Category Archives: Art

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Posted on by
1

…..my love of art oozes from my pores

I guess my love of art and colour is as obvious as the nose on my face. Not only do I teach art, I also talk about it, a lot, in library classes. Today I read a wonderful new picture book  by Ashley Spires called The Most Magnificent Thing. 

Image courtesy of: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Am9jGlb1L._SX258_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

As with most good stories, this one had a moral or lesson attached. The children picked up on it pretty quickly. They came up with: …..never give up, take your time, don’t get angry, walk away and come back to it later, etc.. 

I talked to them about some of my art that I wasn’t happy with and how ‘walking away from it and revisiting it later’ and looking at it with new eyes really helped me come up with a new painting that I really liked.

At the end of the class one of my grade 4 students who rarely speaks to me walked over to me and very proudly stated that ‘the Earth without art would be Eh!’ He told me that he just made that up. Clever! I see a t-shirt in his future. Don’t you?

Share Your World 2015 – Week 6

Posted on by
11

……Cee’s Share Your World

What was the last time you went to a new place? Two weeks ago, after my husbands post op appointment with his endocrinologist we treated ourselves to a dinner at a restaurant that I had never been to before. It was a BBQ place called Barque’s in the west end of Toronto. Delicious!

If you were or are a writer do you prefer writing short stories, poems or novels, other? And what type of genre would you prefer?

I guess as bloggers we are all writers but I prefer to write short stories and free verse poetry. I’ve often toyed with the idea of writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

Out of your five senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing) which is your favorite? As an artist and photographer I’d have to say that sight is my favourite sense. I wouldn’t be able to produce the following pieces without my sight.

IMG_3932 IMG_3933

If 100 people your age were chosen at random, how many do you think you’d find leading a more satisfying life than yours?

Based on the people I know who are my age I’d say that there would probably be 20 people who might lead a more satisfying life than mine. I think I’m better off than most people my age but I wouldn’t be so cocky as to believe that no one has a better or more satisfying life than mine.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

A few days ago my husband was in a bicycle accident and I’m grateful that his injuries weren’t more serious and that he didn’t suffer a concussion. He looks bad like he was in a bar brawl or street fight but he’ll heal and be as good as new in a couple of weeks.

IMG_3999 IMG_4001

I’m looking forward to a long weekend. We have parent teacher interviews Thursday evening and Friday morning. I’m off Friday afternoon and on Monday we celebrate Family Day in Ontario. We’re planning on going to Chinatown and partaking in some dim sum. Maybe we’ll even go to the art gallery which is just down the street from the restaurant.

It’s suppose to be very cold this weekend so it’ll probably be a good weekend to make art and snuggle up with a good book.

Kindergarten Klimt Patterns

Posted on by
5

….Gustav Klimt created beautiful patterns using gold leaf along with red and black paint

My kindergarten class created their own prints with inspiration from Gustav Klimt. I gave each student a sturdy piece of cardboard. Last year one of my parents donated a whole box of these 9 x 12 pieces of cardboard. You might remember that the grade 3s last year made looms from them and created amazing woven wall hangings (Weaving Our Way to Happiness).

On the first day I gave each student shapes, (i.e., squares, rectangles, circles) cut out from foam board and red, black and orange paint. They painted the shapes and then randomly pressed them onto the cardboard. Once they were finished we put them away to dry.

On the second day I gave them lids and corks and stamps that I had made with students in another class. I also introduced silver and gold acrylic paint. I encouraged them to stamp the new colours inside the shapes they had printed the week before. There’s something about metallic paints that children love.

On the third day we talked about adding texture and detail using a fine tip black Sharpie. Their work went from wonderful to WOW. Here are a few of the finished prints.

another  class

Share Your World 2015 – Week 5

Posted on by
5

…..it’s already February and week 5

Do you prefer shopping or going to a park?

Why do I have to pick? I like them both. I like a balance of activities. I love to walk and I need to do more. January has been a tough month on the exercise front. I also love to shop and I didn’t much of that either in January. Okay February, time to up my game on both fronts. P1010910IMG_0253

If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?

