Why is it so hard to get a haircut around here?

Haircut
My hair was getting really really bad. With two weeks left to go until I returned to Saint Louis, I had quite the dilemma. Do I wait until I get back to STL and my favorite hair stylist, Callie? Do I fork over the big bucks for a fancy, but still probably crappy haircut? Or do I just go somewhere cheap and get a probably crappy, but potentially decent haircut? Since my 9 months of unemployment has left me with empty pockets, I opted for the latter. Last Wednesday, I ended up at the Urban Academy beauty school on Central for a cheap haircut. My stylist-in-training did a good job, although it took about an hour and a half to get the job done.



I normally have my hair cut much shorter, but this seems to be a tall order around here. When I say "short" I mean less than a half inch rather than an inch. (Compare this "haircut" to the lovely short cut in my profile picture on the right.) Overall though, she did better than the last person here in ABQ. I'm still looking forward to my return to STL and my regular stylist. It's nice to be able to walk into a place and just say, "the usual" with no questions asked and have it done in less than a half hour (including three trips to the shampoo sink).

Final Critique
Last week was pretty busy in the shop. Everyone was trying to get done for our last critique, which was today. I was working with Neal Ambrose Smith. The print was three runs, one on stone and two on plates. He started with this image on the stone.



Then on the subsequent plates he added some more drawing and then xerox transfers with text and clip art. Originally he wanted to do some sort of RGB color layering, but the drawing wasn't really working for that effect. We ended up with a watermelon, a golden yellow, and an eggplant color. Here you can see the red and yellow together, and then the purple layer on top to the left.



After I finished the three run edition, Neal decided to add in another layer to finish it off. I don't have a picture handy, but the final version has a red ochre flat that pushes the landscape back and pulls the figures forward. It turned out nice.

Here I am pulling my final official print at Tamarind (I still have a few personal projects to finish up):



Sunday evening I helped Patrick finish his print which was a small simple CMYK on some crazy paper. He was also happy to be finished:



Isotopes
Yesterday we hit a mid-day matinee baseball game at Isotopes Park. The weather was almost perfect, except that we weren't able to escape that oppressive Albuquerque sun. Patrick got a giant hot dog which was double in size by all the toppings he added.





Patrick was determined to get a foul ball... even if it meant digging behind the rolled up tarp pushed against the wall. So happy!

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A Fancy Weekend

Sorry folks. My wireless has been slooooooow this past week. I was lucky to just check email and celebrity gossip... updating this blog with pictures was pushing it.

Less than one week to go until our final critique. I'm not quite in panic mode yet, but I'm also not nearly finished with this last project (so maybe I should be). It's been pretty strange at Tamarind. I've been struggling with senioritis. I'm so ready to get out of here, but I have nowhere to go yet.

All Fresh and Organic
Thanks mostly to Valpuri, we have a lovely show up in the Tamarind Gallery. Usually the student exhibit showcases the work of the collaborative artists, but our show is just the work of the printers. I had two sad-faced prints in the show. (3 Color Litho with Beeswax.)



Here we are showing our good sides at the opening on Friday (Mick somehow escaped this shot):


And here are our bad sides, with Rodney:



Albuquerque BioPark
On Sunday, Yuli, Ana and I went to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium. The aquarium was small but nice. Our favorite part was the jellyfish section, although it made Ana a little motion sick.



They also had a big shark/ray tank.



We got there at feeding time and got to see the giant rays completely surround the diver. It was crazy.



After that, it was on to the botanical gardens. Alex and I had been speculating about what a botanical garden in New Mexico would be like. We imagined it being brown and full of succulents, but it was actually kind of nice. It was like stepping into another world. I wish I'd visited the place earlier on during my stay here in ABQ.

The first stop was the enchanted children's garden, where Ana felt right at home among very large things:



Sometimes Ana felt out of place under very short things:



The green-ness made Yuli miss Colombia:



And it made me excited to go back to Missouri:



La La La... so many plants and trees:



Somebody got overly-excited about the prospect of entering a humid greenhouse:



Amanda next to flowers with incredibly large hair (FYI: I got it cut today):



There was this weird part of the botanical gardens that had a farm and animals and vegetable gardens:





Overall, a very fancy weekend.

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Second Year Results

It has been more than a week now since we learned who the lucky ONE was that would get to stay for the second year. Here's how the day went down:

We started our day with an 8:15 breakfast business meeting at Frontier. Since pretty much everybody was feeling like throwing up from stress, I was a little surprised that this decision was made. But sometimes the urge for pancakes is stronger than the urge to puke. These people seem to be having an okay time:



Celina was convinced that Rodney had actually used a half a bottle of syrup:



Here's the proof (everyone had their own syrup, and they supposedly started out full):



Rodney asked everyone if they wanted their letters right then and seemed surprised when the majority said "YES!!! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!" There were a few others who had artists coming in, so Rodney stuck to the 11:45am time that had been previously decided upon.

I was stuck sponging all morning and couldn't help but look at the clock every two seconds. There was lots of craziness going on in the student area and I felt a little left out. Thankfully, Mick came running through every 15 minutes with a countdown... "Only 55 more minutes until we open letters!!!"

When the time finally came, Brandon let me join the others in the library.



Marge came in briefly to apologize again for only being able to take one and reminded everyone that she would do whatever she could to help the losers find jobs. Then she ran out before she started crying.



Rodney slowly passed out the letters. I got a letter, but knew it was just a "Thanks for your hard work..." so I took the opportunity to take pictures of people's reactions.



And the next thing I know Mick starts screaming. And then Celina starts screaming. And Valpuri is confused because she thinks Mick and Celina have both made it into the second year. But then she opens her letter and makes this face.



And says, "Filip is going to KILL ME!!!"



Of course, everyone was very happy for Valpuri:



And if gave us all excuses to give her kisses:



Congratulations Valpuri!

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Go Cards!

The Cardinals face the Brewers 5 times in 8 games and you can imagine how rowdy this makes me and Patrick. St. Louis took the first game last night, 6-1. I love this picture from the game (taken by Chris Lee of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch):

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Interwebs

I've been without internet since Monday night which is quite unsettling.

Also unsettling is the roach that visited me on my pillow while I was sleeping Monday night.

I'm ready to come home.

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You're My Popsicle!!!

Okay... who's going with me to the New Kids on the Block reunion show? I am so excited!

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Hoo-Reyes

Seriously, am I the only one who thinks Anthony Reyes is hot?
I just hope he doesn't get traded before I get back to Saint Louis.



[CHUCK-E-CHEESE UPDATE: Cardinals 2-1, Brewers 2-1]

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