deluge

So the other day the power went out for a few hours. This really wasn't a problem, it was just a little inconvenient. The issue was that the water runs on a pump, so it cut off while the electricity was out. While flipping the faucet on and off in frustration, I accidentally left it in the on position. When the power came back on, so did the water. 

It must have been at least an hour after the power came back on before my roommate Fern found the flood. Water had run over the sink onto the floor and out into the room. There was enough water to float papers. It took every towel in the dorm to soak it up enough to then mop it. 

Fortunately, nothing too important was left on the floor and the floor is tile;  so we were able to dry everything out no damage done. 

It was the biggest mess I ever made- and I've made some big messes. 

It was kind of amazing.

midterms and the plague

Last week was midterms. No matter where you're at, its a stressful part of the semester. Projects are due, there are tests to be studied for, and everyone is generally freaking out. But I made it once again. My Italian exam and monster Art History exam are over and I can go back to concentrating on art. The new concern this week is the bad case of the stomach flu which is sweeping through the dorm. So far I've avoided it. I think the count is 11 of 36 people are down. My roommate,Fern, seems to have gotten a particularly bad case. I've basically moved out of the room. I'm avoiding it like... well... the plague. Its pretty ironic, since we just took an art history exam which covered Black Death Style; art that emerged after the plague of 1348. I'm pretty convinced the fact that we studied the plague, and we now have a plague of our own, are not unrelated. We'll see if this influences our artistic style.

florence and feet

I've reached the halfway mark for my time here in Cortona. I can't believe this coming week is already mid-terms!

I've had a great creative week. For most of the semester I've been in a creative rut. It was very frustrating and unexpected since I'm in such a visually rich place. What it boiled down to was that I was putting too much pressure on myself to make "good" art. I was putting too much weight on everything I was doing and it was simply crippling. I've finally relaxed and suddenly the ideas are pouring out. Now the pressure is not on coming up with ideas but completing them in the time I have left.

The week prior was the turning point. It was my best week yet in Italy. On Wed. Sept 24, some friends and I skived off from doing work and took a day trip to Florence (Firenze.) Firenze is about an hour trip by train. We had already explored Florence before we arrived to Cortona, so we already had a good sense of where we wanted to go. My main goal of the trip was to find find some shoes. The tennis shoes that I brought are starting to fall apart, so I felt like I could justify the purchase of some fancy Italian leather shoes. It was fun and relaxing trip- and I found some fabulous shoes. It really was the week for feet, because that Sunday the group got to take part in the grape harvest and grape stomping. It was a great experience and everyone's spirits were high. There was lots of laughing, drinking of wine, and general silliness.

So for all of the silliness and fun the week prior, I was finally able to take pressure off myself and inversely get serious about my art. I've started the largest painting I've ever done. Its over five feet tall and equally wide. I've enjoyed working in oil paint rather than acrylic. Its much easier to work with and the color is so much richer. Acrylic is such a stubborn medium , I'm enjoying the fluidity of oils. I think my painting style was meant for oil paint. I'm really excited about it. I'll post images of the work I've done soon.

I've been a bit neglectful of my blog and flickr lately, but I'll work on updating it more frequently!

hugs and love!