Journaling

For the last few weeks I've had many thoughts roaming around my noggin. Tonight I started like six posts that will be expounded on here soon enough. I've realized I need to be a better journal keeper and writing down my inadequacy about said journal keeping here will help me to be accountable for all those drafts I've started. Hehe. I hope my love of photo journaling with Instagram will make up for some of my missed written entries. 

I want to print out my Instagram account photos and put them in a photo album because IG is going bye-bye when my iPhone goes bye-bye. I will have to think of a creative way to keep doing photo journaling without a cell phone camera available at all times, because I'm going cell phone free here in the next week. I'm "up-grading" my plan to a basic home phone. Me no likey my smart phone anymore, its a gigantic life distraction and I want to still try to LIVE life by simplifying potential distractions. 

I'm sure I'll end up telling you all about it. Keep an eye out for the six posts coming in the next two weeks. 

I need a massage.

haha. I really do need a massage. Maybe one of these days I will go for one.

I wanted to update the blog with some life adventure news. Here you be.

My first semester at the UofA is Fineeeeshed! A's and B's, a couple of gallery shows, a couple of scholarship submissions (I didn't get the Medici, but I did get some mulah from an art school scholarship for next semester :), a large scale project proposal (hoping to find out if I got it this week!), experiencing hate and complete love for a single class, learning how to weld with oxy-acetylene and getting to make a bronze sculpture, seeing things differently, literally and figuratively, thanks to my photography class, trying tempeh, marmite, king oyster mushrooms, and learning there are fungi EVERYWHERE thanks to my mycology class, gaining a greater love for people through praying for them because they bugged the crap out of me, some rockin' calves from all my bike riding, and an addiction to natural Jamaican style ginger ale from the co-op (I drove by it twice a day and it always seemed to beckon me to go inside! lol) makes for a pretty complete semester.

That doesn't include all my adventures with volunteering with the food bank, the children's literacy program, or church. Nor my adventures with trying the CSA (community supported agriculture for local sourdough SUPER ahhhhhmazing breads), public transportation, or stories with getting to better know my mom and her awesomeness. Those are adventures for sure aided in my becoming a better person this semester and a few might be delved into later. For now, I'm just thankful I survived. I just re-read this post and realized why I might have felt a weeeeeeeeee bit overwhelmed this semester. I am COMPLETELY THANKFUL TO GOD, without Him I would have broke.

I also should mention I just submitted my resume and application for a position at the community food bank AND a new crush is forming... oh the sweetness of new life adventures :)

platFORM: adventures in sculpture proposals

Last night I submitted my very first sculpture proposal for an outdoor installation space up in Scottsdale, Tempe, or Gilbert. There are eight "platform" spaces available throughout those cities that were created specifically for art students to have the chance to create and display works while in school. If I get accepted I get funding and the chance to have my work on display for a whole year! I was super excited when I first heard about it and knew I wanted to try for it. No joke, it took awhile to get everything together to submit, but thankfully it all pulled together and now it's in the hands of the Lord whether I get the opportunity or not. I wanted to share my written project proposal, the sketches and miniature bronze piece I made to depict my proposed piece.

Here you be, but remember I don't write or draw as well as I can sculpt! haha.

I am currently a sculpture student at the University of Arizona where my knowledge and experience with art practices and theory are expanding. This is encouraging me to create pieces with impact; I feel the impact of my work is through engaging the mind not only in thought through what is being depicted and emphasized in a piece, but I also feel my work encourages action by connecting individuals to themselves and their community through implied dialogue with the piece. In 2013 I received my Associates of Fine Arts degree with a visual arts concentration from Pima Community College. During my time as a student I have been able to work with metal, ceramic and wood concentrating on using each material to its full potential.

