School Play

We are still in full swing at school.  School doesn't end until June 20th this year.  However, we do have the school play coming up next week. The students will be performing Suddenly Cinderella.  I have been working hard on the scenery, and today I finally finished it.

 I am looking forward to seeing the students perform next week!

School Starts Tomorrow

 School starts tomorrow, and my art room is ready.  This will be a busy school year because I will be teaching art full time as well as working on my thesis for my master's degree.  I will try to keep this blog updated as much as possible through this crazy busy school year.

In my school, I teach 6 classes a day for 35 minutes each.  I see a total of 30 different classes each week.  Keeping track of all my students is probably the biggest challenge of my job. Organization is the key to survival in my classroom.

 I did about four bulletin boards in our hallway this school year, and here is a picture of two of them.

In order to maintain order in my classroom, I utilize a voice level chart, and students earn "Art Dollars" for good behavior.  Four times a year students get to spend their art money on prizes.

Summer at Boston University

I have been working on a Master's degree through Boston University.  Most of the classes are online. However, this summer, I went to Boston to take a few studio courses.   I took two classes: Wire Sculpture and Printmaking.  All of these techniques were wonderful to learn, however in order to apply them to my elementary classroom, I will need to simplify the techniques and materials.

 This is the wire sculpture I created during my time at Boston. This was a very time consuming process because it involved twisting and bending thick sharp wire.  If I were to do this with my elementary students, I would need to use softer wire.

 We created a variety of monoprints during my time in Boston.  This monoprint was created with water-soluble crayons on plexiglass, which was then printed on wet paper. This process can also be done with oil paints or watercolors.  While I don't have a press in my elementary classroom, I would be able to do a version of this by simply rubbing with a spoon.

 This was a woodcut I created.  The colors were added by printing several times using stencils to block out the parts I didn't want inked.  While woodcutting would be inappropriate for my elementary classroom, a similar process could be done with styrofoam or E-Z cut.

This last one was a pronto print.  It was created by printing a photo on pronto paper using a laser jet printer.  Then I used a brayer, and added ink directly to the pronto paper. Next, I used a wet sponge and wiped the pronto paper.  It was printed using a press.  I am not sure if this is doable for my elementary students.  I will have to see if this process works without a press first.   

Painting Again

I love summer because I have time to paint.  During the school year, I spend so much time planning lessons that I have little time for my own art.  It is wonderful to have time to paint again.  This painting is for my sister's birthday.   

My Artwork

The problem with teaching art is that I spend all of my time planning and creating artwork for kids, but have little time to focus on my art. This weekend I decided to spend all of Sunday working on a painting. Here is the painting I created.
It felt really nice to spend an entire day painting something for myself.

Melted Crayons

Friday was Parent Teacher Conference day. This is a day that I enjoy every year, because as the art teacher, I have few conferences and can spend the day working in my room. This year I decided to experiment with old crayons. Recently, I have seen quite a few melted crayon ideas on Pinterest, and I decided it was time for me to try this.
This is really simple to do. Basically, I used a hot glue gun to attach crayons to the top of foam-core. Then I used a heat gun to melt the crayons. I have also heard that a hair dryer can melt the crayons too, it would just take a little longer.

Sidewalk Drawing

Over the weekend I went to an arts festival. The best part of this festival was the Sidewalk Drawing Contest. There were absolutely amazing chalk drawings there. Here is the one I created.
I did not win the contest, but it certainly was fun to create.

Wizard of OZ

Every year our music teacher puts on a play with the elementary students. This play is a big deal, and is a major fundraiser for the school. The children have to try out, and practice every day after school. For the past two years, I have volunteered to do the scenery for the play. This is a huge undertaking on my part. During the last two weeks, I have spent many hours after school painting. The scenery certainly came alive during the performance. Here a few photos I took during the performance. Sorry, they are a little fuzzy. My camera doesn't take good photos in the dark.
The costumes were wonderful, and the student did a wonderful job.

Spring Bulletin Board

This is the first year I have had an actual art room. (Well, at least in one of my three schools). I absolutely LOVE having an entire room to teach in. One little thing I enjoy about having a room is having bulletin boards. I know, it's a little thing, but I just have so much fun decorating them. This week I had a surge of creative energy, and I created this bulletin board outside of my classroom. As you can tell, I am ready for Spring.

SnowDay!

Here in Maryland, we had a Snowday today. We got about 8 inches of snow, which is a lot for Maryland. It was the really wet packable snow, so I decided to make a snowman. Even as an adult, I still love to play in the snow.

My Artwork

Being an art teacher and an artist can be tough sometimes because I spend most of my time creating art lessons for children. It's sometimes hard to squeeze in time for my own artwork. However, this summer I found a little time to paint. My artwork almost always has bright vibrant colors and big brush strokes. This painting is for my father, who loves ocean scenes. It's always hard to let my paintings go, even to a family member. It feels kind of like giving away a child.

My Snow Week Paintings

Here in Maryland, we have had two huge snow storms in a row. Because of this, we have had school cancelled all week long. Since I have been snowed in during the blizzard, I have had a lot of time to paint. In honor of the snow, I created these two winter scenes.

More of My Art

During the huge snowstorm this week, I was stuck inside my apartment all by myself. To keep myself busy, I painted this picture. This is now a last minute Christmas present for my parents. I have never painted anything like this before. I never knew how hard it was to paint fog. I think I have learned a lot while painting this.

Having three snow days this week, gave me plenty of time to finish the painting and frame it. This painting was definately a challenge, but I think it turned out well.

My Art

I have been working on this painting for the last few weeks and it is finally done. It's not the style I normally paint in, but this painting is not for me. It is a gift for someone who likes things a little more traditional. I tried to tone down my normal "wild" style for this one.

It's always hard to say goodbye to a painting though. At least I know it has a good home.

My Artwork

Here are examples of my own art. I love painting more than just about anything else in the world. In my free time, I spend a lot of time painting. Unfortunately, I don't have as much free time as I would like. The painting above is more realistic than is typical of me, but I like it anyway. Generally, I paint landscapes, because I love nature. Normally, though, I paint very expressively using bright colors and thick brush strokes. I like to make my paintings very alive with a lot of emotion.

These are all oil paints. I love the thickness of oil paints and the length of time it takes to dry. I also just love the vibrancy of these paints.

When it comes to my art, realism has nothing to do with it. It is mostly about emotions.

Not everyone likes my style of painting. If this isn't your "cup of tea", that is absolutely fine. Everyone has their own tastes when it come to art.