He did not want to come out...that is why he looks a little ticked off.
It was time though... 9lbs 7oz & 21.75inches long!!!!
A little proud!
Me & my sweet kiddos!!!
June 29, 2011
June 28, 2011
A Studio Space Just The Right Size
So my 2 yr old daughter loves to color and paint with daddy! I've had her in my lap painting with me since she was a few weeks old (I was in the midst of my masters program when she was born). I don't get much done then when I have her in my lap working, and I thought she was getting to the age where she could work a little more independently under my supervision. We found these unfinished table & chairs at Jo-Ann's for $28. I struggled painting them(I used a Poly-Stain..not a fan). So far so good...she loves to set and color at her table and chairs. I may need to get a rug to put under it if I'm going to let her paint! ha ha It's right beside my desk in my studio. Quality time together arting it up!!
June 27, 2011
Toilet Paper Rolls On My Mind
The creator of the snake asked me to link it back to them...this is where I found the image.
These are not my examples or my students work, but images I found on google when I typed in toilet paper roll art. I've always kind of dismissed it as a "crafty" thing...and not something for my serious art room. I think I've lightened up over the years. They are great bases for sooooooooo many project ideas!! Type it in and take a look...you'll see what I'm talking about! One of my 3rd grade teachers is having her ladies group at church save them for me. When I asked for water bottles last year, they collected 3 lawn/leaf 30+ gal. bags full! So I need to have several projects in mind!!!
June 15, 2011
Crafty Me
We're getting ready for Eli(our 2nd child..and 1st son)...who could be here any day now. There are many "projects" for crafty daddy(that would be a great blog title!). We bought a dresser from a couple who were trying to raise money to adopt(a process that fell through...but God had blessed them with a bun in the oven at that time they didn't know about!!!!!). Anyways, the dresser was simple & was going to require some work to make it what we wanted. Many coats of a beautiful green & it looked amazing! We(and when I say we...I mean my wife) decided I'd paint animals onto the knobs to go with the bedding & the three panel painting I've still yet to do. Here they are freshly varnished!
June 13, 2011
Wonderful Pro-Arts Article
It's always encouraging to find pro-arts articles!!! Take a moment & read this.
June 12, 2011
Summer Experimenting - Owls
So I found this idea on a site from a hit on my site meter. Unfortunately, I could not really find the original link it came from. So if this was your idea...let me know & I'll give you credit!! Summer is a fun time to try some new ideas out. This may be the only one I get to with baby Eli's arrival fast approaching!
This is just one more thing you can do with toilet paper roll!! You could use a whole TP roll, but it would be an extremely tall owl! ha ha So you'll need to trim an inch or so off the bottom. Press the sides in of the opening. You can use hot glue, tape, or Zots(scrap booking dots). I gave it one coat of acrylic paint. It may need more than one depending on the color of paint you are using. Since I used a creamy light blue, one was enough. I used scrap book paper for the wings, belly, beak, and white of it's eyes. Googly eyes would be super fun here too, but I did not have any at home. I used a shot of glue and glitter for the center of the eyes. I'm going to do it with at least one grade level in the fall. Can you imagine 100 + of these cute critters clustered together!?!
June 11, 2011
Tempera Pens & Paint Dispenser Bottles
Several of you have asked me about the Tempera Pens that my daughter was using in one of my posts. My wife picked those up at Lakeshore in CA this spring when she was out there visiting her best friend(they don't have a lot of stores around..but a great website!!!). That picture was the first time I used them. I have paint dispenser bottles that I bought through School Specialty/Sax at school. You can fill them up with whatever color you want. I've not used them yet because I did not get that order in till the end of year. I'll post something in the fall about them once I have a chance to use them with my students. Hope this helps ya'll out that asked about them!
June 09, 2011
New Elementary Art Curriculum
We are coming to the end of rewriting the elementary art curriculum for Metro Nashville Public Schools. I am blessed to be working with some amazing art teachers! Three of us were on the team the last time it was rewritten in 2007: Janet, Daryl, and myself. The team in 2007 was a good bit larger, but I think that a smaller team has its advantages. The new addition to the team is Tim, and it is always good to have fresh blood in the mix that can ask questions that we may not have considered. We met once before school was out along with all the other arts writing teams for our district. Our state standards were rewritten last year(another team I was blessed to be a part of) for all the arts, and got their final approval in the fall. They want a standards based curriculum in place at the start of the 2011-2012 school year. So we have to have everything finished by July 1st! We were given 7 days to complete this task(we got to select what days we worked over the summer..which is pretty awesome). We have one day left to wrap everything up & plan the training we'll be leading Aug. 1st & 2nd! The main thing we have left is to create unit plans for each 9 weeks. These are only going to be suggested ideas for the teachers, allowing them to see how a semester of standards and curriculum can be turned into a handy dandy unit. I am taking on Kindergarten. The new curriculum is set up so that all the elementary art teachers in Nashville(90+) are teaching the same concepts "AROUND" the same time. We are an extremely transient school district, and kids bounce from school to school throughout the year. This will have teachers in about the same place so kids are not missing any major skills. It does however, allow for much freedom in how the skills are taught so that each teacher can bring their own flavor to the table! I'm pretty excited about the final document. I wish I could share it here, but it's the property of MNPS...and I don't think I'll be allowed.
June 07, 2011
Smaller Class Size
It's summer break for Metro Nashville Public Schools(though I'm still very much working..new art curriculum for the district almost done..more on that later). So I have a very small class size...one! My sweet baby girl(2 yrs 3 months) told mommy she wanted to color with daddy when he got home(I was working on the curriculum with my amazing team!!). So...how could I say no to that sweet face. She loves my box of colored pencils!! She actually sharpened a pencil today..a skill I'm still trying to teach some of my students at school?!?! After coloring a "George" coloring sheet...we went free style. We used colored pencils, markers, crayons, stamps....and these super color tempera pens!!!
I think Margaret is a natural born artists!
Look at this abstract expressionist mixed media picture :) ha ha
June 02, 2011
A Mess & A Preview
So this is our last day(teachers) and I'm finishing up packing my room(we have to every year so they can clean the floors and such) & doing my bulletin boards for next year. If you look to the back of the picture..you can see a glimps of what next year is going to look like.
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