Share Your World 2016 – Week 9

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Cee for hosting Share Your World

Have you done something you truly want to do today?

I really wanted to draw today and get in my 10 000 steps. I’m happy to say that I’ve done both and I got to see my favourite show which is Survivor. I’m in a pool and I’ve chosen four players that I hope will make it to the end. There have been only three shows so far but I’m pleased that none of my players have been voted off and two of my choices are on the team that keeps winning challenges. As a result I earn extra points and another player found the idol today for which I earn more points.

What can you help the world with?

This is a tall order. I think on a daily basis I can try to be the best person possible and share my gifts and compassion for people. I don’t want to sound preachy but I think we all need to be more tolerant of all people, regardless of their income, race, religion, education and sexual orientation and be fair and equitable to all.

I try to reduce my carbon footprint by using less energy, walking more and using the car less and recycling, composting and reusing items instead of throwing things into the garbage that end up in landfill.

I think the best way I can change the world is by educating people and making them aware of how we can make a difference if we all pull together for a common cause. The argument always falls back to China’s contribution to the world’s pollution and until they change our efforts won’t make a difference. I know for a fact that there are groups of people in China, India, and parts of Africa that are protesting against big businesses that want to change agricultural lands, fresh water bogs, and rivers in their communities and they are making a difference.

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

I would be a peach. Perfectly ripe and juicy.

Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?

I always quake at the thought of having to write quotes, never mind my favourite ones. I know a favourite quote when I hear one or read one but don’t ask me to remember one, two or three. If I write anything here it’s because I did a little research to jog my memory and if you don’t see anything it’s because I couldn’t find a favourite quote.

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
― William W. Purkey

“Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
― John Lennon

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
― C.S. Lewis

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 for getting back on track with my walking. I’ve walked over 10 000 steps a day for six days in a row. Now if I could only get my eating back on track so that some of this weight that I’ve gained would come back off. I’m grateful for my good health. Last night I was able to shovel the snow off the sidewalk in front of eight of my neighbour’s homes and other than feeling a little tired today I feel remarkably well.

This week I hope to continue drawing in my sketchbook on a daily basis, complete the last assignment from Carla’s class and continue walking 10 000 steps a day. On the weekend I hope to see my granddaughter. It’s been two weeks since I’ve held her and I can tell from the photos that my daughter sends that she’s changing by the minute.

Am I Crazy?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I just signed up for two more art classes

In January I decided to take another year long course with Carla Sonheim called Y is for Yellow. Every two weeks there’s a new lesson with homework. So far I haven’t been very good about finishing all the assignments but there’s one that I really liked and I keep drawing more examples of famous artists.

Today I signed up for a 31 day sketchbook challenge that starts tomorrow and another sketchbook class that goes for six weeks. The first mini assignment for Sketchbook Skool was to put some ink blots on paper, press it against another piece of paper, let it dry and then draw a sketch around what you see. This was fun to do and was somewhat similar to some of Carla’s assignments from past classes.

Here is what I did today:

Last week I shared my Dali sketches with you. When I demonstrated the technique with my grade two class on Friday I did another Dali and an Andy Warhol. I took them home on the weekend and finished them. I haven’t added the doodles yet. I think I’ll leave the Dali as is and only draw doodles around the Warhol piece. What do you think?

Dali and Doodles

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I finally sat down to draw some Dali portraits

I was hoping that taking my time would produce some pretty good likenesses of Salvador Dali. I worked from two different photographs and my finished sketches don’t even look like the same person. The second piece looks more like an Asian man.

The second part of this project is to add some doodles to the background. This is suppose to be done while watching TV or talking on the phone.

While listening to the radio I added colour to these two sketches. It was very relaxing and I really liked the process.

More Artsy Trees

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I love to photograph trees and I love to draw them

Today I decided to take it one step further and create trees from some art papers that I’ve saved from previous projects. I was inspired by Jill’s collaged trees over at Jill’s Art Journal.