I’m all about comfort now. I love my new hiking shoes and my ‘Blundstone’ style boots. Both work well when I’m walking and the boots are versatile and are somewhat fashionable.

What’s the story behind a time when you got locked out?  

The last time I was locked out it happened at school. My swipe key was starting to break so the office administrator applied for a new one. Little did I know that the moment she applied for a new one the old one was declared null and void. That night I had to go back to school for a meeting and I couldn’t get back into the school. I walked to the front doors and they were locked so I walked around to the side entrance and then all the way through the school to get back to the library. It wouldn’t have been so bad but it was bitterly cold. The next morning I couldn’t get into the school again but when I finally did, the office had my new key ready for me.

Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts?

I love nuts and any food that contains nuts. When a box of chocolate is presented to me I always look for the chocolate with the nuts first. I love marzipan, Italian almond cookies, M&M Chocolate Covered Peanuts and almond bark.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week my husband had his post op appointments with his doctors and the surgery was successful. He still has to have iodine radiation done but no more surgery for the time being. We walked to a restaurant close to the hospital that I’ve always wanted to try and we had a wonderful meal together.

I’m grateful for time spent with my children. We all got together to deliver a desk to my oldest daughter and her sister made homemade empanadas for us to enjoy for lunch. I’m also happy to have finished proofreading report cards.

I’m looking forward to printing up the final copies of the report cards for all the teachers on staff. I’m also looking forward to working on more art projects and receiving the next art assignment from Carla.

Here are a couple of warm-up doodles that I created for the class.

IMG_3848 IMG_3851Cheers and If you’d like to see more “Share Your World” posts head on over to Cee’s Photography and join in on the fun.

Year of the Spark

Posted on by
9

….another great on-line art class with Carla Sonnheim and Lynn Whipple

In December I signed up for a year long on-line art class with two great artists, Carla Sonheim and Lynn Whipple. The class is called Year of the Spark and twice a month each teacher presents a lesson and several fun assignments. So far the assignments have been designed to get our hands moving and look at art and drawing in new ways.

Carla’s first class had us drawing dozens of one line sketches of animals, flowers, and houses and then choosing one favourite and drawing it again using many different types of drawing tools. We had to choose one finished piece in the end and frame it. Here are some of my one liners and my framed piece.

IMG_3721 IMG_3722 IMG_3723As much as I liked my dog drawings I decided to elaborate on my birds.

IMG_3730 IMG_3830

As you can see these drawings are intended to be fun and whimsical.

This week Lynn introduced us to pattern drawing and creating cards using people from old photos and a multitude of shapes of cut up papers. I’ve played with the pattern portion of the assignment but I haven’t yet started the card assignment.

The pattern assignment is a warm-up activity but I’m so addicted to this random doodling that it’s taking me hours to finish one page. Tomorrow I’m going to have to try to work faster and maybe use only watercolours to create my patterns. Keep it simple.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A New Milestone – 1000 Posts

Posted on by
16

…..I can’t believe it

Thirty three months ago when I started this blog I couldn’t have imagined writing 1000 posts. When I first hit the keys I wanted to record and track my weight loss journey, write about my past, share recipes and have a platform to air my feelings about retirement. Well here I am almost three years later and I’m still going strong.

My focus has changed somewhat. I managed to lose 32 pounds and today I’ve kept a good chunk of it off but it’s a struggle every day.IMG_0252 I don’t share many recipes. Others do it much better. I’m still working and I don’t bring up retirement very often. My colleagues won’t hear of it but I have to admit that I am getting closer to that day. I don’t talk as much about my past and most of my personal posts reflect what’s happening in the present.

