Wordless Wednesday

Paper Mosaics

A sampling of coil pots

Student photo for the cover of the Christmas program

See, I haven't actually deserted you all! I decided it was time to check in and share what the students have been up to in my art room. Now, I'm off to bake Thanksgiving pies and work on Christmas crafts.

School's In

From my desk. The mural was painted at the end of last year by five high school students.

It looks like a sufficient amount of space until you try to cram 21 little first grade bodies in there at one time!

Looking toward my desk from the doorway.

The supply corner. The box in front of the shelves is a cave in the making. The middle school is studying art of the stone age and is making the cave to hang their "cave art" in. More pics of this project to follow later.

School began last Wednesday. I am enjoying being back in the classroom again. Since the school is on the small side, I teach art to all of the grade levels, k-12. Also, since the school is small and yet growing, other classes besides art are held in the art room certain days and periods throughout the week. On any given day I may share my small space with Spanish III, 8th grade math, Health, or high school Bible. These few breaks during the week afford me the time needed to put up displays of art work in the hallways and work on organizing the yearbook staff.



The upside to working in a small Christian school is definitely the kids and the Christian environment. They are a nice group of students and they have very active parental support. The downside is the lack of space. My room is small and my supply budget is limited. The nearest sink is across the hall in the girls' bathroom. Also, the days are long with 9 periods plus yearbook after school hours. We won't go there with the pay situation...but suffice it to say that I have taken a pay cut from my public school teaching job of twenty years ago. All that said, I am enjoying it and look forward to each new day. My head is full of project ideas and my heart is full of caring for these wonderful kids and their families.



While I am enjoying focusing on art alone, I am finding I miss teaching all of the different subjects a homeschool mom has to cover. Where is literature and science, history and math? I am certainly glad I had the opportunity to learn right along with my kids as they worked their way through our homeschool. Shawn is homeschooling history still this year, but he is doing it independently. I may sit down to watch a lecture or two with him, but he has ownership of the course. It is not "mom lead". I have always loved learning and the homeschooling environment suited me. I will always be a learner, always curious about that which I don't already know. Now I can look back on homeschooling with nostalgia, but forge ahead towards recapturing my true vocation of teaching art. How wonderful to have been blessed with both.



Shawn and Julia are both doing really well in their courses at the community college. I am so proud of them. Julia is working on a transfer application now. She is looking at Cornell as a transfer school and wants to apply early for next year. It's a good thing I went back to work when I did. Although it will be significantly smaller than Earle's paycheck, mine will become quite necessary soon.

Photoshop Phun

Peaceful Cape Breton, Canada

Portland Head Light, Maine

The Tide is out

Cape Breton's rocky coast

I think I am becoming addicted to Photoshop. Does anyone know the symptoms? I think I might need intervention... After the week I've had and the amount of pain meds I've consumed from a solid week of migraines, Photoshop is about all the creativity I can handle right now. Photoshop and Vicodin. Hook me up. Painting, it's overrated ;-)



Is it summer vacation yet?

The original pics were all taken by my resident photo-crazed husband with his now retired Sony digital camera. If you want to see some of Earle's recent, un-photomanipulated photographs, there are some lovely pics on his blog that he took the other day in Germany. Enjoy!

Rocks in My Head

I feel like I have rocks in my head this morning. What I really have is a nasty cold complete with low-grade fever. So, painting and outdoor activities are out today.

I was inspired, in my feverish state, by the post at Socks and Books about their excursion to a rock museum as well as the awe-inspiring rocky landscapes at Short on Words. I've always admired and collected rock. They are infinitely unique in color, size, texture, and pattern. Rocks have made their way into my house and into my art quite often.

You may recall the vignette I set up before Christmas using rocks we had collected in Canada. Over time the little set-up had become rather dusty and the pine needles had lost their rust coloring. So, I re-purposed the rocks and moss to create a new vignette in our pass-through area between the kitchen and great room. Shawn likes to use this area to draw his maps (which I will share with you in another post) and I thought he might like a tiny picturesque landscape in his drawing nook.

