my feet on the dash

10 drawing days down, 355 to go!

Yay! I made it to 10 straight days of drawing/painting! :D
Here's the piece from last night, number 10:

365 Days of Drawing is off to a good start

Announcement Banner, originally uploaded by redmeg8.

Follow here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmeg8/sets/72157621909725881/

The Drawing-A-Day project just got serious.

OK - I just saw Julie & Julia last night. The story of Julie working for a whole 365 days to complete every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking was so inspiring to me. I've been working on this drawing-a-day project since October of 2006. Well, let's just say that 'daily' it is NOT. In fact, recently it's become more monthly. :/

So, in tribute to that marvelous film (Streep was amazing!!) - I am, I have, embarked on a journey to truly raise my drawing project up to what I think it can be - something I do, for an hour or less, every single day, for a year. I started yesterday and plan on finishing on August 9th, 2010.

Are you with me? Anybody?

Well, you can follow along here OR an even better place is over on my "fan page" on Facebook (if you are endowed with an account there) - see below!

Thank you all for the years of support already :)

ALLTAGLICH: A Drawing-A-Day Project on Facebook

Science & Snark

Science & Snark

You might recall the page I created (and linked to this blog) where I post awesome science-y stuff that I find around the web. Well, I've been inspired by a friend to create a Twitter account where I can post things as I find them! Should be an awesome venue where I can share things with others and keep an archive for myself.

If you Twitter, follow the link above and 'follow' me, won't you??

My professional website portfolio's had a face lift! Huzzah!

Wow - I can't believe I did it! I FINALLY sorted out my portfolios over at www.megalo-media.com (my professional art/medical illustration website, as they say).

I've been searching and searching for a clean, readily update-able, gallery app or bit of code and I finally found it! Pictobrowser was the answer to my prayers! They make such a clean and functional (free!) flash gallery app. There's a nice option for a disappearing thumbnail gallery that can overlay the viewing area with a space for a title. And a useful 'notes' link for each piece where you can add more information; I used it for additional facts, media used, and the date the piece was created. Lastly, I like the fact that, with the 'link'... er... link, you can click through to the Flickr page of the image and leave a comment, if you so desire.

It was a SNAP to set up AND since it takes your images from Flickr sets, as you update those sets, it AUTOMATICALLY updates the relevant website gallery! I cannot begin to relate how awesome that is. My online portfolio will be SO much more up-to-date now.

And, the MOST EXCITING bit-o-news, the 'mine' section of my megalo-media portfolio is now open! It's only taken me something like 3 years to get it up and running ;)  I like having the portfolio split into 'mine' and 'yours' so that I can have both sides of my artistic repertoire showcased on the same site without it confusing the viewer.

Feedback is always welcome, so, let me know what you think!

IN PHD-LAND, next week is my last week with my current lab before I start my next rotation. I'm going to miss them so much. From this perspective, I really hope I can make it my permanent home for the next 3 years.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

My brand new life & are you on Facebook too?

Befriend me, won't you?
http://www.facebook.com/megan.e.foldenauer

(FB just began a feature where you can actually have your name in your URL on their site - awesome idea!)

Oh, and if you missed the news awhile back, my Drawing-A-Day project also has a page where you can become a 'fan', if you're into that sort of thing: CLICK HERE.

Let's see... life is pretty good at the moment, I must admit. I love the lab wherein I'm doing my 2nd rotation. I'm still required to do a 3rd (which I will do from 7/11-8/29), but, I'd be amazed if it could top my current lab. The people are GREAT and the work is very very interesting (corneal wound healing).

I'm learning lab techniques that I've wanted to learn for years and I'm finding out that I'm not a total slob at them. :)

Taking the leap I did to return to Wayne State, from this vantage point, was the right decision. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but, I don't regret it at all. I bet I'll eat those words when I'm in the thick of disseration writing, you know? ;)

Coming up are classes in the fall in Molecular Bio and perhaps Anatomy of the Eye... I'll have my big 'qualifying exams' in about a year. After that? I write and do lab stuff and write some more.

