bagpipes

Today, I watched Doug (who has a masters in scenic design from NYU) paint an elevation as an example of what we should be coming up with by next class. Additionally, I spent five hours in the drafting room doing drop-point perspective drawing. Five. Drop-point perspective drawing is amazing. It's an extremely technical way to draw and I love it. It makes my drawings look realistic and the method is very easy to manipulate. It's so . . . sleek.

I left the HFAC (Harris Fine Arts Center) at around 8pm tonight when I decided to give the rendering thing a break and get home to TV night (which was very, very disappointing). As I walked toward the street from the HFAC, I heard the unmistakable tones of a bagpipe. Someone must have been on one of the patios on the east side of the building. The sound of bagpipes always makes me think of college and coming-of-age (thanks to Peter Weir). I decided on my walk home that I like bagpipe music, very much. I think the random music is one of my favorite parts about the HFAC, especially in the evenings. I also love the buzz of the enormous lobby just before a performance begins.

But, back to the topic of music. There was this one night this summer where I was on my way to the shop at about 10pm and walking through the main lobby of the HFAC. It's an open building, so I could hear a piano from one of the rooms on the 3rd floor. The pianist was playing "Clare de Lune" and the atmosphere was so perfect . . . peaceful . . . almost surreal. I stopped and stood in the middle of the building, alone, just listening until it ended. It was a very sweet few minutes.

And, props to me for recognizing that Picnic at Hanging Rock was Peter Weir too. I'm just good like that.

Blame it all upon a rush of blood to the head . . .

I have a rant.

Yesterday, I attended BYU's International Cinema and watched Le Fils, a French film about a carpenter who hires a juvenile delinquent to work for him. We come to find out that this boy is linked to the carpenter's past in a very intriguing way. The cinematography was a little too narrow for me and I will be the first to admit that it was a little slow-moving, especially the first hour or so. However, the last sequence of scenes, at the lumber yard, were riveting. I found myself holding my breath waiting to know what the characters would do when they found out who each other were.

As the film ended, Elizabeth and I sat for a few moments thinking about the implications of the film. The girl behind us began to tell the friends she was sitting with how much she disliked it saying (correct me if I'm wrong, Elizabeth), "If they're going to show us a representation of films from other countries, they should be sure to show us good ones" and "I don't think I've ever seen a French film that was good" and things like that. I was appalled.

I can understand feeling like the movie was a little slow or that the ending was abrupt. I can understand that French films are not like most American films. But that's WHY you go to International Cinema . . . to watch non-American films that are made in a style you are not used to. You can't just watch something and say "that's stupid" because you're not used to it. Disregarding something because you are not familiar with it is the worst kind of ignorance.

And, same goes for all the people in my class who laughed at All that Heaven Allows.

Get over yourselves.

God gave me rain today.

This morning started out pretty rough. Just two weeks into school and I have to basically pull an all-nighter. Sick. Well, I sort of dozed for an hour, but it obviously wasn't very rejuvenating. Luckily, I got enough of my work done to scrape by my classes and endless meetings. Actually, the design meetings I worried the most about went very well. I met with my director, technical director, and lighting designer. I made some modifications and the improvements are making me like it much more than I liked it last week.

This weekend will be full of drafting and painting. Scenic design really isn't that difficult when you get ideas that you're pleased with, it just takes a loooong time to draft every piece of scenery, paint elevations, and renderings. I'll should scan some stuff and post it as soon as I get some more finalized versions. I'll work on that.

And, aside from painting my renderings this weekend, I will also be painting for Provo Theatre Company again. I love working there. Don't get me wrong, BYU is great. I love the shop and all of my friends there, but there is nothing like getting off campus into a new space. Mostly, I love the fact that I can paint by myself. I blast whatever music I want on the awesome stereo system and I don't have to keep up some uninteresting conversation with anyone.

And, after careful deliberation, I think that if I could choose between being a designer or a painter for the rest of my life, I would choose to be a painter. I'm having fun designing and will apply to design next year as well, but if I had to choose between the two---it would be painting.

Oh, and the rain today was invigorating. As was the thunder and lightning.