A passion in my life is food, specifically the production and consumption of the western diet. My work attempts to open up a conversation about food and its industry. Through my experience with whole food living, being a food writer, and helping educate youth about nutrition the piece I am proposing will not only appeal to the eye, but challenge thought in regards to the impact industrialized food has on the individual, community, and society. My proposal for the Platform project is a squeezed half lemon dripping juice. The lemon closely connects Arizona with the food industry and culture; Citrus being one of the five cash crops of the region. A 36” x 30” x 36” steel rod frame forms the lemon segments, added ceramic pieces will make up parts of the peel and the exposed cut flesh of the lemon. The ceramic elements will be attached to the frame with bolts and other hardware to emphasize industrialization in our culture. The work interacts with the viewer by letting them see inside and through the piece as well as the urban landscape around. This helps to ground the viewer to their local environment by marrying the viewer to the landscape hoping to incite action as the process of food production and consumption in the western diet is truly disjointed from sustainable agriculture.

 I titled the little bronze piece "Fresh Squeezed". haha. Isn't it cute? Also, working with wax, which is what I had to do to get the bronze piece was fun, but waaaay different than working with clay. I like clay. 

Now I have three things I am waiting to hear back about that I have opened myself up to try for, an art school scholarship for the fall (I'll find out in the next month or two about this), the summer Medici scholarship to buy a new camera (I'll find out in the next week about this), and this platFORM project (I'll find out by May 9th about this). 

Even if I don't get any of them I sure have learned a lot about myself, my work ethic/organizational skills under pressure, and what my passions for creating art is. Sweet goodness school might be harder than I was expecting, but I sure am enjoying all this learning and life experience. If I do get them though... my summer is going to be PACKED. haha. I am hoping for the latter. Prayers and happy vibes my way would be immensely appreciated :)

Red Ribbon and 2nd Place, I'll take it!

I won second place in the Sustainability art show with "Fear the Soda"! I am so happy! God is good!

Now I need to create my artist resume with all that's happened in the last two years so I can send off project proposals. One will be for the Medici Summer Scholarship to help me buy a semi pro digital camera for the children's book illustration that I mentioned already and the other proposal is a sculpture project for Platform, a really cool outdoor space provided by the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, or Gilbert that fund an art student in Arizona to create a piece to be on display for the year. Here is hoping I can get all this done in the next few days. hehe.

I might be illustrating a children's book, what?!

Making art makes me happy. Getting to teach with what I make is even better, but getting to teach a kid with what I've made is the best!

Today I had the chance to submit illustration designs for my friends moms children book she is writing. My idea of illustration includes digital photography, modeling clay, found objects, and A LOT of photoshop. Haha. This girl is still not a 2D artist, but I think I have found a way to take my 3D ways and create some cool 2D illustrations.

I am really excited about this idea which will be a summer project because I have wanted to be a part of creating a children's book for years. I've played with the idea of writing one here and there, but it never came to fruition. If my designs aren't what the author is looking for for her story maybe I'll have to write my own story out and play with what I have. Who knows what's in the future with adventures in art.

This week I also have the chance to apply for a summer scholarship at school that would allow for me to buy a professional digital camera and I'm pretty stoked about the idea! This summer I'm also taking a digital photography class at Pima. Yay! Did I mention that I really love photography?! and that my black and white darkroom class this semester has influenced me a lot in how I want to make art? No, well it has. :) More details about what that means will come later.

Anywho, this summer is shaping up quite nicely. I'll miss not going back to camp, but thankfully I know God has a plan for me here. I'm not sure if that plan includes me living through the heat of a Tucson summer though. Which I haven't done in a few years, but either way, I'm a tool in His hands and will try to keep on truckin' through life and enjoying the adventure.

Um, I look different.

So this weight loss thing has been an adventure... an adventure for my psyche!!

haha. No really, I never thought I would have to get used to seeing someone different in my reflection. I look different than I did 2 years ago, not just in the size of my body changing either (I've lost 3/4" in height AND 1/2 shoe size. Not expecting that!). My face has changed (I also think aging has done a little to that too) and when I first noticed how different I looked I would stare at myself in the mirror and make faces at myself to validate that it was really me looking back. My cheek bones are more prominent, my eyes are bigger, my lips stand out in relation to their size and the rest of my features. It's weird, but a weird I like. It's a weird that I am seriously still getting used to. People I knew when I was heavy have no clue who I am now... and truthfully I have changed much more than just physically, so it's like a new Sarah exists in the world. (That's perspective for another post). Kinda weird.

