Vol. 5, No. 163-170, December 28, 2020

You probably noticed, this year, I have been really bad at posting work. The truth is, I wasn't enjoying writing the blogs, so I would put off posting. Therefore I decided that next year, I am only going to post to Instagram and let it do the automatic post to Facebook. That way, I only have to post once. If you want to know about my project, you will have to ask.

Before I "give up", I am going to post all of the projects that I have missed.

5163 - Squash Soup.

I was helping to make squash soup and got to run the immersion blender. When it is held at just the right height, it creates a fun woven star design.

5164 -  Quilted.

In mid-November, my mom, sister and I finally finished the baby quilt that we had started nearly 2 years ago. It was a gift for my niece. It turned out pretty well considering it was out first actual quilt.

5165 - Mixed Media Self-Portrait 12/12/09.

In college, I took a drawing class; one of the assignments was to create a self-portrait. It is labeled as mixed media, although I am not sure what I used; I am guessing chalk, colored pencil, and paint.  After the class, I filed away the project in a tube. As I was going through art supplies recently, I came across the drawing. I unrolled it thinking I would look at it quick and then put it back in storage. Unfortunately, I noticed mold spots on the paper. I decided the best course of action was to photograph it and then dispose of the artwork. 

5166 - Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. Rather than gathering with my dad's family like we normally would, it was only my immediate family in attendance. We still had a full dinner including homemade bread and pies. We arranged this picture showing our "bounty", to share with my dad's siblings as they were all sharing pictures of their own feasts.

5167 - COVID Cardinal.

At school, we are trying to keep our curriculum the same as much as possible, while still following COVID guidelines set out by the state. Sometimes this means changing how we do certain projects and we have found that some of these changes are good and we intend to keep them. One such happy change was the addition of a cardinal to Kindergarten Paper Mache Ornaments. In the past students have been able to choose between a reindeer, a snowman, or a penguin. All three ornaments were cute, but the penguin required two colors of paint and either two brushes or water to wash the brush. I didn't want to deal with the extra setup, so I changed the project. Our school's mascot is a cardinal, so I knew that would be a great winter bird option. I love how they turned out and will be keeping cardinals next year.

5168 - Snow Globe.

The ornament project that I did with my Transitional Kindergarten class last year required a lot of prep work and it wasn't really COVID guideline friendly. Therefore, I wrote a new lesson plan, deciding on paper snow globes. Using Epsom salt "frozen" paint, we iced the background. Next we added finger print characters and decorated with markers. The plan didn't go quite how I had intended, but most of them stilled turned out cute.

5169 - Cake Construction.

It's hard to believe, but ten days ago, one of my favorite littles turned 3! I did lots of research to find the perfect cake. He is in to trucks of all kinds, so I decided to make a construction themed cake. I made a Double Chocolate Banana Cake (he loves bananas) topped with chocolate ganache and crushed Oreos. A bit of powdered peanut butter helped to create the three in the middle. The cake was finished off with some Milk Dud rocks and little toy trucks.

5170 - Quarantine.

Due to close contact, I got to spend some time in quarantine. While it may sound like a paid vacation, it's really not that fun; especially for a teacher. I still had lesson plans to prepare. I decided to use a lesson I had initially done during distance learning last spring; Guided Drawing Cardinals. As the school mascot, I figured a cardinal was something that students could benefit from knowing how to draw. I made two examples showing different backgrounds that could be added.

Vol. 5, No. 161, October 29, 2020

5161 - Creative Sprint Day 29.

I decide to redo yesterday's prompt, use a tool in a new way. I was thinking about the tools I use in the art room and I remembered the "tragedy" that happened when I was peeling crayons a few weeks ago. I had dumped a bunch of crayons into a bucket of water to encourage the wrappers to come off. When I returned to the crayons, some of them were soggy and mushy. I noticed that these crayons all had labels marking them as Washable. I decided that I would use crayons in a new way and paint with them. I soaked a rainbow of washable crayons in water. When they were wet, I rubbed a paintbrush on them like one would do with paint. I liked this new way of painting and may try it with my students someday.

