Vol. 3, No. 273, September 30, 2018

3273 - Sprint On.

Tomorrow is the beginning of my next Creative Sprint, so for my project today, I put together a small collage showcasing 8 of the projects that I have made during Creative Sprints over the last 3 years. I have enjoyed the Creative Sprints in the past as they have given me a common goal with lots of other artists. I often find myself looking at my art in different ways and trying new things.

If you have enjoyed seeing my daily art projects, I would encourage you to join me for the next Creative Sprint. You can sign up for the Creative Sprint here: https://www.creativesprint.co/

Here is a little information about the Creative Sprint.

WHAT IS IT?

Creative Sprint® makes it easy for anyone to develop creative muscles. It engages diverse groups of individuals, businesses, schools and community organizations in 30 consecutive days of making and sharing.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

Anyone who wants to pump up their creative muscles. No special skills required or creative experience needed to participate. All kinds of people have participated. Read some of their SPRINT STORIES.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

There are only 3 rules for Creative Sprint®:

MAKE something every day for 30-days. We provide you with a prompt for each day so you don't have to worry about where to start. 

SHARE what you make. Connect to our global community on the Facebook Group and by using the #CreativeSprint tag on Twitter & Instagram.

REFLECT to learn and grow. At the end of the 30-day challenge we will send you some questions to help you track your progress and decide what to do next!

WHY WOULD ANYONE DO THIS?

Improve a skill,  get unstuck, get out of a rut, get out of a funk, generate momentum, generate new ideas, connect with family, friends, coworkers, boost your mood, boost your energy - did you know, people who engage in creative activity feel significantly more energetic, enthusiastic, and excited the next day? 

Vol. 3, No. 272, September 29, 2018

3272 - Coffee, Coffee, Coffee.

Over the years of my Creative Marathon, I have celebrated a lot of random national days and created a lot of art projects, with very little repetition. However, I think I have celebrated National Coffee Day every year. Today, I even decided to recreate a painting I had made before. I used coffee as the primary medium for this painting, with colored pen in for the outlines. I was only able to find one colored pencil, and it is more red-ish than I would have liked, but I guess it works.

Oldest Miller saw the painting as it was drying; she loves it and wants me to hang it in her room. Unless I make another one, larger like I had originally planned, she will have to wait until after Meeker Fair 2019, because one of these painting are going to make an appearance. Last time I made this painting, I loved how it turned out, but I gifted it before I could enter it in the fair. I won’t be making that mistake again.

Vol. 3, No. 271, September 28, 2018

3271 - Dragon Homecoming.

Tonight I had some Miller Time while attending Litchfield’s Homecoming game. Remembering that I hadn’t made an art project yet today, I grabbed a piece of green paper on my way out the door. When we arrived at the game, I folded the paper into a dragon. When it was finished, I gifted it to Middle Miller.

Vol. 3, No. 270, September 27, 2018

3270 - It’s Growing.

We have addd the next group for flowers to the 6th Grade Van Gogh Vase. With nearly 60 flowers per vase, they are really looking nice. They add a bright pop of color to the otherwise boing hallway. As the students hang their flowers, the only rule is that their flower has to touch the vase or another flower, without covering more than a petal.

Vol. 3, No. 269, September 26, 2018

3269 - Sunset Squiggles.

I finger painted with first grade again today. This time, I made a sunset on the lake.

Vol. 3, No. 268, September 25, 2018

3268 - Tree-ish.

Today was my first day of teaching a line lesson to 1st grade. After going on a line scavenger hunt, students created a picture by finger painting lines. While demonstrating, I quickly, and upside down, painted a tree. I used straight lines for the trunk and bumpy lines for the top of the tree. I used a stick to draw in loopy lines for the leaves.

Vol. 3, No. 267, September 24, 2018

3267 - Transitional Lines.

This year Annandale Elementary School added one section of Transitional Kindergarten. This class is for students who are old enough to be in kindergarten, but who are not quite ready. They have a different classroom curriculum than the other kindergarten classes and move at a slower pace. Because these students will be in kindergarten next year, I decided to do some different lessons with them in art so that they don’t have to repeat everything next year. Out first branching out lesson was on Lines. After a guided practice line drawing worksheet, I presented the class with a large piece of paper filled with dots. I gave each student a different color of marker and had them draw different lines by connecting the dots. Of course, I had to demonstrate and get in on the action as well. After school, I took their collaborative mural down to their classroom and hung it on the wall in the hallway.

The mural is so long that I couldn’t fit it all in one picture, so I layered it in a collage instead.

Vol. 3, No. 266, September 23, 2018

3266 - Dot Day.

In September, people all over the world celebrate International Dot Day. We celebrate the day by making dots. My first grade students read The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and then decorated their own dot with patterns. We cut out the dots, glued them on a colored paper, and then added more decorations with metallic markers. This is my finished example.

Vol. 3, No. 265, September 22, 2018

3265 - Magical Moments.

On Littlest Miller’s 6 Birthday and the first day of Fall, I finally finished CC’s Birthday/Summer CD. Well, she requested so many songs that she actually got 2 CD’s. In addition to the CD case covers that I made at the beginning of summer, I decorated the CD’s. Now I just have to get them to her.

