Here I am!

Hi all! You may have wondered where I’ve been. Answer is I’ve been all over the place- weddings left and right, visitors here, me visiting family. Whew, Mike and I have been busy. This past week I’ve been dealing with a sinus infection (which is rapidly leaving my body these days) and I went to the North Carolina Art Educators Association Conference in Winston-Salem. YAY!!! It was a wonderful moment for me. Just ME (and some fellow Alamance county art teachers)! I was able to go to some awesome workshops and presentations and create for three days! Our keynote speakers were Deborah Reeve, Executive Director of NAEA, and Faith Ringgold, painter, quilter, and author. They were really wonderful even when we had long days and could barely stand to sit any longer! Point is, it was refreshing. The sad fact of being an educator in the arts these days is that we’re not taken seriously nor are we made to feel important. I’m on my own in my school and I’m on any test, therefore I’m secondary. It gets old and this is only my third year teaching. People wonder why 1/3 of new teachers quit after their third year. Ha! Hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

Needless to say I was able to be free and create. I learned some schernschnitte techniques of paper cutting. I’m almost finished with my first one and all I have to offer is this one prep picture. Trust me, there will be more. I’m fascinated by processes and once I learn one I enjoy testing it out.

The beginning drawing for my paper cutting.

I chose a little boy as my main subject and ended up placing him among some tall flowers and a stylized sun. The finished product is pretty cool. The technique is fairly simple and I suppose I’ll put up a tutorial on it. Anywho, I love this. It’s technical and requires a lot of patience and focus. Excellent!

The other main workshop project was a sculptural book. I chose the theme of avocado. Yes, Avocado! The shape of the book is avocado and it will be filled with green goodness and facts. All about avocados. Plus, it should stand up when complete. I don’t have any pictures yet but I have some example photos. Those will suffice I suppose!

It looks like a sacred heart but it's a turnip!

Blue bananas? Not as good as BLUTH bananas!

Whooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea....

That’s enough for now. Goodnight moon.