Truly Spring!

Hi everyone,
I hope you had/are having a wonderful easter weekend. It is beautiful here. The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming, and the sun is shining.
I am sitting on my back step eating coffee Haagen Dazs and watching the cats prowl through the garden.

My Morning Walk

Just a few shots from my route to school.

Sunrise

I dislike having to wake up when it's still dark out but getting to see this almost makes up for it.

A Stocked Pantry

My side of the pantry probably looking the best it has since I got here. Thought I'd post some photos because it won't last too long.

The fridge is also well stocked. I have the right half of the top shelf and the whole second shelf.

My breakfast of granola, honey nut cheerios, banana, liberty yoghurt, and milk. With Lou looking on hopefully.

Peekaboo

Back in Halifax

I have survived my first week back on the east coast. I never really had the chance to be jet lagged because I had early morning classes the first three days I was back. I am missing home, though.
My classes are Drawing 2, Film, Intro to Visual Culture, and Video.
My teacher for drawing is nice. He is laid back and has a good sense of humor and his voice sounds just like Christopher Lee's.
My Film teacher is quite the character. His name is Sobaz and he is very vibrant and likes to talk a lot. He seems very passionate and is a writer and documentary filmmaker. The course seems to be mostly focused on film theory and criticism with some script writing thrown in but our teacher said we will be making a short film even though that's not in the course description. He wants us to have fun.
Intro to Visual Culture is going to be a lot of work. For those of you who were wondering exactly what it is, here is the definition they gave us: This course focuses on how visual images and objects function within various cultural contexts. The production and reception of visual material are examined within historical and social contexts.
So there you go, crystal clear now. The class is held in the Bell Auditorium and consists of lectures, tutorials, and guest speakers. We have to do various research projects and a presentation.
Video is my favourite class right now (we'll see how film goes). It is where we learn all the technical stuff about cameras, lighting, sound, editing, bluescreen and greenscreen, colour correction, and probably more things that I'm forgetting. Our teacher also seems to be throwing in information about the psychology of video as well. About how viewers react to it such as willing suspension of disbelief and assuming that since one shot follows the other it is caused by the other. I hope she talks more about these things because I find them fascinating and useful to know.
Last semester I had most of my classes at the Port Campus which is my least favourite but this semester I have only one class there, two at the Granville Campus which is my favourite, and one at the Academy Building which is the purely film campus.
This semester is shaping up to be just as much work as the last one but this time the classes are ones I am very interested in. Hopefully that will make it better.

A White Surprise

This is what I woke up to this morning.

Stormy Morning

It was very windy and rainy this morning. Knocked over our big canvas umbrella in the back yard.

Of course, by the afternoon there was not a cloud in the sky and it was lovely and warm.

I also finished my final Studio Practice project today. Tomorrow is the last class.

These are terrible photos. We don't seem to have good lighting for taking photos at night in this house.

I'll try to take some better photos in the daylight.

Public Gardens

Thanksgiving

It is a beautiful day here but definitely fall.
It was nice to have a four day weekend because it meant I didn't have to dedicate the entire weekend to homework. Not that I did a lot with the extra time. Watched lots of movies as usual.
Well, no turkey dinner for me tonight. I was craving soup so I made a pot of it and I am perfectly happy to have that for my thanksgiving dinner with Jenn. Maybe she will make something to go with it.
Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Lou

She actually will sleep like this. I always wanted a cat that would ride on my shoulders.

Slow Motion

Hi Everyone,

I feel like ranting so you all get to hear about my day.

Photography was really good. It is a much more complicated process to develop film than I thought. Somehow I thought the complicated part would be printing(maybe it is, we haven't done that yet). There are so many different washes and stages and finicky temperatures and no light allowed and whatnot. It was really hard learning how to wind the film onto the spools. It isn't that difficult of a task, a bit tricky, but we had to get good enough at it that we could do it in the dark. We split up into groups of four to develop and I think my film turned out really well. Some people had big chunks where there wasn't anything on it but I only lost the first couple photos that I knew I would lose when we had to open the camera because the film wasn't loaded properly. I have to shoot another roll of film and develop it on my own before next class so we'll see how that goes.

My group was done early so I went downstairs to the art supply store and spent a fortune on photopaper and film and a big pad of newsprint for drawing class. Photography is such an expensive class! But very rewarding.

My next class was studio practice which is where my rant comes in. Instead of regular class we joined a workshop by a visiting artist. He does walking art. It is way too out there for me. We walked up to the Public Gardens (on the way I talked with a Korean boy named Daniel who is in all of my classes and is really nice). When we got there we began this walk. The Public Gardens aren't huge, just one city block. We didn't even enter the gardens, we stayed on the sidewalk. The idea was to take fifteen minutes to walk each side, no talking, just walking incredibly slowly. It was fun at first because there was a huge group of us moving down the sidewalk in slow motion and everyone was staring at us and asking us what was going on but we couldn't talk. But an hour is an incredibly long time to spend walking around one block. And we were supposed to do three of these in three different places. So after that one off we headed to a small block right downtown. This time we went in single file so that we were surrounding the entire block and we went incredibly slowly because we were spending the same amount of time on a block half or a quarter of the size. This time it was torture. Nobody was enjoying it, everyone was getting cold. It was terrible. And then it finishes and we head off to the next one. But there was no way I was going to do that again so I was relieved when my teacher said she couldn't stay for it and didn't expect us to. I am now incredibly sore, incredibly tired, and a bit confused as to what we just did and why.

