Guess what?
It's the last week of 2012.
Here are the artsy-photos I did this week.
So this is the last of my "Work of the Week" posts.
Maybe.
I started this blog BECAUSE of my "Work of the Week." It's going to be weird not to do them anymore. My "Work of the Week" is the ONE major New Years Resolution that I was totally faithful to. I kept it up every week. On time (more or less). Without fail.
I'm really proud of what I've done.
Sometimes I got lazy. But what I have from when I wasn't is pretty spectacular.
I've done a whole lot of different kinds of art.
So, for this last week, let's review my progress.
And so, this is what I have to show for 2012.
None too shabby.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. (Ornament)
And the T-Shirts from my end of the world party.... which was incredible fun, I assure you. And all of the T-Shirts ended up looking AWESOME.
AND for those of you who worried that making the T-shirts was a waste of time because the world might have actually ended..... you were wrong. Unless the Mayan calender somehow runs on "Mormon Standard Time."
In January, I made a resolution to do a "work of the week" every for the rest of the year, and start a blog to keep track of it. I've done really well... until December, when my consistency was pretty much shot. Well. I did something last week (think 12/6/12) that will could for that week's "work," and now I'm finally going to blog about it.
Remember that super-inspiring post I wrote about self-portraits?
Ya, the class started those last week. I just haven't had the chance to blog about it until now.
Anyway. I was slightly hypocritical in my post because I was commenting on how the other students were drawing their self-portraits.... when I didn't start mine until two days ago.
I always have trouble starting an art project. I want it to look good. I want it to be just right, I want it to be accurate, and I'm terrified that I'll get bored and it'll be a chore to finish.
So I delay like crazy.
I think.
I sketch.
I play with different mediums.
And more than anything else (for this one, especially) ... I stare.
You're thinking "Yay for Alayna! She wasn't afraid to look in the mirror for her self portrait!"
I'm saying "Yes... but I didn't do much else."
So I'm about a week behind on the project... which isn't so bad, but still.
I wasn't totally wasting my time because I did these.
This is something called "conte crayon" it's like a mix of charcoal and pastel... but more firm. I was playing with it to see weather or not I wanted to do my whole self-portrait in it or not.
I debated weather or not I would post this one, but decided to because
it was the most work. It STARTED as just a generic eye and ...well now it's a
whole face. Utterly disproportionate and crudely neanderthal... but
completed all the same.
I thought I wanted to do something different so I slightly turned my head and sketched a self portrait. Not half bad, not really good. Just another distraction from starting the actual project.
Playing with shading. Conte crayons are cool. They come in a few different shades of brown, grey, and white, drawn on colored paper. It has a pretty cool affect.
I also did some stuff for Photography class that can count. (Doing a WHOLE LOT of stuff for this week makes up for it being a week late, right?)
The assignment was "light" photos.
I even Photoshopped the electric cords out of the photo. Be impressed.
Melissa wasn't terribly willing, but she'll thank me later, because it's a cool picture.
Electric cords Photoshopped out...,like a boss.
And tomorrow.... maybe I'll find something to count for this week....
I wanted to do something deeply fantastic to commemorate this date, the last of it's kind.
So I blogged.
And it's my 100th post.
I'm surprised that Google had this many images for "100th Blog Post."
I started this blog on 1/3/12, with the post "And so it begins."
It is everything that I wanted it to be, and more.
I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
My art teacher announced that we would be doing self portraits for the next project.
Gasps and moans.
LOTS of resistance. He passed out mirrors. People turned them around, flipped them over, looked away, and exclaimed at having to look at themselves.
Some girls were frantically globing on cover-up and mascara. Others put their heads down and said they'd start the next day when they were more presentable. And they still haven't started.
One wonders how they make it out the door in the morning, or through the rest of the day.
Before we were set loose to start our project, he showed us a power-point of famous artist's self-portraits.
Albrecht Durer did a new self portrait every 3ish years, starting at the age of 13 ... and looked almost the same in every one of them. Except the last surviving one. Which was totally different.
There were several of Vincent Van Gogh,
the last oneclearly showing bandaged mess at the side of his head.
I wondered, "If you are an amazing artist... why would you highlight your greatest defect? Why would you show off your mistake?"
Others of them were, frankly, ridiculous.
And disproportionate.
Why?
Most of the kids in my art class who actually brought themselves to begin the project thought like this. "If I can draw an idealized version of myself, why don't I?"
The mirrors are in front of them, but they don't dare to look. Instead you get the stereotypical eyes, the traditional noses, lips and chins proportioned to fit in the artist's idea of "good" or "pretty," but looking nothing like the person behind the pencil.
Why?
