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Author: rachelott22

Week 12 – Finale (What I think about my presentation)

I think the presentation on Friday went really well! But I do think that there are areas for improvement. I felt that I was stuttering a bit, which may have been nerves or lack of practice (I did go over the presentation numerous times, though). I also forgot to show some study notes I made even though I made a highly visible note on my script to show it to the class! A lot of my classmates and friends showed a lot of support and told me my presentation was really well, so I think that I did pretty good and am very pleased with myself.

For grade negotiations, I do think that I did put in a lot of effort and I learned a lot more from this genius hour than the last. Therefore, I will be hoping for a mark similar (maybe lower) than the one I got last term. The main reason why I think it would be lower is because I changed my plan drastically from the start. Even though that is part of the genius hour process, I think it sort of messed with my flow.

Week 12 – Multitasking and Presenting

As I am writing this today, I am also multitasking other things as the same time. Why? Because I somehow didn’t do them yesterday which was a bad idea.

I have not in fact started on my minecraft flower, and I don’t know if I will do it anymore because literally everything important for school is on Friday (I kind of wish my genius hour presentation is on the following Tuesday, but I don’t have a good explanation for why).

I hope to compile all of my art projects onto a slideshow as well as some of my earlier pictures on time management.

This is what I’m doing as of now…

To stop procrastinating, I put an elastic over my phone so that I can take a moment to think of why I’m going on my phone before I go on it.

Phones distract me but they are also good resources. I really dislike how people are using it to waste time – if we all used our phones appropriately, we’d be able to use them for learning at school and not have to use a very slow and glitchy and annoying chromebook.

I also recorded everything I need to do on my planner.

Presentation

For the presentation, I plan to use more simple pictures, less explanations. I think that last time, speaking in long sentences bored the audience (because there are so many people speaking speeches) so I will make it short with more slides to engage the audience more. This, however, may feel more goofy and less formal, but I feel that it will make the experience better. (Especially if everyone else is making theirs formal.)

Week 11 – I did something and I should also do more (+presentation)

Over the long weekend, (after I posted my last post) I was really motivated to create art (even though I was busy) because I really wanted to finish my genius hour a lot. My overall goal was to make some self-portraits and try something new so I just did that!

I first made 2 self-portraits which I have mixed feelings for (however, I am having some technical issues so I will upload the second one later today):

To finish off, I’d like to work with a canvas (I got some cheap ones from dollarama). I have an idea to make a minecraft flower pixel art thing (I’ve never done it before).

I should also start working on my final presentation too, as I am presenting next week. I hope to bring in my ipad and supplies (because I think it would be cool for people to see what I am using even though it won’t be cool) and I would also like to bring my canvas when I finish the minecraft flower!

I hope to still make google slides but I would like to improvise what I will say (roughly… I will still make a script for what I would like to say during each slide).

I think this is it for today’s post, I will definitely add the other artworks when I find out what went wrong with posting them (they kept changing to other pictures!).

Week 10 – Procrastinated making this post but also I did something!!!!!

Hey guys!!! I know this post is during the middle of the longest weekend of life, but I was going to do some extracurricular homework, but I am procrastinating that so I will now do this to procrastinate that homework!!!

I took time to make a chart on what I do when I procrastinate!

Let’s stop procrastinating and get to the good part…

Good news! iluli replied! Here’s what she said:

I really agree with what she said, and she was really nice with answering my questions!

Surprise!!

Along with contacting iluli for some expert advice, I also realized I was following another artist under the name of: shinko_draws. I also really love their style, but mainly followed them because I saw a reel that was relatable…

Anyways, here’s the link to their instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shinko_draws/

I sent Shinko the same questions I sent iluli because I really wanted to see how the two artists would respond differently.

I really appreciate Shinko spending the time to answer my questions – their account is more well-built than iluli’s, by that I mean that Shinko’s account is more of an artist who really has a structured system where they regulate their customers, viewers, strict rules on how to contact them, how to put up a commission, etc. Which is really great because this allows for less stealing of their works, but it also really scared me because of all the rules they had. I didn’t have a lot of hope for them to answer me, so I was really excited when they got back to me in an instant.

iluli’s account was more friendly to view and I really felt that iluli was keeping in touch with her followers so that’s why I was very confident to contact her… Also because she stated that she is 13 years old, which is really cool to contact somebody with such skill but also the same age as you.

Overall, I think I really benefited from contacting these artists online. Although they do not live in the area, I feel as though I had more freedom with asking them questions without being judged. They all responded lightning fast and had really elaborate answers… They were also super duper friendly which I love about these small online content creators!

Finishing up stuff that I have procrastinated on..

