Vol. 4, No. 122, April 30, 2019

4122 - Wired.

I had a long day with lots of creative thinking, but not much in the way of product. Therefore, as I got ready for bed, I pondered what I could make quickly. I found a small coil of wire on the bathroom counter and decided to take it for a spin. I bent the wire into a free standing shape and then photographed it from different angles with degrees of flash.

Vol. 4, No. 121, April 29, 2019

4121 - Alien Invasion.

My 1st graders are finishing up their lesson on subject matter (what you see in a picture). Using outer space as their subject matter, students made a drawing to things they might see in outer space. One question that came up in every class was, “are aliens real?” My response was always the same, “I’ve never seen one.” This project also introduced students to blending techniques using oil pastels.

Vol. 4, No. 120, April 28, 2019

4120 - Baby Trumps All.

Yesterday was Litchfield High School’s as you may recall I had been asked to make a Fairy House as part of the decorations. My intention was to post this completed project yesterday, with pictures that I took at prom itself. However, new baby trumps prom as far as posts go. So here it is, the fairy house with before during and after pictures. I got lots of compliments on the project and plan to enter it in the county fair this summer.

Top left is the original cupola. Top and bottom right are from prom. Bottom left is my setup idea.

Vol. 4, No. 119, April 27, 2019

4119 - Birthday Bonanza.

Today my family celebrated a lot of birthdays. First was my Aunt who died in infancy, so I never obviously I never met her. Next is my older brother, Shawn, who turned 32 today and his dog Ziva who turned 2. One might think that 3 birthday’s in one day was enough to celebrate, but someone decided to make it 4; in the early morning hours, my niece was born.

A while ago, I had decided to make a gift for my sister Becca, celebrating the birth of her first born. As I mentioned before my sister and brother-in-law use otters as their spirit animal. This summer I had gotten a small stuffed otter in a McDonald’s Happy Meal. When I found about the baby I decided to knit mini hat for it and give it to Becca to put with the larger otters that she already has.

I went with a multi color yarn, so that I could make the hat before the baby was born. Then I decided to put a Pom-Pom on top using the gender colors we had established, purple for girl and gold for boy. My siblings and I were told that we wouldn’t find out the baby’s gender until we visited, so on my way to the hospital this morning (Dad was driving) I made two Pom-Poms, one gold and one purple. I threaded them both on to the hat so that when I arrived and found out the gender, all I had to do was pull out the wrong one. Turns out I should have just gone with my gut and forgot gold all together, but I couldn’t be that certain.

Vol. 4, No. 118, April 26, 2019

4118 - Value.

Right now, my 6th graders are working on a project that focuses on color value, the lights and darks of a color. They each drew a coffee mug on a table; the base colors were all tints (a color + white) and the patterns were all shades (a color + black). They were allowed to use any colors they wanted, but I decided to make an example using only tints of green and shades of red.

Vol. 4, No. 117, April 25, 2019

4117 - Pressed Paint.

This week, my middle schoolers started painting lessons. This quarter I decided to try pallet paper, which has a waxy side for mixing paint. Since the paint doesn’t absorb into the paper, the paint stays wet longer. Therefore at the end of class, students still had wet paint on their pallet. I told them to fold the papers before putting them in the trash to help keep things a little cleaner. Of course, after they folded it, they had to unfold it to see that pattern that was made from the paint. One student showed me her pallet and I thought it would be fun to press it on to a piece of paper I had sitting near by. The result was pretty cool, so as more students showed me their pallet, I made more impressions on the same paper. At the end of the hour, I used a brush to smear the paint filling every corner of the paper. The next day, I was prepping the paint bottles, and had a squirt some paint out on a piece of paper. I couldn’t just throw away this fresh paint, so I poured it around a bit and when I was mixed, I decided to smash it on another paper, making a print. The print was pretty neat, so I laid it out to dry. Today I saw the print laying on my work table, it looked like a bird with a little seed in its mouth. So I used a Sharpie to add some details. Then I remembered my impressed paper from the other day, still on the drying rack. It would make a perfect background, so I cut out the bird and put it on the background.

Vol. 4, No. 116, April 24, 2019

4116 - Perfect Square.

