artsy fartsy

Ciao ciao. Another week come and gone! I'm excited to stay in Rome this weekend to have some downtime, and to explore some more. I feel like I know the city fairly well (especially Trastevere, Prati, and Storico Centro), but there is still sooo much more to see, it's incredible.

This week of classes was amazing. I LOVE SCHOOL IN ITALY. Last night Zach asked me which class was my favorite and I honestly couldn't answer. It's a tie between all of them! (Even my reading-obsessed honors class). Monday in photography we started the developing process for the rolls we took over the week. I took all of my pictures in Prague, so I was extremely excited to see how they turned out. He warned us that out of the 10 students developing, probably 3 of us would have a problem/mess up in some way. Of course, I was one of those students.

We had practiced not looking while putting the rolls onto spirals since it'd be pitch black in the darkroom, and I was an expert at it...before the REAL thing happened. When he shut us in the darkroom to do it forrealzz he left us with "don't worry you will probably break it somehow, it's your first time. okay ciao!" and closed the door behind him. We were on our own.

I started out winding it up on the spool (that you then put in a light proof thingy and do the chemicals outside from there, so this was the only dark room thing we had to do today), but before I knew it I felt it coming off the spool somehow. Trying to fix it in the pitch black without touching the film (so it won't scratch) is literally impossible. As I was forcing it back onto the spool, the negative ripped! So I ended up just tearing it where the rip was, winding that half back into the roll, and put the spiral half in the light-proof container. It ended up being okay because Serafino (the professor) said I could just develop the other half next week.

ancient theater remains on the side
of random apartment buildings!
(for my on-site class Tuesday)

The next step was adding all the chemicals (developer, rinse, water, rinse, fixer, rinse) in an intensely timed and concise manner. Serafino scared us all right before we started by yelling "STOP! ... ta da da dada dunn." We stared, completely confused. "That is what I do before exciting things happen," he told us. Ooooh okay. Love him. Once we started, he was freaking out making sure that we were all mixing/shaking/turning the containers in the right way. It was fun! My pictures seemed to come out well, they're drying this week then Friday we have class (to make up for the Monday after Easter), so I'll probably develop the second half then. WOO I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY!

Ashley made her mom's recipe of baked mac&cheese for dinner. IT WAS SO GREAT OH MY GOODNESS I MISSED MAC&CHEESE. Debbie, Kaylie, and I downed it. I can't wait for the next time she makes it!:)

Tuesday my on-site class met at Largo Argentina, which was good because I knew how to get there (it's where our hotel was the first couple days - right by the cat sanctuary!). We walked around a little with the professor explaining all the buildings. It was cool because I hadn't even realized there was ancient theaters and buildings all around me when I'd been here the first few days, I'd just focused on the usual toursit attractions. But literally sticking out of the walls were thousands of years old remains! So cool. We headed to the Pantheon and learned some more cool stuff about it, took a bunch of pictures, then had a coffee break. Me and my friends Julie and Ginny tried out the Italian version of doughnuts - "la bamba". It was so good - we nicknamed it "la BOMBa" because it was the booooommmmbbbb. Quite the jokesters..

class pic outside the Pantheon

sun shining through
the oculus inside
the Pantheon - so gorgeous

We walked around some more and looked at some tombs, Augustus' Arch of Peace, and ended up around the Spanish Steps/ Piazza del Popolo. It was crazy, I didn't realize those locations were so close together! I had been to all of them separetly, so it was cool to figure out where they were in realation to each other. That's probably one of my favorite parts of the class - it's really helping me to get a hold on the city of Rome. We ended class there and I walked back towards campus with Ginny and Julie. We grabbed some pizza to go, and sat outside Piazza Trilussa to eat it up. Yummyy. I did my usual point-and-pick method of choosing a rando pizza to try and find something new. It was a success once again. I had some sort of cauliflower, spinach, and sausage pizza. Neato.

figuring out placement
aka finger painting?

Painting in the afternoon was interesting because our professor never showed up! Apparently he had cancelled his morning sketchbook class, so we figured he was just out of town or sick for the day. We all stayed in class and painted a little bit. Since I painted my original layer last week, I started my still life! It was soo fun to paint again.

first stage of the still life..

I began with the background (table and fabric hanging on the wall), then decided it was probably best to get all the dimensions right for the objects before I put more paint on the canvas. Since he wasn't there to teach us the legit way to do it, I just drew on the canvas with my finger! The oil paint from the background was still wet, so it worked nicely. I kind of liked it how it looked after I finished - very ambiguous (my new favorite word) and abstract. But I figured that wouldn't fly, so I started adding paint. It was much easier than I was expecting, probably because of the 6 hours a week drawing class I took last spring semester at UM. I was surprised at how much I remembered about perspective and figuring out dimensions. I was very proud of myself! I didn't get too much done, but at least I have some shapes started. Next week I'll work on colors!

Came home earlier than usual, watched Black Swan (SO CREEPY/CRAZY/AH), Glee (YAY!), and skyped lots. It was a nice afternoon:)

Wednesday I had my honors class in the morning. I complain so much about the reading, but I'm actually (semi) happy that I'm doing so much work for this class because it's definitely paying off. I'm learning so much about the artist's personality, influences, and style. Today we focused on Correggio. I looove his work. The class is centered around Northern Italian Art, which isn't as famous as art from Venice, Rome, or Florence, but it's still beautiful and has it's own unique style. It's pretty cool to be learning about something new, too, and not just the famous artists of that time.

gorgeous fresco. hopefully mine will
turn out SOMETHING like these...

For fresco painting we were meeting at the Museo Nazionale Roma to check out old school frescos to get some ideas for our own frescos. It was really cool to see these frescos from sooooo long ago that are still (fairly) intact! It's crazy how the pigment bonds with the wall since it's done on fresh mortar, so it literally stays on FOREVER. That's why the Sistine Chapel, tons of churches, etc. etc. etc. still have works of art from forever ago. So cool. I got some great ideas for my own frescos! We start painting in 2 weeks AH!

Lazy afternoon hanging out in the apartment with Debbie. My plan is to take a nap - I'm exhausted from the week. Also on the schedule: get some honors reading done, watch last night's gLee, and perhaps make it out to Aperitivo (Italian version of happy hour, plus really cheap all you can eat food). I'm trying to restrain from spending as best I can since I just booked 2 major travels last night - Morocco spring break with Jada (and maybe Raphi), and Greece for Easter weekend with the roomies for Kaylie's 21st! SO EXCITING. But I am so happy to be in Rome this weekend. I've missed my home sweet Rome :)