Snow!

Just another beautiful day in Lacoste!  It snowed today so I thought I would post some pictures.

Angolême

   Drama here, drama there,  drama drama everywhere!  That's the best way to describe the time I spent in Angolême.  We drove 12+ hours from Lacoste on a bus to get here.  When we arrived the first time at our "villas," we were shocked.   The "villas" we stayed in were not at all what we were expecting.  When you hear the word villa, you expect something large and grand right?  In fact, the word itself means a large country house of Roman times, having an estate and consisting of farm and residential buildings arranged around a courtyard.  I do believe several people have coined the term "camp hell."  Instead of something grand (at all), we stayed in these little, tiny, dirty, houses in the middle of nowhere.  It literally looked like it could be the perfect setting for a bad horror movie.

We came for the 39th annual comic festival.  Basically it's the french version of comic con, or so I've been told.  What I loved about the city was the gorgeous wall murals.  Technically they were graffiti, but not what you would expect.  One thing that I find so nice for a change is that art and artist are actually respected over here.

 When the bus would drop us off each day, it would drop us off at the very bottom.  That first day we realized just how steep the climb would be.  Almost a 45 degree slope!  I am for sure getting my exercise on this trip!  Each day we had to make this climb because the rest of the festival was at the top. 

Our first day in Angolême was a dreary one.  We went to the comic book museum which was interesting.  I got so excited when I saw some of the books in German because I could actually read them, then was thankful that a good majority of the books there were in English so I could read them as well.  Afterwards we just walked around the city trying to see what there was to see.  My focus was mostly on finding a wifi spot so I could leave a message to Ken.  My friends and I found a nice little cafe and we enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate while drawing and checking in on the world.

 The next day was definitely not the best day ever...  The night before, one of my roommates was sick so the rest of us stayed up all night with her making sure she was ok.  Because of this, another one of my roommates got so incredibly sick that she had to be taken to the hospital.  Needless to say, I've had better days.  Other than that, I explored the festival- finding all kinds of amazing art.  Finally the sun came out and we were able to appreciate the city so much more.  And that night I took care of my other roommate after she came back because she still was really sick.

Our last day was probably the best day I had there.  My friend Sarah and I went to an artist lecture for the author of the book Mause.  It was not something I was expecting.  I did not know that he used to be an underground comic artist and I was not expecting to see that particular kind of "art."  We felt so bad when we left though because as we were about to stand up and leave, he made the comment, "What? Is my life so boring? Should I change topics?" because we weren't the only ones trying to leave.  So we stayed for an extra 10-25 mins until we couldn't wait anymore if we wanted to catch the bus back to Lacoste.  I was so happy to be able to pick up the first book in the french series "Le Balledt de Yaya."  It's such a cute series about a little girl and boy in Shanghai during WWII.  I can't wait to finish reading it!  Even thought it's in french, I can still understand everything that happens because it is so well written.  Then we raced back to the bus for our 12 hour ride back to Lacoste.

Me by the end of the trip

The Cool Mosaic Guy

Today we traveled to another village to visit this guy who makes mosaic tables for a living.  He was probably one of the coolest people I have ever met.  The very first table he ever sold was to U2.  Talk about a big break!  He has sold his work to many celebraties and even to Carnegie Hall!  Although after bragging about it on his website he had to take it down because he would have to pay around $400 a month to use their name because it's trademarked.

The mosaic man also had one of the most interesting historical collections I've ever seen and everything that he has he has found in the area.  Everything from ancient coins, to artifacts, to bones.  He even has found skeletons in his walls!  Some of his walls are 3 meters think because they used to be a part of the castel wall.  I told you that pretty much every town in France has a castel didn't I?  When people would die they would either burry them in the castel wall to make them stronger or they would burry them as close as they could to the church: even inside the church walls.

Cannon Ball Mold

It turns out that the town was one spared from the black plague that swept across Europe, killing millions. The reason they were spared?  Horse sweat.  The flees that carried the plague didn't like horse sweet and because the town was spared was that they smelled like horse sweat.  The town mainly sold horses so everyone had one and they would spend all day in the barns and come in smelling like them causing the flees to, well, flee.  It's amazing that if they had good hygiene they all would have died.

Glanum and St. Rémy

Today we traveled to the ancient ruins of Glanum, an ancient Roman city built over 2,000 years ago!  We explored the ruins.  I was in complete disbelief of the fact that they were so technologically advanced back then!  The city had a functioning sewer, hot running water, and even indoor plumbing!  These are things that even places today don't have access to.  I can't believe that the romans were more advanced than some places are still today: it just blows my mind.  Of course there was a giant mountain to climb and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to climb it.  The view was, of course, spectacular.  You could see all of St. Rémy and the hospital that Vincent Van Gogh was hospitalized after cutting off his ear.  We were supposed to be able to take a tour of it, but it was closed.

