Thursday, December 16, 2010

Student Teaching Packet!

Hooray! I received my student teaching packet today! I have my start dates and a lot of information regarding requirements! Ahh! This is just one step closer! :D I had roommate Dani take a picture of me as soon as I got back from walking from a final that I just aced! *Brushes shoulder off*

Pardon my hair and everything else, expect for my smile. :) It's chilly out!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Cobwebs and Dust

Alright, so I have been working on a Children's Book Illustration for the semester in my Children's Literature course. The book that I chose to write, is actually a story that my mother used to tell me when I was little. What I remember most about it, was how she told it. The story was very suspenseful and had me engaged from the beginning all the way through the end.

The story is about a man who finds shelter in an abandoned house while walking on a deserted country road. Upon entering the house, the man hears a voice and he goes searching for it, through the cobwebs and dust. Then he finally finds out who the small voice crying, "Help me!", belongs to a mouse who is trapped in bubblegum. The story has a hilarious ending. (or at least I always thought so) Anywho, I am going to include on here the text of the story so you can get a better feel for it yourself. Mind that when you read it, pace yourself and exaggerate some of the words.


One dark, dark night,
On a long, dark road,
Walked a man
In a long, black coat.

Slowly the man walked down
The long, dark road
As the wind began to howl
And the rain began to fall.

Suddenly, lightning flashed
Bright in the forest
And up ahead,
The man could see a house.

The man ran to the house
Hoping to find shelter from the storm.
He knocked on the door,
There was no answer.

The man knocked harder on the door
And it slowly creaked open.

The man in the long, dark coat
Slowly entered the house asking,
“Is anyone home?”

The door slammed shut behind him.
He looked around to see, but there was nothing there,
except cobwebs and dust.
Again, he asked, “Is anyone home?”

The man heard a fain voice
Coming from the top of the stairs.
“Help me! Help me!” it cried.

Slowly the man climbed the stairs
Brushing away the cobwebs and dust.
Finding no one at the top,
The man called out, “Where are you?”
The little voice answered,
“In the bedroom at the end of the long, dark hall.”

Slowly the man crept down the long, dark hall.
His face covered with cobwebs and dust.

Upon reaching the door to the bedroom,
The man slowly turned the knob
And the door steadily swung open.

Inside there was nothing but cobwebs and dust
“Where are you little one?” said the man.
“In the closet”, the voice responded.
The man in the long, black coat opened the closet.

“Help me! Help me!” the little voice cried.
“I’m stuck in the dresser drawer!”
The man opened the top drawer
And found nothing but cobwebs and dust.

The man opened the second drawer.
He found nothing but cobwebs and dust.

Carefully, the man opened the bottom drawer,
Again he found only cobwebs and dust
“Help me! Help me!” the voice cried again.
“I’m in the back of the drawer.”

The man stuck his hands to the back,
Feeling something move and jerk the drawer open.

There, the man found a mouse
Pulling at his long, black coat.
“Help me! I’m stuck in bubble gum!”
The man helped free the little mouse
From the sticky pink bubblegum

And the two sat around the fireplace,
Keeping them warm and safe from the storm.

Along with writing out the text, we were to write a proposal, artist statement, and cover letter as well as illustrate at least two images. I just got done taking photos of them because I am submitting electronic versions to my professor, just for the fact that the drawings are so delicate. I used oil pastels on a paper that feels gritty like sand-paper. It is wonderful for oil pastels, but also very expensive. :P 






I added some more detailed pictures as well, because I like the way they turned out. I am amazed by this camera. I checked it out from the library. It is a Nikon D5000, in case you were wondering. Anyways, that just gives you a taste of what I have been working on this semester.

Cheers.

Monday, November 22, 2010

My "Bible"

I visited Nichole Hahn's elementary art classroom in Rogers this past Thursday as an introduction to my student teaching with her starting in January. I am very, very excited about this placement. I feel very comfortable with the school and other teachers and staff already. This day of observation really benefited me for getting a glimpse of what my next semester will look like (at least the first half).

Starting off my day, I had wished I brought a notebook to write things in... but, then I remembered that it was an art classroom and I was bound to find paper somewhere! :P I told this to Nichole who in turn, gave me a gift of an organizer to which she refers to as her "bible". I was so ecstatic, that at the staff meeting that morning about Smartboards, I had to break it in! :D As of right now, I already have it sectioned off into grade levels (K-5), Meeting Notes, Fundraisers, and Other Ideas. Nichole and I discussed which themes we would like for me to teach and I already have so many ideas for each of them and having this book as been great for me to jot down all of the notes for every idea that comes to mind.  I love it. :)

 

Anyways, the rest of my day went well. A little overwhelming, but that's how it should be. A lot of things were put into perspective and were realistic. I got to meet a lot of other coworkers who seem to be very kind and welcomed me into the school. :) Overall, this is going to be a great adventure and I look forward to all the challenges it brings!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Oil Pastel

So, lately I found a medium that I really enjoy working with: Oil Pastel. I am not very good with paints,  but I really enjoy charcoal, and I think this has become a happy medium of the two. When I was in Scotland, I took a course called, Rendering the Human Form (Life Drawing is my concentration). Our instructor bought us some oil sticks to experiment, and I LOVED them and in Deb's words, "They are brilliant". However, they are extremely expensive, so I never really pursued in buying more (The four that we got were on a huge discount for 10 quid). But, while at one of my many trips to Hobby Lobby this summer to see if they even had any (which they don't) I found a set of oil pastels which are still expensive, but less than the sticks and plus there is a way larger assortment. Anyways, I have been playing around with them and I think I am going to stick with this medium for my senior show. I enjoy the smoothness and the way the colors blend so well. So here are a couple of the sketches that I have done so far. I apologize for the poor quality, the pictures were taken on my phone.