I find myself looking at my collar bone, wrists and arms, my legs and feet checking out all the veins, bones, and muscles I could never see before. I can suck in and see rib definition which I honestly can say I have never seen before on myself. It's been really weird to have been in this body and not have known all of this was there.Veins in hands are squishy folks and I can now remember why I always thought playing with my moms hands when I was little was fun, now I can be entertained with my own. haha. I know I'm weird, but I am easily entertained with textures and visual stimulus.

As of today I can officially wear a size 14-16 (I'm somewhere in the 180-190's, I haven't weighed myself in a few months). I think a 14 is the size I wore in 8th grade and at that age I had no clue what I was going to turn into so I didn't know to appreciate what I had. I can cross my legs comfortably now, stand up from sitting on the floor without much movement from where I'm getting up from (prior to weight loss there was a rolling effect that had to happen), I can bend down without having to drop one knee first, I can bend my knees in and warp my arms around them when I'm sitting on the floor. I can reach and scratch all parts of my back when it itches. Who would have thought that that would feel so good?! Psyche has been handling things pretty well. haha.

I haven't yet started to regularly exercise, my weight loss has still all been about food. I'll throw it out there that every Thursday at the Farmer's Market there is a local bakery in the location where it is and I eat a glazed doughnut and sometimes a Mexican cookie too. My eating habits work for me. I eat tons of veggies and fruits with whole grains throughout the week; sometimes I eat meat, but only if I'm out at a restaurant and I'm completely craving it. I cook simply and try to not complicate my meals. Being so busy with school and work I need fast, but I want good and healthy. I really love seeing my fridge full of fresh local produce. It helps me to appreciate God more and all the He has put here on earth for us to use.

I have been starting to commute more and further on my bike so I think the fat will come off more quickly as it turns into muscle. I plan on biking throughout the summer and in the fall I'm taking a health and fitness class at school that will fulfill a gen ed requirement (just like my nutritional biology class at Pima... YAY for learning applicable knowledge and skills with the mandatory classes I have to take to get my degree!). I'm excited to actually take a PE class, that is a first in my life! I am looking forward to learning more about my body and what it can do.

Here is to life continuing to be an adventure, even if the person I am now looking at in the mirror isn't the same person who started this life adventure years ago. Yay for LIVING!

The Bestest Friends a Girl Could Ask For

The last few months have been a weeee bit hard. Hard in the sense of feeling picked on by the adversary, aka Satan, at every turn. I mean EVERY TURN! I feel him tearing down my divine parentage, my divine worth. Whispering and impressing negative thoughts about myself and others on me constantly and relentlessly. I feel him trying to overwhelm me with school and with the horribleness of the way the society is heading with all the bad that's going on (which will all receive their own posts). 

That being said, being kinda depressed (I'm not normally a depressed person, I'm usually pretty optimistic and happy, but the last couple months have been harder to be those things) is where I've been for far too long, thankfully during scripture study tonight (and a sweet inspiration during prayer three nights ago about looking to the light of Christ instead of letting the darkness overtake me) I was blessed to understand a beautiful principle in friendship and how friends can specifically share the light of Christ and be the help us in our hour of need. 

I realized while writing this that I have not done justice in my blog with talking about two of my most favoritest people in the world!! They are two of the most amazing and inspiring women I have been blessed to know and am IMMENSLY GRATEFUL I can call them my friends, my best friends actually. Michelle, aka Mechelle and Silvia, aka Silvs. 

I think the scripture explains how I feel about our friendship and what a light they truly are in my life. Also, please don't think I think I'm Moses material by any means, no sea parting for this gal, but the blessing of true friendship and trust, lifting one another during each other's times of need, is what I'm trying to convey here :) 

Scripture goes like this:

But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. (Old Testament, Exodus, Exodus 17:12)

That's what these women have been doing for me during this time of "crisis" in my life. They have "stayed my hands", calmed me, braught amazing perspective to life, loved me, and dealt with my expressive crazy quite well. 

I truly am thankful for them both in my life and can't say it enough how TRULY BLESSED I AM FOR HAVING THE BEST FRIENDS A GIRL COULD ASK FOR!