So, anyway......

.......I'm finding it rather difficult to get used to Life After Grad School.

As I had anticipated, the lack of imposed deadlines and assignments has left me feeling a bit unmotivated and I find that I am getting very little drawing or painting done.

And no writing.

What's happened, I believe, is that I've become so conditioned to using my academic breaks as down time that I've become conditioned to just aimlessly drifting about over Summer Holiday.

Of course, now that I have my degree, I can't treat every day like a holiday!

Still, it might be that I'm simply taking a well-deserved and much needed break and that I will find myself feeling considerably more motivated once the students begin returning to town.

That's the thing about living in a college town: Whether or not one is associated with the University, things still tend to happen according to the academic calendar.

And almost nothing ever gets done in July!

Rainy Day Picnic!

Now that I'm finished with grad school, I've been planning on having my Mom over for a nice Summer-y lunch on the screened-in porch.

Due to the heat and/or rain, we've had to reschedule a couple of times. Yesterday, it was raining buckets and we very nearly abandoned the idea.

Instead, I decided to move the picnic indoors!

In true picnic fashion, we enjoyed tofu-dogs on whole wheat buns with veggie chili and spicy mustard, fruit salad and a corn/bean salad (from Whole Foods).

I had set the dining room table with some blue and white batik linens that I bought at Crate & Barrel, a few years ago (souvenir of my stay in Chicago), used some attractively crackled plates and popped some daisies (also from Whole Foods) into a tall vase. To brighten things up (because it was very grey and rainy) I'd added a vase of faux lemons.

I have this theory about entertaining: The most important thing to do is let the guest(s) know that they're expected and welcome. For me, that usually means setting the table first (sometimes, the night before) and making sure that there's fresh coffee and an alternative to offer.

As much as I have always enjoyed cooking, I have no trouble with picking things up at the deli counter or grabbing some take-out. If the aim is to spend time with my guest(s), there's no sense in my spending more time in the kitchen than at the table For this luncheon, all that I really had to do was pour some coffee for my Mom and then heat up a few things.

We had a lovely, relaxed visit and - despite the rainy day - enjoyed a sunny picnic!

In the Good Ol' Days.....

.... a gal would come home from a wonderful vacation/holiday and have to wait weeks for her photographs to be developed.

Now, thanks to the convenience of the Digital Era, the same gal can take thousands of pictures, see the results immediately and then take weeks/months to edit them and make them presentable.

(I should make a habit of putting these up on the blog as I go - even if I don't actually publish those blog entries until i return home.)

I'm still getting used to the little Canon PowerShot that TonyP gave me for Christmas. It has an anti-shake feature which makes things much easier for me - especially in low-light situations.

First up: Our suite at the Intercontinental, in downtown Chicago.

We were a little concerned when we were informed by the front desk that the room TonyP had reserved would not be available but the hotel upgraded us to a nice corner suite with excellent views>

Next, a view from the parlour of the suite:

The wall in the foreground is the wall of the terrace. The terrace currently has no flooring so the french doors were locked. But the view was breathtaking, nonetheless!

That's the Trib tower on the far left and the Wrigley Bldg is the thing with the clock.

This is TonyP, taken in the pizza/wine bar at Fornetto Mei - the restaurant at the Whitehall Hotel. (It's the only restaurant that I can think of that serves calamari prepared by any method other than frying.) TonyP and I spent the Spring of 2006 flying back and forth between our home in North Carolina and a temporary apartment in Chicago - located a short walk from the Whitehall. One of my favourite ways of settling into my Chicago surroundings was dropping off our bags at the apartment and then walking over to Fornetto Mei!

Back to Work!

OK; I know it isn't much. But hear me out.

I am experimenting with a very restricted palette and decided to work on some quick sketches. I have a few 6" x 8" Fredrix canvas boards that I use over and over again for acrylic painting exercises.

This week, I decided to experiment with an extremely limited palette: crimson, ultramarine blue, cadmium yellow, raw sienna and white.

The point of this experimentation is to achieve greater control of the colours while also exploring their potential.

I also spent several days out on the back porch, doing monochrome value studies, in watercolour and in pencil.

Getting back to work (after several years of writing and concentrating on theory) has been a bit of a struggle and there have quite a few of those "I'm crap at this!" days. However, I am finding it very useful to go back to the basics and to work through some of those basic exercises from college. If nothing else, it's therapeutic! I start out the day's work very self-conscious and frustrated and - after a few exercises - I suddenly forget that these are exercises and I become thoroughly engaged by the process.

It's like when a musician stops thinking about the notes and just plays the music or a dancer stops thinking about the steps and just dances.

It's intoxicating and liberating.

Commencement 2009: JennySlash Gets Her MA!!

Here are a few snapshots from UNCG's Commencement, 2009.

This billboard is across from the Greensboro Coliseum - which is where Commencement

was actually held. It's only a few blocks away from the University.

This is the Tate Street entrance to the University.

Fortunately, the rain held off until after the ceremony!

And this is another shot of the UNCG campus.

Back at the Coliseum.

Here, we're starting to file into the stadium.

These are a few of my colleagues.

Waiting for things to start.

We were fortunate to have the Governor speak. Bev Purdue is the first female governor of North Carolina.

UNCG

Last weekend, I attended the Spring Conference of the North Carolina Writers' Network, which was held on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG).

It was a very (unseasonably!) warm day and the sky was entirely too blue for me to remain indoors! Instead, I strolled around campus, taking pics of the fine institution which will be granting me my Master's Degree - in a couple of weeks!

The building in this picture is Jackson Library. The statue is of Dr. Charles McIver, who founded what was then Women's College (or "WC").

I had the great good fortune of growing up in Greensboro and used to enjoy visiting the UNCG campus. My first ballet recital was on the stage of Aycock Auditorium - I think that I was about nine years old!

The only undergraduate class that I ever took on the UNCG campus was a life drawing class - probably the best life class that I have ever taken with the best instructor that I have ever had.

Oddly enough, when I was in high school, I never considered applying to UNCG. That was because my father had made it clear that I would have to live at home if I attended any of the colleges or universities in Greensboro. And, since one of the primary reasons for attending college/university is to leave home, I had no interest in going anyplace in Guilford County!

As it happened, I wound up in Chapel Hill.

But that's another story.

Almost Finished!

I'll be spending the next couple of weeks trying to finish up my work for grad school and preparing to celebrate my Master's degree.

At present, I am trying (rather unsuccessfully) to compose my "reflective essay". That means that I am trying to distill the last few years of study down to six pages that pull it all together. Thematically.

That's awfully difficult to do, without sounding like a complete flake.

I also have to finish some work on contemporary Latin American issues and write a paper on 20th Century World issues. >whew<

So, I'll be rather busy for a couple more weeks and my postings will be few. If you wish to be informed when this blog is updated, please add this blog to your feed.

Have a wonderful Whatever-Holiday-You-Observe and lovely early Spring/Autumn!

Creation Window, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC

Happy Spring!!!!