Diane’s World

First of all, here’s the song of the week. I’ve had it stuck in my head for at least 3 weeks now, so it must be good. It’s by the shins, and it’s called “mine’s not a high horse.”Anyways - here’s a whirlwind tour of my spring break.

Sorry it took so long for me to post, mom. I’ve been in a whirlpool of life ever since I got back from spring break. But I’m back into normal Diane mode now - whatever that is.Well Spring Break went a little something like this (this post is going to be very long… sorry about that. ):

Day 1: we drove from around 2pm-12am to go to house we were staying at.

Sunset on the way there

Janice and the most confusing diesel pump ever. the poor gas station worker had the hardest time ever trying to explain how to use this pump.

Group picture minus Janice

Day 2: We were allowed to sleep in till 9:30. Then we went to Emma’s house to scape and paint it.

Janice is dangerous… with the caulking gun.

Kristina, Andrew, Janice and Joel scrape the house.

IN the afternoon, the girls and Joel decided to take the 30 minute walk to the nearest starbucks. In that time we got whistled/honked at/or Vrroom vroomed at 41 times. (We lived in the hispanic part of town)

WE also had our first major shopping trip, where Janice rode inthe cart and got a few weird looks.

By this time everybody in the group had a nickname.

Diane = Mom (in charge of groceries, 1/2 of the cooking, everybody’s wellbeing (drinking enough water, using sunscreen), contacting the site before the trip, and in charge of finances and spending)
Andrew= Dad (in charge of the driving, the vehicle, the worksites, 1/2 of the cooking, and directions)
Kayla = The old maid (the only person older than me on the trip)

and we have 6 kids

Janice = The “special” or “retarded” one

Joel = The parrot (apparently he repeats what has already been said a lot. I wasn’t there when this nickname was bestowed)
Hope = the mini mom or the little suck up
Kristina = the smart glute (she just has a really good eye for catching mistakes, which is good because she’s an accounting major)

Stephen = the silent child that will eventually turn into a serial killer

Tasha = My adopted Blond daughter

We are one happy yet dysfunctional family.

Day 3: WE return to emma’s house to paint it.

Andrew (aka my husband)… he was really good at falling off ladders. I mean, he had this whole safe way of falling off a ladder - and he even used it once or twice

Some how a huge paint war started. This is Stephen and Joel…

Hope, Tasha, and Kristina post-paint war action. (I have such attractive children )

We decided that cutting off sleeves to our paint shirts is the way to go… woopie!

(The people are Kristina, Me, Hope, Tasha, Janice and Stephen)

Our entire group with Emma after finishing the job!

Day 4: SUNDAY!

We went to a mennonite church that our site coordinator, Jason, Goes to. (Jason is AWESOME. We love him and his family)

It was nice seeing a different denomination - even though this was a pretty contemporary mennonite service.

We got some directions from Jason, and headed up into the mountains for a day of walking and relaxation. Did I ever mention how much fun my team is?

That little yellow speck is Janice.

woot Denver!

Joel, Stephen and Andrew in a tree

Kayla, Me, Kristina, Hope and Tasha about to do some flippies!

Girls on a tree. Want to see the best part about this picture?

Oh man. Every time I see Janice I can’t help but laugh. She’s one funny woman.

Day 5: we moved on to our second house - which was a trim painting job.

Oh by the way, this is Jason. He’s the man.

Mike and Janice. Mike is another guy that works with the incorporation we were working for, and he was pretty awesome. He actually auditioned to be in the band THE FRAY! I met someone who was almost famous!

… Who let Janice on the roof?

The finished house, our team, and Mike!

That night we had a homeless christian man over for dinner - his name is Jimmy, and he played his guitar for us and told us his conversion story. He was brought to christ under the care of a group of college mission students (a lot like us) that were working with Campus Crusades for Christ. It was a huge blessing having Jimmy over.
Day 6: RAMP BUILDING DAY!

