Of Snow, Turkeys and Crow

While driving home from work as the big snowstorm started up, a flock of about 28 turkey crossed the road.

The next day they were in my yard under the bird feeder.

The crows have been eluding my camera until I snuck this shot through the kitchen window.

Every morning they visit the feeder around 9. 

They amaze me with their quickness; everytime I try to take a picture, they detect the slightest movement or sound and they're off.

Student Works--Fruits

In my last few posts I've been sharing the teaching process behind the Figure Unit being presented in my AP Studio Art classes.  Featured above are a sampling of the fruit paintings which I mentioned in the last post.  I chose to have the students spend a few days painting simple forms in order to prep them for the painting the figure. The focus was on color mixing and better acquainting themselves with the handling of acrylics along with really studying form.  We talked about shapes, not only of the fruits but of the areas of color around the fruit made through the light and shadows.
Currently they're painting the figure and doing a fine job!  Tomorrow is the last day of painting, so pics will be posted soon.

Student Work --- Figure Drawing Unit

We've spent the last few weeks studying the figure in my AP Studio Art class. We started with quick gesture drawings and worked up to longer sessions with the model.  The students spent about 2 hours on these drawings.  I feel like a proud mother showing off their work...I am proud of them!  These kids are the cream of the crop and I'm so pleased with the results of this unit so far. After we finished these drawings,  I set up simple fruit arrangements for acrylic painting studies.  Inspired by blogger Lisa Daria's compositions, we painted fruit for two days.  The sole intention was:

• 
  
  seeing value and developing form
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   color mixing
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  zooming in on the subject matter

The compositions were painted on toned ragboard.  While not 100% visually dynamic, the goals were reached.  I saw the students mixing colors in a broad range of values and hues and the compositions were interesting.  

After studying fruit forms, the students are back to figure work;  my hope being that they'd bring what they'd learned painting fruits to the figure work.  They're painting the figure using acrylics, successfully developing form and good compositions.  So far, so good!  The real plus is the kids are really enjoying the painting process.  The paintings will be posted as soon as they're done.   

Figure Drawing Unit

While teaching my students different approaches to figure drawing, I took some time to draw along with them.  We started with quick gesture studies that led to longer sessions with the models--the students take turns modeling. The model sat for about an hour for this session; the students produced some beautiful works; which I'll post soon.

Book Art

Playing with neutrals.  Elimination of text on the right page balances the added text of the Peterson Field Guide on the left page. The page corners are cut and rounded.

Collaging with string and a bead.  The torn area beneath the bead was a good accident.

After I got my first digital camera, I was taking pictures with reckless abandon.  I found this toad nestled in some rocks.  I printed it on paper from Nepal that a friend gave me.  The photo has been sitting in the piles of collage "stuff" for a while.

(click on photos to enlarge)

More Book Art

For this post I chose some of my favorites from the book plus the ones with similarities in style.
With the exception of the second picture, they all feature the odd figures that I've been drawing/painting for about the last ten years.  I'm not sure where they come from, but they happen on pots when I glaze,  in sketchbooks and sometimes in paintings.  To me they're universal symbols--part of the collective unconscious I guess.  I feel they represent a sense of joy or lightness.

The lefthand side of the  second picture is a dream image--my house was on fire with a moon overhead.  (On the right hand side, I was just drawing legs!)

oil paint, oil pastel, fabric, old peterson field guide, pencil, colored pencil, thread

Book Art

As I said in the previous post, this book began as a place to wipe my brushes while I painted.  I picked up this idea from another artist who will use her sketchbooks in this fashion, which I've been doing for a few years now. For me having color already on the page is a good starting point for sketching into and lends itself to playfulness and a lack of inhibition.
The book making was an organic, intuitive process.  Each page grew on its own and at first there wasn't a relationship between the pages. I'd just open a page and start working on what moved me, either the brush marks I'd made or the text in the book.
These are pages 2,  3 and 4.

watercolor, string, photographs, photocopies, oil pastel, assorted paper

Book Art

                                                      PEACE

During the months of November, 2009 through the start of February, 2010 The Geauga County Park District held The DiscARTed Art Show revolving around the theme of recycling.  Artists submitted a range of works from stringed instruments made from cigar boxes (a bluegrass band played them the night of the opening), to lamps, jewelry, wall art, huge iron sculptures......

I submitted this book.

Last spring our school librarian was getting rid of boxes and boxes of books, to make room for more computers. (I've got mixed feelings about that.)  

I took many of the books for conversion to Art; for both me and my students. The book I reworked was from a series called THE GREAT IDEAS.  Full of writings by philosophers of whose work I know next to nothing.   The first page (shown above)  includes some of the names; Cervantes, Descartes, Spinoza, Newton, Locke, Hume. Faraday--these last three names are significant for any LOSTIES out there!

When I started with the book this summer, I used the pages in a random fashion for wiping my excess paint from my brushes.  Which then becomes a nice start for sketching, painting or collaging on.

What you see here is the Front Cover and the inside cover (p. 1)

Collage, oil paint, oil pastel, photographs, string.