Art Update!

Ok I finally got pictures of everything I have been working on in my art classes so now you can see it with explanation. Ok this is my most recent fresco! I love how it turned out, mainly because of the color and blending. The paints happened to work out exactly the way I wanted them to and it was so much more natural to paint. Mario even complimented my painting and told me he could tell the paint worked better for me this time. Sadly my camera wouldn'tpick up some of the purples that I used in this painting but I am very happy with it!



This next painting is the second fresco I did. I am not happy with this one at all... This was the frustrating fresco where Mario was painting on my piece and I ended up feeling like punching people at the end of class. He told me I over worked the paint and I guess he is probably right but I still get to touch it up so hopefully that will help pull my faces out of the mud. Bleh, anyways I apologize Momma for ruining this picture :( I tried though haha.

These are pictures of the middle step that my third fresco is in. Once you finish the tile, you use a certain type of glue to glue on a cheese cloth. then your ip the cheese cloth off the tile. This is that stage when it's only on a cheese cloth.

 This is my fifth fresco to be :) Its from a picture I took of a baby cow in the snow over spring break this year.

 In Jewelry we have been learning how to solder so that we can make rings and we finally got to make a practice one before we start on the silver for our real project. So this is my first practice ring made out of brass! So basically it went from a flat strip of metal to a convex ring :) I love it even though it is a little too big for me.

 This is the batik I have been working on for a while. I have dipped this four times now but when the picture was taken only three. The keys are at their final color but I dipped in a cobalt blue in order to change the color of the background to a navy.

These three pictures are all of my shabourie pole wrapping scarf. So basically, how I made this was I taped a corner of the white scarf on to the top of a piece of thick pipe. Then I tied a very thin rope in a knot at the top. I would wrap the rope around three times, twist the fabric to one side and then scrunch the ropes upward. I did this all the way to the bottom of the scarf with a string that had been dyed a darker shade of pink. Then I dyed it a light shade of purple. The more 3D looking fabric is what it looked like immediately after I took it off the pipe. The other two pictures are after I ironed the scarf out. I was thinking about doing graphics over the top but I like how organic it looks right now so I am going to leave it!

what a yummy week!

This week has been fun and super eventful even without a field trip! Class wise I feel like I did a ton this week but not much was actually produced to tell you about. In Jewelry I learned how to solder this week which was very similar to welding so I rocked it! I am now coming up with ideas for what to make for my first ring and I think I'm going to make a belt ring with a buckle and everything. In Batik I am working on my key scarf. It is taking a while because of the fact that there is so much detail but I have dipped it in yellow and blue, so it currently has yellow, green and blue keys! I am starting to do shaburi, which is basically classy tie-dye and next week will start my next two batiks which will be abstracted portraits. I am super excited about this class still and I love it!!! In fresco we planned out and got our paints ready for our 4th painting. I know, I know I am super behind on pictures but I just keep forgetting to take my camera to that class! All is well though, my next painting is this drawing except I'm doing a graphic sun behind him in blues and purples. Actually was an eventful week in Art History. We got to go to the Vasari Corridor in the Uffizi. The was the Medici's private art collection and private hall to get from their palace to the museum when they ruled Florence. Vasari is closed off to the public and they have a huge collection of self portraits that have been donated by the artists! So we got a tour on Wednesday and I got to see some amazing self portraits (Durer, Rembrant, etc!). That was super exciting and was worth the extra 30 minutes that Helen decided to keep us in class, making us extremely late to Fresco.


Also did some fun things this week. Sunday, we all went to Fiesole which is a small suburb that overlooks Florence. It was a beautiful town and a great way to spend an hour, since it's so close!

