Final Painting

This is my final for my Painting class.

Coming to a close (and how the art program does finals)

We are nearing the end of the semester and our stay in Alpine. Friday (tomorrow) is Mark's last final. I finished my last about 20 minutes ago. We are very excited to be done with this semester. Mark's classes have been very hard and draining. Mark is really looking forward to being able to relax again. And he deserves it; he has worked very hard and been extremely busy. 13 hour days on campus 2-3 times a week is not a schedule we would like to repeat. My classes were not nearly as busy as Mark's, and one bonus of the art program is a lot less homework than the Chemical Engineers- and no real final exams. I often get asked how the art program gives finals so I will explain.
For studio classes, the final usually consists of a portfolio and critique. Some teachers have us turn in actual work, others have us make a CD with images of our work (some have us do both). Usually, there is a final project that gets a lot of attention. In some classes, the final project is considered the final. Other teachers have us assemble our best work to turn in at the final. And some teachers give a short written exam.
This year, I had 4 studio classes: Ceramics, Sculpture, Watercolor, and Painting (oil). For ceramics, our final consisted of a very short written final on vocabulary and process. After the written part, we had a critique of our final piece. (which had to be finished the week before so it could be fired). The previous assignments were graded on their earlier due dates. Sculpture was only a critique. This critique however, was to show all of our work. We had three projects during the block, working almost simultaneously, and they were all graded at the final critique. Watercolor was similar to sculpture. We had to complete 18 paintings (two paintings for each of 4 in-class assignments and 10 out of class assignments) over the block and show all 18 at the final critique, however, then we selected our best 9 (half of each assignment) to be graded. For painting, we had lots of little assignments that didn't get graded at all. For our final, we completed one painting and turned it in, along with a CD with images of our final painting and the painting we did for the midterm (my midterm painting was For Sheralie). Pretty much, each class grades a little differently depending on the teacher, but there is almost always food at the end. I'll post some images of my final projects as soon as I can find my pictures- I've had some computer trouble and had to reformat. Sorry this is so long.

St. George Adventures

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George, Utah with the Beesleys and the Jolleys. We had a great time at the condo. Swimming, playing music together (we had a full orchestra: Daniel on bass, Davis on cello, Kat on viola, and my mom and I on the violin. Sarah and my dad played piano). Friday we went golfing. It was the first time Mark had gone on a course and the second I think for me. Sarah and David played with us- best ball. It was much better that way. Mark barely won with 30 best balls, with David close behind and 29. Sarah and I were somewhere behind them.
Mark got par on this hole- to clarify since we were playing best ball, Mark was best ball each stroke.
Sarah and her beautiful ball. My best hit of the day was a sweet 20ft putt.
We also saw Twilight. Bad acting but it was still kinda fun. I was disappointed by the choice of actors especially Edward but Emmitt was well cast and he was always my favorite anyway. Big difference between low budget and higher budget films. Maybe the next one will be better. I am looking forward to the 6th Harry Potter next summer- I do wonder that they start previews so early, it is not like people won't be excited about it, It is Harry Potter!
It was really fun to see the Jolley's. Luke didn't really remember us...
But we still had fun. Hope to see them again soon.

For Sheralie

During the summer Sheralie and I went to the Phillips Gallery in D.C. This experience helped to inspire this painting that I just recently completed and is currently part of a show at BYU. It is titled "For Sheralie". You can't tell very well from the picture but the painting is 36" square- painted on half of a door- a flat door. The show will be up for another two weeks if anyone is in Provo.

To Texas

Mark has accepted his offer with ExxonMobil to do another Co-op in Baytown, Texas. Baytown is just east of Houston and we are looking forward to being close to Charlie, Ann and Steve. We will leave Utah around Jan 1 and stay until April 15. Mark will be working at the refinery and doesn't know exactly what he will be doing (should find out in December). I will be painting and taking some on-line courses. We are also really stoked about our trip to Israel that we have planned for the end of April. We will be in Jerusalem for a week before we come back to start spring term classes. We are very excited.

Tortillas Tortillas para mi

I finally took some pictures of the tortilla process- well actually one picture. We are working on fine tuning the amount of oil and flour that we put in but they are still really good and kinda fun. Also, here is another picture of the hair cut. Hopefully less creepy.

Something new

This weekend has been rather different from the past weekends. We both have exciting news. Mark spent the weekend in Dallas attending a recruiting event for Celanese. Between flights and dinners and interviews, he was glad to spend some time playing with Charlotte, Christina and H. Sometime very early this morning, Mark got an offer from them to work full-time in Calvert City, Kentucky. Calvert City is a tiny town (2,500 people) in western Kentucky. So now we are deciding whether to accept Celanese or Exxon (leaning towards Exxon). So while Mark was off, I spent the weekend with my family and my old roommates...and my exciting news...I got a haircut. I cut 6-7 inches off. It seems and feels really short now but it still comes down well below my shoulder. Sorry i don't have a better picture yet.

Painting 101

Mark and I finally decided to start our own blog. After reading everybody else's figured we should. So to catch everyone up to speed: school seems to be the biggest strain on our time. Mark's classes are hard and very time-consuming. My classes aren't so bad. The first block ended last week and with it I finished my Ceramics class and my sculpture class, both of which I quite enjoyed. The new block brings with it Watercolor and a digital technology class. We both still have our jobs for BYU. Starting last week, we became primary teachers! We have a class of 7 nine year-olds but it seems like a lot more. They are pretty good kids but very chatty and excitable. The primary program is coming up in a few weeks so that makes lessons much easier and shorter. Today we had some adventures which were really enjoyable. We broke out the flatbread maker from our wedding and made our own tortillas. A little practice was necessary but they were pretty fun and quite easy once we got the hang of it. We also spent about an hour out in the garage painting. It was Mark's first time oil painting and he did a great job. It was really fun for both of us. Here are the products of our labors.