Hey there lovelies!!
I had my first class today! It is Creative Drape and I don't think I have EVER been so excited about school. Who-da-thunk-it?? Because, School + Mollie= the worst pair EVER. We don't belong together and I refuse to be friends with academia. Puke. We'll see how much endurance I have when I return to the States and have to be back at Hickville. Sorry guys, it's true. I love the people in AR and I LOVE certain things about the South but I won't stick around, otherwise I'd never do well in fashion! There is NO comparing the people watching in London with it back in Fayetteville or Conway. It's an inspiration mecca here! (Don't worry, I'll always be proud of where I came from, and I will NOT forget my "roots". I'll always be a southern belle. I will be back from time to time too.)
About my class, Dahren is all about "volume!!" in garments and stretching ourselves, and RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. The design brief is 'Architecture' so we will have to research architecture and visit many buildings and sketch, sketch, sketch. Which is great b/c I know I am a strong sketcher but I am quite out of practice. Rusty actually. I'll dust off the rust tomorrow and practice. This city is great for everything, most of all people watching, and inspiration sighting and sketching. Pure LOVE. I am going to really enjoy this course.
Julie and I took off for a walk today without a map. We simply adventured and learned more of the area we live in. I saw adorable checkered walks! (Just the part going up to the house). Have I mentioned how much I love it here? I also love being around many, many cultures and languages. I hear so many languages and accents every day. The funniest is the Brit accents that are hard to comprehend. It's true. There's a guy in my class who sounds like a Brit/Irish, and I understood only half of his talking.
I went to the National Gallery saturday and GUESS WHAT I SAW??!!! (I didn't know it was here until a few minutes before i walked in and I flipped.) Da Vinci's "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, and the young St. John the Baptist ". It is my ALL-Time FAVORITE piece of artwork, of anything ever created in the world. It took Julie and I a bit to find it (why are all museums designed with the goal "to make visitors as confused as possible"?). I walked into the room, my eyes darting from each piece with one goal in mind. Da Vinci. I expected it to be small and at first glance I didn't recognize it. Suddenly, my eyes fixed on it, I squealed inside and ran to it.
Standing directly in front of it was like an ten year old at Christmas. Young enough to be silly about it and enjoy the simple pleasures, still squealing when she receives the gift she wanted; old enough to grasp the true meaning of Christmas and remember the event well. I will never forget that moment. Or the next hour. Because I couldn't leave my prize. It hung there in all it's glory as though Leo made it for me. When someone walked up and hindered my view, even slightly, I barked at them (on the inside of course, it's the ten year old part that knows this is not appropriate) and flared my nostrils. CAN'T YOU SEE THIS IS HERE FOR MY ENJOYMENT? MINE ALONE? Leo created her for ME. Move on bozo, she isn't yours.
My eyes felt over every color and line. Every movement that His hand took, my heart felt and was in turn shaken with grief, that such a piece could be created.
People may call it imperfect because it is unfinished. But she is perfect. I believe Da Vinci laid down the chalk because he too knew it. I have a fascination with unfinished artwork, and I think it must subconsciously derive from learning to love myself and others, as imperfect as we are. I often don't care to finish my paintings, which I used to blame on my ability to lose interest in a project as quickly as I took interest, but I now realize that isn't always the case. There is something about looking at an unfinished piece and finishing it for yourself. You become the creator, the sculptor, the painter, the illustrator, the artist. No boundaries, it's yours now.
Tell me friend, have you ever been moved my thankfulness? Has the unending love and grace of God ever smacked you so hard you teared up? Have His blessings ever caused you to laugh and cry because there are no emotions appropriate or strong enough to allow our bodies to experience them. I can't say that I had before this trip but that emotion takeover is incredible. I used to believe crying was for funerals and weak people. Then I learned that is is just another emotion used to express a sense of something overwhelming. Be it death or grief, be it life or beauty. In my case thankfulness. It hits me when I am looking out my window, gazing on London, England. Yes, I Mollie Booth, now reside in London for the next ten weeks and thanking God every second for it could not begin to, in word, state my sense of gratefulness. My eyes get moist, I light up in a way that only the Holy Spirit can light a person and feel the urgent need to throw my hands in the air and dance and say "THANK YOU JEHOVAH!!!!! THANK YOU FOR CARING ABOUT MY EVERY WANT AND BRINGING ME TO THIS ASTOUNDING CITY!!! YOU CARE ABOUT ME!! THIS DREAM COME TRUE IS PROOF!!" My heart is overwhelmed by it all.
Thank you to every person for your guidance, wisdom, finances, and prayers that have helped me arrive at this place. You make the greatest team!!!!!
Loving you from a far away place,
Mollie
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| don't mind if I do! |
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| cafe lunch (that's Paulina) |
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These are from the Victoria and Albert Museum!!!!! It's beautiful!!!
l-r, Chanel, Lanvin, and I forget the third. |
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| I thought you'd like this one, mom! |
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| Alexander McQueen, 2010 Spring Collection. It was one of the most beautiful dresses I've ever seen! The construction and fabric pattern match up was impeccable |
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| Again, this made me think of mom |
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| When I saw this I got a little sick to my stomach...Why did I have to miss her wardrobe display??!!! WHY?? |
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| McQueen, again. I love this and I kept surprising myself b/c I used to think I didn't like his work. As my prof said today, it's all about opening your mind and finding new things you love! |
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| Design student, I surmised. The most obvious clue was the fact that she was sketching. That one didn't take my Sherlock skills! : ) |
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| This is the clock tower in the park beside my flat |
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| I am going to emulate this outfit in the left...It's one of my favorite looks I have seen here! If the security guard hadn't been standing RIGHT beside it I might have gotten a better shot. But I have MAD skills at taking shots w/o people noticing, so all is well. |
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| classic |
