Thank Goodness for the Weekend

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….it couldn’t come soon enough

Have you ever had one of those days that felt like it would never end?

Today was one of those days. It rained most of the day. All recesses were cancelled. The kids were indoors all day. By the afternoon they were more squirrelly than normal and it didn’t matter what you did or said they just couldn’t work without bickering at each other.

I knew I was in trouble when my last art class arrived at my door and their teacher apologized in advance for their behaviour. I sat them down and explained that I understood how their pent up energy had no avenue to be spent on this rainy day but we needed to try and focus on the lesson ahead if we were going to have a fun and productive double period of art. I said I was willing to let them go in pairs for a walk from one end of the school to the other if it would make a difference to their productivity. Most of the students were excited to be able to do that so I organized them into groups and one group at a time ‘went for a walk’.

I’m not sure it made any difference. Not two minutes after I demonstrated the lesson and gave precise instructions students started coming to me and asked what they had to do even though there were students already engaged in the activity. I couldn’t believe it. I looked at the kids that were working and asked them, “Didn’t I just explain what to do?” They nodded in the affirmative.

Day 2 is hard enough as is because I teach art back to back to grades 2 and 3. We have three or four projects on the go and I’m trying to get students to catch up so that we only have one common project that we’re working on at the same time. We didn’t quite reach that goal today. Next week we should only have two projects on the go and hopefully by the end of that class everyone will be on the same project. Of course that means some of the students will be finishing their big weaving project while others will have barely started.

At the end of the day I took some time to put up more art projects around the school. I must have been pretty tired because as I was leaving for the day I realized that I hadn’t taken any pictures of their work. I didn’t have the energy to turn around and go back to take a few shots. I apologize for the lack of photographs today. I’ll make it up to you next week.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I hope to get some rest, read and get out for a walk, weather permitting.

Cheers!

Share Your World 2014 – Week 13

Posted on March 31, 2014 by Mama Cormier

……crayon colours, aliens, transportation and pets I wouldn’t fancy

Do you believe in extraterrestrials or life on other planets?

The simple answer is yes. How can one believe that only the planet Earth would have living beings when the universe is so incredibly enormous? I definitely believe that there is a parallel universe somewhere out there with intelligent life.

What type of pet or pets do not want to have?

I’m not a big fan of reptiles of any kind. Lizards and snakes do nothing for me.

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

I would definitely be red. Such a vibrant and warm colour. I love it.

What type of transportation would you be? Why?

I think I would be a luxury train. What a great way to travel. Comfy seats, great views and if you’re travelling business class very good food. Safe and relatively quick without the worries of traffic. Very relaxing.

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 a week of artistic expression. I finished my on-line abstract art class and I participated in a 6 hour workshop on Saturday learning how to use indigo dye to create beautiful fabrics.

I’m looking forward to a week of quiet and catching up on my reading. Maybe I’ll sew something with my new fabric. I’m not looking forward to going to the dentist tomorrow. Last night my molar decided to break apart. Luckily it doesn’t hurt.

Built Up Enough Courage to Try it Again

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….working with oil paints, that is

After my mini disaster with oil paints the first time around I was putting off trying it again. My teacher, Karine Swenson encouraged me to keep trying and continue experimenting with the medium. I was going to wait until the weekend but for some reason at 11:00 last night I was moved to paint. I got out a new 18 x 18 inch canvas and started painting squares. Two and a half hours later I was finished (well at least for now). I posted my piece on the on-line class’s Facebook page and went to bed.

This time I laid my piece flat so when I woke up in the morning there were no drips or runs of paint down the painting. This piece is quite different from the first but I think I am now ready to tackle lesson 5 which involves working really big. I have to go out and buy a canvas about 48 x 48 inches.

In the meantime though I have to get ready for another class that I am taking tomorrow which involves fabric and indigo dyes. I thought that everything I needed would be provided at the class but after reading the course description I think I need to go out and do a little shopping for cotton or linen fabric. I’m taking the class at Articulations in the Junction. Here’s a small description of the class.

