Neil

Katie called me a slacker the other day for not updating my blog and I guess it is about time. What's the news been? Neil graduated about three weeks ago and had his big MFA graduate exhibition. It went well, but he was exhausted when it was all over. It was a crazy week of installation, very few hours of sleep, family, graduation, eating and we basically just crashed when it was all over. The last couple weeks have been so nice, getting to see Neil before 10pm almost every night, and having him around the house on Saturdays and Sundays! He moved all of his stuff out of his studio this week, and into a storage unit and I think that really made it sink in to him that he really is done. He's been a little bit mopey the last few days, and I don't really blame him. He's had a great couple of years. And he counted his paintings as he was moving out and he said it was around 45. So, it's been a very productive couple of years, as well.

For your viewing enjoyment, here's a little visual re-counting of his time at school, in paintings:

First semester, first year:

Second semester, first year:

First semester, second year:

Final semester, second year:

It's been quite a journey, as you can see from the shifts in his paintings every semester. So now, Neil's preparing to enter the real world again - searching the job listings and going on interviews. It's not nearly as fun as art school, but that's life, I guess. As soon as he gets a job, he'll look for a studio and continue on with the painting, and hopefully do some research into galleries.

I made my first cheese last weekend, a cream cheese that turned out pretty tasty. I have pictures and want to show you all the fun steps, but I need to make dinner now, so that'll have to wait until another day!