Vol. 4, No. 031, January 31, 2019

4031 - Celebrate.

Today I celebrated the end of the January Challenge as well as my third day of no school due to the Polor Vortex that has moved in, causing extreamly cold temperatures. To keep the Miller Littles entertained while they were stuck inside, I bundled up and ventured out for some frozen time fun!  We made steam. I’ve decided to call it steam painting, because adding some food coloring made it even more fun and it dyed the snow in the process. Then, I took a pair of Baby R’s pj’s from the laundry and made them stand up on their own.

Vol. 4, No. 030, January 30, 2019

4030 - Your Turn.

On this record breaking cold weather day, I reached out to some of my family and friends asking them to complete a challenge. My challenge for them was to make a sculpture. They are allowed to use any material that they want. The Miller Littles got their sculptures done before 11 am. Littlest Miller used Legos; Oldest Miller used a toilet paper tube, feathers, and paper to make a bird; Middle Miller worked with me to make a dinosaur using a paper towel tube and paint. Other sculptures I received included: A dirty dish windmill, a dog in glasses, Carhenge, Chicken Bone Man, Lego Monster with Drumstick, Push-up Bridge over the Resistance River, and taking advantage of the subzero weather, Iceman Snowman. Yes, these sculptures came to me titled.

Vol. 4, No. 029, January 29, 2019

4029 - Rewind.

I looked through all of my projects from this month and decided that the best one to redo would be Day 3 - Color Dash. I asked a friend for a color suggestion and was given purple. Conveniently, I was was at school, where my art room is color-coded. I pulled out a bunch of purple things and laid them out on the purple part of the carpet. I arranged the objects to spell the word “PURPLE”. Seeing everything laid out made me smile.

Vol. 4, No. 028, January 28, 2019

4028 - Light Up Your Life.

As soon as I read the prompt, I knew that I would use my Crayola Glow Station and upon hearing the word magical I immediately thought of an unicorn. The lighted lines on the glow station aren’t super long lasting, so I made a quick 1 minute sketch of a unicorn, prancing through the air.

Vol. 4, No. 027, January 27, 2019

4027 - Local Historian.

I grew up next to the World’s Largest Ball of Twine Made By One Man. It is located in Darwin, MN and was made by Francis Johnson. This local landmark has had visitors from around the world, and was the first to come to mind when I read today’s prompt. I was trying to decide how to execute the project when the Miller Littles suggested Play-Doh. They gathered the supplies and we headed to the dining room table. The Miller Littles were excited to make their own monument sculptures.  Littlest Miller made and elephant and a snowma. Middle Miller made a rooster and then helped me roll some twine. I’m not sure that Oldest Miller actually completed any projects, but she was helpful in rolling twine. I made a mini twine ball by meticulously rolling an entire container of Play-Doh into this snakes and attaching them to form a ball. The process took at least an hour. When we were finished and I had the picture taken, I let Oldest Miller smash the ball.

Vol. 4, No. 026, January 26 2019

4026 - Map Your World.

I didn’t have a map available, nor a way to print a map, and I didn’t want to draw a world map, so I changed it up a little. Oldest Miller needed to make a Winter Home for an animal for a school project. She asked me to help. We used a box to make a cave. Crinkled paper strips served as straw for a bed. Paper colored with blue metallic markers for water and Cheerios as food. Crinkled paper outside of the cave served as snow. When we were finished, I made a map of Piggley’s World. The map shows her other animal friends and how the live in the winter.

Vol. 4, No. 025, January 25, 2019

4025 - Draw With Your Drawers.

I opened a random drawer in the kitchen. It happened to be the towel drawer. I pulled out two gray towels and rolled them to make an elephant. They refused to stand up on their own, so it is a flat elephant.

Vol. 4, No. 024, January 24, 2019

4024 - Seasons Of Change.

As I write this on the first day of a long lasting cold snap in Minnesota, I grabbed my new hand warmer mug and Christmas tea and settled in for a cozy night at home. The poems not great, but it came easy. 

Vol. 4, No. 023, January 23, 2019

4023 - Hump Day.

As soon as I read the prompt, I knew that the Miller Littles, or at least the girls, would want to help me. After dinner, we headed downstairs to set up a Doll “Choir”. We put the dolls on camera while we hummed some version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I’m not sure we were all humming the same version. This was the best take of many.

Vol. 4, No. 022, January 22, 2019

4022 - Pencil People.

I went to a high school basketball game tonight. I arrived in time to “watch” the JV game. While watching, I sketched one of the Varsity players who was waiting his turn to play. As I learned when the varsity game started, this young man’s name is Nick. Don’t go looking for him based on the picture and the name though, because as I watched the game, I realized I missed a lot when sketching him from across the gym.

Vol. 4, No. 021, January 21, 2019

4021 - Good News Day.

This one was hard. Ultimately, I based my headline on a picture I took on my way to work this morning, as the sunrise was outstanding.

Vol. 4, No. 020, January 20, 2019

4020 - Out Of This World.

My entire day, aside from going to church, revolved around creating my new world. That is the world of theatre. As we have our parent meeting for the start of the youth theater show, I had a lot of work to do today to prepare. I finalized the guidelines and created t-shirt order forms. The biggest project in creating this world was the website creation. I had to update contact information, set up the calendar, complete with volunteer opportunities, and enter attendance information. When I was finally finished for the night, I was to exhausted to even think about inventing any other planet. And really, other than work, theatre is pretty much going to be my world for the next 3 months.

Vol. 4, No. 019, January 19, 2019

4019 - Word Play.

Today we celebrated the 24th anniversary of my little brother’s birth. He wanted to party by going to the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour VII and then going out to eat. After having plenty to drink, he surprised me by willingly helping me with my project. He offered me the word ‘highlife’; he may have had a Miller sign in his sight. After determining that ‘highlife’ was in fact a word, he helped me to craft the definition: Drinking beer and having fun. Then, on top of all of that, he happily drank his beer while I snapped the picture.

