Vol. 3, No. 304, October 31, 2018

3304 - But Wait...There’s More.

DAY 31 Share one thing you learned from this challenge?

I kind of did this yesterday, but why not do it again. One thing that I learned is that redo’s are an important part of becoming a great artist. You look at your art and decide what is great and what could be better and then you make it better. The process on analyzing helps you to better understand yourself and you work. Today I sort of did a redo of my Mondrian collage. This time, instead of a collage,  it is a drawing. My analysis wasn’t so much about how to improve, but rather how to make the project work for a different set of students.

Vol. 3, No. 303, October 30, 2018

3303 - Crossing The Finish Line.

DAY 30 Make a trophy to celebrate your efforts during this month!

My trophy is the pumpkin that I made at a needle felting class earlier this month. While my trophy may not look like a traditional trophy, it represents all of the new things I tried this month, including needle felting, paint pouring, light drawing, large scale coffee painting, and miniature painting. I produced some projects that are or will soon be trash, but I also produced some of my all time favorite projects.

Vol. 3, No. 302, October 29, 2018

3302 - Rainbow Connection.

DAY 29
 Create a rainbow.

Today was a work day at school, getting ready for second quarter. The first project for my 6th grade students will be to make a Northern Lights drawing. The Northern Lights are kind of like the rainbows of the night, so I decided to make a quick example.

Vol. 3, No. 301, October 28, 2018

3301 - Do Over.

DAY 28 Who said there are no second chances? Pick any of your previous creations from this month and rework or revise it!

As soon as I posted my mask project last night, I knew I wanted a do over and I really wanted to help Oldest Miller with her mask. When I read today's prompt, I couldn't believe my luck. Right after breakfast...around 10:30 A.M...Oldest Miller and I got started. I suggested making paper masks, but she had her mind set on using a milk carton. I did the cutting and she did the painting. We only had 2 colors of acrylic paint available so we mixed in some puff paint as well. As Oldest Miller painted her mask, I worked on a mask for Littlest Miller who was sitting close by wanting to get in on the action. Littlest Miller's mask is a peacock. I did the cutting and most of the painting, but she helped with some of the design and painted the beak.

As we finished, Littlest Miller said that she wanted to be a peacock for Halloween and asked me if I was going to be a bird too. I told her that I was going to be a witch, so she decided that she would be my pet bird. We'll have to take a picture together if that is what she actual decides to do.

Vol. 3, No. 300, October 27, 2018

3300 - Masked.

DAY 27 Create a mask. Bonus: get a picture of yourself wearing it in public!

This morning Oldest Miller asked what my project was going to be; when I told her I need to make a mask, she got really excited because that was her homework for the weekend as well. She had some chores to do before we could work, but she choose to have a nap instead of doing chores, and we ran out of time to do art together. Therefore, I needed to find some other way to complete my project. I went movie with friends tonight, and brought with coffee filters to use as popcorn bowls. When I was finished with my popcorn, I used by “bowl” to make my mask, but ripping slits or the eyes and mouth, and then rolling the edges to make them open. As to not be rude during the movie, I waited until I was home to take the picture. Turns out I didn't get everything lined up correctly.

Vol. 3, No. 299, October 26, 2018

3299 - Add It Up.

DAY 26 Make a chart or a graph of something you wouldn't typically explain in this format.

It took me a long time to figure what to do for today's project. Then it hit me; today was the last day of the first quarter. So I used my 6th Grade collaborative murals to create a chart depicting the progression of the school year. Starting with just a vase and filling to having approximately 70 flowers per vase. I would have liked to include 4 stages, but apparently I didn't take pictures after the first groups added their flowers.

Vol. 3, No. 298, October 25, 2018

3298 - One For The Books.

DAY 25 What happened today in history? Create something inspired by what you learn.