Vol. 3, No. 264, September 21, 2018

3264 - Pig Portrait.

This is my other blind contour line drawing. My students deemed it the pig portrait, because the nose and eye ended up on top of each other, resembling a pig snout.

Vol. 3, No. 263, September 20, 2018

3263 - Rainbow Beach.

I was finally able to finish my beach scene color wheel. I love how it turned out, and I can't wait to color my other three color wheel drawings.

Vol. 3, No. 262, September 19, 2018

3262 - Droopy.

Today I painted my portrait today, using warm colors for the skin and cool colors for everything else. Even with the color, my Blind Contour Self-Portrait looks sad. I decided that it looks sad because the facial features are droopy.

Vol. 3, No. 261, September 18, 2018

3261 - Blind And Blue.

My 7th graders are creating blind contour self-portraits. A blind contour drawing is an outline drawing, like a coloring book, that is drawn without looking at your hand as you draw. Oftentimes, with blind contour drawings, the lines overlap, and parts of the image show up in the wrong spot. This was the second self-portrait that I drew this week, and it is far superior over the other one, which I may post later once it is painted. This portrait has everything pretty much in the correct spot and actually looks pretty nice even though I look very sad.

Vol. 3, No. 260, September 17, 2018

3260 - Pineapple Complements.

After a couple weeks of slowly, painting, drawing, cutting, tracing, and gluing, I finally finished my 8th grade complementary color wheel. I chose pineapples for my design. Unfortunately, the pies didn't all line up correctly, and I had to do some trimming to make it fit.  Therefore, the pineapples don't all fit perfectly. Next quarter, I think I will try again.

Vol. 3, No. 259, September 16, 2018

3259 - Mr. Sketch.

I went to Menards this weekend, mostly because I am a sucker for their Free After Rebate items. This week they had New Mr. Sketch Scented Gel Crayons. While I am anti Mr. Sketch scented products because it teaches kids that it is okay to smell markers, I had try out this new product.

I let the Miller Littles join me as we tested the crayons. The application was very smooth, so I expected to to smear easily, but that was not the case. Plus, the scent wasn't obnoxiously strong. At the request of Oldest Miller, I drew the blue rubber ducky, the Littles drew/colored everything else. Oldest Miller was excited to hang it on her new bulletin board in her room when we were finished.

Vol. 3, No. 258, September 15, 2018

3258 - Tomato Jelly.

Having studied the Meeker County Fair Premium Book with an abundance of  tomatoes and feeling adventurous, I made tomato jelly. The jelly consists of tomato juice, lemon juice, gelatin, crystalized ginger, Tabasco Sauce, salt, and sugar. It has a slight hint of spicy-ness, and an unique flavor. I'm not sure I like it nor do I know what to do with it. I guess it's a good thing one recipe only makes four jars of jelly.

Vol. 3, No. 257, September 14, 2018

3257 - Squiggle.

This morning, I had a couple of projects in process at the middle school. I figured I could take them home and finish them this weekend. Brilliant as I am, I forgot to grab the when I left, so I had co come up with a new project. My first graders read ISH by Peter H. Reynolds. Then we practiced making ISH drawings. Today everyone got a piece of paper with two squiggles on it. They needed to turn those squiggles into something. I decided to make an example turning my squiggles into roses.

Vol. 3, No. 256, September 13, 2018

3256 - Today's The!Day.

Today's the day in which all of my hours of drawing patterns, gluing hearts, coloring letters and rolling pieces of tape pays off! After school today, Mrs. Pawelski, the other art teacher, and I met to create our school's collaborative mural. Together, with help from a handful of eager volunteers, we hung 149 pattern hearts, 32 letters, 12 smaller hearts and 6 signs. Next week I will have 20 or so more pattern hearts to hang, as the kindergartners weren't finished with their's yet. With approximately 9 pieces of tape on each piece of paper, we are hopeful that the mural will stay up for a very, very, very long time. This picture shows the full mural on top and a close up of the word section on the bottom.

Vol. 3, No. 255, September 12, 2018

3255 - Shades Of Blue.

During my Sixth grade class, I continued with my color wheel drawing. I decided to work on blue and orange today. Now I only have two more colors to go.

Vol. 3, No. 254, September 11, 2018

3254 - We Love!

At Annandale Elementary School, students in Kindergarten through Fourth Grade are creating a collaborative mural inspired by the work of Romero Britto. Each student decorated 1/4 of a heart, then assembled them to create complete hearts. The hearts will be aligned to form boxes which will contain letters spelling out a message.  Originally we were just going to have the school  name, but then this after noon we decided to add more. The message will now read "WE LOVE ANNANDALE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!". We want to assemble the mural after school tomorrow so that it is ready for an event on Thursday, which meant rather than having students complete the new letters in class, I had homework. With the help of my friend Amy, I was able to complete "WE LOVE!" while we watched the High School Volleyball Game. I will employ some of my eighth graders to help with  "SCHOOL" during class tomorrow.

Vol. 3, No. 253, September 10, 2018

3253 - Shades of Green.