So what crazy things did you guys do today?

My New Favourite Cup

I was sad to leave my favourite mug at home when I left but it has been temporarily replaced.

Jenn made this mug and I really like it. She said that it was an accident that it got that shape but that's what I like about it.

This is our small and humble kitchen.

All My Classes

Hi everyone, sorry for the long silence on my end. Busy, busy, busy!

So now I have had all of my classes at least once so I know what I'm in for. My favourites are drawing and photography. Intro to Studio Practice is so so and Writing for the arts is lagging way behind. Essays! Papers! That's not what I'm at art school for. I am sure it is good for me but I have been slaving over a "Description as Argument" paper on Rembrandt's The Philosopher in Meditation so I am not feeling particularly fond of that class. I was having fun with it until I realized just how long it was supposed to be and have been spending hours trying to flesh out my ideas.

This is the painting (my choice).

The amount of homework is appalling. I understand now why I only have classes three days a week. I need all the free time I can get to have everything done on time.

My room is looking much less orderly now with supplies and papers all over. And I now have a large easel which I am borrowing from our neighbor.

You can see my NSCAD bag in the corner there.

The bag had my foundation kit in it. I quite like it despite the fact that everyone has it and it's not waterproof (I discovered this in the absolute downpour on my way to class yesterday). It had a variety of basic art supplies in it. Not nearly all that we need but it's a start.

I'll try to be more regular with this but it ain't easy. I also don't like posting unless I have some sort of photo to go with it.

First Day of Classes!

My first class was photography at 8:30 this morning. This is the kind of camera that we will be using. We will only be doing film and only black and white. Our teacher will give us different assignments every week but we always have to shoot a roll of film a week as homework. They supply the cameras but you can only take them out for 24 hours at a time. Lucky for me, Jenn has this exact camera but with a wide angle lens so I won't have to sign them out. Just today because we did it as part of the class. My teacher is very nice and she was saying that she likes to cram all the information into the first few classes so we have the most time we can doing the practical part (being in the darkroom). She did a whole lecture today on the basics of the camera. It's really good because she is teaching as if none of us has ever seen a camera before.

My next class was Intro to Studio Practice. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much but it has potential. We did a few projects and the teacher(perhaps I should be calling them professors) gave us homework. The biggest homework is just gathering all the things we need to bring to next class.
She did a slideshow and before she started, she asked if anyone knew the artist... I was assuming I wouldn't because I don't really know very many but then she said... Andy Goldsworthy. And I was shocked to see that nobody else knew who he was. I had seen all the images that she showed us but I am hoping we will be using him as the inspiration for a project.
She let us out 2 hours early today (normally a 4 hour class) so I went and bought film and then made the long trek home (it's not so long but when I'm tired I swear it doubles).

I don't have any more classes until monday. So I have lots of time to get my homework done.

Today I made the discovery that every single one of my teachers this semester is female. I was surprised by that but it will probably change next semester.

Here are a couple more shots of Halifax.

The Port Campus, where the majority of my classes are, is right beside that big cruise ship. And that is the boardwalk that runs all along the waterfront.

The Graveyard Chipmunk

Today I walked over to Rogers to try and get a phone plan. Turns out that my cell isn't compatible so I'm not sure what to do now. Buy a new cell or get a landline or something else I haven't thought of yet.

On the way there I was stopped by a policeman on his motorcycle along with a group of grade 9 girls and he proceeded to explain to us how to cross the street properly. Apparently you are supposed to put your arm out in front of you to let cars know you want to cross. Have you ever seen anyone do that? I haven't. I was glad I didn't have to cross the street in front of him because I would feel ridiculous doing that.

I walked through the public gardens on my way home. It is really beautiful. A bit like Beacon Hill but small.

The graveyard is right beside it so I meandered through there. I was delighted to find chipmunks there. They are so funny. And so fast!

My New Home

Lou made herself right at home as soon as I started unpacking. Cleo is the white one and he was a little bit more shy but I managed to coax him up onto my bed to say hi.

It didn't take me long to get unpacked. My room is huge! A drastic change from not even having my own room. And my room before that was pretty small.

I really like it though, from the yellow walls, to the glow in the dark stars and giant moon on the ceiling, to the large walk-in closet. There are more drawers and shelves than I have stuff for!

Jenn is really nice too. We stayed up drinking tea and talking. About our pets mostly. We seem to share a passion for them.

Tomorrow I will get up and go grocery shopping. Then I think I'll just hang around my new home, maybe explore the neighborhood.

Here are a couple more photos of Halifax. One of the Navy ships, and there are three submarines beside it but you can't tell in this photo.

Halifax, Nova Scotia

I'm here! I haven't been here long but I already really like Halifax. It is small but alive.

It has a lot of similarities to Victoria being a harbor city. The downtown also reminds me a little bit of San Francisco because it is on a steep slope.

This is the clock tower. You can hear it chiming on the hour. Apparently a gun fires at noon in the fort(where I took these photos from) but I haven't heard that yet.

The energy is a bit different from Victoria, however, as it is very much a university town rather than a retirement one. Dalhousie campuses and residences seem to be everywhere.

This image shows one of the two bridges from Halifax to Dartmouth, and apparently there is a bit of rivalry between the two cities.

I have found an apartment on Shirley St. which is a twenty minute walk to NSCAD(right downtown). Shirley runs parallel to Quinpool which is a main street that looked interesting when we drove past it. I look forward to checking that out. I haven't moved in yet so photos of my room and the place are yet to come.