On Tuesday, I went to go see a Beatles cover band! There was a bit of a misunderstanding with the people I was going with so I didn't stay long but it was pretty fun! The band was dressed in matching grey suits and were totally trying to pull of the Beatles look and it wasn't really working out haha. On Wednesday, there was a movie night at SACI so we got to watch, La Vita Bella! If you haven't seen it I greatly suggest it, the subtitles are worth the story. Everyone in the room was crying when the lights came on (yeah, that's impressive!). On Thursday I went out with Kari and Rebecca; we ended up wandering around the city and I got to try kiwi and fruit mousse gelato (kiwi is now my favorite flavor). We had an attempt at a conversation with some random Italians, who kept trying to talk to us in French for whatever reason. Pretty fun though.
Last night was an experience. First, Kari, Clara, Rebecca and Olivia had a dinner party at their apartment so we ate good! Gnocchi, roasted veggies, soup and a chocolate pear cake. It was fantastic and we all sat around and ate and drank wine :) the classic Italian experience.  After, me and Sai headed to Tabasco, the oldest gay club in Italy. For future reference, going to a club at midnight is far too early. It was dead! We sat around and talked to see if it would pick up and a transsexual ended up trying to pick us up haha. She was very nice but that was quite the interesting conversation. People started showing up at the club at 1:30, but it was an older crowd so we ended up leaving around two. It was a fun night, even though the club wasn't exactly what we expected and we probably won't be going back.
Tonight, we are having a dinner party! Since everyone in the apartment is from a different cultural background we are all cooking for different themed nights. Tonight is my night, so I am making fajitas, home made tortillas and salsa and sopapillas! Kari, Rebecca, Olivia, Clara and Jessica are all going to be coming over so it should be a good time! Ciao my dears, I miss you all! I am missing Colorado right about now :)

Week numero cinque

Busy as a bee I have been this week! Lots of things have gone down, all of which has been awesome!!!
In Batik I got my second project back (the blue floral scarf) and I love it. The colors are so rich and beautiful and people even asked me if they could buy it from me!
I also started my third project with the keys and am currently working on waxing the scarf so I can start dipping it. I am going to dip in yellow, green, two shades of blue and purple. The background will be black and it should turn out way cool. I finished my pendent in jewelry as well and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It is super cute and now I just need to figure out a chain to put it on.
Now we are going to start to solder metal and then we are going to start making rings which is really exciting! In fresco we worked on our third fresco in class. I finished the painting of the hand with the grapes on Friday which turned out really good and I a really excited to see it completely finished and off the tile! Its very bright and graphic and I had a lot of fun working on it. No frustration with the class this week which was refreshing, I have learned that if I don't ask for help Mario won't touch my piece so I just have to work through my problems on my own.
Thursday night I went to The Jazz Club with Kari, Clara and Olivia, which is a little underground club with live music Tuesday through Saturday. It was a Jam Session so as we sat in a booth and drank a bottle of wine, random musicians would wander in and just set up their instruments and join in to improv songs! It was so much fun to see all the different ages and instruments working together to create something beautiful.
Friday night I stayed in since I had a field trip on Saturday. Candice and Sarah's friends, Emily and Perna, who are studying in Brussels were here for the weekend. We ended up spending the night jamming to dance music and taking ridiculous mustache pictures which was super fun!

Saturday I went to Mantua with my class which made the day super long. Mantua was basically an Italian suburbia which was adorable! We went to see the Palazzo del Te to see the Fall of the Giants which was very interesting and cool to see since I had studied it in a previous art history class. We mainly went to see various Palazzi which was amazing to see the frescoes and the way the old Italian families made sure to surround themselves with lavish beauty!

After I got back and ate dinner we decided to go out on the town and really do as the Italian's do! So we first went to the Shot Bar, which is right next to our apartment and is constantly packed on the weekends. I proceeded to order everyone's drinks since it was crowded  (so first time I have ever ordered drinks at a bar done haha). It was packed full of people our age and was pretty uncomfortable so we didn't spend too long there.
Then we proceeded to go to the Jazz Club which was packed by the time we went there! We all squished into a tiny booth and listened and danced to the Big Black Mama's Blues Band, which was fantastic. My new favorite instrument is the electric harmonica! The guy would rock out like it was an electric guitar and it was so much fun! Needless to say, it was an amazing night and we plan on spending many nights at the Jazz Club grooving away :)

Fun week over all and I am excited for this next one!!! Ciao amici

Classsss

This week was mainly made up of going to class and spending my free time sketching or walking around the city :)
In Jewelry I am almost finished with my Pinocchio pendant!. I have two more rivets to do and then I will completely done with my first project which is really exciting! My Pinocchio may look like he has a snowman head but don't judge :) I am starting to enjoy the class more since I feel like I am working on a piece which is actually mine and am actually creating something. I seem to like when I can see active progress in my work haha.
In Batik I have been working on my second project and waiting for my first project to get back from the dry cleaners, which it finally did and I love how it turned out!

