Tuesday, May 19, 2009

beagles and summer


These are my family's one-year-old beagle puppies. They are a joy, even though they're a handful. They make me feel special by getting really excited whenever I get home, even if I have only been gone an hour or two.

So far this summer...

1. I started my internship. I've been putting in a lot of hours. I have a lot left to go. I am learning things about being a professional photographer, and putting lots of other skills to the test.

2. I've been unpacking. I have an apartment's worth of gadgets (the only thing I lack is furniture) and whatnot. Making it all fit into a 120-square-foot room is challenging. I haven't been giving it enough attention, so I need to work on that.

3. I volunteered. I volunteered at the Arts Center last weekend, which was a really good opportunity and fun. I hope to be able to do so at least a few more times over the summer. I helped kids do a craft (make an origami boat and decorate it) before they saw a play related to what they made (Wind in the Willows).

4. I hung out with some of my best friends. Casey volunteered with me at the Arts Center, and we also got coffee. Callie and I got coffee too before she headed up to Michigan for her new job! Congrats, friend, you deserve it. I will miss you, however. Visits with both of them were definitely highlights of my week last week!

5. I've been making things. I've been making lots of clay necklaces for future craft sales this summer. I also tried out a feature on Etsy called Alchemy, where people request things they need and you can make a "bid" to make them. I had two of my bids accepted and am now in the process of designing a save-the-date card and a birthday invitation! It's interesting work.

6. I've also been doing other art-related things like researching and entering photography from my portfolio into various shows and publications. I hope to hear at least one yes or two this summer! It's hard work finding a lot of things to enter (especially student-budget friendly) but definitely worth the happiness of getting just one acceptance letter in the mail and the chance to put that on my artist resume. I'll be starting work on my final senior photography project (which will be exhibited in my university's fine art gallery in December) shortly. The proposal has been approved and I know what I am doing, I just have to get started. The earlier, the better.

2 comments:

Amanda said...

So fun! I played around with alchemy a bit. I miss doing Etsy sometimes, but in this season of life, it is just so hard to make time for it! I STILL need to hem my new skirts! I would love to come see your senior project in December. That would be way cool.

Kristen said...

I would like to use the feature more, but I literally spent several hours writing up over a dozen bids and only won two! It's kind of worth it because I got two neat, creative jobs out of it, but I see how I could've easily gotten nothing and wasted all that time.

I'm pretty stressed out between recovering from this past school year (it was just a straining year academically, in all other aspects it was great!) and being an intern, so I doubt I will try to get a job on my days off (Tu and Th) any time soon like I originally planned. So, I am trying to alchemy thing, along with selling arts and crafts in various ways...more sidewalk sales, the farmer's market in the Rivermarket (tried to go last weekend but it stormed), etc. I'm just hoping to at least cover spending money for summer and maybe a little extra, because I'm trying to save up for whatever future plans come my way once I graduate! Living at home while interning is helping me in that respect though. My parents are great.

I hope you post pictures of your skirts when you finish them! I love seeing what everyone else is making.

And thank you so much! I will definitely send you an invitation. My project is going to be a series of self-portraits which will be recreations of twenty old family photographs---10 of me when I was a kid, and 10 of my mom when she was in her 20's. My current self will be the new subject in all of the recreations. It is supposed to stand for the in between place I'm currently finding myself in, somewhere halfway between who I was as a child and who I am growing up to be, and on another level represents how we carry pieces of our former selves and our parents with us, always. I'm so anxious to get started!

Well, I've written a book on here! :) Thanks for your comments, as always!! I look forward to them.