Venice, Italy

So I have been really behind with updating the ol' blog. Fourth year is well and truly under way and it is already very busy, as busy as one would expect at the end of the year let alone the beginning. What it's going to be like at the end I dread to think.
At the beginning of the college year I went on a college trip to the Venice Biennale. It was an experience and a real marathon. We stayed in Venice from Monday till early Friday. I saw more art in two days than I have probably seen in my entire life. There was very little there that I did not like. It was held in two main venues, the Biennale and the Aresenale, plus a lot of smaller venues representing various countries which were dotted around Venice. It is the Olympics of the art world, well worth a visit. Just allow your self two days for each of the main venues. I would love to have had time to go back and see it again. I was determined to see it all so went through it as quick as I could, while taking as much time as I could over each exhibit.
The theme of this years Biennale was the museum of everything. It featured a lot of outsider artists, which were exhibited alongside more mainstream contemporary works.  I won't bore you with lots of photos of artwork and such, instead here are some photos I took while walking around Venice, a beautiful city.

Butler County Fair

Some photos I took while at the Butler County Fair, on the 4th of July. I have to say I was not happy with the quality and mostly they did not turn out so well, I do not get along very well with the camera I was using. The top photo is my favorite!

Berlin Sketchbook

This is the book I made for my Berlin Trip. The only thing that is missing is the photo album, as I have still yet to get them printed. I needed to make the book, just to store all the information I collected while I was there, postcards and what not. I just put in a few of the sketchbook pages that I liked, most of them that aren't there were just of various exhibitions I saw.

Berlin Book

When you first open it, sketchbook is on the left

What it looks like when you open it out

From right to left. 1. The map we used to travel around Berlin.

2. First pocket, used to hold random postcards that I liked

3.Second Pocket, used for U-bahn tickets, museum tickets, restaurant business cards, food items and so forth.

4. Pocket used to hold all the museum brochures

5. This pocket holds all the information booklets on exhibitions, and various other information.

6. Used to hold all the postcards I got of artwork that I like and saw in the various museums. (I went a bit post card crazy while I was there!)

First page of the sketchbook

Information on Berlin and our schedule for the week.

Sketches from the plane ride over

Sketches from the Soma exhibition

On the left is a drawing of the tea in the hostel, and various other quick sketches, and stickers from the comic book store.

The Berliner Dome and a statue near the dome that I liked

Sketches of various knifes on exhibit

A drawing of one of the statues on the Neptune Fountain

A drawing of a broach I saw in one of the museums. Its Medusa I believe.

The Radio Tower. This was pretty cool, I didn't go into it, but you could always see it. It was like our North Star

These next three images are of sketches I did when we went to the B Flat Jazz club. It was alot of fun doing these, I drew to the music. I was very lucky because my tutor managed to get a table in the front, so we were able to sit up with him, then he was kind enough to give me his seat so I had a better view to draw. It was s o kind of him!

The xylophone player

Outside B2

U- Bahn

The Large U-bahn station, it was really impressive, lit up at night.

Tutors and fellow students on the U-Bahn

Rosa Luxembourg Platz, station entrance outside hostel, and station platform

A cup of tea.

A cup of tea solves everything. And if it is served like the way it was for me in Berlin, then it will make you laugh as well. I think that was one of my favorite experiences in Berlin. Its the simple things.