Happy Birthday Philip! Thank you for your help today!

Vol. 4, No. 018, January 18, 2019

4018 - Top Hat.

I used paper from my project the other day to fold an origami hat. I let a Miller Little doll wear it.

Vol. 4, No. 017, January 17, 2019

4017 - Doodle Duet.

I guess my project was actually a Trio. When I got from school I asked the Miller Littles if they wanted to help me. Oldest and Littlest Millers jumped at the chance to do art with me. I let each of them choose a Sharpie and then we began to draw, taking turns. Oldest Miller tried to sabotage it a little, thus the large orange scribble down the middle, and Littlest Miller didn't quite understand doing only one small part and then letting someone else have a turn. But in the end the picture turned out kind of cute.

Vol. 4, No. 016, January 16, 2019

4016 - Highest Heights.

I asked the oldest two of the Miller Littles to help me with my project tonight. We headed to their toy room to use their Antsy Pants Build and Play set to create a little fort. They called it a garage and wanted me to play cars in it with them when we were finished building. They also wanted to sleep in it, but as it is a school night that didn't happen. The sculpture is large enough for me to stand up and lay down in.

So that I could be in the picture to  prove it is taller than me, I let Oldest Miller use my phone to take the picture. Middle Miller wanted to pose with me.

Vol. 4, No. 015, January 15, 2019

4015 - Flash Mob.

It has been an exausting week, and it’s only Tuesday. Therefore, my project for today is very simple. I spent a lot of time thinking about my favorite song. Many came to mind, but most of them I like because of the memory accociation that goes with them. Then I remembered, “It’s A Great Day To Be Alive” by Travis Tritt. I love this song and will stop and listen to it every time it comes on the radio. The best part about it is that I don’t accociate it with anyone or anything. I decided the title makes a great quote, so I made a small quote board, using some quick calligraphy.

Vol. 4, No. 014, January 14, 2019

4014 - Joy Seeker.

I brightened my day by making myself an ice cream cone. The cone was chocolate dipped and I sculpted the ice cream into a flower. It was as delicious as it was beautiful and it went a long ways towards brightening my long day.

Vol. 4, No. 013, January 13, 2019

4013 - Pen To Paper.

I wrote a letter, but I didn't want to just post a picture of the letter. So when I was finished writing, I folded the letter into an origami cow. Okay, maybe cow-ish is a more appropriate term. It's definitly not good as the tutorial that I was following, but that's okay. The fun part is that even if I decided I wanted to send the letter, I still could, it would just come in the form of a cute-ish cow.

Since I knew my letter wasn't going anywhere, I wrote it on a recycled school paper.

Vol. 4, No. 012, January 12, 2019

4012 - Window Of Opportunity.

While I could have followed the instructions and sat with my back to the window, I wasn't going to hear anything outside. It is the middle of Winter so I couldn't really open the window. I knew if I listened to the sounds inside, I was only going to hear one of the houses 11 occupants. Therefore I decided to draw a picture based on the sounds from my favorite activity of the day, bowling. This afternoon I spent Miller Time at the bowling alley. I had to dbowl in the lane without bumpers, but I managed to bowl 90, 92, and finally reached my goal of breaking 100 by scoring 108!

My drawing is a quick sketch of a bowling ball and pins. I made it mostly in the dark while watching Small Foot for the 3rd time this weekend. The proportions aren't perfect, but everyone likes it.

Vol. 4, No. 011, January 11, 2019

4011 - Fruity Friday.

As soon as I read the prompt, I was ready to make some really cool fruit art. However by time I got home from work, I was exhausted and ended up using an apple and 2 blueberries to make this quick crab that I could eat for a bedtime snack.

Vol. 4, No. 010, January 10, 2019

4010 - Cover Lover.

I couldn't picture a single album cover, so I took to Google. The first cover to catch my attention was a simple printed banana made by Andy Warhol for an album by The Velvet Underground & Nico. I was at school, so I pulled out my printing ink and used a Q-tip and a plastic baggie to make a mono printed banana on yellow paper. After 3 tries, I cut out my favorite and glued it to a piece of white paper. After I glued it down, I realized that I forgot to account for the mirrored image of printmaking, so my banana curves the opposite way of the one on the original album cover. That was okay, I just put the words on the opposite sides as well.

Vol. 4, No. 009, January 9, 2019

4009 - High Flyer.

I decided to recycle to make my airplane. It is the end of the quarter, so my art students and getting rid of a lot of paper. I grabbed a discarded 6th grade self-portrait from the recycle bin and added more lines and patterns to both sides of the paper using ink. Next I painted both sides with watercolors. When everything was dry, I folded my paper into an airplane. The paper was rather heavy, so my plane doesn't fly very well. However, it's flight pattern is rather interesting. Usually it will shoot forward, then almost hover for a second and then drop to the ground. I guess it's almost like how a helicopter would land.

Vol. 4, No. 008, January 8, 2019

4008 - Word On The Street.

I decided to make compliment cards. I painted a large paper with watercolor paint. When it was dry, I used a Sharpie to fill the page with compliments. I cut out the compliments so that I can leave them places for strangers to find. I know this isn’t the same a complimenting someone in person, but I like the creative aspect of this project.

Vol. 4, No. 007, January 7, 2019

4007 - Double Take.

My first graders studied the Cave of Lascaux and are now drawing their own cave drawings using charcoal on brown paper. I decided it would be fun to do today's supplies using their supplies. The top left picture is a photo from the Lascaux Cave that I was working from. The top right picture is my blind drawing and the bottom photo was my looking picture.