During this past cycle, my kindergarteners did a lesson based on the book “Perfect Square” by Michael Hall. For this project each student chose a square paper; they had a choice between one with cutting guides or plain construction paper. With their chosen paper, they cut, ripped, tore, wrinkled, shredded, and folded to create something new. I wanted to make an example with each of the available options and was able to get 4.5 of 6 completed during class. The bird was my first creation, made from construction paper. Next was the waterfall inspired by a student’s work. This was followed by the broccoli looking tree, not a great success. To top it off, today I made the dinosaur and volcano. This particular creation was a collaboration between myself and a student. I did all of the tearing of the printed square; the student helped me color. It’s not exactly how I would have done it and I was very thankful when the clean up bell started ringing, forcing her to stop coloring and “wrecking” my artwork. The half project that I made was a neat star design made from printed green triangles. I didn’t get a chance to color the background and didn’t include it in my picture.

Vol. 4, No. 115, April 23, 2019

4115 - Due Date.

In honor of Baby Foresman’s due date, I finished the my shower present for the baby and Becca. The drawing is of two otters (Becca and Nate’s spirit animal) holding a bunch of balloons. During the shower, each guest signed a balloon indicating their guess as to the gender of Baby Foresman; purple for girl and gold for boy. Now Baby Foresman just needs to hurry up and be born so we know who guessed correctly.

Vol. 4, No. 114, April 22, 2019

4114 - Earth Day.

To celebrate Earth Day, I worked with the earth aka clay. Just kidding, Earth Day had nothing to do with it, rather I was working on an example for my 8th grade students. My 8th graders are finishing up their clay food project. Many of them chose eggs and bacon, but their details were lacking. So I decided to make an example for them. I made sure to add texture and other details that help to make the food look realistic. I’m not sure that I will fire it, but I will save it for next year regardless.

Vol. 4, No. 113, April 21, 2019

4113 - Birthing Beads.

As part of Becca’s Baby Shower, everyone brought a bead or charm to put on a necklace that Becca will have with her as she is laboring. Today, Becca and I worked together to put the necklace together. Knowing that she didn’t plan to actually wear it, we made it just big enough to hold all of the beads. My contribution to the necklace is the pink bead with a flower on it.

Vol. 4, No. 112, April 20, 2019

4112 - First Time.

Yesterday, during Miller Time, we dyed Easter Eggs. It was the first time for the filler Littles, so the looked to me for guidance. I bought a kit that came with a wax crayon and glitter. In hind sight, I should have just thrown the glitter away, because by time were done there was glitter all over the entire house. I only decorated 3 eggs but I tried to make them cool. My favorite is the polka doted egg, which required multiple soaks in the dye, adding a new round of wax after each soak.

Vol. 4, No. 111, April 19, 2019

4111 - Hoppy Easter.

Today I had a fun day filled with Miller Time. We began our day with a trip to Wheel and Cog where I helped Oldest Miller and Littlest Miller make bunny hats. Nothing fancy but the girls had fun. After a few hours of playing, we grabbed lunch. Then we headed to the Miller’s house where dyed eggs (more on that tomorrow) and had a mini spa day with hand massages and manicures. I was in charge of the dots on everyone’s fingers.

Vol. 4, No. 110, April 18, 2019

4110 - Kandinsky Klay.

This week my Kindergarten classes learned about Wassily Kandinsky, looking at pictures of his abstract art filled with lines, shapes and colors. They used these ideas to design magnets using Crayola Model Magic. Each student started with a large piece of white clay. They then got small pieces of red, yellow, and blue clay that they could mix and use to make different shapes, lines and colors to decorate their magnet. I attached self-adhesive magnets the the back after the magnets had time to dry. These are a few of the examples that I made during class.

Vol. 4, No. 109, April 17, 2019

4109 - Symmetry.

For the most part,  I have done the same lessons with both my Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten classes. This week, Kindergarten made magnets using Model Magic, because the TK class has fewer students and wouldn’t need a whole package of clay, I decided to do a different lesson with them instead. We continued our study of symmetry. This time instead of drawing, we painted. This meant that we got to use the new paint shirts for the first time! The paintings are simple, but each one is unique and the student loved it.

Vol. 4, No. 108, April 16, 2019

4108 - In Awe.

