Light Painting

{This is me and Mr. Friend in Mario Land.
I am sitting quite comfortably on a mushroom.
Mr. Friend is defeating the evil turtle shells.}

I loved this and I never knew how to do it before.
It is called light painting and you can do some crazy,
fun stuff. (Go google it and look at the images. It is fun!){Reminiscent of Star Wars}

We did this for FHE. It would be an awesome date.
I wish I'd had more time to play with it.
{I'm playing the drum quite poorly. Mr. Friend has the guitar
down pat.}

What you need:
SLR
Tripod
Glow Sticks and flashlights
Lots of crazy people
and a dark, dark room

Settings on your SLR camera:
ISO: 1600 or 3200
Needs to be on Bulb
Low Aperture between 16-22

Then the fun begins. Hold down the button while
people in front of the camera go crazy with glow sticks.
My camera counts the seconds. I usually tried to keep it around
15 seconds per shot. If you want to see the people's faces flash
them with a flashlight right before releasing the button.
We were laughing hard. Definitely good times.
Maybe next time, we can be a bit more creative.

Mini Art Show

I love art.

There is something so personal and challenging about it.
It makes me excited, happy, and very busy.
Memorizing numbers and vocabulary words is easy (personally),
but art offers a challenge that only the person
doing it can achieve. The only competition is with yourself.
And personal viewpoints and backgrounds only enhance
the work rather than deters from it.
Your art is your story. It comes only from you. You are the
person figuring out the puzzle and applying the meaning.
Isn't it so fun?

I think I seriously am going to have the best job in the world.
Who doesn't want to play with pencils, paint, and crafty stuff
all day? And I love the fact that I will maybe help others discover
their talents and what inspires them.
Yes, I am a crazy artist and I love it.

School has kept me very, very busy.
There is my final work sample portfolio that I've been stressing
over for the last month. It has to include a unit with 6-7 lesson plans,
assessments, adaptations, students work, and resources. I've
been scanning, printing, photographing, writing, stressing, organizing,
stressing, and perfecting this thing for the big day where I go in
front of a panel of professors and present it. And then they decide
based on it and my teaching whether I can be a teacher.
It is FINALLY done though. (Clap, please.)
I feel very accomplished, proud, and ready.

But my real pride is my students. They keep me on
my toes. Some days I come home thinking there is no way in
heavens I can do this. WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING!
They are crazy, wild, uncooperative, and frustrating.
But then there are the rewarding days where I see them
break through a problem and feel good about what they have done.
I see them take pride in their work.
I see them try their best.
The days where I help them see the world a little different
are the bomb-diggity.
They make the crazy days worth it.

I'd thought I would show you a mini art show of some
of the more recent projects we have been working on.

Student Artwork:

Scratch art is where you scratch off the black to present
another color underneath. Students studied negative and
positive shapes. I wished these would photography better,
but the silver is so shiny I keep getting a glare.

I
I loved doing the wire sculptures.
They turned out so cool. I wish the pictures were better.

Last are the tape sculptures that go up tomorrow.
Students had to wrap themselves in tape to create life size
sculptures of themselves and make an installation in the school.
It is fun just to see the process.
I'll show you the final results when we get them up.

I wish I could have taken pictures of everything.
My classes are so good.

I will assure you there is more to come.

Cruel Devils, Mona Lisa, and Some Guy

It is the weekend! I have never been so excited for

this blessed day called Friday. Crazy week. Running around,
forgetting appointments, losing my keys and my mind a million
times, but it is all over at last.
I am going to relax, eat my skittles, and take a shower to
get all the crap out of my hair.

Every time Halloween comes around I get a wee bit
stressed out. I am a creative sort of person and the
perfect idea is highly sought after. I stress and plan and
analyze. There are many factors to plug in. Mainly that I
have no money.

This year I wanted to be a California Raisin. Genius!
I would wear my black leggings, poke a hole in the top
of a black garbage bag, and spice it all up with some bows and
sunglasses.
But I talked to a few people and I guess I am older than I
thought. No one knows what a California Raisin is anymore.


(And actually I only know because my Grandma use to have
cool little raisin figures that were oddly really fun to play with.)
Back to the drawing board....

Then I remembered that my all time favorite villain has got
to be that classy, sassy, crazy lady...
Cruella de Vil.
I just love the way her name is spelled.
And when asked how I'm doing, I want to reply
happily," Miserable, darling, as usual. Perfectly wretched."
She's got confidence that lady and mad driving skills.
I mean seriously you can't get better than her, especially
for the "mean" art teacher.

