ugh... SO BUSY!!!

I can't believe how busy I am this summer. It is pretty ridiculous. Remind me to never take two classes, work two jobs, fix up a house, move, and finish up furniture projects all in 2 months. lol I must have been crazy taking all of this on. O well, it has to get done, and I gotta suck it up! So as far as my studio project goes, I feel like I'm a bit behind... I am going to work on it all night tonight though. Hopefully I have everything done for what my professor wants on Monday. I also wanted to try and go by the house we're moving into in less than a month, and put in the panels I reupholstered on the record cabinet/entertainment center. I also bought this adorable little cabinet from the Antique store I work at, and I'm going to do a little sprucing up on it. I haven't decided if it will be my night stand, or my tv stand yet, but either way it is awesome! I absolutely love restoring old furniture, and bringing things back to life. Many of the items in my house are repurposed or upcycled. There is just a lot of charm in older pieces of furniture in my opinion. Most furniture today from walmart or target is just garbage, and I try and stay away from the particle board crap. It may be cheap now, but it will be thrown out in a year or two... That's my spiel on that... lol Back to work... Hopefully I will be able to update this holiday weekend...

Megan A. Tood

Wow this is going to be an exhausting summer...All

I am at day 3 of summer classes, and I am already exhausted... This could be bad. haha I wake up at 7-7:30am, have class from 8:30am-11:45am, then work from 12:00pm-5:00pm. And then repeate every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This brings a whole new meaning to TGIF! So my summer studio is going pretty well so far. I have a concept, and I am working on form, and have got it pretty well figured out. I will post more when I have more time... I just didn't want to leave you hanging.

Megan A. Todd

Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come

Well, my little "summer vacation" is almost over. My mom and I are going back up to Kansas City with the rest of my family. I have an appointment tomorrow, and my youngest sister starts her summer school. Thursday I will be driving back to Columbia... I hope I don't have any problems while driving. I've been driven around since my surgery, but I'm not really having any pain (other than when I go into the hospital to have my dressing changed, and it feels as if they are ripping off my skin). I'm sure everything will be okay. Then friday I will go to the hospital in Columbia, and then Saturday things are "back to normal" and I'll be working my weekend job. It will be nice to have the money. I am going to have to get used to not having an afternoon nap now... haha. And waking up at 6am and going to bed around 11pm. I'm sure it won't take me long to get back into the swing of things. Well, I better get the rest of my things together for the trip back.

The image is a print from Kurt Halsey Fredrickson which has been one of my favorite artists ever. If you haven't heard of him, you should check him out! I was inspired to add this particular image, because every night since I've been here at the farm in Nevada, MO there has been so many fireflies. They are so beautiful. It's amazing how they light up the prairie. You really just have to see it to believe it.

Megan A. Todd

Form

Here is my first project from my first studio class. We started working with just basic forms at first. First was just rectilinear shapes...

Next was curvilinear shapes...

Then we mixed the two together...

And finally linear...

Megan A. Todd

My kind of artwork

So I decided to post a few images of my favorite pieces of "art" that I've done over the years that is currently in my portfolio. I used all of these to be accepted into my design sequence in school. I love to create art, and I find it hard to do when I'm not actually taking an art class. I would love to have more free time to work on paintings, drawings, pottery, woodworking, etc. but with studio and two jobs its hard. I am hoping when I'm out of school, and have a "real job" I can do more things on weekends for myself. This first picture I have is of a project I did in my 2D art class in college. It's an image of a very iconic chair. I had to recreate it in the six different ways shown here, and with six different types of media. First is a realistic interpretation in graphite, then an outline in ink, then monochromatic with colored pencil, next is complimentary in oil pastels, then representational colors in color-aid, and finally true colors in acrylic paint. This is one of my favorite projects. I love taking one object and breaking it down into different things.

This next image is of a still life I did. We had to bring in our own personal items to create our own unique still life set ups. I chose to bring in my favorite handbag, a heel, 2 old records, some spools of thread, buttons, a bottle of ink, my head phones, and a candle. This gave me plenty to work with and lots of different textures to try and recreate. It is one of my favorite still life's I have done so far.

This piece is a recreation of a Lucien Freud

painting. I did it in chalk pastels, so I could really get a lot of good blending going on like the original oil painting. If you are familiar with Lucien Freud's paintings, hopefully you can see the similarities. haha. I know I didn't do him justice, but I am pretty pleased with how this came out.

So what do you think? I need to take a lot more pictures of other projects I have done. I will post more soon! And of course once my summer semester starts I will be updating all the time with what I am working on.

Megan A. Todd

Hello fellow bloggers! So I have realized that I haven't really explained what I would like to accomplish with this blog... I really appreciate this opportunity to speak about the things that I am passionate about, and write about my experiences while still in school. Not only will it be a record of what I have done and where I have been in this point in my life, but it will allow me to get feedback from all different opinions. So, to start off, I am an interior design major at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. I have taken two "design studios" and have been very successful in all of my projects. I love starting new projects, and coming up with unique concepts. I definitely know now that this is the career that I will enjoy doing the rest of my life, and I will work hard to make sure that happens.

Now that the spring semester is over, and I am on my "summer break", I only have about a week and a half left before the summer semester starts up. I am going to be taking my third design studio (along with another finance class I need before I graduate). I know from former students that this is the most intense studio (besides my capstone course), yet one of the most rewarding of their college careers. I am excited about this studio, but also very nervous. Not only is it going to be challenging, but I also have the post surgery problems to deal with. I really hope that this is the last time I will have to deal with this surgery. Third times a charm right? But enough about that...

Another thing that I would like to write about is my passion for furniture. Obviously an interior design major would love furniture, but I pride myself in being able to design AND build attractive furniture. Since I was a little girl I have been immersed in woodworking, drafting, all types of art, and much more from my father. He has been a huge influence on my career choice, since he is a draftsman and loves to do woodworking in his spare time. One of my first memories is that of my dad building something in his workshop. Since being in college I have taken furniture design classes, and those have been some of the best stress relieving classes ever. I want to incorporate those skills I have into my designs when I am out in the real world and have my license. I feel like that is something that a lot of interior designers don't have and would be a huge asset. There is so much I have in store for this blog, and I can't wait to share it all!

Thats all for now...

Megan A. Todd

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

Well, today I went to Kansas City with my mom to see my surgeon since it has been a week since my surgery. I can't wait for this whole ordeal to be over. This is the 3rd time I've had surgery in the 8 years that I have been diagnosed with the pilonidal cist. Things looked good though, and I should be healing up soon. Thank goodness! I have to be back in Columbia on June 7th at the latest for summer classes. I am both excited and nervous about my summer studio class. I know it will be really intense, but it will be worth it in the end.

And now for this ADORABLE picture next to me... I have been obsessed with etsy.com for quite some time now, and lately I have been

browsing it frequently. HERE is where I found this lil cutie! :)

That's all for now...

Megan A. Todd