Our break away from painting -we got to build a series of 3 ramps for a woman who has muscular dystrophy. I got to use power tools! (dun dun dun)

Actually, Jason made me use power tools, because I was afraid of them.

Jason and Stephen on the main ramp

Andrew and Jason on the same ramp

Andrew and Stephen trying to get sun on the only parts of their arms that were still white.

(I don’t have any pictures of the girls working at this site. Probably beause all the pictures were taken during lunch break, where the girls successfully escaped to buy bread, use a bathroom… and OK! I admit it! We also went to starbucks!)

Checking out her new ramps for the first time! She was so excited!

Second ramp with andrew and janice

Our third ramp!

Just so you know -the people in order are Stephen, Me, Tasha, Hope, Kristina, Kayla, Janice, and in the front is Andrew and Joel.

On this day we also got on Denver’s Ghetto news station. I was interviewed and got my 15 seconds of fame!

The guys grilled that night - funny pictures resulted.

Day 7 - and then 8: Painting the evil house!

I have to admit that everybody was very discouraged on this day. The house seemed like it would never get done… but thank the lord it did on day 8.

The problem was that most of the painting had to be done was over 6 feet in the air, and some of the girls weren’t so keen of heights. Things just seemed to happen soo slowly.

We didn’t take any pictures on day 7 because we were all not in a picture taking mood, so here is day 8:

Janice wayyy up there!

Mike is the man.

That was our last project.

We set out after finishing, and Jason took us up in the mountains to see a beautiful sunset. It was exactly what our group needed after that last house.

Hello Mommy! I’m in DENVER!

My children can be very scary sometimes.

And sometimes they like to break the rules.

But I love them

The mom and dad of the trip!

Denver is so beautiful.

Our last night with Jason. Our last night sleeping in Denver.

Day 9: FREE DAY!

We took one last group picture including mike and jason

Then set off to downtown Denver.

We shopped on 16th Street Mall

then went to the Denver Art Museum

and saw pretty much every genre / nationality of art possible.

Then we went to a park.

We played frisbee, the guys threw a football with some drunk homeless guy, and some read books.

We went out to eat at the hard rock cafe, and then started our trek home.

On Sunday we got together again to watch Finding Nemo, went to the PLIA GIFT, and went stargazing.

I love my dysfuntional PLIA family.

Anyways I’m back into real life.

My Gen300 profs gave us this link to find out how much resources you consume:

http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.asp

in the end it tells you how many worlds would be needed if everyone had your habits.

In Iowa, I take up 1.8 planets. In Washington - it nearly doubles to 3.6. I would love to drop this down to under 1… I have a lot of changes to make.
Please pray for the following things;
1) A girl at Dordt - Suzanne Clark - lost her father unexpectedly. I’m sure her family and her need a lot of prayer.

2) I heard a rumor the other day that has made me very unhappy. Someone said that my closest Professor is leaving Dordt. I have yet to find out if this is true…

I am very very very upset about this news, and I’m praying that it’s not true. If it is true, I might have a mental breakdown. This woman means a lot to me. Pray for her and her future … and the long run of uncertainty I will go through if she leaves.

(She is the only person I know that has faith in me and strong expectations for me as an artist. She’s the only one that cares about the correlation between my art and my heart/morals/personality/life. She reads beyond the canvas. She’s the reason I’m an art major. Three years ago, art was the last thing I cared about, now it’s one of the first… she’s why. )

3) One of my family members is going through a rough and very scary time. Sorry about the lack of details, but this person needs prayer. (I love you - - - you know who you are )

Okey dokey - that post was long enough to make my mom happy for a week, right?

Have a wonderful week, y’all!

Deeds

2 comments

HI MOM!

THIS SONG THAT I reference to is one from what I’m going to call the best chick flick since 50 First Dates. Yes I am talking about that charming and rib-splittingly funny movie, Music & Lyrics.

1) I usually dislike Drew Barrymore (even though she was awesome in 50 First Dates)
2) I usually HATE Hugh Grant. He blinks too girly-like.