Time to Choose

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….it’s time to choose one of my sketches and paint it onto a large canvas

I’ve enjoyed my on-line course with Karine Swensen and Carla Sonheim but now it’s time to get serious and paint large. I can use my charcoal sketches or my watercolour sketches for inspiration or try something completely different. I can also use them as a starting point and move in a different direction once I get started. It’s getting started that’s difficult. I want to try my earth friendly oil paints that I purchased last year but I’ve never worked with oil before. It’s a bit intimidating.

I made a couple more watercolour sketches after I posted the last ones, Abstraction Using Watercolour, but I’ve also been toying with the idea of taking one of my Charcoal Sketches and using one of them as a starting point. Here are my latest two watercolour sketches. Any suggestions? My husband refused to commit or comment about any of them. Go figure!.

Abstraction in Charcoal

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….learning a new technique

This week I started a new on-line art course with Karine Swensen. She is an abstract artist and a friend of Carla Sonheim. Our first assignment involved taking 8 to 10 pieces of paper and compressed charcoal and laying down some lines. The idea is to do this quickly without too much thought. It shouldn’t look like anything and if it did you were suppose to change it. After laying down one or two lines on each piece of paper you are suppose to go back and add more details. You can smudge the charcoal, use fingerprints, erase areas and use different types of charcoal.

My first four drawing were started with charcoal pencils, mainly because that’s what I had on hand. Today I found some compressed charcoal and started four more pieces. I went over some of the first pieces with the compressed charcoal and I used the kneadable eraser to take away some of the dark areas. I really enjoyed the process and can’t wait to find out what the next assignment will be. Sometime tomorrow I’ll receive the second video with an explanation and demonstration of the next task. Here are a couple of pictures of my first assignment.

Sharing Memories and Reconnecting With Old Friends

Posted on March 14, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…watching old V8 movies of us as kids and meeting up with friends from university

Thursday was a laid back day. I couldn’t sleep past 6:00 am so I got up and wrote my first post about the flight to Calgary. I took my time getting showered and dressed and then I went downstairs to join my sisters for breakfast.

My middle sister had given each of us a DVD that she had transposed from VHS. Years ago our mom took all the old V8 movies that my Dad had taken of us as kids and had them put onto videotape. It’s pretty rough and of course there’s no soundtrack. We decided to watch the DVD together, not realizing that it was over two hours. It was great seeing all those clips again. It brought back great memories and we couldn’t help but notice how different life was 50 years ago.

The one thing that really struck us was how formally our parents dressed. Outings to the park, going on picnics and day trips to Niagara Falls involved dressing in your Sunday best. Mom wore heels, dresses, hats and gloves and Dad wore dress pants, jackets and ties and of course all the ‘sisters’ wore dresses and party shoes. The only time I saw us in trousers was when I went roller skating down the sidewalk by our house in the Junction. Good thing too, because I took a couple of nasty spills.

It was also interesting to see the transition from long hair to short hair and then back to long hair when we were teenagers. My Mom wore her hair in a bun for many years and her hair was actually quite dark. Sometime in the 60s she cut her hair short and became a blonde. I never saw her with long hair ever again.

I’m sure there’s some way of copying bits and pieces of the DVD to share with you but I just haven’t figured out how to do that. I’m thinking I need to go to Garage Band and cut and paste segments onto a Youtube video but I’ll have to investigate that a bit more. If any of you have any suggestions I’d be more than grateful.

After lunch, I arranged to meet two friends from university at the Learning Centre in Fish Creek Park. Melissa McKinnon who I follow on WordPress has an exhibition there and one of the things I wanted to do when I got to Calgary was check out her work. I’ve seen it on-line but there’s nothing like seeing it up close and personal. The staff at the centre were very friendly and told us how successful Melissa’s opening was. Her paintings are beautiful and it looks like half or more are already sold. You can check out her blog, here.