Some of the rocks were used in the nook, others now enhance the lovely table-top fountain Julia gave me for Christmas. When rocks are wet, they are at their best. The colors sing and the surface glows.

Our greatroom is full of rocks! Here are some small compositions I shot within the larger framework of some of my paintings that hang in that room.

Humans have been painting rocks and painting on rocks since the earliest know art. Rocks have been both painted on and painted with in the form of crushed minerals mixed with animal fat. From the Lascaux Cave paintings in France, to the open air rock engravings in Norway, people have chosen rocks as a source for artwork because of their permanence, availability, and of course their beauty.

If you've been inspired by rocks as I have and would like to try your hand at drawing some of the rocks around you, here is a rock drawing tutorial I found at eHow.

In the Studio

Background done

Up close.

You can almost smell the wet paint

A beginning, but a long way to go

Next up: watercolor

Lilacs

With the kids gone to visit a friend and Earle in Germany for work, I had the whole day to myself today. I didn't do one iota of housework, unless you count cleaning up a hairball, but that really was necessary. How many times can you walk over it and pretend it isn't there?! Anyway, I spent the afternoon and evening painting. I started work on a new acrylic painting and then played around with some watercolors and a Chinese brush on some small squares of watercolor paper I've had laying around ready to use up.

After the drabness of winter I am longing for color, can you tell?



Tonight I can sit back, put my feet up, relax, and watch part two of Sense and Sensibility on PBS. My back is tired from painting. The couch sounds inviting.



I also finished Miss Clare Remembers today. It is my favorite Miss Read book so far. Time to request the next one from inter-library loan.

Fine Art Friday

Friday's Feast didn't inspire me this week, but Shawn's art history studies did. We are making our way through Art Across the Ages, art history lectures from The Teaching Company, and reading through The Annotated Mona Lisa as a precursor to the lectures as well as consulting some of my old art history books from my college days. We have begun this study rather late in the year and are only into the period of Hellenistic art, but no matter, we are enjoying the material.



Today's lecture addressed the Hellenistic period of Greek art, the time period when the great empire of Alexander had moved Greek ideals throughout parts of the Western and Eastern world. One of the most famous and noted sculptures of that time is the Nike of Samothrace. This sculpture is also a personal favorite of mine, so naturally I felt the urge to share its majesty with all of you.




Imagine if you will a niche of rock overlooking The Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace, a pool of water at the nike's feet representing the ocean. Now picture the fierce wind howling across ocean waves and crashing upon the breast of the Nike as she stands, wings and (now missing) arms outstretched in victory against the very sea and wind itself, a testimony to the hard won naval battle she commemorates. This is the original scene in which the Nike of Samothrace was exhibited. She must have been a magnificent sight in those surroundings. Now, of course, you can view her away from the harm of the elements in the Louvre in Paris. Though from her intended backdrop she has been long removed, her magnificence is still greatly admired.



Read more about her here: Nike of Samothrace

Good Friday

Christ on the Cross

Diego Velasquez

Museo del Prado, Madrid (250 x 170 cm, c. 1632)

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Y miré, y oí la voz de muchos ángeles alrededor del trono y de los seres vivientes y de los ancianos. El número de ellos era miríadas de miríadas, y millares de millares, que decían a gran voz: El Cordero que fue inmolado digno es de recibir el poder, las riquezas, la sabiduría, la fortaleza, el honor, la gloria y la alabanza. (Spanish: La Biblia de las Américas (1997))

Καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν ἀγγέλων πολλῶν κύκλῳ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ τῶν ζῴων καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτῶν μυριάδες μυριάδων καὶ χιλιάδες χιλιάδων λέγοντες φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ἄξιόν ἐστιν τὸ ἀρνίον τὸ ἐσφαγμένον λαβεῖν τὴν δύναμιν καὶ πλοῦτον καὶ σοφίαν καὶ ἰσχὺν καὶ τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν καὶ εὐλογίαν. (Greek NT)

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." (New American Standard Bible, Revelation 5:11-12)

In any language, the message is the same. The only way to Easter Sunday is through the cross of Good Friday and the only way to the Father is through the Son. The deed has been done; the debt has been paid. Blessed be His name.