I also finished my second project which is a blue floral scarf that I am really excited to see when it is done being dry cleaned! We had to dip the colors on this project instead of painting it on and it was fun to see the process and how the colors changed as you layered them over one another. My next project I am doing another decorative scarf covered with vintage keys! It is turning out to be pretty tedious but it will be really cool!
In Fresco I got to paint my second painting, which turned out to be the most frustrating class period of my life haha. For one, in my mind, it is completely taboo for a professor to paint on your work. If they are painting for you, then the work isn't completely yours. I have always preferred being told how to fix it and then doing it myself. So I am painting the portrait of my mother and nephew and the faces were looking muddy because I had put too much color on some places. So I asked Mario how I could fix my painting and there he goes, painting the face for me. I tried to get him to stop and let me do it but he wouldn't listen! Then I didn't like some of the stuff he did so I went back to try to change it and he would rush over and tell me to stop messing with the face. Oh I was so pissed at this point. So I finish and the painting turned out ok. Then Mario goes on to tell me that I had picked a too hard subject and I should have chosen something simpler. Well why then Mario didn't you tell me this last week when we showed your our sketches! Needless to say, not the best class period of my life. But for my next project I am doing a sketch from a photograph I took of Sai holding a bunch of grapes and hopefully that painting will be more successful.

Art history is art history haha not really exciting enough to say much about.

Last night was a first for me and the roommates. We held a dinner party, with multiple courses and everything! It was amazing! Dana invited some friends over that she had made at church and we ate stuffed zucchini, tomatos baked with breadcrumbs and cheese on top, cannolini beans, pasta, and pears with chocolate chunk biscotti.

 

 We also had a pretty epic conversation about mustaches. Which resulted in the following hahaso to leave you with a laugh

From Bologna - Lucca in 48 Hours

As I sit in bed now at ten a.m. here, I am so thankful that I did not have to wake up and look forward to power walking today. The past two days I have gone on field trips: Bologna with my class, Pisa and Lucca with my room mate's class. It has been exhausting but amazing to see these three cities.

Bologna is Italy's version of a small university town. I loved the aura the city had because it was young and fresh and so much more authentic than most places I have seen so far! I will be going back to visit on my own time, because since I was with my class, we were power walking from church to church for about 10 hours of the day which was not very fun (although I probably burned off a lot of pastry calories haha). We got to see a lot of things but there were three things that I enjoyed in the trip more than anything else.
The first truly interesting thing we saw was Saint Catherine and her chapel. Saint Catherine is the first women artist of Bologna and the only artist to have ever been made into a saint. If there was ever a saint I was going to venerate she would be it. They have a tiny blocked off chapel that you have to have special permission by the nuns to see and Catherine is actually preserved there, sitting up in her nun costume holding a cross. Saint's bodies apparently don't break down so she has been sitting there for 600 years! She is surrounded in the chapel with her manuscripts, paintings, musical instruments, and a crown given to her by the Queen of Spain. However morbid it may seem, it was oddly beautiful in a way to see how much care and work the nuns put into celebrating her and her work even 600 years later.
Another really interesting part of the trip was lunch because it was Bologna! Bologna has a nickname in Italy "la citta grassa" or the fat city. They are known for their food and it is true that they locals truly celebrate it! We were able to walk through the market which was full of various vendors, all yelling at each other in Italian and throwing food around!

