Beginning Theatricum 2008

Yesterday (july 7th) was the first day of the High School Intensive Program at Theatricum Botanicum. When I woke up, excitement rushed through my veins. Me and My would be carpooling with another girl, Mallin, who I had never met and I was anxious to meet her. It turned out she extremely nice. We were the first ones to camp. We entered the main theater, turned in our paperwork and waited for everyone else to arrive. I didn't recognize anyone except a guy named Mark who I worked with a couple years ago. Then I saw Corinne. She had been in 5 out the 6 plays I did in the youth program. It's really great to have her there! Once Ventana arrived, Theatricum had truly started once again. The day went very very good. We played tons of games, did improv. I did a skit a really fun skit where I was in a kitchen with my husband and there was an omelet on the floor. We started doing the skit then someone would call out an emotion for either me or him and mid-sentence we would have to assume that emotion and make it fit with the scene. It was really fun! Everyone is extremely nice and I feel like and I have something to talk about with all of them.

This year we'll each be doing a scene with a partner and a monolog on our own. I received the part of Viola for my monolog (from the play Twelfth Night) the speech is called "the Ring Speech" and it is a really good one. In my scene I play Miranda from the Tempest with this guy named Max. I am really happy with my character, but annoyed about having Max as my partner because he is a little weird to be perfectly honest. I'm sure it will work out for the best though!

Anyways, I had a really great first day, and I'm sure the rest will be just as good!

Today (july 9th) was my second day. It was also a lot of fun, but it was extremely hot. This was made even worse because we were in a dusty lot doing Elizabethan dancing. It was unbearable at some times, but I lived through it! We had two new people join our group today. Now we have a group of 23 people. It was another fun day, we played more games, drew pictures of our voice and learned a ton about Elizabethan life! We also got to play Scorpion, a game which I used to dislike, but I now enjoy. In the game you divid up into two groups one in a circle on the outside and the rest in the middle. All the people it the middle close their eyes and a "scorpion" is chosen. All the insiders move around the circle, if the scorpion touches anyone they must make a buzzing sound and that person joins the "wall" (outside circle). It was really really exciting! I look forward to Friday when we'll play more games and I'll get to see all of my new friends again!

Drawing of the Day: Girl's Face

On one early summer's day, I decided to do a drawing that was a little different from what I had been doing at the time. I had grown into a habit of drawing very small noses on my people and I wanted to do something new. I wanted to do a face, a girls face, with blue eyes. I pulled out my yearbook and looked at some of the Twelfth graders that I thought were really pretty. I drew and managed to do a nose that was almost normally sized. It turned out really nice for a simple face which is what I wanted to do. I don't really have a name for her. I mean she isn't really anyone in particular, just a face from my head and a colorful yearbook.

Drawing of the Day: Twilight

After reading the book Twilight, the story buzzed around the inside of my head for days. I was so captivated with it, I had to do something, so why not draw a picture? I decided I wanted to draw Edward, the second main character in the story. Before I go on, I should probably tell you a few things about Edward. First of all he's flawless, he walks so gracefully it looks like he's gliding. The question was, how do you draw a perfect person? Do I draw from my head or look at scrap. I looked through the yearbook, but no one was quite right. I decided to compromise, I pulled up some pictures of good-looking actors as some reference, and then I drew from my head. It was hard. I wanted to do the character justice, yet not spend my whole week slaving away at it. I finally finished the sketch, then I went to color. In the story, Edward is so pale he's pretty much white, with perfect bronze hair. This should be fun. I pulled my bronze, gold, red and orange pencils out and I went to work. It took me an hour or two to complete it, but once I did, I was extremely happy with the result. He wasn't perfect, but he was good enough for me. One day soon I'll do the rest of the characters, then I'll have a series of drawings that I love, inspired my a series which I adore just as much.

