Still Hibernating

Will this winter ever end?  I have decided to stay in hibernation for another week or so.  This was the view of my little bird feeding station outside of my rear window today.  My school closed so I had no reason whatsoever to venture outside.  I prefer to "look" outside on days like this  Even the birds were hiding.

I did snap a photo of a downy woodpecker who was not eating, but hiding from the snow under this little arbor   There were at least one dozen red cardinals out in the back fence row a little later.

I found that the zoom on my phone was no worse than the one on my Canon DSLR (from the doorway at least).  I had no desire to get my toes wet.

Excruciating Realism

Just For Fun I took a class in painting using the techniques of the "Old Masters".  This is not my typical style at all.

So why did I do it?

There are several reasons.

Reason #1   To see if I could do it.
Reason #2   To correct some of my bad painting habits.
Reason #3   To get out of my cave and paint with other people
Reason #4   To get out of my comfort zone.
Reason #5   The teacher is an old friend of mine.
Reason #6    To spend lots of money on fine sable brushes.
Reason #7    I secretly have a need for people to yell at me
Reason #8    To learn some fun "trade secrets"
Reason #9    To learn how to properly use a mahl stick
Reason #10  To drive myself absolutely crazy

Yes.   Sometimes I do crazy things.  This is my first attempt at this excruciating realism down to the water drops.   (I kind of like the water drops).   I did enjoy rendering the metal bucket but I despised  painting those lady apples.

This process is much more like drawing and less like painting to me.  I am used to large canvasses, large brushes, wild colors and thick layers of paint.   This method is quiet and meditative.  I suppose it is therapeutic to a degree.

I subscribe to the belief that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so I am continuing this class for another session.  I'm actually learning a bit.  You can leave your love/hate comments.  I've already heard them from my children.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron

The last painting I "completed" was given as a  Christmas gift.  My daughter's private flute instructor of the past nine years is also the head of the York County Wild Bird Refuge   She has made it her  mission to protect the Yellow Crowned Night Herons who have made an artificial lake in the middle of York City their home.

It is quite an experience to attend the annual Spring Garden Recital surrounded by fledgling herons and other birds who are being nursed to health by Mrs. Deckard.   Her wonderful backyard garden in transformed into a hospital for injured and rescued birds.  While the young ladies are playing their flutes in the gazebo, wrens and robins and finches fly about, oblivious to the commotion taking place in the garden.

I had to research the heron that she loves, borrowing reference photos from birdwatchers along the mid-Atlantic seaboard.  The swamp flora  was partially my own garden and partially borrowed from another photo, but largely invented as Vincent Van Vogh seemed to visit me while painting this.  I was inspired by my visit to the Van Gogh: Up Close exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

I painted this over a discarded painting of my own garden which I attempted to paint en plein air.  The painting was abandoned after I was attacked by hordes of Brown Marmorated Stinkbugs who kept flying into me and my canvas.  I could not find any sandpaper so the ridges and textures remain from the abandoned painting.  (I like doing this, but I've often received criticism for it).  Please click on the picture for a better view!

This is quite a contrast to the style I have been studying.  I am taking a class using Old Masters techniques.  It is a lot of blending and smoothing and sanding, small brushes and discipline which I am not used to.   Not my typical style, but I am learning a lot.  I think it is always good to challenge oneself as an artist by exploring as many genres as we can.

What's New in 2013

Nothing much to post about.  Last postable painting was the Yellow Crowned Night Heron. I gave it to my daughter's flute teacher.  I did post it on Facebook in it's not quite finished form.  If any one is interested, I will post it here.

I have been taking a painting class at the local Art Association.  I felt I needed to be in a class to get out of my "slump".  So I am taking this Old Masters painting class and it is a love/hate thing.  It is much tighter than I usually paint and I must say that I suck.

Nancy, was a watercolor teacher of mine some 15-18 years ago.  She is very good at this but it is not my thing.  Still I find the challenge enticing.   I've learned some nifty things and I might do a little more of this.
If nothing else, it will help me to teach my students.

On another note, I am going to start a new blog for my Photo 2 students.  I will post some photos for them to look at and critique.  (I might be visiting some blogs for these).  I will also be requiring them to create their own photo blogs to post and critique each other.   So please visit them if you think about it.  More details to follow.

Blank Canvas

My daughter gave me two blank canvasses for Christmas.  I think that is the best gift ever for an artist.  They are pre-stretched, pre-primed Dick Blick 16x20s.  I like to stock up on these, then I never have an excuse not to paint.

Think about it.  Blank canvasses, an empty journal, a 32G SD card.  The empty tools that need to be filled.  A gift of possibilities.

Someday when I am retired perhaps I will have time to stretch and prime.  I will have time and money to buy good linen canvas, but that time is not the now time. Now I need to have convenience so that when I have the urge to paint, I can.

It is a new year, a blank canvas, an empty journal, an SD card with a lot of space.  What will I do with it?  What will you do?

Have a great year filling your emptiness with possibilities.

Thank you Annelise.

White Paper Sculpture

For a bit of a change, we started our 3-D Design Class with paper sculpture, drawing on the works of  Canadian paper artist Calvin Nicholls and Japanese American paper artist, Jeff Nishinaka.  The students were quite impressed and went to work.  They were instructed on exacto knife safety and some scoring and folding techniques, but they were free to use any method of constructing or deconstructing the paper to form their sculpture.  We used white tagboard and white glue.  On some the the more heavily folded structures we needed to use heavier glues such as wood glue and hot glue.  

This was an inherited class and prior to this year, the class was called "Ceramics".  The students were instructed in various clay construction methods and were required to complete 13 projects.  The previous teacher prided himself in developing a self-running class.  After a few years of teaching to this curriculum, I noticed that after about project number five, the quality started to diminish.  I suggested that we change the name to 3-D Design, Sculpture and Ceramics, hoping to introduce other media and techniques to the students.  

I am quite pleased with this first project!  Some of the students certainly went above and beyond.  They were supposed to observe an actual flower or animal  for this study.  Some did.  Others did not.  The posted results were among the better ones.  I thought I also uploaded a cool toucan, but I think he flew away.

PDD Banyan Trees

A great resources for Art Teachers is the Pinterest Sight!  As a high school teacher who is constantly searching for new and exciting ideas, I find Pinterest amazing.

Two years ago, I took on the task of teaching two special needs classes.  One class of students have multiple handicaps, are wheelchair bound, and cannot speak.

The PDD class is for students with a Pervasive Developmental Disability.  Most are considered somewhere on the Autistic Spectrum.

As a high school teacher, most of my lessons involve things like perspsective, value, line, sculpture, composition, art history and the like.  To find material for these classes, I frequently look for elementary lessons.   I found this lesson on Pinterest from the website of http://www.amartny.com/student-gallery.html.  I thought it was a wonderful exercise in negative space.  I taught the students how to draw the tree trunk and add branches in pencil.  Then they were to color the negative space behind the tree in very bright colors.
It was a difficult concept for many of these PDD students not to color in the trunk.  Some did outline around the trunk.  I would have preferred that they not outline but I think they still look wonderful!  Enjoy!