"Those who cannot do, teach." ha. whatever.

This article found here, was a really great pick-me-up for me today. Written by a high school art teacher, who spends his non-teaching time working as an artist with everything from canvas to film, I found it very refreshing and completely inspiring. It also helped me remember what brings me joy. Teaching is definitely one of those things, but the other night as I sat in the living room with Dane, working on an example for my 3rd graders' next project I thought, "I might get really sick of elementary art, really fast."

Now, that's not to say that I don't love what I do. I LOVE it. But like any job, it is a job. And I still need to do things for myself. I know, I know, I still get to do art projects everyday, shouldn't that be fulfilling enough for my creative cravings? Well, when the projects are geared toward teaching basic art principles to 8 yr olds, I just don't get the same ~ness out if it. You know?

It is time for me to get that second bedroom cleaned out, organized and turned into a space where I can work...After all, (Dane doesn't know this but) I am declaring it my space until baby comes and I get to share. Even if I can work only once a week on something just for the sake of that something, I think I will see a little reigniting of my artist spark.

And just so I don't forget, here's a little section from that article I enjoyed:

Last weekend, I set the lesson plans aside to go back and mill around the set. I feel guilty when this sort of thing happens—when I use my free time to become a better artist. I wonder if perhaps my students will suffer from what I perceive to be my lack of whole-hearted dedication to what goes on between the bells. And yet, just when I feel as though I ought to put my pen, paper, and storyboards down, I remember that whether or not I ever do create anything of note as a screenwriter (or painter, or poet, or memoirist, or ukulele virtuoso), it is this very passion that lights me up for teaching.

Although I cannot prove it, I believe that when my students see the spark burning in my eyes as I convey to them my own love of creation, the spark travels, spreads, and finally ignites them as well. There is nothing more inspiring for my own work than to be surrounded by young minds alive and ablaze at the chance to dance within the indescribable wonder of creative activity. I find myself inspired all over again, and the joy enriches both my teaching and my art.





p.s. Who ever said that quote in the subject of my post, has obviously never been a teacher. :)

Recent Inspiration

I got a call from my dear sister, Elizabeth, a few weeks ago. She was in a panic because the rotations that she does for her daughter's home-school cohorts had been rearranged and she was switched from the history teacher to the art teacher. Overwhelmed by the task, she called me with questions and to get tips. I answered as much as I could but in the end, I think she was really more of a help to me. She introduced me to a wonderful blog! ArtProjectsForKids.org. Designed by this woman:

It is a blog put together by a seasoned graphic designer-turned-art teacher. She has literally hundreds of project ideas complete with examples and what she learned worked/didn't work when trying them with her students.

Thank you so much Elizabeth! And I look forward to learning how to do all of this right along side of you this year!

Unfinished Projects

To say that is has been a while, would be an understatement, so let's just get down to it. It has been a while. But I have been working on things, I promise. I just haven't finished a lot of them lately, and for some reason I always feel like everything I put on here has to be finished.

So, this is what I was working on right after my last post:


As you can see, it is not finished, but almost there. It will eventually be one of five in a series I am painting for my mother-in-law. Sorry, Janet!
This project was put on hold so that I could work on this for Dane's Birthday:






Most of you have no idea what a big deal it is for me to scrapbook. I don't scrapbook. This was a true gift of love. Dane really wanted one, and I told him that it would never happen. It is happening, but as you can see there are several blank spots yet to be filled with captions, and basically the rest of our lives to finish it.
This project was also put on hold when pretty much every ounce of my energy became dedicated to making this:





This has pretty much put everything in my life on hold for the past 3 months. Yikes. It really is a lot of work! But for obvious reasons, this also remains unfinished.
So, now that I have hit month four and some of my energy is returning, it is once again taken elsewhere to work on putting my classroom together for the upcoming school year. I have so much to do--everything from organizing my cupboards, writing lesson plans, getting visual and posters ready along with classroom management stuff like seating charts, procedures...etc

I have 3 more weeks until school starts, half of a classroom to finish and an entire year's worth of lesson plans to get ready. I have a feeling that this will really be taking up the bulk of my time and energy, so the are that I may be posting will most likely be done by other artists like these.

Sorry for the absence, but know that I am still here, and ALWAYS working on something!

onions, oil, 6"x6"

I challenged myself on this one to only put the paint where it belonged. I mean that in several ways. On the canvas, not my clothes. And where it needed to be in the drawing, not somewhere else. As simple as that sounds, it is a constant challenge for me. I think that is what I like about painting. The challenge. And no. I didn't get any on my clothes. Small victory? Yes.



p.s. Not that anyone else probably noticed this but me but this is my 6th post this year. Last year (2009) I had 6 posts. That was it. I can already tell this is going to be a good year.

Emily and Elizabeth, oil, 18"x18"

I learned many years ago with this painting, that I don't have to love everything that I paint. Sometimes I just need to finish it and move on. That can be exptrememly difficult when the painting you are working on is not only for someone, but a family member. To say that I have been "working on" this painting for 4 years would defiantly not be true, but it has been sitting in the back of several closets, following me around that long and it is good to be able to move on. For some reason I had a very hard time with this painting. I don't love it and I know that there are things I could change, but the painting would still be pretty much the same. I think it will be good for me to move on.





With that said, I hope that my sister enjoys this painting, as it is the last of her 4 children and the only one that I had not yet painted. It can now hang with the others as a complete set and that makes me so happy. I love you Elizabeth! I am sorry this took me so long!

new artist

I have added a new artist to my list on the side of my blog: Susan Mortensen. I have never met her, but she is the mother of a good friend I used to work with. She has done a series of what her friends call "kitchen paintings" that I love. These are a series of 5"x5" paintings of fruit and veggies. I think I want to do something a little like this. This is my favorite one. I love the composition.

photoshop head swap

One of my favorite features of photoshop is the "masks". Imagine if you had an image of a family you loved all but one person. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just cut their face out and paste another image you liked better of that person behind? That is something you can do with a mask. Also ever wondered how people make those cheesy shots where everything is in b/w except, say a red rose? You can also do this with a mask. There are so many things you can do with it....I love it. This was one of my afternoon projects today. Love you Kathy. Your family is beautiful.