….continuing with the writing challenge
April & May – students creating masterpieces for the Fun Fair Silent Auction
June – Painting My Garden – an on-line course, my birch tree painting on wood and warm-up contour drawings for the first Summer Art Camp assignment
August – Summer Art Camp kept me very busy
Thanks to Word Press for this challenge. Stay tuned for part 3.
….warm temperatures, some sun, some clouds, time with family – Bonus!
Today was a special day. Time spent with my husband and youngest daughter are always special but when the weather in late October is pleasant and doesn’t require umbrellas, hats and mittens it becomes extra special. This is especially true when we venture out to one of my favourite places in the city…..the St. Lawrence Market and Farmers’ Market across the street.
Today there were lots of vendors outside the market under canopies, selling paintings, jewellery, clothes and lots of flowers, fruits and vegetables. We met our daughter around 9:00 at the market and decided to eat breakfast before we started our shopping. Normally that means pemeal bacon on a bun but we decided to sit down to for a complete breakfast meal.
Afterwards we headed out in separate directions. I looked for cheese and freshly baked bagels while G and K bought free range chickens and other meat for later in the week. Across the street at the north market we took in the sights and I purchased some beautiful orange sunflowers. Here are a few of things we saw today.
…..after learning about primary colours the kindergarten class mixed two primary colours together and voila! …… instant bugs
Of course it was more than that. When two primary colours (red, blue, yellow) are mixed together you get secondary colours (purple, green, orange). The object of the lesson was to see which two colours made each secondary colour.
Each student was given three small squares of watercolour paper and the three primary colours in watercolour. They were instructed to put two different colours on each half of their paper and while it was still wet, fold the paper in half and press hard. When they opened the paper they discovered that they had made a new colour.
This part of the lesson took an entire period so we put the squares aside to dry and in the next class we looked at the shape on the square of paper and cut it out and glued it onto a piece of construction paper. I had no idea how difficult this step would be for so many of the students. They had no idea how to hold a pair of scissors, never mind cut with them. After some trial and error, everyone managed to cut out at least two bugs.
Once they were glued down, the students were given markers and were encouraged to add details to their bugs, things like eyes, legs, wings, antennae, etc.. Here are a few of the finished papers. Enjoy!
…got any photos that predominantly green? Join Cee in her Fun Foto Challenge
…..Ronovan’s prompts are creature and study
Through paint, pencil, pen
Mythical creatures appear
As I study line
….for more ‘blue’ photos check out Cee’s Photography
…..we pulled the remaining beets and carrots from the garden this morning and came up with some unusual shapes and sizes
I started to play around with them and this is what I came up with. Enjoy!
….this week’s challenge is all about the entire building. Check it out.
A different take on buildings. An art piece of 3D buildings.
…..this weekend my husband and I celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary
Last Friday we loaded up the car with our doped up little dog in the back and headed up north for a nice quiet weekend at the cottage. When we arrived it was slightly overcast but the rain held off until later in the evening. The next day (our anniversary) it poured rain for most of the day.
We decided to not let the weather interfere with our time together or prohibit us from doing things we enjoy. My husband was bound and determined to get out on his mountain bike this weekend and come rain or shine he did. As it turned out it rained on Saturday but he enjoyed his soggy trip through the woods anyway. He returned covered in mud and his clothes were drenched with rain water. Today it didn’t rain but when he returned he was still covered in mud from all the puddles he rode through and he came back with some new scratches from riding next to the thimbleberry bushes. This is my husband’s idea of a good time.
Look who’s wearing a helmet. Yeah!
Scratches from today’s ride.
Look how happy he is.
Now don’t get me wrong. I love to ride my bike as well but I’m more of a city rider.
My idea of a good time is baking in the rain. As you may or may not know, we don’t have electricity at the cottage so all my cooking is done on the BBQ. Every once in awhile I like to bake and seeing I had 5 very ripe bananas and it was our anniversary I decided to create a new recipe using what I had in my cottage kitchen. I really wanted the recipe to be gluten free because I wanted to share the banana bread with my neighbour (outhouse hole digger) who has a gluten intolerance problem. The final product turned out quite well and I will share the recipe with you later this week.
Baking in the Rain.
The finished product. Yummy, oatmeal banana bread.
As you can see our ideas of a good time don’t always go hand in hand but we both enjoyed the banana bread and after 39 years we’ve learned to let each other pursue our individual interests and hobbies. Later in the day my husband played his mandolin and then read his book while I sat down at the table and worked on some drawings of birds. I’ve never done this before but it was part of an assignment for the on-line summer art camp I’m taking. I really enjoyed the process and I think I will work on my drawing skills some more. I honestly didn’t think I could draw birds. The second assignment was one I’ve done with my own students and it’ll be nice to have a couple of samples to show them if I decide to do this with them again.
…. an on-line assignment that involves taking photos that are not focused
In my Summer Camp art course I’ve painted with watercolour and acrylic, created drawings using oil pastels and pencil, sculpted with wire and made birds from scraps of paper. In today’s assignment I had to take my camera and walk about the neighbourhood and look for things I wouldn’t normally photograph and then snap them out of focus. The idea is to create interesting lines and shapes without recognizing what the object is.
Here is a gallery of some of my shots.
If you’d like more information about the on-line courses that I’ve taken with Carla Sonheim check out her blog here.
Mama Cormier 