make a good impression.

For those of you who know me personally, it is fair to say that I am a bit of a perfectionist at my job, yes? Like everyone else in the world, I have my off-days but I was not going to let today be one of them. For 6 hours, I pulled out all the stops. I did some of the craziest, dynamic, hardest poses I've ever done for a life drawing session. I feel like I've ran a marathon - I have that feeling of extremely productive exhaustion. But did I set the bar too high for myself? I don't think I can physically top what I did today. It's close to impossible - something in me would snap or break.

But maybe not. I felt good enough to go for an hour and a half hike around the river, and it is not a flat hike. But I took it fairly easy, and snapped some lovely photos with my digicam. Kind of a test shoot for what I will shoot with my precious borrowed (from awesome friend, Dave Levingston) Mamiya C330 and only 12 rolls of black and white film.

So enjoy the photos.









Tomorrow or Tuesday I will go around town and shoot various notable buildings and establishments. Still trying to get a feel for the town, and not be so afraid while walking down the road. There are very few sidewalks, and the sidewalks they have are very narrow. And the roads are barely bigger than a one-lane road we see in the states. And they aren't one-way streets. ...You have to be very careful going around corners.

To be fair, european cars are significantly smaller... but not proportional to the size of the residential streets.

Anyway, I'm going to finish my green tea and pass out. Have to be up in 10 hours to do it all over again! :)

Dear Abandoned Readers

I apologize for my absence. I haven't kept up with this blog as much as I've wanted to. I've neglected it, and neglected you. It makes me feel bad, but hey, what can you do?

I absolutely, positituvely (yes, I know that really isn't a word), promise that very soon you will see a drastic change in the amount I post. I will be writing very frequently about my travels and experiences in France. You will be my link back home, back to friends, and back to loved art and artists, and hopefully I can be a link to some lovely happenings (at least in my world) in small-town France.

That is less than weeks away - OH MY. Anxiety, excitement, curiosity - a whole range of emotions is tingling through me. Thankfully, I'm not terribly stressed getting things together for the 3 month excursion. I've known about this trip since October so it's given me plenty of time to stock-pile supplies, compile to-do lists, and get psyched up for my adventure. There are last minute things that need to be done, such as car insurance, cell phone account suspension (definitely not taking my cell phone across the pond with me - it's terribly expensive), and actually packing, but other than that, nothing to stress on.

Okay, I lied.

The one thing I'm terribly concerned about is being homesick. I'm an "attached" sort of person. I love my family, friends, and of course, the boyfriend. Being away from them all will be the hardest part of the trip, I'm sure of it.

But anyway, enough of that!

-------------

Two weeks ago I was in Ohio for a whole week. Wow, it was what I needed. Papa's funeral was three days prior to me departing for my trip, and I needed to get away and just make art and hang out with friends. Dave Levingston hosted me in his house for the week, and we made such lovely, wonderful images like the ones below.






It's always wonderful working and hanging out with Dave. He's one of the best people to be around and create art with. One of my favorite people in the whole world.

Thanks Dave!

Life drawing work

I have an update coming very, very soon about my travels to Ohio last week.

But first, I wanted to post some recent life drawing work that makes me happy. :)

Quarter-Century

That's it. I'm officially old now. ;)

So far its been a wonderful birthday - but the day has just begun!

In celebration of my birthday, I want to showcase just some of my favorite images of this year.
















Thank you to all the wonderful artists that I've worked with this past year.

weekend backfire

Life is a strange bag of big thorns and dark chocolate, liars and lovers, suffering and bliss.

C'est la vie.





Art always lifts me up. Because of that, I'm smiling.

_____________

Risen Phoenix.