Vol. 3, No. 146, May 26, 2018

3146 - Almost There.

Day 26 Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Take another. One more. Open your eyes. What is the first thing you noticed when you opened your eyes? Make something inspired by that.

I stepped outside this morning and the first thing I noticed was my lawn covered in dandelions, most of which were in the white fluffy stage and my bonfire pit. I was immediately inspired to burn dandelions. Dandelions burn quickly, so photographing them when you are also the person starting the fire gets tricky. I was able to get a decent shot after many tries and remembering that my camera has a burst mode, capturing multiple pictures in a row.

Vol. 3, No. 145, May 25, 2018

3145 - The More The Merrier.

Day 25   Start something and then have one or more people add on to it!

Today is CC's 16th Birthday and she was going to be taking her driver's test. She had asked me to make her a Summer CD for her car, so I decided to make a CD cover for my project. I drew the picture and then asked Oldest Miller to color it for me. She decided a rainbow car would be cool, CC agreed!

Vol. 3, No. 144, May 24, 2018

3144 - Magic Number.

Day 24 Incorporate numbers into what you create today.

As soon as I read the prompt, I knew I was going to make little drawings using numbers as the base. I was able to include numbers 1-9. There are two 2’s, because I started with the shark. The koala is 1 and 9. Three is the bird in the tree. 4, 6, and 7 make up the cow. 5 for the lion’s mouth, and 8 is the penguin. I drew the numbers with Sharpie and then watercolored around them, unfortunately the numbers don’t stand out very well. It’s still pretty cute.

Vol. 3, No. 143, May 23, 2018

3143 - The Shadow Knows.

Day 23 Create something that incorporates or is inspired by shadows.

I decided to do crumpled paper shadow drawings today. I crumpled up a piece of scrap paper into a ball and laid it on my drawing paper then used a pencil to trace the shadow. I moved the ball to a new spot and traced again until my paper was pretty full. I ended up with 3 sections. I studied the sections and decided the first looked like a dog head, so I sketched that out. Then decided to make the remaining two shapes into the body. I cut out the three parts and glued them on to the background. The grass was made from the shadow of the ball after it was stretched out and as you can see, the sun was also made from a shadow. I used oil pastels to add details.

Vol. 3, No. 142, May 22, 2018

3142 - DOGas or PiCATso.

Day 22 Make a work of art for your pet or another animal to enjoy.

My first thought upon reading today’s prompt was to make something for my brother’s dog, Ziva. The other day when I was cleaning, I came across some tennis ball heads that had an opening for the mouth that could hold something. I had made them for one of my daily projects a long time ago and never used them for their intended purpose, so I decided to give one a new home. I took off the googily eyes (choking hazard) and drew on eyes with Sharpie. Then I  cut the mouth slit a little wider so that a treat can be stuck inside for Ziva to attempt to get out. Hopefully she enjoys her new toy, if she doesn’t like the challenge of removing the treat she will still have a tennis ball to play with.

Vol. 3, No. 141, May 21, 2018

3141 - Open A New Window.

Day 21 Create an illusion of a window -  looking out on to whatever you want  - on a wall that doesn't have one.

Today was the last Art Club day of the year, maybe ever as I am switching jobs next year. As soon as I read the prompt, I knew that I would make a window frame to showcase my finished birds in next collage that we started last week. The new additions to the nest were the rocking birds, plastic bead eggs, and feathers. I gathered the feathers last night before I went to bed by taking the pillow cases and liners off of my feather pillows and collecting all of the loose feathers. I know the kids didn't appreciate all of the effort that went into getting the feathers, but I was glad I did it as it made a really cute addition to the collage. I considered leaving my project in the actual window of the Arts Council, but I decided to  keep as an example for a project that I can maybe do in my classroom next year. I'm thinking second grade.

Vol. 3, No. 140, May 20, 2018

3140 - Beauty, Splendor, Wonder.

DAY 20 Create an amazing new hair-style.

When I read today’s prompt, I almost scheduled some Miller Time, as the Miller Littles love playing with my hair. However, we both had other things scheduled for today, so I went for plan two. I clipped some fragrant lilacs (my favorite flower) and wove them in to the long golden braids of one of my dolls. I then wrapped the flowery braids up on top of her head. It’s actually cute in a crazy sort of way.

Vol. 3, No. 139, May 19, 2018

3139 - What and Where.

DAY 19 Make something while you are in a public place and leave it there for someone else to find.