Today I made my own clay flower sculpture and my student were in awe of the work I was doing. They kept questioning how my flower could be so good. Besides having 15 years of experience on them, I also paid attention to small details as I worked. Details such as thinning the edges of the petals and smoothing rough edges takes a flower from okay to great. I experienced some difficulty in attaching the flower to the base and I don’t love how it turned out, but I don’t hate it either. I am slightly undecided as to whether or not I will fire it.  I covered it for the night so I can still make some changes tomorrow if I decide I want to.

Vol. 4, No. 107, April 15, 2019

4107 - Dropped.

This morning I was grading 7th grade clay flowers. As I flipped one over to check for a name, it slipped out of my hands and crashed to the table. I broke in about 7 places. I attempted to piece it back together, but the clay hadn’t been fired yet, and my piecing skills aren’t great, so it kept breaking in other places. I opted of plan B; remake the project for the student. Obviously mine is better than what she had originally make, but I am thinking that she won’t even know the difference. I had so much fun making this flower today that I may make another for myself tomorrow.

Vol. 4, No. 106, April 14, 2019

4106 - Woven.

Today is Palm Sunday, so after church, I took the palms fronds I had gotten and using directions I found online, I wove a 3-D Star.To finish it off, I added a flower fold to the top for the hanger.

Vol. 4, No. 105, April 13, 2019

4105 - Burrito.

Today we celebrated Baby Foresman and Momma-to-Be, my sister, Becca. One of the games at the shower was to draw a picture of what we thought the baby would look like when it is born. The trick was that we were drawing the picture while holding the card on our forehead. I put my many hours of practicing blind contour drawing to the test while drawing my baby. It was supposed to be smiling with 3 stands of hair sticking up and wrapped up in a blanket like a burrito. You can see it, right?

Vol. 4, No. 104, April 12, 2019

4104 - New Quarter.

As a middle school art teacher, a new quarter means new students. This means a repeat of projects from previous quarters. This week my students started their clay projects. 7th grade makes clay flowers, so as they were working today, I sculpted a mini rose of my own. I rushed it and didn’t clean up the edges, so at the end of the day it ended up in the scrap clay bucket.

Vol. 4, No. 103, April 11, 2019

4103 - Blizzard Beauty.

Over the weekend, looking at predicted winter storm models, I predicted that there would be a snow day today with a 2-hour late start tomorrow. It seems that I was right. I made my snow day a productive one by working on the fairy house that I am creating for Litchfield High School’s prom. I took a falling apart cupola and in about 5 hours transformed it into a stone fairy house with a wooden roof. I am wishing that I had taken before pictures, because the difference is astounding.

I painted the stone with miscellaneous paint I found at home, left over from various projects around the house. With no sponge available, I used an old sock to add the texture to the stones.

I still have to do detail work on the door, windows and roof, but I need to get to a craft store for supplies first.

Vol. 4, No. 102, April 10, 2019

4102 - Showering.

This afternoon I attended my second of three baby showers this week. At today's shower, we decorated diapers to make late night diaper changes more fun. Personally I think it's dumb, but I decorated one anyways.

Vol. 4, No. 101, April 9, 2019

4101 - Taxing.

Doing taxes is always a daunting task. Tonight, with only 6 days to file, I hunkered down and got my taxes filed. While working through paper work, I found a blue return envelope and some greeting cards. I used the envelope to create a simple origami card box.

Vol. 4, No. 100, April 8, 2019

4100 - Symmetrical.

Right now, my Kindergarteners are finishing learning about symmetry and making butterflies. Last week, we cut out the butterflies. This week we are using oil pastels to draw patterns on our butterflies. During my classes today, I worked on decorating my butterfly.

Vol. 4, No. 099, April 7, 2019

4099 - Not Forgotten.

Remember a few months ago when I bought a car rather than making a Confirmation gift for CC? Well when I got home from the cast party tonight, I took a nap and then started pondering what to do for my project. That’s when I decided it would be a great time to finally get the present finished. I used calligraphy markers to write out a quote by St. Katharine Drexel (CC’s Confirmation Namesake), and used watercolors to fill in the background. If you look closely, you may notice a few “typos” so I will have to find a way to fix them. But for the most part it tuned out well. Now to buy a frame.

