Are You Hungry?

Again, I didn't write this but it sort of reminds me of something Nicole would say

Hello, and welcome to my first post as a nineteen-year old.  May it be revolutionary.

 

Tonight, I am unashamed to admit that I will be going to The Hunger Games film with my friends Eleanor and Caitlin, and the former’s visiting friend from Massachusetts.  We are making a whole night of it, which is exciting, because I rarely leave campus except for the occasional community service project.  We are going to Georgetown for dinner (my dad’s treat as a birthday present) and Georgetown Cupcakes, then window shopping and going to the film.

Because when I googled "book club nerd" this came up.

 Over the course of this blog, the five of us have shared a lot book recommendations with one another.  I say this not because I am going to said Hunger Games film, because I do not recommend the book (whether or not I recommend the film is forthcoming).  Maybe next year we can do a blog book club and trade off between different people’s recommendations and talk about them.  Just because college doesn’t take up that much time with various responsibilities and assignments.  Okay, sarcasm about the college time requirement.  Maybe the book club should be a summer project.  I know I for one am interested in reading Name of the Wind so I don’t get murdered in my sleep by one of you crazy enthusiasts.

Right now I am in Education for International Development and we are having a seminar about education in India.  I actually am paying attention and contributing, which attests to my 19-year-old maturity and capability to multitask.

This week has been sort of a whirlwind.  I returned to D.C. from spring break on a red eye on my birthday (Monday).  Yesterday, we got to stretch our own canvases and put gesso on them.  For those of you who are not budding artists, I will give you a brief overview of the process:

• Take four stretcher bars.  Fit them together to make a square shape and take a giant, heavy duty staple gun, and, taking care not to shoot yourself (to avoid being both embarrassed and in need of a tetanus shot), staple them twice in each corner.
• Grab your piece of raw canvas.  Staple it to one of your stretcher bars, then stretch it taut (additional tools may be required) and staple its parallel side.  Repeat for all sides.  The goal is to pull it tight enough that a diamond shape emerges on the side you plan on painting.
• Put a lot more staples in, still taking care that those fingers remain un-stapled.
• Now you need two layers of gesso, taking care to make the biggest mess on your hands and clothes as is possible, since the stuff is smelly and hard to remove.



This is not my picture, but this is what it looks like.

• Be sure to apply that second layer of gesso before the first is dry, so you mess it up and have to scrape it off and return over the weekend to remedy your mistake.

Alright, those last two were things that I did and probably wouldn’t appear in a How-To guide.  It was really fun and industrial, and I’m looking forward to painting on the surface I created.  Our next project is to create a 16”x16” collage (on canvas paper) and then we’re going to paint in on our new canvases.  Here is a picture of my almost-completed still life that you have seen more times than you probably want.

Not quite done, but coming along.

Well, this won’t be the longest post ever, but here are some pictures of our beautiful cherry blossoms.  I hope you all enjoy your weekend, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

-Rachael