I had some Miller Time today, this included taking 5 kids under 8 (3 were in the stroller) on a walk, approximately a mile long round-trip, to play at a park. At the park, I asked Littlest Miller what I should make for my project, she suggested a butterfly with popcorn and cotton candy. I decided to focus on the butterfly. Oldest Miller helped me to make the butterfly by picking dandelions and tall grasses and then working with me to assemble the butterfly in the holes on the playground’s floor. It was her idea to add dandelions at the tips of the antennas. She even took the picture for me.

We left the mosaic there, hopefully someone will find it and enjoy it before it blows away.

Vol. 3, No. 138, May 18, 2018

3138 - What’s the Word.

DAY 18 Learn a new word and illustrate its meaning.

For today’s project, I pulled out the old dictionary that I picked up for free at a garage sale last week. I opened it to a random page and searched for a word I didn’t know, that word was haricot. After reading the definition and doing some online research, I discovered that a haricot is a white bean, but there is also haricot vert which a green bean. Because white beans wouldn’t show up on the page very well using colored pencils, I decided to draw green beans instead. Yes, I ripped the page from the book, that is why I got the dictionary after all.

Vol. 3, No. 137, May 17, 2018

3137 - Hidden In Plain Sight.

DAY 17 Camouflage something or someone.

Camouflage something or someone.

I still had my pop-up ghost project hanging on the board in my classroom, the wall of the picture had a nice line texture so I decided to add a chameleon hidden on the wall. The paper from the original project was slightly faded, so the chameleon sticks out a little more than I would like. The whole scene reminds me of Monsters Inc.

Vol. 3, No. 136, May 16, 2018

3136 - Flip It and Reverse It.

DAY 16 Do something backwards or in reverse order.

I was trying to figure out what to make during one of my art classes today. My second grade students were free drawing while watching an art video and I decided to sit at one of the tables and draw with them. I grabbed a marker from my apron pocket and a piece of paper and got started. There were bottles of glue on the table from our project, so I started with that. I was drawing upside down, so when I got to the word glue I had to think a bit on the direction of the letters. The students at the table were impressed and started giving me suggestions of what to draw. A flower (that one was easy); a car; a castle; a dragon; and lastly a cowboy. As I drew, the students called more and more friends over to watch and by the end of class there was quite a crowd around me. The student who suggested the cowboy asked if he could keep the sketch, so after snapping a quick picture to post, I gave it away.

I realize you can’t tell it was drawn upside down just from looking at it, but if you don’t believe me, I have 20 witnesses to back me up!

Vol. 3, No. 135, May 15, 2018

3135 - You Are So Cool.

DAY 15  Look through the images tagged with #CreativeSprint on Instagram or posted to the Facebook group and create something inspired by another sprinters work. Don't forget to tag them when you share it.

I spent lots of time scouring #creativesprint on Instagram, finally finding the work of @ruth.newell. Ruth’s Day 6 repeating pattern wire spirals inspired me to pull out my colored wire and create some wine glass charms. I used her spiral design, turning the top loop so that the charm will lay flat. I wanted to make more, but I could only find 5 different colors of wire.

Vol. 3, No. 134, May 14, 2018

3134 - Tempest In A Teacup.

DAY 14 Make something out of a disposable cup.

I read today’s prompt right before I got up this morning. So I decided to save my water cup to repurpose. I brought the 5 ounce Dixie cup to art club with me, colored the inside with marker, crayon and oil pastel and then cut it into a sun shape to use for a nest. At art club today, we began making Bird in Nest mixed media collages. The students only got the base of their nests made today, but I finished my nest so I would have an example prepared. I put the cup in the middle and wove some “twigs” in it to give the nest more depth. These nests are going to be adorable once we get the birds in them next week.

Vol. 3, No. 133, May 13, 2018

3133 - The Bees Knees.

DAY 13 Find a unique way to say "Thank You" to someone special in your life.

Since it is Mother’s Day, I knew my creative thanks was going to be for my mom, I just wasn’t sure how I was going to do it. Both of my parents came over again today to help me continue cleaning my my house. I was thinking I could do something with supplies as I was cleaning, but then we decided to make a fresh veggie pizza for supper and I knew that would be perfect. I had to beg my mom to let me have a cleaning break in order to do the pizza. When I told her it was for my project, she gave in, because she is a big supporter of my art. The words are a little hard to read because my canvas was smaller than I would have liked, but it was still pretty sweet. I showed her the finished product and then wrecked it in order to space the veggies more evenly.

Vol. 3, No. 132, May 12, 2018

3132 - Bright Lights, Big City.

DAY 12 Create a city skyline.

