Tag Archives: photography

Blindly Drawing Lines to Create an Abstract Masterpiece

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….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.

Warmth in November, Frances has a Bath and a Destination Wedding

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….what a glorious day!

For two days in a row, I’ve slept for a solid eight hours and I’ve reached my walking goal of 10,000 steps for seven consecutive days. Yay!

It is hard to believe that we’re half way into November. I dressed warmly for our daily walk this morning only to disrobe half way through our trek because I was too warm. I took off my scarf and gloves and opened up my jacket and the fleece I had on underneath it. Every day like this from here on in is a blessing.

When we got back from our walk we decided we could no longer stand the smell emanating from our little dog. I don’t know if she rolled in something or if it was a just a combination of swims in the lake and running through the fields that produced that rancid smell. None the less, we plopped her into the tub and scrubbed her down with doggy shampoo and warm water. After a couple of rinses we dried her off with some old towels. She didn’t particularly like the experience but she smells so much better. She even feels nicer to pet. We also threw out her old bed and I went out and bought her a new one. The old one was beyond washing again.IMG_6859

Our entire family has an app called WhatsApp. It’s very inexpensive to purchase (it was free and then went up to 99 cents) and we’ve never experienced any problems with it. What it does is allow us to text message and phone anywhere in the world, free of charge, to friends and family who also have the app. You can also put a group together so that everyone in the group gets the message at the same time.

Today our son in London texted all of us and informed us that the plans for his wedding were starting to move along and that Italy was back in the plan. He put some dates out there for all of us to mull over and it looks like there may be a wedding in July. I don’t want to jinx it so I’m not giving any more information than that. Now we just have to wait and see if the ‘farm’ apartments can be booked for the whole family and what day B and A choose for the actual wedding. Her family would also have to travel, so there’s a lot to consider in a rather short space of time but I’m glad that we’re not waiting another 18 months before this wedding takes place. I’m so excited!

Taken two year Christmases ago when they first got engaged.

Taken two year Christmases ago when they first got engaged.

It looks like this warm weather may stick around for a few more days. Wonderful!

Cheers!

Starry Nights in Oil Pastel and Watercolour

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….children in grades one, two and three create their own version of Van Gogh’s Starry, Starry Night

Once again I was inspired by Carla Sonheim’s Free Kids Online Art Classes. In week two Diane Culhane introduced the kids to a crayon resist night sky.

The children loved how the watercolour brought up the crayon designs, especially the white marks. They also loved sprinkling salt over their creations. The concept of cutting out a black silhouette of a city or country skyline was a bit more challenging, especially for the grade ones. Here’s a collection of paintings created by my grade two class.