Scratch Art

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….brown craft paper, oil pastels, and black acrylic paint

Last week I discovered that I was running out of some basic materials, like glue sticks and my supply order that I made weeks before the holidays still hadn’t arrived. After rummaging through the supply cupboard I found enough brown paper for two classes. I had plenty of oil pastels and 2 jars of black acrylic paint.

Some of the students were still finishing their Hundertwasser style landscapes using chalk pastel, so it was interesting for them to experience a new medium, oil pastels. Everyone was busy, either finishing projects or starting a new one. I set up one table for painting to limit the mess and thank goodness for my new drying rack.

Scratch Art from Scratch

I’ve never attempted to do scratch art projects because I’ve only ever seen them done using pre-made scratch boards. As I was going through one of my many art book for children I discovered a simple way to make our own black scratch papers. I have to say that making our own papers was very satisfying and gave the children some experience using oil pastels. I loved using the brown paper and the students were encouraged to leave some of the brown edges exposed.

Students are encouraged to lay down a thick layer of pastels. No background paper should show through. Once we were satisfied with the amount of pastel on the paper we painted a thick layer of black acrylic paint. Before you do this make sure that each student has written their name on the back of their paper or you will have quite a time trying to determine who belongs to the blackened sheets when they come back a week later.

As soon as students finished painting over the the pastels they placed their papers on the drying rack. (This is not a one day project). In the remaining time students can start sketching on copy paper a rough copy of what they would like to draw. I have numerous drawing books available for them to look through and be inspired.

In the following class each student was given a paper clip that I bent open and that was their scratching tool. It works fairly well, especially if you hold it like a pencil and gently rub away the black paint. The assignment was to draw some animals but some of them chose to create a landscape or they did a combination of both. I mounted the finished pieces on two pieces of different coloured construction paper so that it looked like it was matted. Again I think that the grade 2/3 class did a great job.

Share Your World – Week 3, 2014

Posted on January 20, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…I think the first question is the hardest

In what do you find the simplest of joys?

I guess one of the ways that I find the simplest of joys is baking or cooking for my family. I don’t do much of that anymore because my husband does most of the cooking. I’m not complaining mind you, I love being pampered by him and he is a wonderful cook. I don’t bake much because I like my own cooking too much and I have a weakness for baked sweets.

Another way I find joy is to simply curl up with a good book and a cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon. I’m still working so I don’t often get time for that but in the summer I make up for it tenfold.

Jello or Pudding? And what is your favorite flavor?

It would definitely be pudding and my favourite flavour would be chocolate followed by coconut and banana.

Is there a language you would like to learn?

I’m terrible at languages. My first language is German and I’m sorry that I didn’t keep it up. I understand most of it and I can get by but I’d love to be more proficient. The other language that I wish I had worked harder at is French. I took French for about five years in school and I’ve taught in French Immersion schools for over twenty years but I discovered that you can’t learn a language by osmosis. Finally I think I would love to learn some Italian and maybe a little Spanish, just enough to get by when I travel to Italy and Spain (hopefully in the next two to three years).

Do you prefer juice or fruit?

This one is easy. Fruit all the way. A piece of fruit is much more satisfying and healthier than a glass of juice.

Join in the fun and go to Cee’s website:

http://ceenphotography.com/2014/01/20/share-your-world-2014-week-3/

Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….we just celebrated my sister’s wedding to the love of her life and we realized how lucky we are to still have our Dad with us

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/17/photo-challenge-family-2/

Share Your World – Week 2, 2014

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…. here are the next four questions

If you had to move to a country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?

I think I would move to the Netherlands. It’s where my son lives at the moment. If I had to leave Canada and most of my family behind I think it would be somewhat comforting to have one of my children close by. We had an opportunity to visit Amsterdam and Rotterdam several years ago when our son was studying there. We loved it. Even though we don’t speak Dutch most of the people there are very fluent in English. I also like the fact that we are only a hop, skip and jump from Ireland and Germany where both my husband and I have extended family.

Music or silence while working?

It depends what I’m doing. Some days when I’m doing chores I like loud catchy music but other times I prefer the quiet, especially late at night. I’m a bit of a night owl and sometime I do my best work after midnight. My husband and son both like loud music when they’re cooking.

What is your favorite color?

My favourite colour has always been red. I love bright bold colours. Next in line would be a dark rich blue.

Do you have a bucket list? What are your three items? A bucket list are things you want to do before you die.

I’ve never really believed in a bucket list. Maybe the thought of dying puts me off. What if I do everything on the list long before I’m ready to die. I think that I would jinx myself. Instead I prefer to make long range plans for one or two years ahead. What I really like is spontaneity. Just get up and go. The things that I would like to do in the next year or so are:

1. Go to Europe again, either Italy, Germany or Turkey (or maybe all three).

2. Take a trip out west to visit my baby sister (going in March).

3. Do a wine tour in Prince Edward County with my husband this spring or summer.

Tissue Collage Landscape

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….I introduced four different art projects this week

I had to think quickly this week as to what I was going to teach in art. I ordered some supplies before Christmas and they hadn’t come in yet so I scrambled to find a project(s) that required the materials I had on hand. Of all the projects that I assigned I think the one I introduced to my grade 3 class is my favourite so far.

