My own art? Say WHAT!?!

I've been a busy lady lately! But I have been really enjoying my observations of two local high schools. I mean a lot. But one thing I've noticed from hanging out with these awesomely creative students is that I've let my own artwork slip a little over these past couple of years. I've done a couple watercolors, done a few of paying design gigs, designed a few things for my personal use, and developed TONS of art projects for my students, but developing my personal artwork? Hmmmm....not so much! I mean, if someone asked me to actually prove I was an artist, I might be scrambling to prove it!

And I am in some serious need of some ME time...so, today, I got out a few printmaking supplies and actually did a project! yep, right in the middle of the day with all my kids swarming around me putting their fingers in the ink! So proud of myself!

So here it is...it's a self portrait that combines digital photography, Photoshop, and printmaking. It isn't groundbreaking and could actually be seen as a test for a project I plan to do in the future, but this may be a baby step towards figuring out where I want to go next.

How I did this:
It's pretty simple, actually. I took a picture of myself, brought it into Photoshop, changed it to grayscale and then posterized the image to be three colors.

Then I printed the photo out to the size of a piece of foam I had from the grocery store. I transferred the white areas of the image to the foam and used a pencil to "carve" them away. I then used a medium blue to print the image on white paper.

I rinsed off the plate and used the printout and pencil to carve the gray areas of the foam tray away. I printed what was left with black ink.

On the left os my final printing plate after MANY prints.
This one shows the black portions left.
I also got a tiny bit overzealous with the black ink and got
some ink on the face area. Oh well, learning curve!

I think it actually looks like me! I like the designerly quality the printmaking has (that speaks to my design and illustration background). I'm thinking of starting off doing a series of my family with this technique. I also want to experiment with linocuts. We'll see where it goes from there.

Some of the prints I made--I thought the more the merrier!
Who knows what I'll do with all of the images of me!
(Send them to my friends for Valentine's Day?) ;-)

So what art have you done for YOU lately?

Neat photo my 3-year-old took

All of my children have digital cameras--my mother bought them cameras for Christmas one year. They love them and, over the years, have documented important events such as their Grandma's 70th birthday and a little sibling's arrival into the world.

I remember my own 110 camera and Disc camera! Man, I loved those cameras!

When children are allowed access to their own cameras they also will document other things that mean something to them: my children have taken lots of pictures of Lego creations, favorites toys, and me in my nightgown (argh!). They also took pictures of our cat, Marty, before he died (he had cancer and kidney failure). It really helped them with the grieving process, I think, to cuddle with Marty and they often look at the pictures of themselves with Marty when they miss him.

Of course, I've deleted many a digital photo--like the series of close-ups of the couch or the rug taken without knowing! But here's a neat photo my 3-year-old recently took of our German Shepherd, Ruby. I really like it.

So, if you are looking for a Christmas gift for a child in your life--consider a digital camera (and possibly, a camera case). Prices for digital cameras are much more reasonable now and you can get one for under $50. We have a couple of the Fisher-Price ones that can be dropped (and they have), but a child over 7 or so may want a camera that looks more like a grown-up one. Either, way, it is a wonderful way for your child to experience the world!

"Drawing With Light" at the NHAEA Fall Conference 2013

It's that time of the year again! Fall colors and the NH Art Educator's Assoc. Fall Conference!

I love going to the conference and connecting with art teachers from all over the state! It's truly inspiring! And this year was no exception!

My morning session was "Using Photography in the Elementary Classroom." This session was led by Katie Poor, a teaching artist currently working at the Providence Children's Museum. She began by describing a lesson on cyanotypes that she teaches. Then she walked us through a very interesting lesson where she teaches children to "Draw With Light" using flashlights and digital cameras. She brought in some digital cameras of her own and we spent the remainder of the session experimenting with the technique.

She showed us a few examples--the most famous, I guess, would be Picasso from LIFE magazine in 1949. Check out the link to see all of the inspiring images...

We experimented by making shapes, squiggles, letters, drawing images (which are actually harder than it looks), and entire words...while we played, I think we all started thinking of ways this could be used across the curriculum.

My session partner and I experimented with using the white board and a dry erase marker to draw the idea first (either an image or a word) and then use the flashlight in our hand to "trace" the dry erase marker lines we had made on the board. You can see an example of this further in this post (the "art rocks" image) and a few more of our experiments on Katie's blog (link below). We were MUCH more successful doing our "drawings" this way versus trying to imagine an image and draw it freehand in front of us like Picasso did. After trying to draw freehand, I REALLY appreciated Picasso's drawing with light images!

To check out the photos from the session and see what we did, click on Katie's link:
http://photographerintheclassroom.tumblr.com
And just look for the most recent posts (there are two that contain our examples).

I was fortunate to bring my camera from home to the session (it was in my mobile art closet/minivan so I was able to grab it). I had Katie advise me on setting my aperture and shutter speed and, although my camera isn't as fancy as the ones she brought (her cameras allow for 30 seconds of exposure, but mine allows only 16 seconds), I was able to go home and have my children "Draw With Light" a bit.

This is such a fun lesson, I really think I'll need to get into a classroom and teach this soon!

Thanks, Katie, for the great idea!

This should say "art rocks" but my my camera only allows for
a shutter speed of 16 seconds--I bet I could have traced the whole
word if I had tried again (the more successful attempt is on Katie's blog).

3-year-old draws a circle

6-year-old tries for a square
(it's harder than it looks!)

6-year-old tries for a star

Technology in the Art Room: Digital Books

The other day I posted about Books In The Art Room. I've since heard of a couple additional sites that you may want to check out. Trust me, they are worth it!

Here are a few sites that have digital picture books to use in your classroom:

• www.storylineonline.net (SAG Actors read children's books)
• www.speakaboos.com (a colorful, interactive site for traditional read-along stories)
• www.readtomelv.org (Las Vegas celebrities read children's books)
• www.schooltube.com (like youtube but without the commercials. There are read alouds and picture books as little movies. Search other topics such as "Kandinsky," etc.)
• www.pbskids.org (I like: www.pbskids.org/lions/stories) hunt around for additional online stories
• www.nhptv.org/kn (you could get lost in this resource--there's so much!)
• www.wegivebooks.org (you'll need to register to use this site, but it is pretty neat and there are lots of free popular books you can read online. Their selections do change, though, so make sure the book you want is still available before you present your lesson!)

(Thank you to Program Associate & Technology Guru, Tiffany Dube at Plymouth State University and Selina Smith at Classroom Magic for their help with this list).