Vol. 4, No. 098, April 6, 2019

4098 - Tradition.

It is my tradition to make homemade flowers for each cast member during shows that I participate in. I like to try and make the flowers match some theme in the show. This year one theme is coffee, so I decided to make flowers using coffee filters. Using stacks of about 25 coffee fillters, I dyed them using food coloring and water. I then transferred the not quite dripping wet filters to the laundry dryer. After 1.5 cycles, the filters were separated and dry. I smoothed them out and stapled the filters into stacks of 4, with green on the outside. After stapling, each flower was folded and had the edges cut into petal shaper. Lastly, the flowers needed to be fluffed and then hot glued to a popsicle stick. With my dying and cutting process, each flower is unique. Some are super cute while others are just okay, but they are all pretty fun.

Vol. 4, No. 097, April 5, 2019

4097 - Cheesy.

Today is Momma Miller’s Birthday, to help her celebrate, I made a cheesecake. I actually made the cheesecake yesterday and let it set in the oven over night. I am glad that I decided to make some for my family as well, because it was a mouthwatering sight as I took it out this morning.

I planned to decorate the cheese cake with drizzled of melted dark chocolate and homemade caramel, however it was decided it would be better timing wise to deliver the cake tomorrow. Instead I decorated one of the mini cheesecakes I made for my family. I decided it was a good thing that I made one for us first, because I slightly over cooked the caramel, so it has a hint of burnt sugar flavor. When I had my dad taste the caramel, he said it was either burnt or had too much bourbon in it. I had already drizzled the cheesecake, so I told him that when he ate his piece he would have to pretend that it was bourbon caramel.

I'll try the caramel again tomorrow. I think it should go better this time, because I know what to expect this time.

Happy Birthday Jessica! I hope you like your present.

Vol. 4, No. 096, April 4, 2019

4096 - Foodie.

Today I finally got around to finishing my Archimboldo inspired self-portrait example for my 8th graders; it only took me 3/4 of the school year. The students had to choose a theme and find images in magazines that fit into that theme. They cut the images out and arrange them over a silhouette of their head to form a person. Students struggled to grasp the concept of how much detail I was looking for, with a visible eye, ear, lips, shirt, and hair.  The students could choose any theme they want, however, I let them know that food is one of the easier themes based on the magazines in the room. Therefore, I choose food for my example. Now my example will be ready for next year.

Vol. 4, No. 095, April 3, 2019

4095 - Hung High.

Our mega collaboration is finally finished, and I think the majority of the cast and some of the crew were able to get in on the action, including myself. When the drawing was all done, I let the "original" artist remove the tape. Then I took the artwork down to the dressing rooms and hung it high up on the wall so that no one could inadvertently rub up against it and get lipstick on themselves. I figured that by hanging it downstairs, I wouldn't have to take it down when the show is over in 4 days.

Because it was hung so high, I couldn't get a great picture.

Vol. 4, No. 094, April 2, 2019

4094 - Regrets.

I pulled out the project again tonight. However, instead of 2-3 of the older cast members working on it, all of a sudden there were 10-15 cast members wanting to get their hands on it, and most of them were our youngest kids (8-9 year olds). I love that they wanted to make art, but the medium was lipstick. Lipstick is messy and stain. I only had to clean one costume, but there was lots of other messes I had to clean up. The picture isn’t even done yet, so I might let them have one more go at it. I also got in on the action a little, smearing bits of lipstick here and there. It will be cool when it is finished. The kids were already plotting where it will be hung upon completion.

Vol. 4, No. 093, April 1, 2019

4093 - April Fool's.

With my new freedom, aka not having a prompt or theme to follow, I failed to come up with something creative at school, and went to play practice empty handed. That’s when I jokingly turned to the cast members for help. I challenged one girl to do my project for me. She wanted to know what to do, so I gave her my iPad to use for research and I started pulling out old make-up that we weren’t using. I happened to have an extra big paper left from making scene signs, and I pulled it out for her to decorate. The project gathered a lot of attention from other actors. Unfortunately, with limited time between scenes, she didn't get very far. So I guess now it's a work in progress. Maybe by the end of the production on Sunday we will have a completed work of art.