3) The amazingness of this movie trumps both 1&2.

Still not convinced?

CLICK HERE FOR REASON #1 WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE
CLICK HERE FOR REASON #2 WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE

Ahh… yes it’s the kind of movie that kind of make you wish you were in love.

Sigh.

Anyways…

1) Who would I be if I didn’t show the most recent art I’ve been working on?

Now I”m working on a sculpture using the subtractive method (starting from a block and carving out the image). It’s a lot more difficult that i thought. I’m using plaster, and here is what I have so far:

I’m not going to say what it’s supposed to be quite yet - I don’t belive in spoon-feeding people my ideas. Just look at it and next time I’ll tell you what I’m doing. If you want to say something about it, it’s always useful for an art person (I’m not calling myself an artist just yet) to hear it.

2) I do believe my roommate went crazy. First she started giving away a lot of her clothes, then she decided to cut the hoods off a couple of her sweaters. So Laura, Justine and i made rapper hats. Check ‘em out!

Yeah… oh dear.

3) I’m baking cinnamon rolls for my plia team, and they smell amazing. You should be jealous and wishing you were in my PLIA team.

4) My hand got butchered today. First of all I literally shredded the skin on my thumb, I have two very bad blisters on my palm, three burns, and a few heavy gashes in my knuckles. The price of being an art major is high.

5) Welp… not much has been going on - I’m enjoying life. I leave for Denver tomorrow for PLIA (PLIA stands for “putting love into action”. they are student-led mission groups.) I’m hoping it will be a beneficial time.
PLEASE PRAY:

1) for travelling mercies for all the dordt students going home/on vacation for spring break.

2) for all the sites that PLIA will be working with and that we make an impact… hopefully a positive one

Rachel and Josh I hope you are enjoying home

Mom I love you and I gave sarah the number you can contact me by

Sarah can you give mom that number I gave you?

Love, deedee

5 comments

I was actually going to put a rap song as the song of the week, but I came to a sad realization that rap music has terrible lyrics. And I don’t mean terrible as in dirty (well, some of the time), but terrible as in… stupid.

So this week is Nickel Creek… this song brings back high school memories. It’s a good band, and This Side has phenomenal lyrics.

Anyways, my mom requested an update. SO here it goes:

What else do I do but A WHOLE TON OF ART! (I know you are all getting uber excited about art… right? I’m just hoping that someday somehow I can manage to influence somebody to be interested in art…I hope.)
1) I’m learning how to weld. Not going so great so far - all I managed to do is get a bunch of melted sautering metal and a few burns on my hands. Urg.

2) This painting:

turned into this painting.

yes there are changes. They are subtle - but this painting is all about subtleties. And there are about an hour of work from the first painting to the second. I know - you think it’s crazy.
I understand that most people who haven’t studied art/contemporary art history don’t understand this painting.

Let me give you a few hints how to look at it:

I asked you this earlier: if this painting were 3D, which part would be the closest to you? My sister Sarah answered very well:

-The warmer colors (red, yellow, orange) phsychologially pop out at you, and the cool colors recede.

But that’s not all. Here are other factors to take into consideration:

-Solid blocks of color compared to layered/multi colored ones

- Straight edges compared to fuzzy/diffused edges

- The brightness/mudiness of the color

- Contrasting two similar colors compared to contrasting to opposite colors (red next to green will pop at you much more than red next to orange.)

-What happens to the depth when one layer overlaps another?

There are many other things that I thought about while creating this piece, and if you want to, you should spend some time looking at the painting and try to figure out how your brain translates the colors. Think of it as a playground for your eyes.
One of my missions is to help people understand non-representational artwork, and all the wonderful things it can do. I don’t dismiss realistic art - it definitely has it’s place - but I want people to start being able to look at modern art in a way that they feel they can understand it.

If you would like to start understanding modern art better, come and talk to me. I would love to answer any questions and help you learn how you are to look at abstract art.

3) I worked more on my large-scale painting!