Unfortunately, literally five minuets after getting off the bus, our professor twisted his ankle so badly that he had to go to the hospital.  This ment that all 40 of us were on our own to explore the city for five hours and find the sites that we were supposed to be learning about.   No one else on the trip had any idea where we were supposed to be going and or even what the name of the museum was.  So we wandered aimlessly around the city trying to find out where it was because we knew which museums were NOT the right ones. It was quite an entertaining experience... minus our professor getting hurt. On our quest to find the museum some of us stopped in an old roman catholic church.  The architecture was so beautiful!  I really love stained glass, and there was a lot of it.  Stain glass has a heavy influence on my art style.  After we properly photographed the church we finally ran into someone who knew where we were supposed to be going.  I feel like I would have been able to get a lot more out of the museum if it was in english instead of french.

Apparently it's where's
Charlie in France...

Some other things happend afterwards that I would rather not talk about, but we made it to the bus and headed back to Lacoste.  It was such a wonderful trip and I shall remember it forever.

Fountain.... Something Something...

Today, in my travel portfolio class, we went to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.... The only problem is I can't remember what it was called!  The water there was so crystal clear that you could see all the way to the bottom.  It was just so breathtaking.  I climbed a beautiful mountain, saw several caves, drank from a natural spring (it tasted so good!).  I still can't get over how clear and clean the water was.  It appeared to have a greenish tint to it but that was because of the plants, not alge, growing.  There was a old castel that sat in ruins over looking the city.  I am half convinced that every village and town in France has it's own castel.  It just seems right.  I climbed the steep mountain all the way to the top.  It was scary because one false move and you would literally fall off the mountain.  The climb though, was well worth it.  You could see everything from up there.



While I was up there all I could think about was how beautiful it was and how much I wanted Ken to be there with me so he could see it too.  I really miss him.  A lot.  Although we don't get to talk as long as we want to or as often, those few minuets that we do get to talk mean more to me than anything in the world.  Nothing makes me happier than to get messages from him.  I can't wait till he comes home.

Time to get started on homework.  Until next time y'all!

Second Day Of Classes

Second day of classes went by smoothly.  We traveled down the bottom of Lacoste to draw the village.  It was a major hike!  Especially going back up.  I'm waiting for my art supplies to get here so that I can continue to practice the technique I started developing last quarter in my materials and techniques class.  I like to use color pencil to do a sorta under drawing, then I go over it with watercolors creating a semi finished rendered drawing, covering that with mineral sprits to blend the watercolor with the color pencil (The mineral sprits have a very interesting reaction on the water color), and then going back on top of the drawing doing final renderings with color pencils.  It's basically a spin off of the CF Payne's technique.  I hope I can improve a lot with this technique in this class because I think I could create a very strong portfolio with it.

I am very happy with the classes I have and the professors seem to be amazing.  I hope to learn a lot from them.  I hope my art supplies get here soon!  I'm so excited to start working!

Until next time y'all.

"Wild Hair"
I did this with Payne's Technique

"Wish Upon A Star"
Done in my technique

First Day Of Classes!

First day of classes!  Whoo Hoo!  This morning I had my Treasures of Provence class.  Basically what I will be doing in the class is traveling around the Provence region of France and learning about the art and history of the area.  Today we watched a interesting documentary about the Cave paintings that are not to far from here.  The Paintings themselves where amazingly preserved because they were sealed air tight in the cave for thousands of years keeping them as fresh as the day they were painted.  When they were originally found, no one believed that they could possibly be authentic because they looked like they were painted yesterday!  But they were indeed real and have become known as the best preserved works of art from that era.  I thought that the documentary itself was well done and the fact that the sized and shape of the cave would not allow the film crew the luxury of being able to get out of the shot gave the viewer an insite into how the documentary was made.  I did get a little confused about the relationship between the albino alligators that were exposed to radioactive waste causing their strange coloring and the cave paintings.  It seemed to me that the director became so intrigued with the reptile that he had to find a way to include it in his film.  I am very excited about the amount of traveling we are going to do in this class.


Image to print was... interesting... I have never been to into printmaking after having many bad experiences with it in high school, but I hope that this class will change my mind about the media.  We created aliens that are supposed to be invading Lacoste.  I like how my alien came out.  I was happy that I was able to combine elements of my style into her character design because I've been having a hard time lately drawing characters styles constantly.  I hope I can continue it!  My style has been described by many as "pukingly cute."  While I really enjoy drawing this way and I feel like this style fits very well into children's book illustration; I want to be able to work on developing another style that can be taken more seriously.