To prep for today’s project,  I hopped online and googled “On This Day”. The first article to pop up was Picasso’s Birthday. Being an art teacher, this seemed like an obvious choice. I didn’t know what I to make though, so I searched again, this time looking for some subject matter. That’s when I found out that today marks 73rd anniversary of Jackson Pollock’s marriage to Lee Krasner. I prefer Pollock over Picasso, so I completely changed my plan. I pulled out some tempera paint, mixed in a little water and then used droppers to fling paint across my black paper. I decided to create a bride and groom on a sunny day with a large bouquet of roses. Not as abstract as Pollock’s paintings, but it was still fun to make.

Vol. 3, No. 297, October 24, 2018

3297 - Smallsville.

DAY 24 Create a miniature landscape.

I was excited when I read todays prompt and couldn’t wait to get started. I created a mini pointillism landscape with a Sharpie. Then I colored it in with watercolors. The landscape is about the size of a Fifty Cent Piece. I may make a whole series of mini landscapes and then frame them together for the county fair.

Vol. 3, No. 296, October 23, 2018

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3296 - In Plain Sight.

DAY 23 Camoflague something.

I needed a completed example of a lettering worksheet for my 7th graders. It takes a long time to draw one letter 100 different ways, therefore, I didn't have time to do another project. Fortunately for me, in some of the R's are camouflaged and hard to see amidst the details.

Vol. 3, No. 295, October 22, 2018

3295 - Going Public.

DAY 21 Make something in a public place and leave it there for someone else to find.

I considered doing this project at work as I work in a public school, instead I waited until I got to play practice which is held at Bernie Aaker Auditorium, a public building in town. During rehearsal, I drew some Zentangle designs on the back of one of the mini postcards advertising the show. When I was finished, I hung the postcard on the announcement bulletin board in the lobby.

Vol. 3, No. 294, October 21, 2018

3294 - Selling It.

DAY 21 Create an advertisement for something you can't typically buy.

Today turned out to be Set Work Sunday. Who wants to purchase the front interior facade of a two-story English Manor. As an added bonus, I will throw in a bar and lots of sets of wooden books. Want to preview before buying? Preview tickets are available for only $6. Previews will happen November 1, 2, and 3 at 7pm, and November 4 at 2pm. Get your preview tickets by calling Litchfield High School at 320-693-2424 x 4318.

Vol. 3, No. 293, October 20, 2018

3293 - A New Thing.

DAY 20 Take something apart and put it back together in a new way.

I had a great idea for today's project, but then time got away from me so I had to scamper to get something made last minute. I had an assortment of remotes in front of me, so I "took them apart" which is code to took out the batteries and made a person. The hardest part of this project was putting the remotes back together again when I was finished.

Vol. 3, No. 292, October 19, 2018

3292 - Buddy System.

DAY 19 Collaborate with another Creative Sprint-er, today.

Today was yet another Set Work Saturday (I mean Friday), which meant that I participated in a lot of collaboration, but since today’s prompt was to collaborate with a fellow Sprinter, I needed to go further. When I was on the Creative Sprint Facebook page this morning, I saw that Ariel Sublett, a fellow Sprinter had posted a starter, “What’s in my cup?” Ariel’s post was a pic of an empty coffee cup. I decided to fill the cup with “Set Work Coffee”.When set work was finished for the day, I snapped a few pics of the work that was done. Then I created a collage of these photos, and modified it to create a more sepia tone and a swirl, giving a sort of coffee look. I then edited the photos, merging them together.

Vol. 3, No. 291, October 18, 2018

3291 - Child’s Play.

DAY 18 Recreate a favorite childhood toy or game.

While at the theater for today’s 7 hour rehearsal, I was given a bag of glass beads that reminded me of the beans inside of a Beanie Baby, which I had a lot of growing up. I decided to use these beads to recreate one of my favorite childhood toys, a SkyDancer. My SkyDancer rode on a swan, so I tried to recreate that as well.

Vol. 3, No. 290, October 17, 2018

3290 - Imitation Game.

