It seems like forever since I last posted, what is wrong with me!?  Rest assured, I am still teaching art and have kept myself and my students quite busy.  February is competition season for us and things were quite busy, but, lucky for me things are beginning to wind down.  I'm glad because I can now show you the latest pieces my adv kids have created.
These are batiks, which I just loooove doing, but due to budget cuts had not been able to do for quite some time.  I submitted a lesson to Donors Choose and my project was fully funded.  Thank you Donors Choose!
 I asked the kids to create something that was inspired by nature, this way any errors with the wax could be easily incorporated into the piece. 
Some of the kids created large piece while others opted for a much smaller size, either way the results were wonderful and we were all happy with the results.
Until next time!

I've been doing a couple of things differently this year, beginning with my Art 1 kids.  I decided to make drawing a priority.  That's not to say that this is all we do, but it is the main thing we do.  I am just finishing up with colored pencil techniques and came up with this assignment.  I had the kids take a large sheet of drawing paper, then create six squares on this one large sheet.  They then have to create six different drawings (of one object) on each square.  I had them paint in the negative space around the squares so that the squares would stand out more.  I am going to have them add shadows around the squares so they will look more 3-D.    I'll post the finished products as soon as they are done which will be in a few more days.
 Looking forward to the time off, already making a list of household chores that need to be done, including painting and rearranging my art studio.  I'm actually looking forward to that :)
Bye!

I love working with stencils, so it's natural that I would want to do them with my art students.  The images that you are seeing were created with spray paint by my Art 1 kids.  This is the most lengthy project that I do with my kids, but they can do so many different projects with stencils. 

As soon as I have more pictures of some finished results I will post them. 

Moving on to another topic, did you hear about the four (or was it five?) states that have adopted the addition of 300 hours to the school year?  Oh geez, what the hell?  So many questions arose in my mind.  I'm pretty sure our state is headed that way, our EOC scores were terrible last year and if things don't change quickly we will only be headed towards longer school days and a longer school year.  Interesting how countries with high performing students actually have shorter school time. Hmmmm, are we headed towards the wrong direction?  I don't have all of the answers, mostly I have questions.  Why don't kids turn in their homework?  Why don't they study for tests?  Why, why, why?  Yes, it starts at home and God only knows what these kids are going through at home.  I just hope we find the answers soon.  Perhaps a career change is in the horizon.

That's me in the middle, along with two good friends of mine.  We had a booth at the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Festival in Old Mesilla, NM this past weekend.  A total of five teachers ( all UVAs. What's an UVA? http://uniondeviejasartistas.blogspot.com/)participated in the festival where we sold our wares and took pictures with people that came to the festival. 
We each sold different things, I mostly sold my jewelry and a few prints of my work.  We spent the weekend there and shared a hotel room, where we drank some wine and did some art (beleive it or not :)  I had a great deal of fun, but was dragging this morning and wondered why I didn't think to take the day off.
Next up is the TAEA Convention in San Antonio, TX.  You going?  I will be there with two of my fellow UVAs and we will be selling our wares one evening.  Come by and say hello if you stop by.  I will not have my costume on, but will have a picture at my table. 
As for school, well the kids are working hard and are creating some great things.  I have changed many things this year concerning my program so I have been quite busy rewriting my lessons and curriculum.  I will post pictures of their work soon.
Hope to see you in San Antonio.

Contour faces

Art 1-This project was a continuation and finale of the modified contour drawing section that I do with my Art 1 kids.  I start them off with mcd of the hands and then move on to other objects.  The face is always daunting, especially to Art 1 kids, but after a few demos they dove right in.  They did a fantastic job and they were quite pleased with the results.  They are so different, it is hard to believe that they are from the same assignment. 
I'll be back soon with some photos from Adv. kids. 
See you soon.

When I told my Art 2 students that they were going to draw shoes they all thought I had finally lost it.  Once I assured the kids that I knew what I was doing I had them take several photos of their and family member's shoes.  I then reviewed the photos with them and we selected the best compositions.  For this assignment all students had to use colored pencils as their medium.  I stressed to them the importance of shadows and lights.  NO black allowed!  All of the shoes had to have several layers of color, even the white shoes had to have other colors blended in.  For the most part the kids did a great job and I just love looking at my wall of shoes when I walk in to my classroom every morning.

Is this a Texas thing?

The school that I work at celebrated homecoming this week and with it the parade of homecoming mums and garters.  A student asked me out of the blue if this was a Texas thing or did every high school student wear mums and garters for homecoming?  My first reaction was to say "yes", but then I realized I might not really know.  So, is this a Texas thing?
We've had these traditions for as long as I can remember, but the mums and garters have gotten larger with time.  When I was in high school our mums were smaller than the boy's garters are today, and they were even smaller when my dad was in high school :)
Well, either way, it is always fun to see everyone's adornments and the jingling of the bells as the kids make their way down the hallway.