Ah, science. I think I... I... llll... love... you.

I'm back in PhD-land and the forecast is sunny with a chance of clouds

Was that a cheesy title? ;p

So, hello! I know I've been quiet a bunch the last few months. My daily routine has COMPLETELY changed - from an undergrad with a fairly relaxed schedule, no commute, and lots of homework to a graduate student with a 9-5 lab job, a 40-minute (each way) commute to Detroit, and no homework (yet).

It's all very exciting... not leaving me too much time for art, but, I'm sure that'll change as I settle in.

First impressions thus far? Being in a lab is very disorienting. You feel like you're doing important work, but, you have to be supervised (for now) until you master techniques. Despite this being my second rotation, I feel like a grown-up and a newbie all in one. You read and read and read. You wait and wait and wait (for experiments, meetings, lunch). You listen and listen and listen.

When I was in graduate school before (not Hopkins, but my 1st stint at Wayne St.) it wasn't like this. I was a ball of stress and gut-wrenching anxiety wrapped up in a blanket of uncertainty. It was god awful. Calm and true contemplation of the science I was attempting to master was not part of my life.

What has become plain is that I was NOT ready to be in a science-based PhD program back then. I have grown so much and now I feel utterly on the right path. Will it last? Well, I know this will be anything but easy... I'm in hope-mode.

These revelations are coming to me and I've only been at this for a little under 3 weeks. Amazing.

Anyway, I'd love to chronicle this journey I'll be immersed in for the next 3 years (that's all the time I have to finish my PhD - um, yeah)... hopefully I'll be able to manage my time to make it happen.

Oh, and did I mention I'm running my first 5K this coming weekend? I feel very unlike myself, but so me... very bizarre.

Yay! Drawing-A-Day book #5 has arrived!

Yay! Book #5 has arrived!, originally uploaded by redmeg8.

Wee! If you've been following my Drawing-A-Day project, you might recognize this :)

Blurb is responsible for these awesome things. I have no complaints with the quality or working with them. Please consider snagging one for yourself or a friend! I'll sign it when I see you :)

See here: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/669559

I'm learning Scanning Electron Microscopy!

Dual screen of a leg joint & a blow-up of it (SEM), originally uploaded by redmeg8.

And it is COOL! Could you imagine the potential for subject matter? Think of the drawings I could do! The detail is simply incredible.

Here's a set of the rest of the images I've done so far. Enjoy!

You CAN go home again...

I gotta admit... a few years back, hell, even a year ago, I'm not sure I would've been able to see what the future had in store for me. Now I know. It's pretty amazing.

I've been working on my Bachelor of Science degree in Biology & Chemistry for 2 years now at Eastern Mich. University (actually, it's a 2nd Bachelors) and am going to graduate in April... well, as of last October, I have been in contact with my "old" department at Wayne State School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy.

Old? Yes. I began my graduate studies there in 2005 and left after a year filled with guilt, confusion, and regret... mostly confusion. I had never left anything in that manner before. It left me floating in uncertainty for a few years as I considered medical school, graduate school in a different discipline, being done with academia, etc.

Well, all of the sudden last fall, at 2 in the morning one night, it hit me. I admitted to myself what my pie-in-the-sky goals are and I swallowed hard realizing that I needed to go back to Wayne State, hat in hand, and ask to be reinstated in my former program.

So, I did just that and have been working on it ever since. Let me just tell you that I am a firm believer in not only 'everything happens for a reason', but that if you are honest with yourself and take chances related to what you're meant to do in life, the 'fates' will conspire to open doors and make the way for you.

I'm back into Wayne State as of this summer/fall! I'll be a second year and will need to work my butt off, but, that's ok. I can see my goals firmly and they are so exciting, scary, and revolutionary, that I can see this through now.

I'll tell you more about them sometime. For now, I think I'll keep them under my hat. Of course, if we meet up in person, I might spill it ;p 

Wish me luck!

(now if I can just do well this last semester and graduate... sigh)