Vol. 5, No. 159, October 27, 2020

5159 - Creative Sprint Day 26 & 27.

Yesterday, it was late before I decided that I should paint in reverse, so I opted to wait until today and combine it with today's prompt. My plan worked perfectly, it provided me with both a subject and medium. On my way home from work, I stopped at the thrift store and picked up a clear glass plate. Then I got to work making a painting from a snails point of view. I started with the details and outline, adding the base colors last.

Vol. 5, No. 131, August 23, 2020

5131 - Rocky Travels.

While visiting Arizona to move Philip, Lil E and I went on a walk, exploring Philip's apartment complex. While we walked she picked up rocks. I kept one rock with the intention of painting it as a keepsake for Lil E. Today I finally made time to paint it. The other rocks in the top picture were painted by Becca and E.

Vol. 5, No. 104, June 14, 2020

5104 - Shattered.

As I laid outside this morning, I decided that I really wanted some pretty nails for summer. I wanted a full spa experience, but I didn't want to sit inside all day, so I moved everything outside. Sitting on the edge of the hammock I soaked and scrubbed my feet. Then trimmed and oiled my nails. After letting everything dry for an hour or so, I moved on to polish. When I got to the dotted details, the sun was to hot to stay where I was, so I moved to a chair on the shaded patio. Everything was going great until a bottle of polish slipped from my hand and shattered on the patio, purple polish pooled on the ground. I was disappointed because it was a new bottle. I was able to pour what was left of the polish into an old bottle, but I lost at least half of it.

Despite the spill I am happy with the finished result of my nails and I am excited for sandal season.

Vol. 5, No. 092, June 2, 2020

5092 - Rain or Shine.

Today should have been the last day of school for my students. Instead, we ended a week ago and today my school hosted a parade, so that we could say goodbye to our students. As the art teacher I felt the need to be extra creative with my sign and painted it on canvas instead of just a regular tagboard sign.

It had been a hot day with temps in the 90's again, but the weather decided to take a turn and we stood outside in a thunderstorm, which lasted only the one hour we were outside for the parade. Oh well, we teachers had fun anyways.

Today was also the day that I turned in my keys, saying goodbye to my middle school classroom. It was a tiny bit bittersweet, I am looking forward to new adventures.

Vol. 5, No. 087, May 7, 2020

5087 - Looking Up.

Last night I came across a Facebook post shared by the College of St. Benedict, my alma mater. The post was inviting people to a free online watercolor painting class with the St. John’s Preparatory School art teacher. I thought this would be a great way to practice a medium in which I have no formal training and very little experience.

So, this morning I dug out my watercolor supplies and got ready to paint. My picture is by no means perfect, but I love how it turned out.

Vol. 5, No. 076, April 16, 2020

5076 - Cardinal Strong.

As teachers, we are banding together to support each other and our students. At Annandale Middle School, each of the teachers were invited to send in a picture with a message of encouragement that was shared with the students. I decided to take out some paints and make this quick sign, complete with a cardinal; as the art teacher, I needed something artsy.

Vol. 5, No. 054, March 1, 2020

5054 - In Your Cup.

Before heading out for a Miller Time adventure, I had a cup of coffee. I using dot markers, I created a coffee mug picture.

Vol. 5, No. 049, February 24, 2020

5049 - Bathroom Backtrack.

After just one day back at work, my Miller Manicure was chopped pretty badly. So I decided to take action. When I got home from work, I headed to the bathroom to find my nail polish and got to work sprucing up my nails. With blue tips, a coat of shimmer and some hearts, I am hoping this manicure will last a little longer. In case you were unsure, it is challenging to to paint the nails on your own dominant hand.

Vol. 5, No. 046, February 22, 2020

5046 - Work Wanted.

The first thing Oldest miller said to me when I walked through the door was, "what's today's project?" She had also gotten nail polish for Christmas. So today she "opened" her nail salon and painted my nails to match my shirt. It was neat that she had the exact right colors. I added the bear with a red hat to match. 

