Das ist verrückt!: a post about Europe

Over Thanksgiving, my family and I traveled to Paris to spend a few days in the beautiful city. Being the renegade that I am, I planned my own solo side trip to city of Köln, to complete part of a project for my advanced drawing class as well as to see the museum of one of my all-time favorite artists, Käthe Kollwitz. Thus, I present an overview of the trip in pictures:

The first night in Paris, I got up at 5am to roam around the city (as is usual for me) when no one else was out. This picture was taken from the footbridge looking toward Notre Dame.

Next I visited the deserted Louvre, and this is one of my favorite pictures of my morning stroll.

Later in the day, I caught a picture from one of my favorite points on the footbridge over the Seine.

That evening, I met a charming Frenchman who took me to an American bookstore frequented by the likes of Kerouac and Hemingway in their heyday. I was in heaven! I especially loved their form of organization:

While I personally loved the chaos, I could feel my alphabetized bookshelves back home in the states cringing.

Over the weekend, I took the train to Köln. Upon my arrival at the Hauptbanhof, I was greeted with one of the most breathtaking churches I'd ever seen. Prior to seeing this church, my favorite was the Frauenkirche in Munich which I visited a few years back, pictured below.

The view from the Frauenkirche in Munich (I'll get to the Kölner Dom in a minute):

Those churches kind of make "majestic" Notre Dame look a little pathetic, no?

My first order of business after arriving in Köln was to make my way to the Käthe Kollwitz museum.

Some Käthe prints with matching sculpture in the foreground.

This is my personal favorite picture from Europe... my reflection in a print Käthe made for her self portrait.

View of the Christmas Market from atop the 510 stairs reaching the peak of the Kölner Dom (at one point, it was the tallest building in the world.)

Another view from the top of the Kölner Dom.

The next morning, at my usual time of 5am, I took out to explore one of Köln's bridges.

AMAZING view from the far side of the Deutzerbrücke, looking back to the Kölner Dom.

My pack of animals, acquired from the Christmas market, made appearances in many of my photos.

Later in the morning, I stopped by the Christmas market to get some traditional glühwein, which I was told not to leave Köln without trying.

View from the train station as it snowed nonstop on my way back to Paris.

The altered book I created for my advanced drawing final, made from a German copy of The Wizard of Oz.

The second piece for my advanced drawing final.

Here are some prints I made for different parts within the final. Copper etching printed with oil ink and colored with watercolor & inktense pencils:

Such a great trip. Wish I'd never left...

Macauley Culkin

Mila Kunis broke up with Macauley Culkin? Doubtful. I'm guessing she just went on vacation and forgot him. Happens all the time.

RIP Harold

So.

I have a fabulous studio space that I absolutely adore. However, over the past few weeks I haven't spent much time here, as I've been in Europe and Hawaii (poor me, I know). STILL, before I left on my adventures I was in school and spending approximately 24 hours per day here and I met an adorable little mouse dubbed by me and my studio friends as "Harold." Upon my return, I found a RUDE note about mousetraps and blah blah blah. I have never had a particularly warm friendship with the people in the offices near my studio (though 3rd floor, I ADORE YOU!) and this was kind of the last straw.

I mean... HAROLD!!! He's one little mouse. I hate my studio mates, and I plan on making him his own home here. I love all animals, and I refuse to discriminate against this little gray furball, despite the fact that he eats holes in my canvases. Minor details.

However, I do wonder what the "maintenance" team thought about my workspace when they came to set their "mousetraps" in my space. Did they pause at the wine bottle on my window sill? Did they laugh at the plethora of images and messages on my wall? Did they shake their heads in disgust at the immaturity of which I run my life? As if I fuckin' care.

So, studio-mates, 3rd floor friends, and stalkers, I plan on keeping this studio as long as I can gaze out into the night, chainsmoke alone and practice my piano-playing, and I hope to drive out the person who is trying to drive me out. Have you met me? Good luck.

words of wisdom.

"When you lose, you have to get better.

When you win, you have to get better to win again."

-- Rich Fellers

the letter "S"

As a slightly obsessive logophile and grammar junky, I spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating and studying spelling, usage and pronunciation of different words as well as the fascinating technicalities and implications of language; the overwhelming (and incredibly disturbing) movement to "text language" has only deepened my passion for vocabulary and sentence structure.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about the letter "S," and I've come to the conclusion that "S" is an under appreciated yet incredibly rad member of the alphabet. So much excellence begins with the letter "S."

Think about it: show jumping, swearing, skiing, seahorses, streaking, spandex, semicolons, stripes, slip 'n slides, shopping, skipping, sabotage, synchronized swimming, sinning, sweeping, surfing, salaciousness, sphinxes, singing in the shower, seagulls, sulking, solitaire, sciaphobia, sparkles, sharks, sciolism, scrabble, seismographs, sangria, semantics, silk-screening, sea serpents, swing sets, shimmying, sandwiches, stilts, spectroheliokinematographs, stealing street signs, scuba diving, stomping, suede, superstitions, silliness... I could go on and on. Some of these things are my own interests, but most of them are just fun to say out loud.

One of my favorite non-word words of all time also begins with the letter "S," and I can't say it without smiling (another excellent "S"). Seriously. Try saying "supercalifragilisticexpealidocious" (ˌsuːpərˌkælɪˌfrædʒəlˌɪstɪkˌɛkspiːˌælɪˈdoʊʃəs) without chuckling a little... it's not possible.

I recommend saying it out loud when you're having a bad day.

You're welcome.

Jet Set

hello, goodbye.

I’m baaaaaaaaack! …well, for now. Seeing as I am taking yet another hiatus from the realms of higher education, I thought I might attempt to chronicle my adventures as amateur author, awkward fashionista, “artist,” and obsessively competitive horseback rider, as I lead a pretty ridiculous life at times-- if you enjoy entertaining yet somewhat nonsensical stories and vignettes, this blog may be right up your alley. As for me personally, I'm easily amused, extremely awkward, undeniably stubborn, and am known for my irreverently dry sense of humor and mercurial temperament. A real gem, I know.

Anyway.

As of now, I like riding horses, making art, dressing according to mood and doing the crossword puzzle. I''m incredibly superstitious. It should also be noted that I am a ridiculous person, and I do not take anything I do or say seriously (and you shouldn't either).

I don't know where this will go. I hope to pen some of my adventures, thoughts, dreams... and who knows what else? Those three things alone could lead anywhere...