I haven’t been to Calgary in over 20 years but I have seen my sister and my friends, L & L, on numerous occasions in Toronto. It’s been great seeing them on their home turf, something that’s long overdue. My next trip will be with my husband. He hasn’t been to Calgary in 38 years.

A Perfect Way to Spend a Sunday Morning

Posted on March 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….especially the first morning of daylight savings time

People have a hard time adjusting to the change in time, especially when the clocks are moved forward. It means one hour less sleep unless you talked yourself into going to bed one hour earlier. I’m thankful that the time change occurred during March Break. At least it gives us (the teachers) and the kids a week to adjust to the earlier hour in the morning.

Today I woke up at my usual time but it was actually an hour later, so had it been a school day I would have been late. We had prearranged to meet our youngest daughter at the AGO this morning when the gallery first opens which is 10:00. I basically had time to grab a cup of coffee, get dressed and put on some make-up before heading out the door. We discovered on our last trip that arriving when the AGO opens on a Sunday is a good time to go. It’s not crowded, the kids haven’t arrived yet (especially during March Break) and parking is free until 1:00.

My husband was struggling a bit to get going today but he quickly found his groove and the change in time hasn’t bothered him, yet. As we were walking towards the entrance we spotted our daughter coming up the street. Perfect timing. I went to the members’ desk, picked up our tickets and we deposited our coats at the coat check counter. For the rest of the morning we wandered leisurely throughout the galleries. There is no big show on right now so we enjoyed some of the smaller displays throughout the building.

One of the first things we came across was a display put on by Hot Wheels.

It was obviously there for the kids to enjoy but we were invited to play if we wanted. We graciously declined the invitation and made our way to the galleries where photographs were being displayed. Our daughter studied photography at university and my husband used to be a photography fan in his younger days. As he gets older he plays with his camera more often and he still appreciates the art of photography, especially some of the older black and white photographs.

Next to one of the rooms that housed some very interesting and very old photographs I came across a room designed for kids. The walls were lined with some famous paintings that featured children and in the middle of the room stood a booth. Children could dress up and then sit behind a frame with a painted scene behind them (I think it’s from one of the Group of Seven). Parents are encouraged to take photographs of their children who look like they’re part of a painting. I wanted to do it myself but I don’t think my husband or daughter would humour me and take a photograph. There were hardly any children there at the time so I think I could have gotten away with it.

Once we had exhausted all the photography galleries we headed upstairs to the 5th floor to check out the contemporary exhibits. My favourite installation piece took up an entire room and featured mirrors, trees, birds, (real and not) and half man half bird creatures. It was called The Index and was the creation of David Altmejd.

We decided to walk down to the other floors. The stairway had beautiful architectural curves made from wood and was built on the side of the building with glass windows that looked out over the city. I love the curves, arches and the grain in the wood along the ledges. The second floor has huge stone arches that overlook the foyer on the first floor which is also surrounded with these large archways.

Before leaving the AGO we stopped at the Galleria Italia (here, here) for our traditional coffee break at the Espresso Bar. I really wanted to check out the gift shop so I left my husband and daughter at the table so that they could catch up and make plans for the week while I headed to the main floor to do a bit of shopping. I had a little bit of money from the library fund so I bought a few art books for school and I found a present to bring to my sister in Calgary.

When we left the art gallery we were ready for lunch (brunch in my case because I hadn’t had breakfast). We drove along Queen St East and headed toward Leslieville where we found a tiny Irish pub. Our daughter had been there before but for my husband and I it was a new experience. G and I ordered and shared mushrooms on toast and the terrine plate while my husband ordered his traditional Irish breakfast.

After our meal we drove our daughter home and then headed out to see our oldest daughter. We stayed just long enough to have a cup of coffee and pick up a parcel notification. Sometime tomorrow I’ll drive to Purolator and pick up a parcel for her.

