College Life Redo

So first of all, a very happy birthday to my conference co-conspirator . I hope you have an awesome day. If you come to VCFA for the alumni day I’ll see you there. If not, here is my family’s traditional birthday breakfast just for you. Enjoy! (I’m going to announce the CFP for 2010 at lecture today.)

You may have noticed the early hour of this posting. Sometimes writers get up early to savor the early morning peace before the chaos of the day begins. I just can’t sleep past 5 am here. Perhaps it is that we eat dinner at 5 pm or that I drink tea and wine before I go to bed, or that my honey is not here to snuggle, or that the bed is too small in my dorm room, or that mattress is not as good… whatever the issue, it is insanely frustrating. My bedtime doesn’t seem to matter. My bladder seems to rule the situation and then I can’t get back to sleep despite the sleeping mask and earplugs. Oh well, I suppose I’ll make it up when I get home or I’ll start savoring the early morning peace before the chaos.

Insomnia
By Anna Boll

I curl.
Head and toes
touching cool
cinder block.
Mimicking
the solidity
of you.

Five on Friday

1. Some people are seashore people, I love the mountains. I love to see the cloud shadows slide over the folds and peaks of the land. As I drove north through Vermont today I felt that I was painting with my eyes. In my imagination I was squeezing oil paint silky slipping out of the tube onto my glass palatte: greens, blues, and violets. I could imagine mixing the green and violets together to make those places where the land undulates into cool shadows and slapping the deep olive green of the pines onto the canvas with palette knife their prickly needles poking the colbalt of the sky. I am a mountain person.

2. Because I had a shorter drive today, I was able to tool around a little on my way to school. On the advice of I stopped at the Northshire Bookstore. I don’t write this very often but– OMG! Here are a couple of pics. Jessica and her staff of amazing children’s book sellers were just awesome. So helpful and welcoming. These are the places I dream of visiting as a published author.

3. I am happily moved into VCFA, my bed is made, my clothes hung up and my roommate, Melanie is wonderful. I’m not sure if it is luck of the draw or if there is some effort to match people according to backgrounds and interests but they scored on this one.

4. We just play 2 truths and a lie, can you tell which one is my lie? Put your answer in the comments.

A. I taught Middle School for ten years.
B. I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Maryland to Maine (but not like Governor Sanford.)
C. I ran for the Maine State Legislature.

5. We are headed out to watch Milo and Otis on the quad. I feel like such a coed.

On the road again…

Yesterday I packed the car with clothes, books, my lap top, and a fan and hit the road headed for my first Vermont College residency. After a long day of driving I met up with last night and he told me about his most recent contest to give away a copy of BUG BOY the winner of which was chosen by a horse race. Check out the race and Eric here.

Today I move on to the second leg of my journey tooling through Vermont on my way to Montpelier. It is a sunshiny day here in North with comfortable temps and I’m eager to see what this chapter of my life brings. Wish me luck!

Reading Time

The past month I’ve spent reading and preparing for my first Vermont College Residency. Some of the reading is required, some suggested, and some is my own desire to read the books of faculty members so I know them better as I am placed with a faculty advisor for my first semester. I’ve also been reading and enjoying the worksheets (manuscripts) of my workshop group. I’m very excited to meet everyone and can’t wait to hear the conversation of fellow students or the guidance of our instructors.

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
Impossible, Nancy Werlin
The Postcards, Tony Abbott
Runt, Marion Dane Bauer
The Underneath, Kathi Appelt

…and because the movie Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince comes out in theatres this month, I read it aloud to I. who has finished books 2-5 on his own.

There are a few more that I am trying to finish up this week:
Red Butterfly, Deborah Noyes
Criss Cross, Lynn Rae Perkins
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It, Sundee Frazier
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf (non-fiction on how we read and how our brains change as humans have learned to read)

1.I’m pleased to say that we are safe and sound in Pennsylvania with my parents. We spent most of the last month, and all of last week boxing up our things, sweating in the heat and humidity, packing the trailer and moving from St. Mary’s County, Maryland. This stop at my parent’s home is for the month of July and then we are back to our home in Maine. After reading the blogs of other New England friends it is obvious that they are saturated with rain. I hope things dry out a bit by the time we get back… but even if it doesn’t, we know what we’re getting into.

2. I’m getting very excited about the Vermont College residency that is coming up quickly. I’m doing all my required reading and workshop notes. My bag is packed (as long as I wear the same clothes for the next 10 days) and the financial aid stuff is moving forward. I still have to look at the workshop choices and try to make make some decisions. Even though this seems like a solid step forward in my development as a writer, I still have a little bit of a lost feeling. Is this what I should be doing? Should I just be giving up instead of investing this time and money in something so subjective and unstable?