Exhibit A:Exhibit B:

(Like the ball right on top of my head?
I am totally going to draw in her eyebrows for tomorrow.)

Funny part is that I had a dentist appointment
right after school today. I changed into jeans and
marched right in.
I'm thinking of making it permanent.
It sure is a conversation starter.
(Guess my dad is right about the whole rebellious thing.)

And then another stress about Halloween is the whole
carving pumpkin thing. People tend to think because I am
all "artistic" or something like that that obviously beautiful
things just run down my hand and onto anything I touch.
FALSE.
I mess up many things before I get it just right. And
pumpkins have never been my strong point.
They are just so... round, gooey, and uncooperative.
So when Mrs. CT asked if I wanted to be her partner for
the faculty pumpkin carving contest, I hesitated.
I had to though. She gives me my grade. :)

Guess who won?!

Yes, that is the Mona Lisa.
And people say it was difficult.
(Just a bit.)

But more than anything, the real stress
this week has come from this:


But I'll explain that tomorrow.

P.S. Hello, hello new friends! I am happy you have
joined my party.

When an old friend dies

Personally, I really hate change especially when everything

seems okay to begin with. I like keeping my old things because
they are familiar and comfortable to me. I ain't a picky woman.
Long as it works, I'll use it.

For example, Dolores.
My car. Not the most attractive beast on the road, but she and I
were one, full of memories and loyalty.

Now, I think in America there is an image issue, boiling down to
you are what you drive. Look at your car, and there you are.
Dolores was my car. She was cheap to keep around. Fun to look at.
Had her own personality (she would hum at the intersections.)
Hated the speed limits, mostly because her speedometer never worked.
And would sing only if she felt like it, or if you hit the dash just right.

What I really want out of transportation is feeling
rather thanan image.

Dolores got me through college.
She was there when I left ma and pa and met the new roommates.
(It was winter and we didn't scrape off the ice, just hung our heads out
the window to the grocery store.)
She was okay being loaded down with snowboarding gear and anxious
young people, and did her best up the mountain passes. She went on many
late night drives to Jack in the Box and Mickey D's. She got dirty in the
summer when we were all too busy with harvest to worry about cleaning
her. She got wet with soaking bodies coming out of the canal and
loved going fast down empty dirt roads at home. She snuck around at
night when all her passengers went on revenge trips with toilet paper.
She had more than people put in her: dogs, cats, a few calves, and once we
lost a turtle for a day. She knew how to look stylish while cruising.

She had an attitude, but she always got me home safe.
And that to me is transportation in the highest form.

R.I.P. Dolores
August 2010
You will be missed.

The "new" car doesn't have a name yet.
Any suggestions?
(We really can't bond unless I know her name.)

The Mr. Van Gogh Interlude

I have a HUGE crush on my Van Gogh doll.
(And because I am an art teacher, I can have Van Gogh dolls.)

{You know Van Gogh right? The tormented artist who painted all

the beautiful swirly landscapes. My favorite is "Starry Night."
He was always financial broke. And sadly

only sold one of his 800 paintings during his lifetime. He committed suicide in his
30s. Pretty much he is a legend-- very mysterious and a genius for his time,

not appreciated until after his death. I love his paintings. And he

happens to be my favorite artist. And the fact that another of my favorite

artist, Josh Groban, sang about him makes my toes wiggle.

A Van Gogh painting to look at and a Josh Groban song to listen to,

well there is nothing better than that. It is my cozy time.}

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

My original Van Gogh doll faced a terrible death by the

roommate's dog shortly after moving in. Belle, the dog, attacked his face and left

a gaping hole. I was heartbroken. But a new one arrived the other day,

and my broken heart fills somewhat renewed.

Look at him! Cute right?
I mean he has a little paintbrush in his hand!

And the best part, the part that gets me really excited, is his ear

comes detached!

There are several stories about Mr. Van Gogh's ear. One that

it was injured after a fight with one of his good friend and fellow

painter, Gauguin. There is the one were he cut it off and took it to

a prostitute and practically bled to death until discover by the police the

next day. But the one I like and prefer to believe is that Van Gogh

fell in love with a woman who would not return his affection. In

some fit of craziness, he cut off his ear and set it to her. I don't know

why, but I like to think in his lunatic mind it made sense to give

her a piece of himself as a sign of true devotion.

So, my Van Gogh doll sits waiting for me to find someone to give

his ear to, only symbolizing my true devotion of course.
But he looks so cute while he does it I just had to share.

(Maybe all artists are a tad loony.)

There is your art history lesson for the day. Feeling educated?