My family is getting ready to put my grandparent’s home on the market. This means cleaning up the house and the yard. Today, we focused on the yard, trimming hedges and trees and raking leaves. With all of the brush available, we had to have a bonfire! Once the brush was mostly gone, we looked around for more wood we could burn and found some old pieces Papa had left behind in the garage. I borrowed a circular saw from my dad and used a piece of plywood to cut a skyline. The plywood I choose was one that already had a part of it that thanks to Papa already looked like a skyline, so I only had to cut the other half of the skyline. My dad was brave enough to be my “sawhorse” and held the board steady while I cut it. Fortunately nobody lost any fingers.

Vol. 3, No. 131, May 11, 2018

3131 - From Ordinary To Extraordinary.

DAY 11 Turn a something mundane that you use in your daily life into something exciting.

I spent a lot of time pondering what to use. I finally decided on repainting my old hairbrush. I sprayed it black and then used the only 2 paint pens I could find to paint a flower. I didn’t wash the brush first which is probably why the paint didn’t stick very well. But it is still more exciting than it was before.

Vol. 3, No. 130, May 10, 2018

3130 - Beyond The Frame.

DAY 10 Select a photograph, painting or a picture from a magazine and extend the image beyond its current frame or edges.

I am an Independent Consultant for Thirty-One Gifts, with this at the end of the season, I often have left over catalogs that I either need to recycle or repurpose. I decided to use a catalog to find a picture for today’s project. My favorite picture, in terms of what I would be drawing was of a Fresh Market Thermal in a canoe. I wasn’t very imaginative in the details I added, but I thought the picture was fitting since it is Fishing Opener this weekend.

Vol. 3, No. 129, May 9, 2018

3129 - Strange Bedfellows.

DAY 9 Find a way to combine two things that are usually considered opposites.

I spent quite a bit of time contemplating opposites that I could use. I noticed a packet of coffee on my dresser (yes, I know that’s an odd place) and with the help of google decided that a good opposite would be sleepytime tea. So I thought I would do some painting when I got home from school. Then at school, I was looking over my new lesson for third grade. They are learning about Henri Matisse and his “Drawing with Scissors”. During the lesson we talk about organic and geometric shapes. Organic shapes are nature shapes; they have rounded, flowing edges and are hard to measure. On the other hand, geometric shapes are math shapes; they are easy to name and measure. All of a sudden it hit me, these shapes are opposites! So for my challenge today, I completed a collage that I will use as an example for my students. The finished collage looks a little like a treasure map.

Vol. 3, No. 128, May 8, 2018

3128 - Cabinet of Curiosity.

DAY 8 What do you collect? Use a collection of your own or borrow someone else's to create something, today.

Yesterday I met with my mom and another lady from church to make tissue paper flowers to use as centerpieces for our upcoming Women’s Night. I brought home “collection” of flowers that needed to be fluffed. To today I fluffed the flowers and then used the collection to build a tower.

Vol. 3, No. 127, May 7, 2018

3127 - Today In History.

DAY 7 Find out something that happened today in history and make something inspired by it.

It didn’t take much research to device what my historical event was going to be; the first one to pop up was about The Scream, as an art teacher I couldn’t pass that up. Today was an art club day and I already had the lesson planned; monoprints. Not wanting to do an extra project I needed to find a way to incoporate The Scream into my prints. I was able to do so by breaking the art into a grid and drawing each section in my ink. The real challenge was reversing it so that it didn’t print backwards. I was working quickly so that I could finish in an hour all while keeping the ink trays filled for my students; therefore, not all of my lines lined up the way I would have liked, but you can still get a pretty good sense of the original artwork. Our monoprints were done on top of the watercolor exploration papers from last week.

Vol. 3, No. 126, May 6, 2018

3126 - Repeating.

DAY 6 Incorporate pattern into what you make today.

I was having some Miller Time this afternoon and remembered that I needed to do my project. This seems like a common occurrence. Anyways as I looked around the house for a medium I first came across markers and crayons. I knew I could easily draw a pattern, but I wanted more of a challenge, so I kept looking. Next, I found a deck of cards, with 2 colors, four suits, and 13 different numbers, I now had lots of options for making patterns! I opted for a suited spiral design that laid the cards out in a color pattern. When I was finished, the Miller Littles and I played a little math game, adding up the sum of 2 cards, the first person to answer correctly got the cards. Oldest Miller for the win!

Vol. 3, No. 125, May 5, 2018

3125 - Made of Money.

DAY 5 Make something using money (whatever coins or bills you can get your hands on!) as your medium.

The second I read today’s prompt I knew I was going to fold some money origami. I found directions for a $1 dresss and $25 suit with tie. They were pretty simple to make and would make a great gift.

Vol. 3, No. 124, May 4, 2018

3124 - Making Faces.