During class today, I started coloring my color wheel. The drawing was divided into 6 pies, each of which represents a different color on the color wheel. The various sections within each pie are colored with different values of the designated color. During class I was able to complete the green and red pies, which means by the end of the week I should be done with one color wheel.

Vol. 3, No. 252, September 9, 2018

3252 - Pop Painting.

People often make fun of me for having one, but I love my PopSocket and last week it broke. I had mentioned to to my family over dinner one night, and my brother said that he had gotten a promotional one recently and would let me have it. Of course, it had company logo information on it rather than a cute design, but that made it possible to make my own art. Tonight, I pulled out my fingernail polish, because I didn't have my paints on hand, and started to paint. The only colors I had were my "Watermelon Colors" so that's what I made. I'm happy that my PopSocket turned out better than my toenails. Now I have to wait and see how long the polish holds up.

Vol. 3, No. 251, September 8, 2018

3251 - Purple People Eater.

Is it purple or does it eat purple people? That was the discussion on the way to my cousin's wedding. We didn't have any wedding cards st home, so I had to make one and decided to do so using the wedding invitation. I made a postcard style card with a pocket on the back for the gift recirpt. I attached the card to the gift with a ribbon and binder clip.

Vol. 3, No. 250, September 7, 2018

3250 - Just One More.


I was introducing the color wheel drawing lesson to my second group of 6th graders when someone asked how to draw a beach scene. I described a few different ways of how to do it, and then decided to make another example, this time I drew my design as a complete picture and then filled in the more empty spots with other images. It still represents things I like, such as watching sunsets on the lake, laying in the hammock, watching volleyball, art, dragonflies, reading, and a rose. I promise I am finished drawing new designs, as now I need to focus on coloring them in.

Vol. 3, No. 249, September 6, 2018

3249 - Almost Skipped It.

This morning as I was introducing the color wheel project to 6th grade, I decided that my drawing had too many small parts and details, so during class, I set out drawing a new design. For this design, I decided to draw the logos for each school that I have attended or taught art at. After class was over I didn't have time to work on it anymore at school, so I brought it home. It was nearly 11 pm before I was finished with my work for the Fall Musical, so I contemplated just skipping finishing my project and just photographing what was already sketched out. Ultimately I decided to watched one more episode of my show and draw while I was watching. Well, one turned in to two, and all of a sudden I was finished. The images represent the School of St. Philip's, Litchfield Public Schools, College of St. Benedict, ROCORI public Schools, Sauk Rapids-Rice Public Schools, Holy Trinity, and Annandale Public Schools. I didn't realize until I was writing the post that I forgot Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Public Schools.

Vol. 3, No. 248, September 5, 2018

3248 - Story Of My Life.

I got home after a long day, sitting down to write tomorrow's lesson plans, when I realized that I didn't have any project to post. My next lesson for grade 6 is a color wheel lesson. They will be drawing a design that tells something about them. Then they will divide the circle into  wheel sections and color each section according to the color wheel. I was able to make time draw out my circle tonight. I included a rose, drama masks, the twine ball, trees and a sunset on the lake, coffee, art supplies, cherry and vanilla, a campfire, marshmallow, camera flashes, books, wooden deck, bubbles, and of course, ice cream.

Vol. 3, No. 247, September 4, 2018

3247 - Muddy Cow.

Tonight I got to enjoy some Miller Time at the Muddy Cow. It was an exciting night as it was everyone's first time there, and It was the first day of school for the Miller Littles. I got to sit next to Littlest Miller, who convinced me to help her color her placemat. With limited crayon colors our cows are pretty vibrant.

Vol. 3, No. 246, September 3, 2018

3246 - Labor Of Love.

Today my Mom, Dad, Shawn and I labored over a hot stove canning some of the produce that was covering my parent's island. We made Bread and Butter Pickles, Salsa, and because we pealed 5 tomatoes too many, one jar of tomatoes. We have a lot more produce to deal with, but this was a good start.

Vol. 3, No. 245, September 2, 2018

3245 - Rustic Rooster.

Today I am celebrating Dassel's Red Rooster Days by attending the Knights of Columbus Brat Feed followed by the Fireworks at Spring Lake Park. The Brat Feed doesn't start until 6, but I decided to come out early to help my Dad set up. Once other Knughts arrived on the scene, I headed to the lower level of the park to make some art. Being in the beautiful park, with leaves starting to change color, I decided to make nature art. In the spirit of the festival, I made a rooster. I collected a wide variety of leaves, flowers, and other plant parts and then started arranging them on top of a patch of black soil. My rooster is laying right next to the path, but I doubt that many, if any, people will venture down the hill far enough to see it.

Vol. 3, No. 244, September 1, 2018

3244 - Sweet September.

Today my family and I attended the Dassel Red Rooster Days Parade. We came home from the parade with a very large stash of candy. I was about to eat cherry and lime Tootsie Rolls, when I got the brilliant idea to play with my food instead. I pulled out a rolling pin and flattened both candies. Then I used a knife to cut them before shaping and and assembling. I had to put my completed flower in the freezer to firm up a bit before I could take the picture.