Pysanky Workshop

As promised, I have some pics from the Pysanky workshop I held in my studio. Two homeschooled students, a mom and her three girls, my kids, and two of their friends participated in our three hour class. They learned that Pysanky egg decorating originated in the Ukraine and that its intricate patterns and colors are symbolic. They learned about the tools used in making Pysanky and the steps in the process. Then, each participant made their own egg as we followed a traditional pattern, step by step, together. After the first eggs were complete the students created free form egg designs of their own choosing. At the end of the workshop each person took home with them: two finished eggs, a kistka, beeswax, an instruction guide, and a catalog with which to purchase dyes if they wish to make more eggs in the future.




Pysanky is a wax resist process. Beginning with a fresh, white egg, you cover areas of the egg with melted wax using a kistka. When you dip the egg into the first dye bath, the places you covered with wax will remain white. After each dye bath, when the egg has dried, you cover the areas with wax that you wish to stay that color before proceeding to the next dye bath. When the design is complete and all the dyeing is done, you hold the egg close to a candle flame to remelt the wax so you can wipe it from the egg revealing your finished design. Removing the wax from the finished egg is like discovering hidden treasure!


If making Pysanky is something you wish to find out more about and perhaps try your hand at, here are some resources for you:

• Learn Pysanky: Step by step basic instructions, symbol and color meanings, egg designs, and many other wonderful bits of information.

• Ukrainian Gift shop: Where to buy your supplies.

• Two wonderful children's books by Patricia Polacco with Pysanky in the storyline:Chicken Sunday, Rechenka's Eggs

It was so nice to hold the kistka in one hand and a fresh egg in the other, to feel the soft melted wax flow onto the egg shell, and to smell the waxy goodness of burning candles and hunks of beeswax. There is something so comforting in working with low-tech tools on a traditional craft that has endured the test of time. Even though I have no Ukrainian in my family heritage, I feel a connectedness to the past and a gratefulness for those who are willing to share their customs with the rest of the world.

Creativity Tag

Deb over at Creative Soul tagged me with an 8 Random Creative Things About Me meme. I enjoyed reading her meme musings and will comply, because as the Borg say, "Resistance is futile", and it seems fun!

1. I don't really have a favorite color. I love them all so much my favorites change. Some colors I adore more than others though, these include: periwinkle, red, white, tangerine, apple green....
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2. My creativity comes is spurts. I can work on a painting for days on end, barely thinking to eat, and then work on nothing for months. There have been times I've had to rein that tendency in when I needed to finish a painting for a client, but that is my natural creativity rhythm.
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3. Listening to classical music or music from other countries like Celtic or Aboriginal can really turn on the creativity spark. I don't play any instruments though and please don't ask me to sing! I love to sing when I'm alone, but my pathetic attempts are not for others' ears.
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4. When my creative soul needs encouraging and renewing, nothing works better than a stroll along a nature trail. Being out in God's creation brings back my creativity, it makes me feel connected to the Creator.
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5. My sister is always trying to encourage me to dress "artsy", but I like to blend in to the background a little too much. She is the extrovert and can pull it off!

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6. While I was still in high school, and deciding on a career path, my areas of interest were: art, math, and astro-physics. I almost decided to minor in math in college. I took Calc I, Calc II and Computer Science before abandoning math due to the time commitment. The art classes were too demanding of my time. I know I made the right choice.

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7. Going to museums is supposed to be inspirational, and it is now for me, but it wasn't always that way. I used to become very discouraged when I saw how far I still needed to progress in my art compared to the masters who hung in the museums. Perfectionistic tendencies are real creativity killers. They will paralyze you. Thankfully, I no longer feel that way, at all. I have been to museums across the US and parts of Europe and loved every minute of it. My favorite artist is Jan Van Eyke and my least favorite of the well know masters is Pablo Picasso.

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8. Winter is no fun. The lack of sunshine severely affects my energy level and my creativity level. thank goodness it's almost spring!Now, I suppose I should tag someone else, but I will leave it open ended.

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If you would like to participate and respond to this meme on your blog, I encourage you to do it! (and let us all know you did) Happy creating!