We talked about landscapes and reviewed the components: foreground, background and horizon line. I demonstrated how to tear the tissue and overlap the colours to give the picture more depth. I then explained that once the tissue layer was complete we were going to cut out shapes from construction paper, magazines and art papers that we had created last year to create a foreground of flowers.

In the first class most of the students only finished gluing down the tissue paper. In the next class they will cut out their shapes from different materials, glue them into place and then using a fine tip black marker they will add detail to their cut outs and add some line drawings behind their collaged flowers.

I had lots of art books and posters to demonstrate the technique and show a variety of flowers that they could draw. I didn’t want everyone to gravitate to the blue tissue for their sky so I read them Peter Reynolds new book Sky Colour. It’s a wonderful book that every teacher who teaches art should have in their library. All my classes loved the book and took the message to heart. Very few chose a solid blue for their sky colour.

I started a sample with the children as they worked so that they could visualize what I had in mind. I think that the process is more important than the product and I find giving them a sample to look at helps them better understand the process. No two pictures are ever the same.

Today I finished my sample at home. The first picture shows the tissue in the background and the simple cut outs that are glued on top. In the second picture you can see a close-up of the detail that I drew in after with a fine tip black Sharpie and the third picture is the entire finished piece.

I’m looking forward to seeing what my grade 3s come up with.

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Day 11 – The House is Completely De-Christmased

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Today’s assignment: leave comments on at least three blogs that you’ve never commented on before.

I understand the value of leaving comments on new blogs. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t do that but it’s always good to be reminded of its benefits. Once people start coming to your site you might feel somewhat disappointed when you have a day or two when very few come over to read what you thought was an awesome post. Sometime though, as in my case, no one came over because when I pushed the Publish button (it appeared that the article was sent off and it even showed up on my Facebook page) it didn’t really publish and the next day I discovered that it was still sitting in a Draft file. I still don’t know why that happens but closing all my tabs before publishing usually helps.

Some of you may be uncomfortable leaving a comment but WordPress has all kinds of great suggestions on how to do this successfully. If an article resonates with me I want the writer to know how it affected me. I usually leave highly political or religious commentary alone. Once I got involved in a conversation that made me very uncomfortable and it wasn’t the author that caused the angst but the people who stopped by to comment. In the end I think that blogger had to moderate all her comments before she would publish any of them.

For the most part people appreciate your comments. Just follow the guidelines that WordPress has drawn up.

Day 11 – The Small Task That Ended up Being a Big Job

Earlier in the week I mentioned that I still had to put away my Christmas ornaments and decorations. I tried to do a little bit every day but the bulk of the clean-up happened today. I think it took me over two hours to pack up the remaining signs of Christmas. I even brought in the wreath that was hanging on the front door. The only thing I haven’t taken done is take down the outdoor lights. I’ll save that for another day, probably closer to the end of the month or even February.

Earlier in the day I read a book for school and I completed a sample for my art class. I loved how the day started and how it’s ending. Dinner is out of the way, dishes are done, the bags for the Goodwill are packed and ready to go in the car, two loads of laundry are done, my Zero to Hero post is written, I watched a pilot from the UK called Derek and loved it and it’s not even 6:30. Maybe I’ll have time to write another post about the art project and the book.

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Days 9 and 10

Posted on January 12, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Friday’s Assignment: Follow five more blogs and/or topics.

Saturday’s Assignment: Add and customize two widgets. For this task, you’ll add two widgets: one that adds a text-based feature, and one that adds something image-based.

On Friday I did search out some more blogs and I searched the topic From Zero to Hero. I came across some interesting new blogs and left a few comments along the way. As a result I’ve had some new visitors to my blog. When I first started blogging I routinely went to the Reader section and checked out at least ten new blogs a day. At one point it was suggested to me by a random blogger that to increase your readership all you have to do is click on the like button without even reading the post. I soon discovered that when people don’t actually go into your site and just click the like button it doesn’t register as a ‘view’. I couldn’t understand how I could have 10 likes and only 3 views on the same post. I have since made it a personal policy to only click like button after I have opened the post and actually read it.

Today I added a gallery widget to my already full sidebar. I love taking macro shots with my camera so I made a photo gallery of some of my favourite subjects, insects and flowers. I also updated my Milestones widget. I decided to make the topic this challenge, From Zero to Hero and my two goals for the month of January.

Day 10 – Task for the day

Other than cleaning the kitchen yesterday which is and should be a normal daily task, I decided to devote my time to spending an evening with my husband. No computers or extra cleaning tasks. After a nice meal we enjoyed a movie together, something I haven’t done with him in awhile. We decided to watch Rainmaker. It’s an older movie but we hadn’t seen it before which is surprising because my husband is a huge John Grisham fan. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very entertaining legal drama, infused with just the right amount of humour from Danny DeVito’s character, plenty of well thought-out characters, brought to life by talented actors and interesting subplots. The reviews that I read were mostly positive. They weren’t outstanding but overall satisfactory.

