Challenges

The new quarter is upon us as well as about six new inches of snow in mid November. To all you advanced art students in this new quarter I have asked the question, "What are your challenges?" I have been thinking about how I would answer that question. When I'm sitting in that classroom I draw a blank, but here at home--and at midnight--these challenges are crystal clear.

I don't have enough time in the day.
I need too much sleep in order to function properly during the day.
My children are growing up too fast. I will miss them terribly when they grow up and leave for college.
I have too much homework and I'm falling behind on my grading.
And I volunteered to play the piano accompaniment for my child's trumpet solo on Saturday; and I'm not a very good pianist!!

Hmmmmmm......... how could I put that all in a painting?

Do you have better ideas for school when you are not in school?

Fall Colors

The wind kicked up just outside of the art room during 6th hour today. The wind swirls in some unpredictable directions out there. The leaves were blowing up. I found out later that they were also blowing into my car, right on the driver's seat.

Have you had a chance to notice the color of the leaves in these past weeks? What if we made a painting using only the c olors we see this time of year. Try squeezing the colors above onto your paint pallet. Is it possible to create a painting that doesn't scream AUTUMN using these colors?

Self Portraits

Art I, II, and III students, you been creating different pictures of yourself and your family in very different styles so far this year.

We have used circles to represent your family.

We looked at Romare Bearden's collages.

Now you are creating self portraits with pencil and/or charcoal.

Which assignment feels like the most accurate portrayal of your subject? Can you give me three reasons that explain your answer?

Pushing into New Energy Range

I came across this Steven Hawking quote today from the October 11, 2008 issue of Science News.

We don't know what we will find when we run the LHC.
If we did, it wouldn't be worth spending all that time and money of doing the
experiment. The most exciting result would be something we don't expect. That
has often been our experience in the past when we have pushed our studies to a
new energy range.

-Steven Hawking told BBC on September 9, the day before
researchers successfully sent a beam of protons around the large hadron
collider's 27-kilometer tunnel.

Are there thing in your life that you are so devoted to that you "push your studies to a new energy range?"

Have you ever gotten so into an art or ceramics project that you felt like you had pushed yourself into that new range? Were the results predictable?