It has been a while since I posted on my blog but I have been in school taking an art class. Happily it is spring break so no classes this week!!! My art class is a lot of work and very challenging. We have had three projects at this point. The first was a linear and atmospheric perspective piece, a piece using a grid (called a cartoon) which we had to enlarge to put on paper, the one we will be doing next is a still life using graphite (the others have all been done in charcoal -- white and black). We are also working on a "master's" piece. Last year, I did Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam but this year I have chosen to do an illuminated manuscript page from the Book of Kells. We must make at least a 25% change to the image we pick so I will post images as the project progresses. I am experimenting with the various things I will be doing and have decided to change the religious text to a gaelic saying. We can only use dry media for this project and since the pages were painted with tempera (which I cannot use) I am going to use colored pencils because they will provide the most vivid colors. I will also do some gilding on this project. At the end of the semester we will be having a mini art show and an oral presentation of our project to friends, guests, and classmates at the last class meeting.