Flotsam and Jetsam

This place was a debris field this morning, inside and out. Over the last couple of days we've had snow, sleet, freezing rain, more snow, wind, cold temperatures....until there was a nice build-up of ice on everything, including the snow. Last night, when the wind began to pick up, the heavily laden tree branches whipped the side of the house sending shards of ice crashing into the windows and trickling down the slope of the roof, sounding like some percussion section gone awry. Several times throughout the evening and overnight I was certain a window would break and I'd be picking up scattered branches from the floor while desperately searching for a tarp to cover a gaping hole in the side of the house! This morning when I looked outside, the beaming sun was making diamonds out of the shards of glass that had fallen during the night. Sharp points of broken ice protruded from every near horizontal surface, looking like a virtual ice mine field. Branches were down all over the yard. In some neighborhoods entire trees were down, as well as the power lines that were under them. Although the commotion from the storm kept me awake a good deal of the night, at least we didn't lose power. Many others in our area weren't as fortunate.

Some of the downed branches and ice shards in our front yard.

Although the ice was a nuisance, it sure made lovely patterns on the garage door window for Shawn to photograph!

It also made amazing photo opportunities for Julia. Hopefully those beginning buds won't be impacted by their time in the deep freeze.

The studio is also littered with debris today, not of the icy kind though. Yesterday I held a Pysanky workshop in my studio. I taught nine students, kids through adults, the Ukrainian art form then we created lovely egg masterpieces. One of the participants, a friend of Julia's, took some pics of the event. When he has a chance to put them on disk for me I'll show you what we did. For now, the messy studio pics will have to suffice!

All those raw eggs and not one was broken even by the youngest students!

Tonight I am crashing like those ice shards! Shawn has continued making Pysanky, but I am properly positioned on the comfy couch with my feet propped and my lap top in front of me. It's been quite a weekend! Perhaps I'll be able to catch up on that lost sleep tonight.

Over the Weekend

The first thing I did this weekend was to come down with a nasty cold. I spared you a pic of my hoard of used, wadded tissues! I figured Earle shouldn't have to suffer alone, so now we are suffering together.

Since we were contagious we stayed home from church on Sunday. Julia and Shawn worshipped with friends at their church then spent the afternoon hiking in the snow. When they all headed back to "the sickie house" we met them with a big pot of homemade beef stew, mashed potatoes, peas, and chunky applesauce with cinnamon. Later that evening we cheered for New England in the Superbowl until their untimely loss at which point Earle, a Maine-iac by birth, decided it was OK for NY to claim a victory as he was officially a New Yorker now. He has actually lived in NY longer than Maine by about a year. I'm thinkin' he'll never really convert though. You can take the boy out of Maine...you know the rest. Anyway, we munched on some other yummy snacks during the game: homemade potato skins (these were a BIG hit!), homemade guacamole with chips, and breaded cheese sticks. It was nice to have an excuse for consuming so many foods of questionable nutritional value! When the post-game chatter died down it was time for a special episode of House. Wow, he may have some redeeming qualities after all. Did you catch the show?

Since I was quaranteened the whole weekend, I actually spent some time in the studio working on polymer clay projects. I am designing an assortment of spoons with decorative clay handles. A friend of mine used to sell these creations for me in her cyber-cafe, but she went out of business last year. My next adventure is to open an Etsy shop where I can once again market some of my wares. I'll let you know when it's up and running.

Wouldn't you just love to dish up some fruit dip at a summer picnic with this spoon?

Also on Saturday, my order came for new Pysanky supplies. I will be holding a Pysanky class as well as teaching a few friends how to make these beautiful Ukranian eggs. New dyes, chunks of wonderful smelling beeswax, and kistkas.

One of my favorite eggs. It is still intact inside though I made it several years ago. I decided not to blow it out, but to let it dry out over time. I think the "wholeness" of the egg helps to symbolize the Easter promise of new birth and a new life in Christ.

What did you do this weekend?

Art Truth

"The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection."

