Hi all, sorry we've been missing for a few days but it's been a busy week catching up and yesterday I had a particularly bad day that got me down. My painting isn't coming out right (and as Bill said I'm starting a new one today, in the 11 1/2th hour) and I didn't do as well as I expected on my Gender Issues exam, B-, so I was pretty down yesterday. Luckily the teacher's grading, in the European style, is more about improvement than mathematical percentages, so if I do much better on my next exam I can still pull off a good grade in the class, and the B- will count for less. It just stunk because I'm basically pulling all A's in every other class and I was really hoping for a 4.0 this semester.
Anyway, enough about that. My birthday was really great. Il Latini, where Bill took me for dinner, was a nice surprise in that it wasn't what we expected, but also a lot of fun. That is, it wasn't a romantic sit down dinner like we thought, but the family-style table of 8 (we were in the middle) was entertaining and we met some nice folks to chat with. The food was really delicious, and the two women we ate with at our table were very nice and somewhere out there in the world we're in a photo album with them (they want pictures of all the people they meet while over here). After that (and some really delicious after-dinner sweet champagne), we went out to the bar with friends and played foosball all night. Fedele (a friend of ours) and I kicked butt against our competitors.
This weekend is going to be a busy one. We have a long weekend for the holiday and we have some trips planned but basically every moment I'm not out with Bill somewhere I'll be painting away furiously at my self-portrait. I feel a little silly doing a self-portrait but I'm just going to pretend it's not me. Our next two paintings sound both fun and intimidating. We're doing one-sitting architecture paintings, as in we go out and we make a whole painting, start to finish, in 3 hours of some architectural piece. After two of those is our final project, which really sounds like a lot of fun.
It's called trompe l'oiel, or "trick of the eye", and basically we make a collage of objects (in real life) and then paint them as realistically as possible so that it looks like those objects are real instead of painted. The best example of it I can think of is when you might see bookshelves that aren't really bookshelves, but rather paintings of bookshelves that are so real you have to look twice. Or for those of you who have been to Florence, like the fresco ceilings that are painted to look like "marble" engravings, but are actually paintings. Like that.
Anyway, enough out of me, time for caffe. See you all soon :)
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4 comments:
Hi Babygirl! Thanks so much for writing. As I just told Bill, we've all been so spoiled with your wonderful posts that it's hard to go more than a little while without hearing something new from you. Don't worry about the mid-term in G.I. You've got plenty of time to pull it up to where you want it. Congratulations on all those other A's. That's great!
Your birthday dinner sounds like it was a lot of fun. How great is it that you got to celebrate such a special occassion in Florence! Good for you that you won the foosball games. I know, Bill. I know... You just 'let' her win because it was her birthday, huh? ;-)
Good luck with your self-portrait, Jess. I might have thought that would be harder than copying an existing work, but then again, maybe not for someone with talent. You have a good eye, I'm sure it will be great; can't wait to see it. (Pictures, please...)
Sounds like you have a busy Easter Weekend planned. Should be a lot of fun though. I hope you have the chance to get to Venice. Sounds so cool. (Lots of pics, please...) Hmm, am I repeating myself? I don't care -- Lots of pics, please!
Love you so much Jess. Mom and I are so proud of you and what you have accomplished. Enjoy your Holiday weekend and study hard. Write again soon if you can.
Love,
Daddy
No, she is honestly the best foosball player of all time.
She's got a laser beam shot!
Hi honey,
Don't worry about the grade. Do your best and that is all anyone can expect of you (including yourself).
I love you and am extremely proud of you.
Self-portrait sounds hard. Are you doing it with a mirror for that angled effect you talked to us about when we were there? Or are you doing it by a picture?
Congratulations are kicking butt...nothing competitive about you baby!
Tons of love from your very loving family. I am going to read Bill's blog now so look for more comments there.
Thank you for my fix.
Love,
Mom
Hey, guys!
Sorry to hear that you have had a hard week but at least it's almost easter so you can see giant flaming birds right?
I am sure that you were just being too picky about the painting but I hope that you like your new painting better anyway.
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