The masters who did their self portraits knew who they were. They drew what they saw... but also what they knew they were. Their styles, eccentricities, and thoughts are evident in the end product.
The kids in my art class can't help but cartoon-ize.
Making their eyes bigger because it's "cute."
Thinning out their necks and cheeks because they can't see themselves as "fat."
Drawing tiny noses and perfect eyebrows.
Never looking in the mirror.
They are afraid to look at themselves. They don't know what they are going to see, and they aren't comfortable in translating an honest view of themselves onto paper.
Like the kids in my Art class, we are afraid to see our faults. We compare ourselves with other, more perfect people. We need to stop.
Embrace yourself for who you are... inside and out. You can't always change it. Accept it. If you haven't drawn the picture of yourself, others will do it for you. And then you won't like what you see. But you have nothing, no truth to compare it to. So it'll become truth.
I'm not suggesting you go all "Jane Eyre" with your portrait.
And you want to go slightly beyond "Mulan."
But take the time to stare. Ask yourself who you are... and find the answer.
Last week I did a major "Stake Play Music Thing."
There wasn't a very large orchestra, but they needed two cellos. (because one of the songs had split parts.)
I asked my friend if she wanted to do it with me, and so it was all set.
The Cellos played in a lot of songs (the pains of playing the most beautiful instrument) but there was one particular cello solo with a small group (Away in a Manger) that was the most important.
Since there would be two performance nights, we decided to split the solo. She played Friday, and I played Saturday.
How do I put this. She totally bombed the solo.
After that performance, people were much more appreciative of the way that I play the cello. That part was nice. Sitting next to my friend while she embarrassed herself in front of the whole audience... not so much.
I also sang in a cute little musical number with a few Young Women "How far is it to Bethlehem."
We're singing that in Sacrament meeting around Christmas time too.
Our stake productions really are over-the-top. But it's fun to participate in, so there you go.
Practicing is work, so this is technically another work of the week. (Funny, that I've been doing these since January without a problem, and then suddenly miss two weeks in a row... in the last month of my goal. Ah well.)
If you don't know who that is, (first of all, shame on you) he is a famous Italian tenor. His most famous songs are "The Prayer" and "Time to Say Goodbye." Plus a bunch of other traditional Italian songs that you all know, but don't know the words to (because, well, they are in Italian).
Oh. AND he's blind.
On Saturday, November 24th Andrea Bocelli came to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for one night in Las Vegas. This place seats over 15,000 people.
And it was absolutely full.
This is at practice, so the arena isn't "full" yet, but you get the idea.
I joined the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society mainly so that I could sing in this. They have a traveling orchestra, but it's much cheaper to use a local choir than pay for the travel of a certain group. So that was my in.
We practiced a lot as a Choir, but not very much with Andrea Bocelli or the orchestra.... so we just had to wing some of it when the concert came around a few hours later.
Pretty nerve racking.
The program was $15 dollars... but we were IN it. So we got it.
It was in the program that we got to learn a little more about the Soprano (Maria Aleida) and Guest Vocalist (Katherine Jenkins).
They were both AMAZING. Maria is an unknown coloratura with an incredibly impressive vocal range.
Katherine Jenkins is a REALLY well known Welsh singer. She sings classical, Italian, and contemporary stuff.... and she does it really well. And for those of you whovians our there... she was in the 2010 Dr. Who Christmas Special. (No joke, that was in her Bio.) She wore this REALLY AMAZING gold dress... pictured above.
Well, we got there at 2:45, but the performance was supposed to start at 8... and started shortly thereafter.
And it was a fairly long performance, which made for a pretty long night. But an AWESOME night.
We only sang a few songs, so the rest of the performance we watched the large screens and the back of the soloists heads. But, seeing as the people in the front row payed $1,800 and the cheapest seats were over $300... it was a pretty good gig.
I was pretty much in awe for the first bit, so when we actually had to sing a bit it came as a shock... and we were kind of off.
But we recovered and finished the concert pretty well.
Not to diss the beginning part of the performance or anything... but the last part of the concert was AMAZING. After the "Performance" he sang the encore songs, which were the ones everyone was waiting for.
Suddenly this classical musician had become a rock-star. The crowd was on their feet, cheering. The lights were going crazy, and it was just.... awesome.
AND... We (the whole choir) got a PICTURE with Andrea Bocelli after the show. Katherine Jenkins popped in for a picture too... and I WILL get those pictures up here as soon as I get them.
It has been a lot of work, and it ended that week, so I'm back-dating it for my work of the week. Just for kicks and giggles.
And for another plus, now I can sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" in Italian.
* Here's a Video, you can see ME in the background. And here's another one.*