Back to Basics-Part II

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…..owls, ferns, cacti, fish, fungi, tulips and bikinis

I’m almost at the end of my 31 day challenge for drawing simple objects with Lisa Congden on Creative Bug. Here are a few more of my drawings:

Going Back to the Basics

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Mama Cormier

….I haven’t posted any art in awhile

My life has been in a bit of a turmoil lately and I find it difficult to find time to work on my bigger art projects. Not having my space to work in doesn’t help either but I have managed to do some small daily drawing assignments in the last six days.

Lisa Congden is the artist who is challenging her followers to draw simple objects every day for 31 days. Lisa Congden from Creative Bug is a graphic and textile designer who hosts numerous on-line classes at this site. For a very small monthly fee you can access numerous how to videos for lots of DIY projects.

Here are some of the drawings from the first six days. I need to work on my sneaker skills.

Imaginary Creatures Created From Sidewalk Cracks

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….I can’t tell you how much my students loved going outside and sketching the cracks in the pavement

Today my grade two students took their favourite sidewalk crack and using it as the starting point drew an imaginary creature. I can’t take credit for this idea. I’m taking an on-line class with Carla Sonheim called Imaginary Creatures and one of the assignments was to pull out images from cracks anywhere you could them.

Here are some of the creatures that my grade two class created today. I included two of the original cracks that inspired the finished project. I hope you enjoy them!

Blindly Drawing Lines to Create an Abstract Masterpiece

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….with their eyes closed my students started to draw lines randomly across their paper

I didn’t want students to have a preconceived idea of what they wanted to draw so I asked them to close their eyes, and start drawing one continuous line all over their paper. When they opened their eyes they were allowed to add some more line if there was a lot of untouched space or if some of the shapes that they created were very large.

They rotated their paper to see which way they wanted to orientate their design and then they chose a variety of pencil crayon colours. I encouraged them to start with one colour and fill in spaces in different areas of the paper. Then they moved on to the next colour and then the next. When they had used all their colours they re-examined their work and decided where more colour was needed and determined if it was balanced.

After all the colour had been added I suggested to some that they go over some of the same areas again so that the shapes were fully covered. Once that was done they were allowed to take a black fine point Sharpie and start adding some line detail to their shapes. Some students found animal shapes and added eyes, noses and scales, while others made random lines and dashes.

I think they did an amazing job. These samples were done by my grade 1 and grade 2 classes.

Picasso Dogs From the Imaginations of Grade One Students

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Mama Cormier

….thanks to Carla Sonheim’s free on-line kid’s art lessons for this idea

For my very first art lesson this year I introduced my grade one, two and three classes to Pablo Picasso. We looked at his traditional vs abstract paintings and explored some of his unusual portraits. Carla’s unique approach to drawing an abstract dog made the assignment fun and less intimidating than drawing a traditional human face.

After we practised drawing some dog features (snouts, eyes, ears, tails, paws) I gave each child a piece of watercolour paper and instructed them to draw an eye, turn the paper and draw a larger eye and continued like this until there were six or seven features on the paper. Then they had to turn the paper and find the layout they liked best and start joining the features to create a dog. They could change things around and add more features as they went along. This took up pretty much all the time we had in our first class. I collected the papers and stored them away for a week.

The following week we discussed what the primary colours are and I demonstrated how to hold a brush and apply paint to the paper. I returned their work from the week before and handed out the paints. For many in grade one it was a challenge to stay in the lines but for the most part they managed to keep the colours from blending into one another. We used tempera paint so it took a while to dry. I asked the homeroom teacher to give the students time to go over the pencil lines with a black Sharpie so that their dogs would reappear.

I loved their finished works of art. I’ve selected a few to share with you.

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Finger Painting Brings Out the Child in Me

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Mama Cormier

…thanks to Carla’s recent on-line mini class in finger painting

Using only your hands to paint is very liberating. I loved the simplicity of it and the feel of the paint on my fingers. I’m hoping to do more and I haven’t even tackled the third assignment that let’s you get really messy.

The first assignment was to create a palette of colours using your fingers to mix the paint and apply them to the paper. The second part was to paint a vase of flowers but I decided to use two of my photographs that I recently posted and try to recreate them with this finger painting technique. Jill Kuhn actually gave me the idea after she commented on the first photo, suggesting that I paint it with watercolours. Instead, I used acrylics and my fingers. What do you think?