Drawing of the Day: Pendragon

I recently finished the ninth Pendragon book, Raven Rise. It was a really really good book and I never wanted to put it down. I'd read in the car ride to school then have to put it away once we reached school. On one occasion, while we were watching slides of art in Main Lesion, I found my hand reaching for my bag and pulling out my book. I hid it under the desk and read away. During another Main Lesion when I felt that it would not be a good time to read, I starting drawing the major characters of the book. It took me three days to complete, then I went home and did it in color. It turned out just the way I wanted. Everyone looked how I imagined them and it was in all a lovely piece. The order is Courtney Chetwynde, Mark Dimond, Patrick Mac. Then on the next row Telleo, Bobby Pendragon, Alder. And on the bottom row Neeva Winter, Saint Dane, and Naymeer. I decided it to it in a pattern the girls in the left column the major character from that territory in the center and the traveler who was there to help that person. It's not completely accurate, but that's okay. I think it looks right and thats what matters. I have to wait a year till the next Pendragon comes out. Until then I'll be early re-reading all the books to freshen my memory so that when the adventure of the travelers continues, I'll be ready.

Hobey-ho!

Drawing of the Day: Delia

I did this drawing about the same time I did Adelaide. Her name is Delia. She is another major character in my story. She and Adelaide are the best of friends, they've grown up together in the countryside of England. Delia is the kind of girl who always has a plan. She is friendly, cheerful, and smart. Yet Delia fears change above all else. She fears the days when she and Adelaide will not be together, when they are grown and have moved away from the green countryside. That is what she strives to protect, her happy country life, by any means possible. In fact, Delia may be the reason that this story came into being. I was watching the trailer to Atonement on a day in last December. I watched as the character, that I learned was called Briony, ran through green grass towards a country estate. As she ripped open a letter and stared at it in horror. As she sat on the bed with her friend, telling her every secret contained in the lines of the letter. An image filled my head, an image of a girl, much like this one, who ran through the countryside, and read a haunting letter. But this girl was accompanied by a girl, a girl with brown hair. A scene filled my mind, a scene that would start it all. That would start the event that began everything, that set the story in motion. So even though Adelaide is the main character of the story, it is Delia who can take the credit for starting it all.

Drawing of the Day: Adelaide

I decided I want to put something new up each day. Either a drawing, short story, photograph or something entirely different.

Anyways, I did this drawing a couple months ago, but I still really like it. This is Adelaide. She is the main character in a story I'm writing. I don't know the stories name yet, if I did, I'd put it on here. I'm not sure of her age in the story, she could be from 12 to 14 in the beginning and a year older by the end. In the drawing she looks about 12 to me. She is sweet, graceful, and over all the friend we wish we all could have.

Cuts, Bruises, Gashes Oh My!

I have been fascinated with the art of stage makeup for a while now. In other words, I love creating fake injuries. It started out with a simple cut, then once I perfected that I moved onto bruises. I create these wounds using a little watercolor set I have. I've made skinned knees, gashes and burns. One day I was watching a special feature on Lost Season 2 that talked about the makeup they did for the TV show. The segment showed how they applied this white pasty stuff so that they could paint the inside of the wound and it looked like it was deep. It made me curious as to what other substances I could use. That's when I noticed a bottle of glue on my desk. I started doing what looked like gashes. I used glue, which made the skin look stretched, my usual paint, for the gash part, and olive oil, which I put on the gash once I finished painting. The oil makes it look wet. It was very fun experimenting and trying new things.

Yesterday my friend Ventana came over and she decided she wanted a cut on her leg. I made a gash on her leg and one on mine, once her mom arrived we explained that we were trying to skateboard down the hill together on one board and fell off. To make a long story short, she only realized it wasn't real when we all burst out laughing. When Ventana went home she told the same story to her dad, who also thought it was real.

I decided that I wanted to do something a little bigger. So, I painted a long knife-like wound on my upper leg. I applied glue, olive oil and more glue. Then I thought, well why not make a glue piece of skin separately and put it over the whole thing. So thats what I did. On a sheet of palette paper I made my piece of skin and let it dry. My mom suggested I try using matte medium so I made a piece out of that to. Once they were dry I tried both "on" and realized the matte medium worked better. I asked Greg if he could mix some paint to look like my skin tone then I painted the white matte medium over the top. After much retouching I decided I had done all I could for the day. It turned out good, but next time I have to smooth out some bumps in the matte medium a little and the skin color was a little off. It still turned out pretty cool. I'm looking forward to experimenting a lot more in the future and maybe one day I'll be on some DVD explaining how I did the makeup in a movie.