It seems like I have my work cut out for me this quarter!  Tomorrow is Travel portfolio.  Wish me luck! Goodnight y'all!

Walking Tour

So tired.  So out of shape!  That's something I realized about myself as we climbed the mountain today as part of our walking tour of Lacoste.  We explored every nook and cranny until our hearts were content.  Such a beautiful place.  I am so lucky to be here.

There are only about 55 other students here with me.  They are Illustration, Sequential Art, and Graphic Design students.  I hope that us being such a small group that we will become really close knit and really good friends.  It's really hard being so far away from home.  This is the first time I've even been to Europe or outside North America.  It's so strange not to hear the local people speak english.

Classes start bright and early tomorrow morning with Treasures of Provence at 9:00-12:00 then Image to Print from 1:00-4:00.  I am really excited about these classes and I hope I will learn a lot this quarter.  I need to be getting to bed so I can be ready for the morning.  Goodnight y'all!

First Trip Day In Lacoste

Ello people! I hope you're having a nice day.

Today we went to Apt to get supplies and things that we didn't bring with us.  Such a different feel from the states!  They had a market.  An actual market where the locals come together every Saturday morning to sell foods and hand made goods.  I saw a handmade beret there that I really wanted but I didn't have enough euros with me to get it.  The lady's craftsmanship was exceptional.  My roommates and I wandered the market taking in all the sights and smells.  We were approached by these two Frenchmen who were trying so hard to comunicate with us, but there was one problem: we don't speak enough french and they didn't speak any english.  So it basically turned into a big game of charades that left us congratulating them on their apparent wedding.  My friend Sarah says that's not what they were trying to say, but I think it was.

When Ms. Eleanor says they leave at 11:45 she really means 11:45.  Thankfully we made it to the bus on time unlike a few unfortunate souls who had to get a taxi back.  We drove to Point Julian: a ancient bridge built by the Romans in I think 500 BC.  It was so cool!  I couldn't believe that I actually was touching things and walking on the same ground that people have been doing so for thousands of years!  I absolutely love history.  There are so many cool stories that fiction writing can't even come up with!

Today I found out that one of my best friends, Cassidy, that I've known since we were in dipers had her baby!  Daisy Starr was born yesterday at 4:29pm and weighs 6 lbs and 10 oz and is 20.5 inches long I am so happy for Cassidy and her husband Zach and I just can't wait to meet little Miss. Daisy when I get home!  Ken and I were taking bets this week about when she was going to be born.  I had a strong feeling that she was going to come as soon as both of us were clear of the country and I was right! 

The steep hills here I think will either do me in, or make me in great shape when I get back!  I really hope it's more the later.  I think it's time to hit the sack, I have an early morning walking tour and Lacoste orientation in the morning.  Goodnight y'all!

Hello France!

Hi people who may be reading this blog!  My name is Allison.  I've never done anything like this before, but I've been asked to keep a blog while I am studying abroad in Lacoste, France.

Ken and Me

Let me tell you a little about myself: I am a Junior at the Savannah College of Art and Design and I'm from Cary, North Carolina.  I'm here in Lacoste studying illustration and I hope to become a children's book illustrator when I graduate next spring.

I have been both excited for and dreading this trip because I know it's going to be very hard for me.  This week my boyfriend, Ken, deployed to Afganistan.  I am so thankful that I was able to see him off.  I don't think I would be able to forgive myself if I wasn't there for him.  I love him more than anything and I miss him so very much.  I know that these next long months are going to be extremely hard.  Everyone keeps telling me to keep busy and that will help the time go by faster.  I hope they are right.

We arrived in Marseille this morning and then drove about an hour and a half to Lacoste.  It was a LONG 9 hour flight that seemed even longer because there were these screaming babies on the flight that screamed the ENTIRE flight!  I think we all have migraines now from them.  The view was simply breathtaking as we flew closer and closer to Marseille and saw the alps in the distance and where they meet the ocean.

Lacoste is an old medieval village dating back to I believe the 15th century.  There is so much history here.  Lacoste is most famously known as the place where Marquis De Sade lived.  When my roommates and I went exploring we climbed all the way up to the top of the hill where his castel is.  Now famous fashion designer Piere Cardon lives there.  The view from the top was phenomenal!  I would have stayed up there longer but it was starting to get dark so I made the steep climb back down the mountain.

So far Lacoste seems to be a pretty cool place and I'm excited for the adventures that I will have here.  Classes start monday and we are going to visit Apt, a local town, tomorrow to pick up supplies so I think I'm going to pass out now.  Goodnight y'all!