I ended up eating ravioli which was amazing. It was simply cooked pasta with olive oil but the ravioli was stuffed with cheese and spinach and there was no way that pasta needed anything else on it. All the food looked amazing and I am looking forward to going back and being able to try something else.
The last thing I'll mention was a science/art museum where we were looking at the wax anatomical studies done by Anna Morandi Manzolini. Her husband was the dean of the school of medicine and when he died she took his place which was a big deal at the time. She did these beautiful anatomical studies looking at the body and it was interesting to look at because she makes this variety of body parts and studies of anatomy so beautiful.

In the room next to her works, there was a wax study done on babies in the womb and all the different problems that can happen in delivery. Although sad, the way these wax figures were done was so interesting to look at since you don't think about how the baby would look on the inside of the body while being delivered.

At the end of the day, since we seemed miserable and tired, Helen (our professor) bought us gelato and I had yogurt e pompermo (grapefruit)! And I successfully made myself stuffed tomatoes for dinner!

The next day, we went to Pisa in the morning and Lucca in the afternoon. They were both interesting places, but I was pretty worn out from the day before so I wasn't as focused. Of course I got to see the leaning tower as well as the baptistry and the cathedral.

We also got to see a Gothic cemetery, which was very different from anything I had ever seen. There were beautiful marble sarcophagi and the bodies were put in the marble floor. So as you walked around, you were walking on top of the resting places of people. But the sculpture in cemetery was beautiful and very interesting to look at.

For lunch, me and Sai ended up wandering farther into Pisa and found a small panini place (which was delicious) and then went and ate in a local park. We ended up having to leave though because some crazy man started throwing corn immediately behind us and the pigeons decided it might be fun to attack! We ended up find this very cute gelato place as well so we ate a huge cup of fruit topped with cream gelato :)

Lucca was a very cute little town and we mainly visited churches and the most interesting thing for me was just seeing all the piazzas and markets.

At the end of the day Helen bought a variety of cakes, which is a Lucca specialty. I tried lemon and St. Zita cake which was a vegetable cake. The St. Zita cake was fantastic!

Today we heard there is a free wine and food tasting at a local market so we are about to make our way there. Ciao!

Venti = 20

Well this week was my birthday week so hooray! I am no longer a teenager! To celebrate my birthday, me and my roommates have done a variety of things throughout the week. On Tuesday, there was the last cooking class of the semester which was amazing! We had sun-dried tomatoes and ricotta pasta, quattro formaggi (four cheese) pasta, stracchino cheese on bread, and biscotti di prato dipped in Vinsanto wine. A full italian meal let me tell you. Plus then we proceeded to buy a variety of pasteries to be shared as we sit all together and talk and eat :) (this is one of the pasteries we tried)

We also went out to dinner tonight for my birthday. We went to a trattoria on Via Cavour and Sai and I shared a Mozzarella buffala pizza and a vegetario pizza (peppers, eggplant, zucchini). It was nice since we hadn't yet gone out to a restaurant and its always fun to sit with a group of people while you eat and talk! There were a few interesting differences between the restaurants here and those in America: you have to buy your water, service charge is included in the bill if you sit down, and they place a bowl of bread in front of you at the beginning of the meal but if you eat it you are charged extra! Interesting interesting haha.

I have had class as usual this week. In Batik I started my next project, which is going to be a floral design I created in different shades of blue. I have done the wax and one dip so far and I am really excited about it! It is bound to be really fun and pretty. In jewelry I started my next project which is going to be a Pinocchio pendant with movable arms and legs. We had to include rivets in the piece so it seemed like the perfect idea. I have cut and filed almost all my pieces so I have gotten a good amount of the work done which is super exciting! In fresco, I came up with my next project which is going to be a portrait of my mom and nephew. I am excited to do this even though I know it is gonna be pretty rough considering there is so much detail. This is how my first fresco turned out if you didn't see it:

I love and miss you all <3

Genova Weekend!

