School Supplies

Just wondering how many of you love to order supplies or loathe this part of the job? I love it...love seeing what is new, anticipating clean watercolors, and feeling special when I get all those boxes to open!! What I hate is doing inventory before I place my orders.
So to make that part of the job more enjoyable I give in to one of my favorite things, Starbucks. I know some of you may go to that other place but for me Starbucks is it. I love the atmosphere, bring in my laptop, sip my yummy latte and get my work done. The other thing I love about Starbucks is that they have soy milk!!
So, back to supplies. I think it is time for a list of a few of my favorite things-supply style.

ONE 

Love these liquid watercolors from Sax.

TWO

Dick Blick acrylics...have tried other brands but these give great coverage and are easy to mix.

THREE

Nothing beats Sharpie for graphic work. Great saturated colors and the kids think they are so grown up using a permanent marker.

FOUR

It took me a while before I realized how the quality differs in construction paper. 

Tru-Ray is stronger and has deeper color than any other brand I have tried.

FIVE

Have tried to save money by buying other erasers but have found they are too hard or too soft.  Pink Pearl is just right!

The Art Show

I have always wanted to have an art show where I teach and felt this past year I was finally ready to do this. There was no way I could do this alone. So thankful for all the work a small group of parents and teachers did to make this a success.

I scoured teacher blogs, pinterest and images on google to get ideas. Thankfully the panels you see were available from our high school which made displaying the work so much easier.

We didn't have a lot of expenses but were happy that a few family businesses helped out with the materials we needed.

Our cafe featured coffee, tea, water, cookies and rice krispie treats.
Tables for enjoying the treats were my art room tables covered in black paper.
Fresh tulips from the grocery store added color and a wonderful group of students served.  

Activities included sticky note answers, photo op area, painting part of a mural and sewing cards and puzzles.

Students volunteered to play background music. We had piano, clarinet and violin.

We used the panels, music stands, the walls and tables to display the artwork. Hoping to make "walls" with pvc for next year.

Overall I was thrilled with all aspects of the show and especially with how many people came out to support the arts. We ran our show for one evening and the next morning me, the principal and the dean started to take artwork down and the 7th/8th grade chorus helped out halfway through their practice. I put all artwork in piles according to homeroom and sent students out with carts. It only took about 45 minuted to take down. Putting it up probably took 4 hours plus all of the mounting on black paper and labels. Every student was represented at least once and projects from other classes besides art were also on display.

I'm looking forward to being able to improve this show next year and have people more aware of how important the arts are.

Well, the end of the school year is right around the corner and I haven't been sharing my "creative journey" for some time. Right now I'm in the middle of grading 6th grade projects and trying to go through and organize for next year. I always feel torn between three areas of time....the present, as in grading, end of year activities and meetings, the near future, as in summer break and the future as in the fall. I keep trying to be organized with all the thoughts and ideas that flow through my mind but it doesn't always happen. Thank goodness for pinterest!!
I've decided it is time for a major change in my life and I want to share it with you, partly to help anyone else who is in my situation and to make myself accountable. I have been overweight for a long period of time and am at my heaviest ever. I have lost weight two other times but right now I know that my weight is holding me back from "real" life. So anyone who wants to jump on board I would love to have you join me and the rest of you can keep me on track.
Okay, so my start date is Sunday, June 23. The reason for that date is school will be out and my family vacation will be over. The one is a major stress point for me and the other is food available all the time.
Next up, I will share my first middle school art show.

Feel like this.

Want to be like this!!

Starting to teach art lessons from my home this month. Excited! Hoping I get a good response from my ad. Looking forward to getting a studio space set up for students. Can't wait to share my knowledge and have fun creating art with kids without the pressure of grades and curriculum.

A New Way of Letting Go

Okay. First, it's not finished. Second, it's a totally new direction for me. Third, I am exhausted.

So. The ymca is having a gallery show for local artists and I can put two pieces in. When I filled out the form, I had a piece I knew I wanted in and a piece in my head which I had to include a size for, a price and a name. I chose home as the name. Tried to create something and it just wasn't working. Started this piece with just squares of color. My son says "Huh, more squares?" I proceeded to drip paint from each side of the painting which looked like roads. Kept taking advice from my son and we started talking about how I know the art I make is usually made with the hope for a sale and I realized that my art is for the general public I know in my life and not for myself. So this is my first venture into freeing myself from what I think I should make to what I feel/need to make for myself. Yikes! Will post pics of the finished piece soon.

Tick, Tock!

Gerald Murphy

If you have ever seen Midnight in Paris, you would know the company that Gerald and Sara Murphy kept. Happened upon this painting when looking for new ideas for art projects. Gerald Murphy only produced a handful of paintings but was influenced by some of the greats of the 20's.

 He had unexpectedly taken up painting soon after his arrival in Paris, after seeing an exhibition of work by Picasso, Derain, Gris and Braque. ''There was a shock of recognition which put me into an entirely new orbit,'' he later wrote. ''If that's painting,'' he told Sara, ''that's the kind of painting that I would like to do.'' He began to study with the futurist artist Natalia Goncharova and, along with Sara, to help paint scenery for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Taken from this article: What a Swell Party It Was

After sharing Gerald Murphy's "Watch" painting from 1925 students were given circle stencils to create their own watch workings. Students created gears, screws and other watch parts,  outlining them in black sharpie.

In our next class students used the metallic watercolor paints - so cool! - to paint the parts.

Students cut out the round watch and mounted it onto black paper.