DAY 4 Create a face using ony what you find in your purse, tote bag or pockets.

For today’s challenge, I emptied out my apron pockets at school. I found an assortment of pens, pencils, and markers, paperclips, tape, CARES Cards (Behavior Awards), a light, Post-its, a rubber band, and even a tissue. They made a great, almost Picasso style portrait!

Vol. 3, No. 123, May 3, 2018

3123 - Day 3 - Happy Music.

DAY 3 Create something inspired by a song or piece of music that makes you feel good!

One of my favorite songs, not associated with a person, is Travis Tritt’s It’s A Great Day To Be Alive.  I especially like the chorus, “And it’s a great day to be alive, I know the sun’s still shinin’ when I close my eyes.” Today’s project is in a round-about way inspired by that line.

In the last week, my 3rd graders learned about Dale Chihuly and each colored a spiral to imitate a piece of blown glass. One of Dale Chihuly’s sculptures, located at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is titled Sunburst. My 3rd graders are visiting the MIA next week, so this sculpture was our main focus for this project. Today I took their spirals and made a collaborative sculpture. While it doesn’t really resemble Sunburst, it is still pretty cool, and will look great in my classroom for years to come! I was kind of bummed that the sun wasn't shining when I took the picture.

Vol. 3, No. 122, May 2, 2018

3122 - Day 2 - Name Game.

DAY 2 What words can you spell using only the letters in your name? Make something inspired by what you come up with.

I used an anagram of my full name to get HENNA MANSION ERASER. I was at school, so I took the nicest eraser I could find and drew henna like designs, that sort of resemble a mansion or castle. In order to set a good example for my students, after taking the picture, I rubbed the eraser on the wall, erasing the Sharpie drawing.

Vol. 3, No. 121, May 1, 2018

3121 - Day 1 - Dream Big, Start Small.

DAY 1: Make something that fits in the palm of your hand, using only the materials in your immediate environment.

Being an art teacher has it’s advantages. For one, I had a storeroom full of supplies available to me to begin the May Creative Sprint. Since it is May 1st, I decided to make a May Day Basket for my co-workers. I was able to easily locate supplies to make the basket, but treats for inside the basket were another story. After some digging through my snack basket, I was able to locate 2 pieces of chocolate and 2 packets of hot chocolate. Since this was all I had for treats, I was only able to make 2 May Day Baskets. Delivering the basket to my co-worker’s room while she was at lunch and then seeing her go to make the hot chocolate right after made the sun shine a little brighter on my day.  The second basket went to another co-worker, but I wasn’t able to get in her room with out her there, so I left it in her mailbox. Next year I think I will have to plan ahead so I can make and deliver more baskets.

Vol. 3, No. 120, April 30, 2018

3120 - Art Explorers.

Today was the first day of my last session of art club for the year at the Winsted Arts Council. I decided that this session I wanted to do some printmaking and to make it more fun, I wanted to print on painted papers. So for today’s project we explored watercolors, discovering different techniques that can be used. I gave the students lots of materials to paint with including cotton balls, q-tips, paintbrushes with stiff bristles, salt, plastic wrap, droppers and string. There may have been some finger painting involved as well. With a rainbow of colors at their finger tips, rather than just the standard primary colors, some of the paintings got a little muddy in parts, but they will all look great with our mono prints next week. I started my first painting as an example in class, showing students some of what they could do. I had an older student who finished her project early, so I asked her to finish mine for me. Yay collaboration! Then I knew I had a student gone, so I painted 2 more papers (one large paper that I will cut in half when it is dry) so she will have options to choose from next week.

Vol. 3, No. 119, April 29, 2018

3119 - Ducks In A Row.

Today was so nice that I kept putting off my project. All of a sudden I was 9 pm and I needed something. I decided I would do another distorted photograph; the hard part was finding something to photograph. I came across a cup of small rubber ducks on my counter and deemed them the perfect subject. I put some into a vase with some water, and put that vase in another vase with more water. I added a couple ducks behind the vase and another one floating on the water in a third vase.

Vol. 3, No. 118, April 28, 2018

3118 - Pistachio Party.

Today, I headed to my first Twins game of the season. My sister brought along a bag of pistachios. Pistachios are addicting, so we ate a lot of them. About halfway through the game, I decided to get creative. I scooped up a pile of shells and started to make pictures. I ended up with a bat, a baseball, and the Twins Logo. Of course I left it behind for workers to find when they clean.

Vol. 3, No. 117, April 27, 2018

3117 - Delicious Doggy.

