Seeing far is one thing, going there is another

This is a quote that my Professor shared with us in Senior Art Show. I'm really feeling this quote right now. It seems that I need to "see far" in a lot of aspects of my life. I have my Art Show, Graduation, moving away from home and graduate school. All of those are very important aspects of my life, and they are all overlapping in their time.

Graduation preparation has started (paying for cap and gown and applying to graduate etc), and I feel like I barely have a grasp on what to do for my senior show. Art show is in April, Graduation is in May. The other thing I need to decide is whether or not to do a Maymester, since that decision will influence other important decisions.

I told Mom and Dad that I have felt that Alaska is not where I should be after I graduate. I've known this for a year, and last year I was considering Utah. Of course I went to school there all summer, and I just felt that that wasn't the right place for me to go. The East coast was always very appealing to me, but I was afraid to be out here on my own. Then Jeremy decided to move back to NC. So at this moment I am leaning toward living in NC after I graduate (and visit home). Which means that I would have to find a job. Hopefully something related to my FCD major.

The other thing that this influences is graduate school. I would love to eventually do Art Therapy, but to start out I've decided to do a general counseling degree or do an MSW/LCSW. North Carolina schools happen to have some programs I really like, and most of them are cheaper than the VA schools that have the programs I want. Hence another reason why I'm leaning toward moving to NC. Also, I wouldn't be starting grad school until fall of 2011. So I have time to worry about that later!

Of course in all of these big decisions I must seek God's will in all of them. Sometimes I find this challenging because my art professor wants us to be centered on Art daily. But I really believe that Art has a way of speaking to our spirits, and I know that as I focus on the good things in life I will be open to the influence of the Spirit, and thus being open to the influence and guidence it brings. I know the Lord will guide me during this time. I also know that I will be spending a lot of time on my knees this semester. I knew that big decisions would be coming my way, and now the time is coming closer. I now need to go there. Be. Do. Accomplish.

Overall, I am happy and blessed. I'm just grateful that I have all the tools to help guide me in the correct direction. Life is wonderful and full of challenges that help us to grow. I know that this semester will be the most challenging mentally, spiritually and artfully! Now I just need to rise to the challenge and take life head on!

Here are some monotypes that I promised :) (the last is my favorite)

Seeing Black

Wow... it's my LAST SEMESTER of my undergraduate career. How exciting is that!? VERY

So here's the big things that I need to accomplish this semester:
1) Senior Art Show
2) Senior/Advanced Paper
3) Book of Mormon 1 (Independent Study)
4) Book of Mormon 2 (I need both to graduate from institute. Woo hoo!)
5) Pass all of my classes with a B or higher :) (Ok, so that's more of a goal than anything)
6) GRADUATE

Can you guess which one is BIG(not including graduation)!? Well if you can't... it's the Art show. We had our first meeting yesterday and it was so scary, but SO EXCITING at the same time! Prof Crawford asked us what we wanted to get out of Senior show and when we went around the room I said that I wanted to push myself and do something that will make me grow in a lot of ways. Which means that I need to be confident in my ability and to not be afraid of the unknown. Crawford told me I just need to "Jump off a cliff and fly." I think I'm going to have a running start...

Senior Art show will be in almost exactly 3 months. It will open in April and end after graduation. All I know is that I will be doing books of some kind. I also want to incorporate printmaking into it. So I have a chosen medium, I just need some inspiration! So whenever I think of something, or hear a song that becomes visual for me, I write it down. I'm starting a Senior Art journal of sorts. She wants us to write al of our thoughts about everything down. Of course I also need to sketch and such, so I need a nice large sketchbook to go with it.

The only thing about art and taking art classes is that I tend to get some of the best ideas when I'm trying to sleep. But does that really help me in regards to rest? No, not really. So I've decided that I need to buy a bedside lamp and keep my journal there or else it will take 2 hours before I fall asleep at night. I figure if it's a great idea I may as well write it all down and draw it while it's fresh in my mind.

Lately I've been up late thinking about printmaking and monotypes (which are the kind of prints we are working on at the moment). Today was our first day of work. I haven't taken printmaking since my FRESHMAN year here at SVU! So it's been about 3-4 years. I think it went fairly well. except for teh part where my fingers and hands got ink all over them! HAHA! Hence I'm seeing black. It seems like the black fingers are BACK! Honestly? I'm so excited for printmaking! I always enjoyed it (although I wasn't very good at it back then... Or at least my skills have improved since then), hence I'm makking it part of my senior show.

I know this is essentially all about art, but art is life. What can I say? Art is everywhere! It's in movies, the clothes we wear, the furniture we sit on, the books we read, the music we listen to and every sign or logo you see? Yep. that's all art. Isn't art wonderful? God really is the master artist. I don't think there's anything more beautiful than this Earth. The other day I saw the most breath-taking sunset and I just thought "Wow. God is amazing." Because He is! He is the master creator, and because of that he gives us all the ability to create :)

I would show you an example of a monotype, but I don't want to post something that's copyrighted. So I might have to add one of mine. Eventually. But for now here's a random picture of me from Christmas '09 where I'm painting a picture :) haha well, trying to anyway.