DAY 17 Create something in the style of an artist whose work you admire.

This prompt lined up well with my curriculum as my Kindergarterners just started a project using lines and shapes to create collages in the style of Piet Mondrian. While Piete Mondrian isn’t my favorite artist, I decided to keep it simple and use the example that I made in class for my project.

Vol. 3, No. 289, October 16, 2018

3289 - Teachers Rule.

DAY 16 Make something that reminds you of a teacher who inspired you. Bonus: Give it to them!

One teacher who has inspired me is Mr. Gerry Kulzer. Mr. Kulzer was my high school teacher and even though he tried to convince me that I could become a great art teacher without becoming a Bennie and paying a ton for tuition, he helped me put together my art portfolio when I was applying for scholarships. Little did I know that 8 years and a TON of money spent on tuition later, he would become my colleague. In fact, he was responsible for me landing that job in the first place.

Gerry and I co-taught Jr. High and Sr. High art at Holy Trinity for 3 years. I learned a lot from Gerry during that time, which helped me to grow and have the confidence to tackle my own Middle School art classes. Even though we are no longer co-workers, I still check back to Gerry’s website on regular basis to pull lesson ideas for my students.

Our classroom at HT and Gerry’s classroom at his other school are still “old school” and have chalk boards. So, this month, Gerry is doing ‘Chalktober”, in which he creates a chalk drawing every day. One of my favorites so far was of a rose, so I decided to make my own chalk drawing today. Unfortunately, my classrooms only have dry erase boards, and I actually had to look really hard to find some white chalk. Instead of drawing on a chalkboard, I had to make do with a piece of black tag board.

I guess all that is left to say is Thank You Gerry! You continue to inspire me to be a great teacher and a great artist. I will keep practicing so that one day, my rose can be as good as yours.

Vol. 3, No. 288, October 15, 2018

3288 - Pattern Recognition.

DAY 15 Incorporate repetition or pattern into whatever you make today.

It was very convienent that tomorrow my 8th graders will be starting a Zentangle drawing project an I needed/wanted to make an example. The whole concept of Zentangle is repetition and patterns. The next step of this project is to color the patterns within the circle. Then cut out the entire splot and glue it to another Zentangle background, but it is late and I am exhausted, so I till have to wait.

Vol. 3, No. 287, October 14, 2018

3287 - Waste Not.

DAY 14 Make something out of things you would normally throw away.

I realize I just did this project a couple weeks ago, but as I was making coffee tonight to put in the fridge for my iced coffees this week, I realized that I normally just throw away the used coffee filter and grounds. So, instead of tossing them in the trash, I used them as my paint. There are many aspects that I like better than the last one, like how I was able to get the coffee darker. However, I like the table top better in the first one; maybe I’ll have to try again sometime. Tonight’s painting is on a 11” x 14” paper rather than 5” x 7” like last time; I stuck with the square picture, mostly cutting off the wall.

Vol. 3, No. 286, October 13, 2018

3286 - Pocket Full.

DAY 13 Make something using only the contents of your pocket, wallet, purse or bag.

It was another Set Work Saturday, which meant I was wearing one of my painting aprons, which meant I had pockets full of lots of random things. Today I had 3 or 4 pairs of used latex gloves (I may have stockpiled them for the project), a small tape ball, and earplugs. I really do 't know why the earplugs were on there, but they worked to make a turkey beak, with the gloves for the feathers and the tape as part of the head. I realize it's not perfect, but after 9 hours of set work with 15 high schoolers, my creativity (and ability to care) was burned out.

Vol. 3, No. 285, October 12, 2018

3285 - Eye See You.

DAY 12 Add eyes to an inanimate object.

I opted for quick and simple today. When I arrived at the Elementary School, I had a couple minutes before my first class arrived, so I drew two ovals on the white board and put a magnet in each one for pupils. I drew in eyebrows and a couple finger tips grasping at the edge to make it more fun. Unfortunately none of my students noticed.