Today we took turns chopping up the ice on the porch, stairs, walkway and sidewalk. It was considerably warmer today, well above freezing but the rain and warmer temperatures actually made the ice slicker and more dangerous. Once again we didn’t go for a walk in the neighbourhood. We did, however, drive over to the Junction and did a little bit of shopping for dinner. When we got home it was my turn to chop and clear some ice. K’s hands are pretty sore from the constant pounding of the spade onto the ice. He didn’t notice it at first until he went out a second time to do some more clearing. I will probably feel it in the morning.

Tonight I chose to clean one of the counters in my kitchen which had become quite cluttered and to organize the lower corner unit where I store a lot of food containers and vases.

: Before

: Before

: After…neat and tidy

I’ve boxed a number of bottles and old Tupperware containers that I don’t use any more. I’ll be making another trip to the thrift store tomorrow to drop them off.

I’m already into day 11 but the assignment won’t show up for awhile. Time to go to bed. See you in the morning.

Cheers!

From Zero to Hero – Day 6 – Cold Weather

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..today’s theme is publish a post that has a new-to-you element

I’ve used many forms of media in my posts, including Youtube videos, Vimeo videos, photographs and URL links but I’ve never had any success with Sound Cloud. So here goes another attempt to insert music that isn’t attached to a video.

It’s been bitterly cold for the last two days. Today the windchill factor brought the temperatures down to – 40 degrees celsius. We had indoor recess all day. If that wasn’t bad enough, school buses were cancelled and the heating system in the kindergarten classes and two of the portables didn’t work. All day the library became a temporary home for several classes and tomorrow looks like there may be more of the same.

I didn’t mind sharing the space today but at the end of the day, right after 3:00 the heat in the library and several classes at my end of the hall ceased to exist. I thought at first it was just my imagination but other teachers who walked into the library immediately noticed the drop in temperature. My colleagues across the hall also complained about the chill in their rooms. The thermostat in V’s room registered a 15 degree drop and her hands were literally turning blue by 3:30.

Is it possible when they fixed the heating problem at the other end of the school they messed with the controls at my end? I guess we’ll find out tomorrow morning. In the meantime we left a note for our day time caretaker who arrives super early in the morning.

Day 6 – New Task

Today I debated whether to pack up the Christmas ornaments or clean out the kitchen junk drawer, you know the one. I decided on the junk drawer because I could barely open it and I couldn’t find what I needed when I did get it open. The Christmas ornaments, which are off the tree and the tree is by the curb side, will have to wait for another day.

It turns out that I have too many utensils and knives and I really can’t afford to have a junk drawer. I ended up throwing away things I haven’t used in years and will probably never use. I also found a number of things that I thought I had lost for ever.

I took all the hardware and tools to the work bench in the basement and I put all the warrantees and appliance manuals in a special accordion file that I keep in my office.

Another job done. I’m really liking this ‘task a day’ challenge that I’ve created for myself. I’m hoping that the temperatures warm up a bit so that I can start walking again.

I think Sound Cloud worked. Yahoo!

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/zero-to-hero/

Cheers!

Daily Prompt: Colour

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Mama Cormier

Write about anything you’d like, but make sure that all seven colors of the rainbow — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet — make an appearance in the post, either through word or image.

What better than colour wheels produced by grade 5 students to show all the colours, an art project done by a grade 3 student of multi-coloured concentric circles and a trip to the local fruit market where flowers and vegetables vibrate with colours of the rainbow.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/daily-prompt-colors/

Day 5 – Love Your Theme

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….. it’s a non-writing day for the Zero to Hero challenge

I’m being asked to check out other themes for this blog. In other words choose a new layout format. I’m a bit hesitant to do this as I know how much time it requires and I’m pretty happy with the theme that I’ve chosen. Because time is scarce tonight I think I will experiment with this challenge on the weekend when I have a bit more time. It’s not that I don’t think that the layout is unimportant, quite the contrary. There are many posts that I find difficult to read because of the colour in the background. Often the font is too small and the contrast between the font the background don’t work well together. White text on black is the worst. It works well for photos but not for lengthy articles.

Day 5 – Today’s task

On Saturday I purchased a new table to support my newly repaired table lamp. For years it sat on a make-shift table that was well hidden by the couch and sometimes I covered it with a cloth to hide the ugly design. The job today is to assemble the new table. It’s an Ikea product so hopefully it won’t take too long to put together.

Assembling all the pieces and necessary tools

Well the job took close to 2 hours. It didn’t help that I put one piece in backwards and it took at least 15 minutes to remove the piece and turn it around. In the end the stand came together quite nicely and luckily it fit into the space. Here is the finished piece. I’m pretty proud of it.