Vol. 5, No. 028, February 2, 2020

5028 - Fortune.

At nearly 40 degrees, the weather was beautiful today. Plus the groundhog predicted an early spring, so my fortune reads "feel it in your heart, spring is coming." I put the words on top of one of my paintings for yesterday. This painting was made using string. If you look closely, the top of each flower looks slightly heart shaped and the “veins” within each flower makes it look like a real heart.

Vol. 5, No. 027, February 1, 2020

5027 - Childish.

I didn't complete the entire January Challenge, but I felt okay with that. The stress-free creating was great! This month I will be following the February Creative Sprint. Today's prompt is "do something only children typically do." I decided to fingerpaint. Eleanor was over, so I made homemade edible fingerpaint. The paint was made from sugar, cornstarch and water. It was a sticky gelatinous mess. Eleanor, Becca and I worked together to paint some papers. Once they were dry, I cut paper heart chains. The hearts are in celebration of American Heat Month and Congenital Heart Defect Awareness.

Vol. 5, No. 018, January 18, 2020

5018 - Find A Landmark.

One landmark in my town is the World's Largest Twine Ball Made By One Man. It has been right across the street from me nearly my entire life. Today I was going to make a snow sculpture of the Twine Ball, but the snow was not the right consistency. Instead, I used coffee and the paper that I made the other day to create a painting.

Vol. 5, No. 017, January 17, 2020

5017 - What Do You Stand For?

I chose Smile Always as my t-shirt slogan. The background is the scarf that I painted the other night. I put the design together using PicsArt.

Vol. 5, No. 011, January 11, 2020

5011 - Bring The Outside In.

It was cold outside today, but I made a quick venture out, searching for materials that I could use for paint and to paint with. I was able to locate pine needles, sticks, some leaves, and crab apples.

I used a rock to grind up some of the plants and then picked the pigment with snow. After a little mixing, I had some nice-ish paint. Unfortunately winter nature doesn't make for very vibrant colors.

Littlest Miller saw me working an aftering declaring that she lived nature art she grabbed a paper and made her own.

Vol. 4, No. 356, December 22, 2019

4356 - Discolored Penguins.

Last night, in preparation for Christmas break, I painted my toe nails. I checked Pinterest for fun ideas and found cute penguins. The example used a sparkly blue for the body. I used what I had on hand which was a powder blue. The picture made it look a little brighter. They are pretty cute though.

Vol. 4, No. 347, December 13, 2019

4347 - One More Week.

I am officially counting down the days until Christmas break. The students were wild today, however I was able to rejoice as I wrapped up my Christmas Ornament lessons. The final thing I did was paint a clear coat on the Transitional Kindergarten salt dough ornaments. When I initially did the lesson, I told myself,never again. But now that I see the finished ornaments, I am second guessing my decision. I was excited that I found such a great place/way to dry the ornaments, otherwise I would have had to paint them one side at a time.

Vol. 4, No. 302, October 29, 2019

4302 - Do Over.

I asked Becca which project I should revise. She was so quick to respond that I don't think she even had to look at my work before choosing paint pouring. The day I did the paint pour was Day 10, combine two things you wouldn't normally put together. For that project, I accidentally split a gallon of paint on the floor and used sawdust to soak it up. When it happened, Becca thought that I should have put the paint of a canvas. I was too focused on cleaning up the mess to do that. So today I split more paint, this time on purpose, which makes it more of revision of Day 8, spill something and create something from the mess. Either way, I had some fun with my paint pouring.  I plan to use them to make greeting cards. The smaller paintings were poured. The larger paintings were prints made from the paint pour mess in the sink.

Vol. 4, No. 297, October 24, 2019

4297 - Dance Fever.

Today and the previous three days, I've done the Dance of the Elementary Art Teacher. My Kinders and first graders were color mixing with finger paint. This was the first time Kinders painted in art so my week was a little crazy. This painting, done with finger paint as I was cleaning up paint cups at the end, depicts what I felt like I was doing. Fortunately,  for those who observed this crazy including my principal, it appeared to be a much calmer and organized dance.