On a scale from 1-10, how old am I?

My sincerest apologies for leaving you all without adventures for so long. Unfortunately, I haven't done any traveling since Dublin, but on the upside, Edinburgh and I are doing very well and have gotten quite close over these absent weeks of mine. I have three papers due next week, so to avoid my usual crunch-time last-minute all-nighter tendencies, I've been working on them for the past three weeks now and to my surprise (trust me i'm really surprised), its working out pretty well. In New York I am so concerned with all my other commitments that my academic obligations sometimes get the backseat, meaning staying up all night before a paper is due is always my solution to not enough days in a week. It always worked for me because its all I knew. But now that I have spent a day just hanging out in an Edinburgh cafe with a pile of books and too many jstor print outs, my work ethic has changed for the better... again to my surprise.

The first essay I wrote is for my British Art History class, which spans from the middle of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century, so the hallmark of that time period is the founding of the Royal Academy and the infamous exhibitions it held. I decided to focus on two exhibitions which mark the introduction of genre painting to the art scene. Genre painting is the depiction of everyday life, which was considered vulgar and lowly in comparison to the grand portraits and history paintings which inundated the walls of the Academy. The exhibition of 1806 is when David Wilkie, a Scotsman, made his debut with a work entitled Village Politicians. It was surprisingly the blockbuster of the summer and elevated genre to an entirely new level. I then progressed into the exhibition of 1826, when Wilkie exhibited another genre scene entitled Chelsea Pensioners, which received such praise that the Academy had to place a divider between the work and the spectators, a first for the Academy. I used Genre painting as the means through which the state of British painting can be seen and defined; it demanded spectators to look long and hard at work as opposed to being able to glance at a piece and move onto the next. Additionally, because of the subject matter, it challenged spectators to feel something... feel sentimental towards the people in the image who went about their daily tasks completely unaware of the larger world around them... something forgotten to the hordes of Academy goers who cued for hours to visit the vogue exhibitions of the time.

My next essay is for my Velazquez in Context class, a class devote entirely to Velazquez and the court in which he painted. I've decided to write my final paper on the influence he had on 19Th century artists, like Manet and Whistler. I introduced my paper with the appreciation the French and Americans had for Velazquez's individuality and independence, something enviable to a rapidly changing and modernizing country. He painted with such liberty and with such bold strokes, that artists would go and stand before his work for hours trying to copy his style. Both 19th century artists, Manet and Whistler, made almost hundreds of copies combined, some just fractures of larger works and some entire reproductions of even Las Meninas, Velazquez's greatest masterpiece. Apparently Manet and Degas met for the first time while standing in front of the Infanta Margharita... I kinda like that visual.

And my last paper is for my Sinners, Saints, and Seers class, a survey of Scottish, Irish and English art from 600 to 900. I am focusing on the few depictions of women in art of this region and time, all of which are either depiction of the Virgin with child or Adam and Eve. The essay is largely centered around the idea that woman was never to be represented alone and was always accompanied by a domineering male figure, either the Christ child or Adam. If she does appear alone it is either as temptress or damned soul i.e. a prostitute, unmarried woman, or barren. I am using Irish High crosses, illuminated manuscripts, and small metal and stonework sculptures as evidence.

The preparation for these essays and the process of writing them has really brought me closer to this city and made me a real Edinburgher... (not a word). I have my coffee spots that I go to and the waiter who refills my coffee without charging. I've taken books out from three different libraries, the Art and Architecture library, the Main University Library, and the National Library. I've even sent emails to scholars... no reply yet, but the beauty of this whole working ahead thing is that I have a whole other week to wait and see.
On my 21st birthday/St. Patrick's day, I sneaked (did you know snuck isn't a real word?) into the Bean Scene, free wireless with every purchase, to finish up my conclusion to my Velazquez paper before my celebration with friends.

God I felt old. Apparently the whole evening I kept asking people, "On a scale from 1-10, how old am I?"... must have been prompted by this whole new work thing. Gotta be careful.

More to come.
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