Twilight

I heard about the book Twilight some time ago, but I never decided to read it until recently. My friend Lindsay had recommended it to me so I asked her to borrow it. I started it on Tuesday of last week and I never wanted to put it down. Everyday on the ride to school I was glued to the pages. When school ended I read every morning and every night before I went to sleep. I finished it yesterday morning. It was an amazing book! Although not a lot happens you can't stop reading. Something about it just makes me want to keep reading it forever. Maybe it's because I feel like I can connect to the main character, Bella, on more ways than one. Or maybe it's because you can't help but fall in love with the character Edward while you're reading. It could be something else entirely. Either way it is one of the best books I've read this year. I could sit for hours just reading, the whole time a smile on my face. That's saying something when the reader is smiling while reading. I wish all books did that to us. Twilight tells the story of 17 year old Isabella Swan who leaves sunny Phoenix to live with her father in Forks Washington. She hates the little green town, and the only thing that keeps her sane is the mysterious and beautiful Edward Cullen who goes to school with her. Soon Bella finds that she is completely captivated with the strange and gorgeous boy, but is there more to Edward than his beautiful appearance?

I highly highly recommend Twilight to anyone wanting a good read. It in the top five of my favorite books and I eagerly wait my chance to read the rest of the series. It is a really wonderful book.

Great Expectations

Last night I watched Great Expectations with mom and Greg. I was looking forward to seeing it for many reasons, the first because I love Charles Dickens stories, and second because there were actors I liked in the film. It was a very very good film. It was beautifully shot and the lighting was amazing. Your eyes never got tired watching the movie. The story was excellent as well. The acting was also very superb. Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow were both marvelous. Their characters were realistic, you liked one moment, then disliked them another. In all it was a film that I would love to see again. It was well made and beautiful. I highly recommend it!

School's Out!

Well, the school year is officially over as of last Friday, the 13th. Ninth grade was full of surprises, fun and challenges. It was so different than what I expected. At the beginning of the year it was hard for me to adjust to the new atmosphere of high school, but as the year progressed I fell in love with it all. The big 11th and 12th graders were still scary but I loved them none the less. And of course I made a bunch of new friends who I can't imagine not knowing! I guess it just goes to show how change is not always a bad thing!

I'll always remember our class trip to Joshua Tree, climbing in caves and eating bizar pudding. It was a trip unlike any others before and yet it was so much fun!

One thing I miss most is doing the play "The Mouse That Roared." I had one of the best times this year. I got to know so many amazing people and the experience taught me so much! After the play was over me and other cast membered often talked about how much me missed it. That's one of the things I look forward to most next year! Although it's going to be a musical, I'm still very excited. Plus one of my favorite teachers, Corby, is going to direct it.

Even though our class lost Spirit Week it was still an amazingly fun event. I know everyone had lots of fun and that was part of the reason everyone in the High School loves it so much. Next year we are going to try twice as hard, and have fun doing it.

Another thing I enjoyed about this year was the classes. First off, orchestra, which I joined in the second semester. It was fun laughing with everyone and attempting to keep up with the songs. We had some great times, like when paper airplanes were thrown around the room while we were playing a song. Another of my favorite classes was golf which I also joined in second semester. I hadn't ever played golf before, but I wanted a change in my PE class so I decided to try it. I had friends in golf, which was another plus. I enjoyed many bus rides talking to Joey, Yoni and Dusty. Another plus was the fact that Valerie, an 11th grader, was also doing golf for the first time. We quickly became friends and talked LOST together while walking to our next hole. I had tons of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

The last day of school is always a happy and a sad one. Of course everyone was excited for summer, but I was also sad because I would not see everyone for a couple months. It was also sad because all the seniors were leaving. I said goodbye to all 12 grade friend and make sure they will come and visit in the future. I rushed around the last week of school making sure I got all of my friends to sign my yearbook. By Friday night the six blank pages in my yearbook that were there to be signed on were completely covered.

When I look back on the school year I realize how much fun I really had. Ninth grade was a really good year for me. I made a bunch of really amazing friends and I got to know a lot of people. If it weren't for my friends, I don't know what I would do! I love you guys so much and I miss you all!

Although the year had it's hard spots in I wouldn't trade the memories for anything! Thank you to everyone who helped make my year the wonderful experience it was. Whether it was my friends or just high schoolers in general.