This sucker:

Turned into THIS:

I’m very excited for this painting to progress… you have no idea. It’s going to look amazing - even non-art majors will appreciate it. Or at least I hope so?

4) I made a video for my dad on a very short notice. Click here to see the video. This video is in attempt to recruit people to go to the World Journalism Institute - what I did last summer. If you are interested in Journalism - especially how to be a christian journalist in a secular news room, you should definitely check it out. This institute changed my life.

5) Along with welding, I’m experimenting with the wonderful media of plaster. You have no idea how entertaining a little bit of plaster can be! I plan to mess around with it a lot this semester, so be prepared!

OK I know you are all getting sick of art.

Sorry about that - what else can you expect from an art major with extreme passion for what she does?
My mom probably wants to know how real life for me is.

Well lots have been happening.

1) I’m getting really good at baking/cooking. Good thing I work out 3-5 times a week… or else I’d look like the venus of Womeldorf:

(ha! i just made an art joke!)

I hope I have a family someday so I can have a reason for making lots of food. Too bad a woman has to chose between a career and a family these days. Arg.

I make some pretty mean sticky rolls - yup, completely from scratch - which is always the best. Infact, I just took a batch out of the oven and they look nummy. If you want one, come over to C7 before they all get eaten by my other friends.

2) I recieved news today that “Cow”, my beloved Siamese fighting fish, is dying. I’m very sad to hear this news. Poor Cow - he  won’t even live to see his first birthday. You were a great fish, Cow (even though I know you aren’t dead yet).

Sarah, make sure he gets the best darn toilet-bowl funeral you can give.

3) We had the equality riders stop by Dordt’s campus today. The equality riders are a troupe of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, and Transgender people and supporters.  They drive around in a tour bus, visiting Christian colleges all around the country that have a policy against practicing homosexuals.

Some stupid Dordt kids vandalized thier bus - telling them that God doesn’t love them, and putting crude language all around it. Honestly, I am losing faith in Christians these days. Act mature you dumbos! Of course God loves Homosexual people!
I went to the talk and I definitely changed some of my views on homosexual people. (If you disagree with me on anything, go ahead and tell me - I’m still formulating my views. Also a lot of what i’m saying is a repeat of of what Pastor Aaron Bart said)

What I decided is that we tend to be extra disgusted by homosexuality because it’s a sin that most of us can’t even imagine wanting to commit. However, is homosexuality much worse than some other sins that we tend to be neutral about.

1st Corinthians 6:9-10 says:

9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Isn’t it interesting that homosexuality is on the same list as slanders, drunkards, swindlers, theves, idolaters, and sexually immoral people?

I don’t think the question is if we are too harsh on Homosexuality, but rather, are we too apathetic about the other sins? Sure we think homosexuality is disgusting - perhaps because we don’t experience it, perhaps because we aren’t exposed to it as much. But shouldn’t drunkedness, theivery, greed and slander be just as disgusting to us?

I think we Christians need to work on being more consistant. We need to embrace our homosexual brothers/sisters just as we evil and filthy sinners want to be embraced by the church. Pastor Bart made a good point - shouldn’t the church be the first people opening our arms to the homosexuals? If Jesus came to earth again, those would be the first people he would hang out with. So why are we so easy to condemn them, and so easy to pass off the sins that are more often around us?

The equality riders did try to argue that Homosexuality isn’t a sin. I’m not even going to touch that one… what does a bible have to say to make ANYTHING concrete?

Leviticus 18:22 say:

“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”

Ok? Response? How is that not a command?

OK… I’m off my soapbox. Tell me if you agree/disagree. I’m open to anything.

Wow that was a long wordy post. Chances that you read everything all the way down to this point are very slim. Props to people who did read it all (I love you mom)/

Anyways, I have a killer weekend staring at me in the face. I plan to make a lot of art. Lots of it. So much of it, that maybe I’ll hate it by Sunday. Ha! like that’s possible.

Ok I must go to bed.

Have a good weekend y’all.

Diane Marie

4 comments