Plant

This is my marigold flower that I got from the Muttart Conservatory! I love caring for plants because they are such low maintenance that I feel like I’m doing something small everyday. In the last post, I showed you guys how I painted the plant pot. After, I modge podged it and then I repotted my marigold into it! I really like how it turned out, but I also recently bent the marigold’s stem so now it is slowly dying…

Cat?

I also got into watercolour again by painting a cat.

I like taking photos but I have no experience in taking photos and will not be getting experience in taking photos because Art 9 is full year and I can only have 1 option choice for the year so I have to live with my trashy photo taking for the rest of my life.

Yeah, I like photos and think that this is a pretty awesome form of art.

I like taking pictures but I need some help. I used my iPhone SE (3rd gen) to take all of these. I used photo mode, portrait mode, and stage light filter to take these.

I think I am going to go now… It’s currently 11:13p.m. and part of my genius hour is to get a good sleep schedule…

Week 9 – Regretting life decisions and forgetting and I also made 3 more posters of which took too much time to make

So… Guys, I have some issues. I lost my piano music on Thursday, my book (that I was reading) on Monday, and my quartet pieces on Tuesday… so basically I have some memory issues! Today, I will show you the three new posters that I made on canva! However, this time, I used a computer to make it, so it is of a different layout, which was really confusing.

I suffer from short-term memory loss

I really think there is something wrong, so, like the Rachel I am, I decided to research the web.

Next year, I’m definitely not doing Culture Day. Too much work for too little recognition. Also, I don’t think we’re very organized. I didn’t even know we weren’t supposed to tape it on the wall!

Pot. For my marigold.

I forgot to take pictures of it this morning, so I will for sure be back later to show you the final result.

I decided to paint a pot for my marigold plant because it will be a challenge and it will also let me try out painting on different surfaces. I think this turned out really well, despite it being far off from the original idea.

I used a really cheap paint with it, and I also followed a tip that said that if you added large amounts of cornstarch, that it would make the paint more thick. The cornstarch tip did work, and I found that I definitely used less paint than I would’ve if I didn’t use the cornstarch.

Arting

I hope that I can make more art and speedrun making art because we don’t have much time before our final presentation.

Art expert?

We already found our time management expert, which is Marten, but now we have to find an art expert. I found a young artist, who’s 13, online and I quite enjoy her art style. Her name is iluli (not sure if that’s a pseudonym or not) and here’s her instagram account: https://instagram.com/1iluli1?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I really, really hope that she will answer, so I will now dm her.

Here’s what I wrote to her! I also had some more thank you sentences after the questions, but they cut off when taking the screenshot.

I really hope that iluli will have the time to answer, I think it’s great that she’s creating such unique and creative art at our age! I will see you all later to post the flower pot pictures, and also to update if iluli responds!

Week 8 – Working on art for the China Stall at Culture Day

Today, I will be focusing on creating art for the China stall on Culture Day. Culture is on the 19th of May, for anyone who wants to come, and our China stall will be featuring a variety of cold and warm foods, off-brand chinese technology, and little trinkets that you can try out!

Let’s start with some digital Canva use and my troubles…

Yesterday, I spent some time (as in like 2 hours) working on 2 posters for what I’m doing on Culture day. If you’re interested, please come to the China table to see!

Here’s the link to the posters:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAFicn2Kff8/d8gXoH2BN4l2iQkJ-gojpQ/view?utm_content=DAFicn2Kff8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=homepage_design_menu

This took me so long to figure out how to upload this, which obviously shows that I need some help regarding computer managing.

Now onto art cards!

For art cards, some friends and I are going to make as many as we can! You can win them through draws or you can buy them! To enter into the draw, you must spend at least 2 tickets at our booth. For the price, it is 2 tickets for 1 card, or 3 tickets for 2! You can choose which cards you’d like when you buy it, but if you win a card by draw, it’ll be randomized.

Here’s an example of two cards that I made today:

I have made a total of 12 cards… The cards are 4 by 6 cm and they are on top-quality watercolour paper. I also signed them because it represents that I made them.

I hope you are all interested in the China stand after this post, and have seen all of my artistic creations! I tried some digital art formatting and also creating on smaller canvases with simpler designs. Come visit us on May 19th!

Week 7 – I want to change my plan (a bit)

Hey everybody, I’d first like to apologize that I didn’t check in on Sunday. I was very tired and wanted to consult with Mrs. Englot before I posted again.

I have progressively gotten less excited about posting my blogs for the past few weeks, and, surprise, I’m still very busy for this month, so I don’t think I will get anywhere, which will just be me wasting my time.

Starting off, I’d like to introduce my previous genius hour project back: Art! This time, to step it up a notch, I will try to make more detailed art, because I think those really detailed drawings are so artistic and beautiful. I’d also like to try self-portraits, which sounds fun and I really love the fact that I will embrace myself in the progress. Other than that, I want to try painting on other canvases, those larger sized ones, and also flower pots. I hope that this will make me more ready and excited to do genius hour!