Well, this past weekend was long and insane and fantastic. I loved almost every minute of it :)

Friday:
I had art history and fresco painting. I finished my first fresco painting ever which turned out fantastic and I will post a picture of it on my next blog. Then it was time to catch the train and travel the long three hours to Genova. As it was my first time taking the train I was nervous going into it but I had no way of expecting what ended up happening on the trip. I caught the train and transferred at Pisa without any trouble. It was relaxing and I finished a book and napped for a while. When I woke up, it was dark and you couldn't see the station names out of the window. So I asked the conductor when I should get off and got off the train where he said. After wandering around for a half an hour, I realize that I am in fact at the wrong station. So I am without a cell phone, by myself in a strange city and I start to internally panic. A lady at the station tells me to just hop a train to the next station and then I will be at the the right place. So I do that and then I get to the correct station and Lucia is not there. So as I would normally, I start to think the worst and try to come up with a plan of where to go and how to get a hold of her. About an hour later we find each other and the relief just hits. Turns out, she had gone to find me at the other station when I hadn't shown up, so we simply missed each other! Ridiculous but now I know that I will be getting a cell phone because I am not okay with that ever happening again haha. After we find each other we head to Porto Antico, where there was a small concert going on and also plenty of various places to eat since there was food festival going on called "Genova, Mercata di terra & di mare". So we got to try 3 different kinda of food: Cima (sliced ham stuffed with egg and veggies), farinata (a chickpea patty) and foccacia formaggio (cheese foccacia). All are traditional Genovese dishes and all were delicious. I really want to try to bake the farinata myself. After we ate, Lucia, her friends and I headed to il centro, or downtown, where all the students in Genova go on Friday nights. It is basically a big piazza surrounded by bars and full of young Italians. Everyone was chatting and milling around with beer in hand! It was very fun to see a typical night out for the locals, since this is their way of going out and getting to know other people who are going to their university. We stayed for a while and then went back to Lucia's house to sleep since we had a fun day planned for Saturday!

Saturday:

Relaxing fun day! First we rode on Lucia's scooter (!) and went to the beach at Pieve which was so beautiful! Pieve is a town right outside of Genova and the beaches are a lot more clean because it is farther away from the port. The beaches are not the typical white sand beaches. There are cliffs leading up to the water, so the city has set up terraces where you set up your towel to tan and then you climb down the cliffs to the water! We ended up staying there for around five hours, laying out (falling asleep and burning more like), swimming, and playing Italian card games. We brought food to eat there (torta di porcello (onion patty), pizza, and foccacia (it is seriously addicting trust me!) and one of Lucia's friends, Pietro, ended up coming and hanging out with us. After the beach we went and walked around on the coast of Nervi (another surrounding town) and ended up going and sitting in the park there and playing more card games. After we finish relaxing, we go to Lucia's father's apartment and her friends come over and we all make Pansoti al Sugo di Noci (spinach filled pasta with a walnut sauce, typical of Genova and delicious). So I get to have the typical young - Italian meal: beer, bread, pasta and chatting for hours! It was fun and I was getting to try to translate their rapid Italian chatter so that I understood what was going on. It started raining, so we ended up staying in the apartment and playing cards until three! It was a blast and I got to try two of the local alcohols which was interesting: Minot (herb infused alcohol from the alps) and Genepi (fruit infused alcohol from Sardegna). We all sat around with tiny tea cups of the alcohol and sipped as we played all sorts of various games! It was way fun although the late night did nothing for my energy level on Sunday haha.

Sunday:
We slept in because of our late night and then they showed me various parts of the city. We went back to the food festival and ate lunch (Trofi al pesto and I tried the octopus) and then went to the richest part of town and went to Lucia's favorite gelato place (yogurt and anana (pineapple)). We ate our gelato and sat on the beach which was in a beautiful old port.

After this we went to train station for me to head back to Florence to find out that the train workers have gone on strike. I was mega lucky and my train was only delayed not canceled so I was able to get home. I did miss my second train though and had to hop one to Florence without a ticket :/ Not a good thing to do but I was not about to get stuck in Pisa. It ended up all working out great and I got home only a half an hour later than I was meant to! Overall it was a great weekend and I had a really great time. So thankful that Lucia let me come up and visit and showed me around!