When we got home it was already 4:00. Time just flew by. Looks like we’ll be eating salad for dinner. It’s already 6:00 and I’m still full from my one meal today. This should be my last post today. Hopefully I can get to some of my art. If I do I’ll share with you tomorrow. No more staying up late to post things that can wait till tomorrow.

Cheers!

Collage as an Art Form

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….personally I love collage but many people don’t consider it an art form

Yesterday I went to a workshop put on by the art consultants in our board and the topic was Collage. It wasn’t a huge class but there were about 15 teachers there from the elementary panel. We all taught different grade levels but we came with the same goal in mind and that was how to teach the art of collage to our students.

Our instructor took the group down a hallway to observe some examples of collage that had been done by the students at that school. The message that we took away was that collage is not suppose to be a bunch of pictures pasted randomly onto paper. I’m afraid that some of my grade five students are guilty of this very thing and even though we talked about foreground, middle ground and background many didn’t quite grasp how to apply that to their collage assignment.

One idea or school of thought behind collage is that the piece should tell a story. Some of my students were quite comfortable talking about their art but others couldn’t really come up with much of a story. The group at the workshop was given 2 assignments to complete in the hour and a half that we had and this included the lesson and the discussions that followed each assignment. For the first assignment we were asked to choose a post card from the table and then find ‘one’ picture that we could add to the card to create a new piece of art. The new addition was to blend in with the piece and look like it belonged there. Of course I missed the part about using only one picture but a few others did as well. Despite that the things that people came up with were very interesting and unfortunately these first pieces were scooped up very quickly and I didn’t get a chance to take photos.

The second assignment involved choosing an image that had been removed from a discarded art book. The paper is nice and heavy and works well for gluing collage papers onto it. Then we were instructed to pick 2 or 3 different colours of paper to add to the image and finally we had to find some pictures from magazines to add to the image. One of the hardest parts was deciding on which image to choose.

We only had 10 minutes to complete the first assignment and for the second assignment we were given about 40 minutes. It was a lot of fun and we were given some useful tips along the way that we can pass on to our students. One tip is ‘don’t let students glue anything down until they’ve conferenced with the teacher’. Good advice.

When all the pieces were done or at least close to being finished we had an opportunity to tell ‘our story’. I won’t discuss the stories here but maybe you can figure out for yourself what some of these stories are. My contribution is the last piece in the gallery with the netting across the woman’s face.

Swapping Old for New

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….art projects

Last week I started to remove some of the older art projects in the hall for the newer assignments. I have close to 300 projects to display and I’ve barely put a dent in the collection but it’s a good start. Funny how things can be on display for weeks and people just start to notice them when you’re ready to take them down. Oh well at least they made an impression before they were removed.

I’m close to finishing the Faces projects. The kids really seemed to enjoy the process. When the collage assignment was done I shared the painting technique I learned on Carla Sonheim’s on-line class, Faces 101. It started out as an experiment with a grade 2 class that I don’t normally teach and it was so successful that I decided to pass on the knowledge to my other classes. Here are a few more ‘faces’ projects that I’d like to share with you:

As you can see I have a few students who like to think ‘outside the box’. I encourage creativity as long as I see some of the components in the lesson in the final piece.

The halls are starting to fill up with new work. Here’s a sample of what one might see if they came for a visit.

Having a ‘Hoot’ of a Time

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….drawing owls

I recently signed up for an on-line art class using gelli plates. I did one last summer and I loved it. So when Carla Sonheim offered another class I jumped at the chance to participate again. This class uses some of the prints I’ve done in the past and involves drawing on the actual gelli plate. I, therefore needed a subject to draw that was relatively simple and would work in a print application.

I choice to draw an owl. I’ve always been attracted to owls and wanted to create an owl that is somewhat whimsical yet simple. Here are some of the owls that I played around with tonight.