I have this wierd thing in my head that happens right before I fall asleep. I imagine really off the wall things (in color i might add) and I decided to do a painting of those images In the form of a sleeping sillhouette. Let me tell you, it is difficult to write when you're falling asleep!!

Here's a few photos of my painting and some closeups of the details:

So I am a Coordinator of Makin' Music this year and practices have begun. I've been at Choreography review and Lyric Review and a few of the Review Team's practices but now the real stuff has begun. It's really interesting to see how the directors interact with their cast member and how each club decides to spend their time. You can definitely tell what's most important to each group and what works best for each group. I think all of the shows are clever and interesting this year. When the clubs come in for their first time in front of the entire cast it brings back memories of my year of directing. I was so nervous! and as much as I love Makin' Music, I'm really excited to have moved onto this portion of involvement in the show. I also love seeing Freshmen who have never gotten to experience this before and how new and exciting everything is for them. I'm so glad I'm able to spend my last semester involved in watching other people use their creativity in a way that many people never get a chance to!!

This semester I'm finally layout editor of our school newspaper, The Bell Tower. I've been an editor for 3 years but this year I moved into the position I've wanted all along AND we decided to redesign the paper. It took a bit of time but I'm really excited about the new look and design of the paper. I feel like we're actually utilizing the color pages and making it more appealing to students on campus.

I'm really excited about the new photography class that's here this semester. I think I'm going to learn a lot and Its definitely going to help with my portfolio. For our first assignment I decided to dress my friends as dolls (they were a little apprehensive but had fun over all). I tried to do a forgotten doll, a favorite doll and a marionette for the different settings she had us practice with. I really love doing creative photography and hope I can experiment some more.

I've been working on designing a book of messages from friends and family for my boyfriend's birthday. I was so excited to be able to give him the book this weekend! I think it turned out well. Here's a sample of a page:

During the semester I have begun a series of paintings honoring the women of my family. The first painting I did was of my grandmother when she was a little girl. The second is one of my older sister when she was about 3. I plan to do another painting of my mother as my final project for Painting II. All of the paintings contain a central picture of the little girl surrounded by photos, ads, and historical events that were prevalent during their life. Through all of these paintings I feel like I have learned a lot about the women of my family and the things that have happened in their life. My grandmother was born in 1934 and I guess I never realized that she was alive during the depression, WWII and so many other things. I've really enjoyed the creative freedom that I've had during this class and especially during this project. I decided to incorporate decopauged print into the design and paint over them with oils. It's been a very creative process and one that I can always add to or alter. I'm so excited about this project and ready to have them all completed and hanging together. I think its been a great learning process for me not only about how to paint people and incorporate mixed media of paint and decopauged paper, but also about my family and ultimately my heritage. I hope to get some photos up of my paintings when they're completed.

I'm really excited becuase I've been trying to get this web Site up for months for a friend who is a high school teacher in murfreesboro. We finally got together at Homecoming and the web Site is officially up and running! I feel so accomplished right now and feel that I have something else to add to my portfolio! I can't explain how great this makes me feel!! I realize it isn't perfect but for my first ever website only having had one class on it over a 2 week span I'd say I did alright!! Feel free to go check it out:

http://www.ohs.rcs.k12.tn.us/TEACHERS/tuckerje/index.html

This weekend I went with my boyfriend to his hometown in Indiana. It was his Grandmother's 90th birthday and his family was throwing her a party. It was amazing to see all of the old photos of the entire family and to see how many people showed up. My guess is around 150.

I admire the closeness of his family and I thought it was wonderful to see how the community came out and supported her. She acts like she's still 20, and was apparently very involved in the community throughout her years.

I hope if i live that long i will still have friends and family to support me like that! it was very impressive.

I was asked to do some photography for the event so here are some photos that may help you understand just how awesome it was!



this is something she sewed


There were atleast 15 quilts and blankets there that she had sewn. Absolutely beautiful!


This is Grandma (on the right) and friend from 4H!!

So I turned 22 this week and a couple of my friends and I decided to see a Hanson concert. You may not understand the seriousness of this event but if you happened to be an elementary school fan like us then you most definitely would. The ratio of male to female was about 1 to 65. The opening bands were great but nothing near as good as Hanson. It was nice to get that nostalgic feeling from hearing songs you jammed to in the 5th grade and also to hear some of their new stuff (which is actually very good!) They're a very talented group and i really enjoyed seeing them.

When we were leaving, there was a really bad traffic jam in the parking garage and one friend and I decided to run down the line of cars. (I really don't know why) when rounding a corner slick from car oil, i fell down to my knees. I was in a dress. It was embarrassing.

My friend kept yelling, "you're 22 and you just fell down in front of a car, after a hanson concert!" I feel very mature for my age. Or maybe I still just know how to make a great memory!: )

So this weekend, a group of about 15 of us headed down to the Ocoee River for a rafting trip. I love white water rafting but given that it is October, I was slightly concerned of getting hypothermia. Our boat contained 7 of us plus our guide (shout out to Franklin!). At first the water was freezing but we eventually got used to it and the trip was awesome. Or atleast WE thought it was.


Franklin on the other hand... we're not too sure. I'm fairly positive our excitability might have gotten in the way of our rugged rafting skills. There was a time when Ashton, while riding the bull, fell out of the boat and into the water. We couldn't see her and obviously began to worry. Whenever she reappeared we rejoiced!! (as we hear Franklin in the background yelling "well get her back in the boat we're about to hit a rapid!!!) As our strong boys in the front hoisted her back in, which in turn knocked them over, the rest of us had somehow made it mainly to the front and flailed and screamed all the way down the rapid. Franklin was left in the back to control the entire raft. This was also when we had our photo taken! Franklin must have felt the need to punish us because on the next rapid he tricked us into flipping ourselves out of the boat. Yes we're gullible. Needless to say, Franklin thought we were idiots, but we had fun and we made it out alive which is all that matters in the long run!


This was an amazing weekend. I can't wait for our next trip!


Here's a quick rendering of the excitement (and yes I AM an art major!):