What is surprising is how my blog has morphed into an art and photography journal. I started teaching art to more classes shortly after starting the blog and I started to share my student’s work.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I also started to do more of my own art and I took a number of on-line art classes.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

I’ve always liked taking photos but recently I discovered that I was pretty good at it. I enjoyed experimenting with my little digital camera and later my iPhone and I started to participate in a lot of photography challenges here on WordPress.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I also started to dabble in writing poetry. For someone who hated poetry in school I’m somewhat surprised that I enjoy writing free verse and Haiku as much as I do. I guess I like writing in general.

When I look back on my first dozen posts, I wonder what kept me going. There wasn’t a lot of feedback. Many of my first posts had no likes what so ever. Reading over them I couldn’t fault the writing but there were only a few photos in the beginning and I didn’t always ‘tag’ those pieces. Some of them I wrote for my children so they would have a record of their mother’s past (here, here, here, and here).

The one thing that I was pleased about was that many of my early followers are still with me. Hats off to Michael Lai, oneanna65, Domestic Diva, MD, Uthamz, The Ranting Chef, Lesley Carter, Ellis Nelson, Conor Cullen, Dorothy, Anne, Paul. Beth, Baz, Dina, Island Traveller, Bert, Lee, Jeanne, Maia, Frizz, TK Morin, Masqua,Leanne, Art Expectations, Rosemarie, Viveka, Donna, Michael, T.J., Melissa, Ann, Neal, Woolly, Mrs. Euken, Dan, Mark, Brenda, and in the last year many more followers have come my way. Here are some of the regulars: Cee, Megan, Lisa, Ab, Jennifer, Joe, Rachel, Chris, Geraint, Miranda, Trisha, Janaline, Hello, Fig,  Elizabeth, Marsha, Ayse, Folly Girl, Judith, Sarah, Ronovan, Seb, Audrey, B, Kimmi, Conrad, CJ, Boeta, Peggy, Debbie, Colline,……

A special thanks goes to the people who like to comment on my blog, a lot,……Dorothy, Viveka, Rosemarie, Leanne, Colline, Judith, Cee, Elizabeth and Mark and my sister Chris. I know that my FaceBook friends also read my blog and when they comment it’s usually on FaceBook. I’m sure I’ve missed a few people and for that I apologize. I am about 40 people shy of reaching 1000 followers and I hope by my 3rd anniversary in April I can reach that goal as well.

Cheers!

Share Your World 2015 – Week 2

Posted on by
5

….thanks Cee for 4 more great questions

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?

I don’t come from a family of huggers but I’ve learned to hug over the years. I actually enjoy hugging family and friends but I’m a little put off by strangers who want to hug you. I’ve also become more careful as to whom and when I hug, especially students. Most children love to hug and usually initiate the action but over the years I’ve noticed that some just aren’t comfortable hugging and I have to respect their personal space. Unfortunately for male teachers it’s more risky to hug students and most of my male colleagues are very careful about any type of physical interaction with students

What’s your favorite ice-cream flavor?

I love all flavours of ice-cream but If I have to choose I’d say cinnamon or coffee flavoured ice-cream.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

I love a bit of both but lately I think I do more exercising of the mind. I play scrabble daily and love the puzzles in the newspaper, especially Sudoko. When the weather isn’t too cold I love to walk and I do enjoy restorative Yoga.

Are you more of a dog person or a cat person? Why?

I’ve owned both cats and dogs but I am definitely more of a dog person. We currently own a dog named Frances and in the past we owned two Golden Retrievers for 23 years (back to back, not at the same time). IMGP0242I’m not sure why but all our dogs are and were females. As much as we loved our cat, the dogs were always more active and demanding of our time. For many people that would be a reason to prefer cats but the dogs get us out and walking and enjoying our surroundings. They also bring neighbours together. We may not know everybody’s name but they all know the dog’s name. IMGP0399

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my husband’s surgery is over with and that it went well. He’s home now and is recovering quickly. IMG_3718

 

 

 

This week I’m looking forward to going back to work and do more of my art assignments for Year of the Spark. So far I’ve only done a few of my one-line drawings and I’m anxious to elaborate on some of them.

 

IMG_3721 IMG_3722 IMG_3723