I have this idea for my works to be less detailed, almost in an unfinished quality. I think that presents the viewer to create their own narrative with a hint of the mood and character. This idea came from a painting demonstration by William Whitaker. What I love most about doing art, is the process and steps it takes to complete a piece. I have always been one to track my progression as it goes and what ends up happening is that I like the way it looks before I call it "done". So, I am trying to force myself to stop before this point. I like the way this is turning out and I wish I had more time to work on it this weekend but alas, I have other classes that need my attention.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Philosophy for Children Stories

While doing some research for my Children's literature book illustration project, I found a great website. it has tons and tons of children's books, I am finding a lot to do with art.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/omc/kidsphil/stories.html

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Weekly Cleaning Chart

The other night, my new roomies and I decided on a chore list. I delegated myself to making the list! I really like to do organizing projects, so this was fun for me. Since I had been working so hard on my Benchmark Interview (entrance into student teaching), which I had yesterday and passed, I decided to take time out and work on this chart last night. These are my results:



I found these little animals on a free clipart site. They were too cute to pass up. It just helps make the clothespins more individualized.

Nail Polish + Eye Shadow

 A friend of my family's (Nita) gave me a fun little activity to do. Since I had been feeling really crafty lately, but haven't had a whole lot of time to do anything!

Here are the basic steps:
1) White nail polish (must have ball to mix)
2) Eye shadow (color of your choice)
3) Crush eye shadow
4) Transfer eye shadow into bottle of nail polish (this may be a little tricky, you may want to have a piece of paper underneath to catch what doesn't go in the bottle.
5) Shake, Shake, Shake!

The color comes out matted, so when you put it on it is best that you put a clear coat of polish over it.

Here are my pictures from the adventure: Roommate Dani helped out!




 Note: the color will be lighter than you actually chose, and it may appear a little unmixed in the bottle at first, but just keep shaking it! Anyways, I chose to put a dark purple and pink!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Illustration Research

Here I am in the library for the umpteenth time this semester already. This time, I am in the juvenile section.. oooooo. :P Anyways, I have been doing some research for my Children's Literature class. I am enjoying looking at all of the books. Among the thousands of books to look at (I wish I had time to read them all) I found a few cute ones that I thought I'd post. Mainly just for my memory.

 Library Mouse


Library Mouse is a story about a mouse named Sam that lives in a little hole in the library. He sits and waits all day long, then at night he comes out and reads all sorts of books. One night, he decided that he would write his own. So, the next few days, the mouse produced many little handmade books that the adults, children, and librarian loved. The only problem was, they didn't know who Sam was. The library left a note asking Sam to come in and do a "Meet the Author" day. Sam was confused as to why the others thought it was so difficult to write stories of their own... so, Sam set out a tissue box with a mirror inside and a banner saying "Meet the Author". This encouraged the children to create their own stories.

There's a Cow in the Cabbage Patch

 This one is just a really cute rhyming book with great felt illustrations. It's kind of catchy too."There's a cow in the cabbage patch, moo, moo, moo!" "She should be in the dairy, what shall we do?" There's a dove in the dairy, coo, coo, coo!" "He should be in the birdhouse, what shall we do?"







Ducks' Don't Wear Socks

This books is about a little girl that starts out being very serious and meets a very un-serious duck, who does ridiculous things that he enjoys without being embarrassed about being himself. In the end, the girl learns to not take things so seriously and starts enjoying life and finally smiles.








Well, there ya' have it. I have been looking at books for far too long! (But, also not long enough... I could do this all day) But, I really need to get going on other homework.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Last First Day

Well, it is now my last first day of classes. As far as undergraduate goes. I had my first class at 11:15am which was Children's Literature. I have to say, I am very excited about this course. I think it will be very beneficial in associating literature and history. Today wasn't like how first days are expected to be, the professor runs through the syllabus quickly and tries to get everyone out as soon as possible. Nope, not like that at all today. I think that's a reason why I appreciate this class so far. The professor is serious about teaching this subject and wants to give an outlook on what class is going to be like for the rest of the semester. If you don't like the topics and conversation, than you can get out ASAP. Like I said before, I think this class is going to help me in the long run and get me thinking about how to incorporate reading into art projects. 

Today we did an overview of Children's Literature and the comparison of how children were viewed in the past to today. In the past, knowledge of history was taught orally because of a lack of a printing press and literacy (which was confined to a small portion of elitists). Children before the 15th century were seen as vile, dirty, and economically draining and in the words of my professor, "Evil Mini Adults."  Whereas today, children are now being sought to educate the adults. Learning from their innocence to reform our culture based on their lack of culture. Because of the industrial revolution and the printing press there became more opportunities for "common" people to learn. This also gave a wider horizon of book possibilities. Children in the past were basically shunned from reading books because they were based upon adult knowledge and the adults did not want to spoil their purity.

That's about all we covered today. We were also told that there will be a project that will be a major portion of our grade. There are three options to this: One, doing story-time sessions for an elementary school class with a paper at the end. Two, an analytical research essay. Or three, write and illustrate a book along with a proposal. Even though the last option is going to be the most labor intensive, I think I already have an idea for a book that I would like to talk with the professor about doing. I have to meet with her before hand in order to get the project approved though. Cross your fingers that all goes well. :) I was also thinking that this might be a good addition to my senior show. 

Anyways, I have now just finished my lunch and wanted to share with you my first day in my first blog. Off to Printmaking in a little while!