Paint Party Friday: A Great First Week

I have had a great start to the new school year and I think I owe my friends from Paint Party Friday a big thanks for inspiring me and helping to keep me motivated to be creative!  

THANKS!

After all the necessary paperwork, rules and procedures are behind us I had my students begin by drawing themselves as a cartoon.  They are adorable and I will share them when I get an okay from my students.

Zentangles have been all the rage in my room.  Not only in my room but my co-teachers in art are using them also.  The kids are loving them.

A third year student stayed after school today just to talk to me about how excited she was over Zentangles!  And she is not even my student but has visited with me every day.  

The photos are of my in-class demonstrations I completed for my students.  We are using heavy paper cut to about a small postcard .

 

Tuesday: Instructed to use 2 Zentangle designs

Wednesday:Instructed to use 3 Zentangle designs, repeat Tuesdays plus one.

Thursday: Instructed to use four Zentangle designs.  Previously used

Tomorrow we will be doing Fun Friday and completing Splotch monsters!
(In case you are wondering what is a Splotch monster: A Splotch monster is a creative creature created from a random splotch of paint.)
Here are my demonstration pieces.

I am not sure who are having more fun... the kids or me!

Going Postal Splotch monster

Splotch monster Meet Goose

Baby Tutu Splotch

Mrs.  Howl Splotch

Super Splotch!

  Thanks, again to my friends at Paint Party Friday!

First Day Back

First day tomorrow!  

Kids will be drawing an animation of themselves 

so I got a jump on them and here I am in my room at school!
See I have my crock pot on my left side and my paints on the right side. 
I think that makes me ready for a new year.  
Say a little prayer for a good school year!

A New School Year

Soon we begin a new school year and teachers everywhere are preparing.

Often the beginning is somewhat bittersweet; leaving the freedom and leisure time of summer but refreshed and ready for the challenges of a new year.

Although my summer was not filled with my own personal creative time I expected to be happening, 

it was filled with creative time with family and energizing ideas for school projects.

I have added a number of new books to my library to inspire me and 

to offer additional instructional aids to students.  

Zentangles are going to be big in our high school art classes this year!

Fabric design is going to go in some new directions!

A make over in multi-layering in collage and mixed media are in the works!

Challenge Competitions, Moody Mondays and Fun Fridays...

all I need now are my students.

 My little helpers are sharpening my pencils,

the room is arranged, supplies organized and drawing papers cut to size!

At no other time in the year, will I ever be as prepared as today!

(In the spirit of Lily Tomlin from Laugh In for those who remember it.)

"And that's the truth!"

So off I pop to a new school year!

Paint Party Friday: Trying my hand at Batik

Fiber Reactive dyes

Oh, this is going to be embarrassing!  

Not a stunning beauty here but a fun experience and a new medium for me to explore!

I am trying my hand at batik and I have not perfected it yet.

Are you like me...I am so visual that I read a few instructions and look at all the pictures.  If a picture looks a little confusing I MIGHT read a little bit about it.  But I get just enough information to be dangerous!  

First Drew loosely then began to paint.

Application with paint brush

Well, I did just that this week.  I have two books both by Jane Dunnewold (available through Amazon, "Art Cloth" and "Complex Cloth"). These are the books I scanned quickly and studied the pictures.  She gives detailed explanations on how to do this and I bought the appropriate chemicals and dyes and then jumped in with both feet.  I did have an opportunity to be with several other art teachers playing with batik this week.  

I am not satisfied with getting just a little information.  I want to know how to do it perfectly which takes time and patience.

In retrospect.... as my friend likes to say...My two biggest mistakes (other than that hideous swirl in the left hand corner) were in rushing the wax job and in rushing my application of the black dye. 

When I can get back to work on batik I will add stronger blacks to this one, and experiment a little with the medium.

I would also, like to try my hand at something more spontaneous, something loose and fast to help me understand the application, timing and techniques.  

It is definitely a fun experience!  

Not stunning results but it's my first attempt.

Today, I went to my high school art room to arrange desks and begin to prepare my mind for a new year at school.   

I expect it to be a wonderful year in art.  

Look for me to be posting about some of the projects we will be doing. 

Happy Paint Party Friday!

Thyme Together

Be sure to drop in on our new family cooking blog: Thyme Together

Family.... together wherever...our favorite place to be! Thyme Together aims at using our mealtimes together to unite a family scattered from the east coast to the west coast and beyond! Varied cultures united in love!

Our family is joining together to create a cooking blog by each submitting recipes online.  Since we are scattered in different regions of the United States it is sure to have some variety and maybe along the way we will learn something of different cultures, different family traditions and some old time favorites maybe even a funny story about family members, a few good memories and a heap of love!



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