Today my family is celebrating my brother’s 31st birthday and his dog, Ziva’s 1st birthday. Yes they really do share a birthday. I had some time after school, before birthday dinner, so I decided to make some homemade dog treats. Ziva loves fruit and vegetables, so I was certain that she would enjoy these Banana Carrot Treats. With only Banana, Carrot, Parsley, Flour, Oatmeal, Egg and Oil, they were easy to make and actually taste pretty good.

I tried cutting the treats out with a butterfly cookie cutter, but they didn’t look great so I switched to just rectangles. Of course I also made a birthday cake complete with icing and a candle.

Ziva absolutely loved the treats and couldn’t get enough of them!

Vol. 3, No. 116, April 26, 2018

3116 - On Display.

Tomorrow is Arts and Academics, my school’s annual art show. Each student has a piece of artwork on display. As the art teacher, it is my job to set up the displays. This meant hanging 150 Picasso Portraits and laying out 140 paper mache masks on tables that I had to cover. While this really wouldn’t be a huge undertaking if I had been able to stay late at school multiple days and do a little each day, that wasn’t an option for me. So today was the day after working my normal hours in the morning I spent 4.5 hours setting up the display and grading all of the masks so it would all be ready when parents arrive at 7:30 am tomorrow.

Vol. 3, No. 115, April 25, 2018

3115 - Warm-Up Week 4.

This week’s Creative Sprint Warm-up prompt is to create something inspired by or using only the color green.  After school today, I went to my parent’s house to do laundry. When I walked in the door I saw my mom’s flowers from the play sitting on the counter, still wrapped in the plastic they came in. I decided to help her out and do a little flower arranging. When I got done, I had a large pile of green leaves sitting in front of me and decided to use them as my medium today. I carefully chose and ripped leaves to create parts for a frog. After pressing them for an hour or so, I assembled all of the leaves on the seat of a green chair.

Vol. 3, No. 114, April 24, 2018

3114 - Lines, Lines, LINES.

Lines are all around you and me, at least that’s how the song goes. My kindergarteners, first graders and second graders are learning about lines this week. We watched a cheesy, yet catchy, video on YouTube that talked about different kinds of lines and then practiced drawing 10 famous lines. They chose their favorite lines to draw on a paper that will be used as a blanket in an upcoming project. After drawing their lines with crayon, they painted their blankets with watercolors. I painted mine standing at the white board, thus the dripping paint.

Vol. 3, No. 113, April 23, 2018

3113 - Sketchy.

Today it was sunny and 70 degrees; there was no way I was going to stay inside. So I gathered up drawing boards, pencils, and paper and took my art club to the beach. I gave them specific instructions that they were to go no where near the water as there is still ice on the lake. We spent about 20 minutes doing a follow along sketch. We also folded paper airplanes and spent some time on the playground. One of the kids told me it was the best art day so far.

Vol. 3, No. 112, April 22, 2018

3112 - Last Rose.

Yesterday the show's Prima Ballerina's tutu got snagged and I had to cut off the loose piece. I saved the scrap to make her a small rose as a keepsake.

Vol. 3, No. 111, April 21, 2018

3111 - Last Minute.

It’s become a tradition that I create flowers for all of the kids participating in the Youth Theatre show.  Usually these flowers relate to the show in some way, like dandelions for Lion King and “wooden” flowers for Pinocchio. This year, I was stumped and couldn’t think of any kind of flower that matched the show, so I decided I was going to skip the flowers this year. Then today, during intermission of the matinee, I was trying to figure out what to do for my project. I saw a roll of tape on a table and decided to make a tape flower. Why stop at one when I can make 40 and give one to each kid. By intermission of the evening show, I had 40 small flowers and 1 large flower made. Most of the kids were very excited to get their flower.

Vol. 3, No. 110, April 20, 2018

3110 - Glittery.

In the last week and half, I have seen 10 groups of 3rd and 4th graders who were all working on Picasso Portraits. At this school, I didn't have glitter glue, so we did it the old fashioned way with white glue covered with glitter. Needless to say, my rooms are covered in glitter and probably will be for the rest of the year. When I finish with my last of the 10 classes today I swept up a pile of glitter off of the floor and used it as my drawing canvas. I drew in Drama Masks as this weekend is Dear Edwina. With my project out of the way, I am off to the show!

Vol. 3, No. 109, April 19, 2018

3109 - Waterfalls.

For the past two months, my fourth graders have been working on paper mache masks. Their masks were inspired by something in nature, an animal, plant or place. I decided to think a little outside of the box and make a waterfall for my example. Since they were finishing up this week, I decided to finish mine as well. This meant quickly painting and decorating my mask during class, in between dashes around the room to refill paint.