suckage...

...in which David is not impressed.

I got an email last night from the head of the music department at uni telling me that, basically, she shouldn't have given me permission to do one of the subjects I want to do next semester, so she's going to have to revoke it.

In other somewhat related news, I'm pretty sure I won't be doing Honours anymore. I can still do the qualifying subjects for the Honours course, but I never really wanted to do either of those subjects, and after speaking with my old singing teacher who is herself a Music teacher I have pretty much decided that Music Honours would be a waste of time. Especially if I decide to do another degree after my BA. And I'm not talking about the Dip Ed; I mean a non-music/teaching-related degree.

These two things will most likely have the following repurcussions:

1 - I do only two subjects this next semester, and then do another two subjects first semester next year.

2 - I do Music Ensemble 1 next year instead of Music Ensemble 2 this semester (for which permission was revoked though I have no idea why!) and nominate SUMS as the ensemble I'll work with.

And either

3 - I have a six month break and work heaps and heaps before I do my Dip Ed, after which I will decide whether I still want to be a music teacher.
Or
3 - I start my new degree in the second half of next year.

I hate uni right now. Sure I'm probably just being emo, but I'm allowed to be. I've been fucked over. I was so excited about doing Ensemble next sem - my first performance subject - as I consider myself a performer more than a composer or musicologist <--- what all my other subjects have been. And that's the order I'd prefer my strengths to go; performance/composition/musicology. Sadly, I think musicology has been first up until now. Which is stupid seeing as I haven't really done any music theory subjects since first year, so I've pretty much been winging it since then. Actually, I need to get my ear trained up again - I have a pretty good ear naturally, but I don't practice it, so it's been sort of lagging behind the rest of my classmates'. Sigh. [/stream]

The fruits of my day...

... in whcih David shares.

So this is what I finished today:

First, a couple of shifts ago, I noticed an odd patten that had been left on one of the work benches after a wet cloth had been used to quickly wipe something away. These are the streaks it left:


If you tilt your head to the right completely, it will be the right way. Sorry, I can't seem to be able to rotate it without damaging it.

( The Process )

After that, there was only the not-so-simple task of colouring left. However, I actually like the way it turned out. Woot!


So, an explanation. Clearly, she is not human; that much is obvious. Also, she looks a little Irish, which is funny seeing as she was originally quite Texan. But, to the clothes!

The hat has a hole in the top through which part of the hair is to be pulled. it's quite common among her people to wear the hair either straight down over the edge of the hat to rejoin the rest of their hair, or two wrap the hair between the brim and the hat's wall, much like a moat. The purple piece of fabric is completely separate to the green dress, and is soemthing like their version of a tie, except it isn't quite as gendered. The dress is supposed to be quite figure-hugging, so I don't totally get how it's come up quite so high as to be practically around her waist, however there it is. The sleeves are supposed to be in three parts: one is the shoulder, with the piping and the diamond design, or whatever a particular dress may have; the second part is an outer sleeve, draped from the shoulder to halfway down the forearm at an angle, finished with a tassle-like fringe; third is the sleeve proper which comes down to the wrist and is usually worn open. Beneath the dress is a silver support system; much like those bell-type dresses under which you could hide several small children if you wished, it keeps the dress in a particular shape. The support is not completely circular, nor does it come to a unifrom end; contemporary fashions are rarely understood by either previous generations or the next. Underneath the support is a heavy fabric for warmth (it's pretty much just a thich woolen rug attached to the support) which is not entirely covered by the dress - the dress only comes to halfway between the support and the end of the heavier fabric. Again I say, contemporary fashion.

This isn't really how I first saw her, though. The hat is wrong, the tassles are wrong, and the wings had to be changed. Her sleeve isn't nearly as complicated as the original pattern suggested. And she no longer looks like she's been thrown or pushed by some force, which is what the original definitely suggested. Furthermore, she's lost a lot of the fear from her eyes along the way; one of the reasons I originally attempted it was that I loved the expression I could see on her face. But most of all, she's lost her Royalty. I have a feeling she may have been inspired by Princess Peach...

However, I am pleased with the final result. Especially with my shading, which has generally been quite crap in the past. highfive?