-Michelangelo

Julia's Art

"The Ice Queen"

"Serenity"

"Wolf in Clouds"

"Valadil"

"Tuck"

My daughter, Julia is an artist in her own right. I thought I'd highlight some of her photomanipulations today. She uses Adobe photoshop and a Wacom drawing tablet. Her finished pieces have so many layers and textures and such fine detail added, I don't know how she keeps track of it all! I think her work is dreamy and thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy it as well.

To see more of Julia's photomanipulations, visit her online gallery here: Ezrill

The Chess Set

One of my blog readers requested more pictures of the polymer clay chess set my son made when was in 7th grade. She would like to delve into polymer clay with her kids. We used to have polymer clay spread across the table for weeks on end, so my son was quite familiar with working with clay when he made this set. Having always been a big history fan, he chose the Greeks and the Barbarians as the theme for the two opposing sides.

The clay he used was Sculpey III. After it was formed and baked, he antiqued the pieces by painting on a thin wash of burnt sienna acrylic paint and then wiping it off while it was still wet. The small amount of paint that remained in the recessed areas gave the pieces an antiqued feel and brought out their dimension. The last step was to load an old scraggly brush with some gold acrylic paint and then wipe the brush off on paper towels. The brush was then rubbed across the pieces to leave a slight golden sheen on the highlighted areas. This technique is called "dry brush" as there is very little paint on the brush after wiping it off on the towels.

Shawn also made the chess board from a piece of wood. He divided up the board into the appropriate grid using a ruler and a pencil. Then he used a wood burning tool to create the detail. Next, he used a small brush and some stain to give the board its distinctive dark and light spaces. Last, he coated the whole board with polyurethane.

Chess anyone?

The Barbarians

Up close on the Barbarian side: The bag of loot represents a knight, the sword and shield represent the rook, the coins represent the bishop, and the fabric with the crown atop represents the queen. The texture on the loot bag came from pressing the clay onto a piece of fabric.

The Greeks

Up close on the Greek side: the column represents the rook, the cup and drapery represents the queen, and the block of stone with a metal band represents the knight.

Shawn had a lot of fun designing and creating this set. We've played with it often and it has held up pretty well. The king, Poseidon, on the Greek side had a laurel wreath around his trident at one time, but it broke off. The other casualty over time has been the shields on the Barbarian side coming loose from their rock supports. A little hot glue fixed them back up in no time.

Set your kids (or yourself) loose with some Sculpey and see what you can create!

Art of Nature

One of my art students, an eight year old girl, finished a wonderful painting of a blue jay yesterday. I've been working with her once a week for about six months now. I use Artistic Pursuits as a spine and add many of my own ideas. Each week we work together for about 30-45 minutes, learning new techniques, art terms, and artists. We complete a small project to reinforce the new ideas and then she is given a weekly assignment to fulfill on her own. She worked on the painting exclusively in lesson time for about five weeks. I know she is very proud of her painting and I'm sure proud of her accomplishment at only seven years old (she turned eight just this week so much of the work was done while she was seven).

If you are also interested in birds and in drawing and painting birds I highly recommend learning more about the artist and naturalist John James Audubon.

Start by exploring the National Audubon Society website where you can read about his namesake organization dedicated to wildlife preservation and about Audubon himself in a brief biography. You can also view Audubon's most famous book of bird illustrations there, Birds of America. After you have viewed the book on the web, be sure to also check it or another of Audubon's books out of the library. You can get a much better feel for the artwork looking at it printed on actual paper than you can viewing a web pic.

While you're at the library, search out this book if you are working with children or appreciate children's books yourself: The Boy Who Drew Birds. There is a teacher's guide for the book online at the Houghton Mifflin site.

Another book I would recommend if you are a naturalist/artist at heart is Keeping a Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie. It is an inspirational and beautiful piece of art in its own right as well as an invaluable resource.

Yet another resource you won't want to miss is a blog by a fellow artist-homeschooler, Handbook of Nature Study. Barb has spent a great deal of time and energy inspiring beginning artists, young and old.

So, grab your camera, your sketchbook, and your library card. Head out in search of birds and other wildlife in you neighborhood. Then try your hand at drawing, painting, and photographing what you've observed and studied.

Be inspired by nature.