3. If you didn’t get to see the images from my Art Show and Sale they are up on my facebook page. Here is the link. If it doesn’t work… you may need to have a facebook account.

4. I’m working (pretty much pro bono) on an illustration assignment. The manuscript is a collaboration of two high school students for a Portland non-profit. The experience should be interesting as includes some cultural research. have you heard about an African dish called Fufu?

5. Grandma and Grandpa get to have us for a whole month and are even taking the kids for one week on their own. Unending thanks and gratitude! (I’m really looking forward to a break.)

The Working Artist Show

If you are in the Kennebunk area during the month of July… Please Come.

The WORKING ARTISTS SHOW, organized by some of the artists in the Maine Illustrators' Collective (MEIC),  is  being held in a gallery space, at the Kennebunk Free Library in Kennebunk, ME. Show runs July 2nd-July 31st Artist's Reception is in Hank's Room, Kennebunk Free Library July 8th 4:30-7:30pm The public is welcome. Come to a totally different kind of art show featuring commercial artists and  their art!

Art Show and Sale

Two days until the show… Everyone is invited.
Email me for the specifics. annajboll at gmail dot com

Anna J. Boll

Fine Art & Illustration

Summer Show and Sale

Saturday, June 20^th

4 pm to 8 pm

Leonardtown, Maryland

Hors d’oeuvres will be served.

Please come!

Children Welcomed!

Contact Anna at: annajboll at gmail dot com

Five on Friday

Locked so that my prof doesn’t see this.

1. Thanks to those of you who gave me a little kick in the rear yesterday. While the art history paper is still on my list of things to do, the research is drawing to an end. I’ll work on it next week in the mornings and then turn it in by Wednesday if I’m lucky. The good thing is that because I am who I am, the research is exciting. I love to find out new things, and you never know, perhaps this could be a book or at least an article, some day.

2. Part of the reason it has been so difficult to complete (read: care about doing it) is because the class actually ended last Thursday. For the class, we completed a 3 page essay, a 10 minute class presentation w/power point, a mid-term take home test (with numerous lengthy essays), an in-class midterm (short answers), and a final test (with numerous lengthy (3 page) essays. Which begs the question: How may pieces (and what kind of) assessment does an educator need to have a good understanding of what you know and who you are as a student? Considering there were only six people in this class, and it was an entire semester compressed into three weeks, I’d say that was enough. Never the less, I will prevail and complete the paper.

3. When I’m procrastinating, I’m busy packing our house into boxes for our move back to Maine. We are really excited to go back to OUR home. I’m also excited to sketch and paint the view from my windows. There is so much texture in the Maine landscape.

4. I’ve been applying for what seems like a kagillion jobs and hope to get interview calls any day now. If I’m lucky, I’ll end up with tons of offers, but I think the reality is that luck would be AN interview or A job.

5. My show invitation…

Stop procrastinating

I think I am a person who thrives on a busy schedule. I currently have a final paper to complete for my art history class but the class is no longer meeting. This means that I am at home. This is not a good place for me to work. There are boxes to pack, laundry to wash, books to read and the internet to surf. I’m better off if I leave and go to a library (even though it has the books and the internet.) It is something about setting up in a work space different then my home space. (even though my family has thoughtfully given me a space of my own in the house we rent)

The kids have three half days in a row. So I need to get myself in gear and out of the house so I can accomplish something on this paper before they get home. This is me convincing myself to work. Here I go….

Five on Friday

1. I am just home from the dentist and feel like a drunk chipmunk. She had to remove a crown, fill a cavity and give me a temporary crown. The worst part was keeping my mouth open for so long. I’ll go back in a few weeks to have the permanent crown put in.

2. I’ve just completed two whole semester classes compressed into three very busy weeks. Well almost complete. I have a paper and a take-home final due for one of the classes still. One was an art history class the other a plein air painting class. The coursework in the time allowed was very challenging. The Art History class included an essay, a class presentation, a mid-term (half in class/half at home), a final paper and a final exam. In the painting class we completed 5 oil paint canvases (including a transcription), 2 pastel drawings, and many other ink, charcoal and graphite drawings.

3. I’m going to show my work from the last two semesters at our Maryland house on June 20th in the afternoon and evening. I’m hoping to post the images online for people to see. All work is for sale and the proceeds will pay for…

4. The MFA Writing for Children program at Vermont which I will be attending this July!

5. I’m really looking forward to getting back to New England and the Brunswick community. I’ve missed the Maine Illustrators’ Collective and my writing partners so much. The end of the tunnel seems a little closer each day. The kids are out of school next Friday.