Along with that, I still hope to also add studying methods, just to also incorporate art into it. This way, I will be more aware of the time management that I’m doing.

However, I will still be on a time crunch because I never expected to be this busy this month.

Self portraits

I want to make some self portraits because I feel that there is more freedom for me to express my feelings. Since I know myself best, I will be able to create really meaningful stuff, and not just some surface stuff.

I have already created a really nice DIGITAL ART piece, which I really love, of myself. I really like how I demonstrated everything, the types of brushes I used and how I added a lot of symbolism. Also, it was digital art! I dropped that idea last genius hour, but hey, I might actually be able to try it out again!

Me, but drawn in procreate

This took around 3 hours to draw, which is pretty good considering that I have no idea what I’m doing in procreate most of the time.

I hope that I can continue trying to shorten the length of drawing time but also keep my art at the same kind of intensity. I really enjoy my kind of style, but would like to improve too.

Planning for Culture Day

We have culture day in a few weeks, and so now I will use my time and plan for culture day with my friends.

Yay

This is a big project to take on, but with so many members in the group, we can definitely split the work!

This is it for today, so I will see you guys next week!

Week 6 – Internally crying and progress report :)

So, this week, we have to show how much we progressed throughout the past 6 weeks. I feel as though I haven’t done as much as I hoped, I cleaned my room and maintained it, and also tried the blurting method. I also tried breathing. It was good.

Although that is pretty good for my current schedule (as to why I am internally crying), I am not used to being this slow in my genius hour. Also because I have the urge to want to change this genius hour into self-portraits.

I hope that I am ok. (I should be) :).

Anyways, I am now partly through the music festival, which is good (although tomorrow I have a science unit test and a fairytale thing). I played the first two movements of the Bruch violin concerto, and I got distinction! Pretty cool. However, today I have Bach and I will be playing gavotte en rondeau from the third partita, but I am not ready because my intonation sucks and I am last in the class of 8 people so I will be sad and my hands will be cold.

Let’s stop procrastinating

Tomorrow, as I have mentioned, I have a test for science. I’ve decided to review my notes (like how Marten said). I also got tired of the blurting method… I think blurting is great for small quizzes and less topics because it uses a lot of brainpower and easily tires you out… I think reviewing for tests is better, especially if you understand the whole of the unit already.

However, I often average a 90%, so I will probably get some stuff wrong because I still haven’t found a good enough study method that works for me.

Yes.

I am also going to quiz my friends who have not chosen to participate in this, but I will force them anyway.

I recorded a part of the quizzing, it’s 14 mins long so I wouldn’t recommend watching it, I’m just putting it here for evidence. Edit, I was unable to upload due to my lack of knowledge. If you would like to listen to the recording, please talk to me.

I will try to work on this more next week after I finish internally crying.

Week 5 – Blurting method

This week, I decided to try the blurting study method. I first read the section I was going to blurt, closed the book, and then tried it. Overall, it took a lot of brainpower because I was in a room filled with people.

I will definitely incorporate this into my studying in the future. I think it’s a great method especially for social studies and science. This really helped me realize that my studying needs help.

I’ve decided…

I’ve decided that since I’m very busy next week, that I will use less time to work on genius hour. However, I expect to be back next Sunday (after all pain). I think I’ll also contact my dad as an expert because he’s cool.

Week 4 – Expert replies and a slight change of plan

Let’s first talk about the slight change of plans of my genius hour… I find myself procrastinating too much (and there seems to be no effective way to show that) so I think it would be best if I redirect my genius hour to only working on study methods. That way, I can accurately gather information (which would be displayed on my test grades, etc.) and I think this will motivate me to actually do something during genius hour every week.

Now, onto the fun stuff. One of the people I contacted, my friend, Marten, replied with some ideas that may be useful to me! Here’s what he said:

So now, I shall try some study methods that he mentioned such as:

  • Reviewing
  • Blurting
  • Flashcards
  • Quizlet
  • Reviewing harder material

It just so happens that we have a science test in a week, and since I’m very busy the test week, I will be trying out of study methods this week to see how it ends up. I’m also going to start a google sheets to start recording my test scores (so I can see where I started and where I ended up). I’m not sure if I want to post it publicly, so if you’d like to see it, just comment or contact me.

Now, since it’s way too early to study, I’m going to try to find more experts to contact and also start the google sheets with my most recent grade. (I’m doing this because recently, my grades have dropped quite a bit so I will have something to compare my progress with).

Candles 🙂

I LOVE candles, and I’ve seen this thing where people study until the candle runs out. I’m definitely gonna try that sometime next month.

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