Illustration 2

I feel a little nervous and edgy.  The last few weeks of school were hectic and rough—punctuated by a four-day trip to Phoenix and back.  I really need a break!  But now I am home and I don't know what to do with myself.  Not that there's nothing to do—there is plenty to do: major catch-up on housework, slopers and patterns—and dresses—to make for my girls and myself, a bolero for a friend's daughter, getting ready for camp in two weeks . . .  Yes, there is plenty to do.  But I haven't gotten into the swing of being home yet and I feel uneasy—like something is not right. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll feel better.

Anyway, here are my Illustration 2 projects that I never posted:

The first assignment was to decide what type of designer we are or what type of clothes we like to design.  I have told you that I don't really think of myself as a designer, but that answer was not an option.  I finally decided that I really like dresses—very feminine, girlie stuff.  So here's what I drew:

Hey! That blue one looks familiar!

The next assignment was to go to a public place and spend twenty minutes absorbing the look and feel of the place and sketch what we saw.  Then we had to make a three-piece line based on that place. I was super busy that week and never made it anywhere, so I drew the road construction a couple blocks from home.  This was in the early winter and everything was muted and gray and white, with only one splash of color.

Here is my "Under Construction" line:

Everyone liked the one on the right—they said you wouldn't forget her when the evening was through.

I also had to make a detailed drawing of anything.  I chose my pin cushion:

This might be my favorite. :-)

The next project was to interview someone and design three outfits for them. I haven't showed these designs to my "client" yet, so I can't show you the Heather line—that would hardly be fair.  I'm thinking I might need to re-do some of them anyway.

Then, in the middle of everything, the teacher had a baby.  Part of this class requires that we learn some Photoshop, so while she was gone our sub (her brother) worked on that  with us.  I was kind of excited because I've been wanting to learn some new Photoshop techniques, but we really didn't do much more than I've already figured out by myself over the years.

For our mid-term we were given three choices of projects; I can't remember the others but I chose the "Family Heritage" project.  We were supposed to research our family history and create five designs based on what we learned. Brazil was the no-brainer choice (my mom is from Brazil), and I also did some Portugal designs—not because I know of any ancestors from Portugal, but because I wanted to draw my Rooster of Barcelos dress.

So here are my Family History designs:



Brazil
colored like the flag, with tiered ruffles like Carmen Miranda :-)



Also from Brazil, her dress is designed for the
Baianas my mom often told me about.
Her left hand is in the "figa" position—for good luck.

a Brazil-Portugal crossover
—Carmen Miranda ruffles, Portugal coloring

a take-off from the traditional Portuguese blouse

The Rooster of Barcelos
I really wanted to draw the front of this one too, but I ran out of time.  Maybe over the summer.
Anyway, this dress is made of satin and organza and beaded, embroidered, and bejeweled.

And those are my Illustration 2 projects.  My favorites are the Brazil flag and the Rooster of Barcelos. :-)

And now I anxiously await my grades.  I expect I've gotten an A in three of five classes; I'm actually a little worried about this one because of a very poor sketch that only got half points. :-/  And I have no idea what to expect from Entrepreneurship. Maybe a B?  We'll see . . . we'll see.