A moment for pre-convention reflections

I apologize, faithful readers.  I haven't posted in a while.  My DragonWing Arts art enrichment business went on unplanned hiatus this fall, when my former students suddenly had too many conflicts, and I had only one enrollment for a planned fun fall program.  With no students, I haven't had much I've wanted to post.  I am disappointed, but hopefully my business will improve.  But nevertheless, I've kept really busy. 

I love the fall, and have been outside whenever possible.  The top two photos are from a walk on the bike path along a canal, not far from my home. 

We've been back and forth to Cape Cod to see my brother's new home, and to Boston to see my son's new apartment (the two photos above are from the drive home), and I've been raking leaves, and last week, on a couple of lovely fall days, we spent a little time at our camp where I kayaked alone on a totally empty lake.  (Empty of boats and people, that is.  There was a pair of loons on the lake.)  The autumn colors may be gone, but the quiet lake is still beautiful.

Meanwhile - a few days ago, I went to the driveway to get into my car, and looking across at the neighbor's driveway and the pile of raked leaves at the end of it, I saw this cutie below.

But anyhow...

I haven't just been 'playing' outside.  I've also been prepping madly for the coming weekend, when I head to Rochester for our annual state convention.  My art studio is a total disaster, filled with boxes holding the supplies and handouts for the four workshops I'll be teaching, and materials for the "Bling Your Badge" table that I'm in charge of, and supplies for the Saturday night Partici-Paint activity. 

All of this means, of course, that I should have lots of artsy stuff to tell you about when I return at the end of the weekend!  See you then!

Autumn interlude, and an art lesson too!

This is an interlude from my usual posts, but if you read to the end, there's still an art lesson to share!  And I'll share some photos from the past couple of weeks. 

Autumn is my favorite season; I love the lipstick reds, vibrant oranges, glowing yellows, and more, of peak fall color in my part of the country.

 I love the fog on the lake on a crisp morning, and water with barely a ripple.

I love the amber glow of light, and the brassy/coppery look everywhere when the leaves start to brown, especially when the sunlight is just right.  

I love crisp fresh air and wearing cuddly sweaters and scarves, and I love the sound of leaves crunching under my feet, and milkweed seeds flying about.

 And I love interesting surprises, like these yellow berries.  Or are they bubbles?

I love the rich color after a chilly rain, and the smell of hot cider or squash soup.  

And another smell today, as my husband cut down the garden - the chives let loose a delightful oniony - garlicky smell that was totally unexpected.  It made me want to cook!  He does most of the yard work, but I like to rake, and sometimes I'm inspired to have an Andy Goldsworthy moment.

You can get imaginative in the woods.

Case in point, the Jabba the Hut tree roots below.

And I promised a lesson.  You will have to use your imagination, because this is one project I do not have photos of.  I always liked having my students create autumn landscapes or leaf collages, and we've used various mediums. But my favorite for autumn using sponge painting, because  you can so closely re-create the look of autumn leaves.

I cut sponges into 1" or 2" chunks, and "grabbed" each one with a clothespin.  These become paint stampers and spreaders.  I mixed tempera paint into various autumn colors - no colors straight out of the bottle; I would pre-mix varieties of red-orange, yellow-orange, olive green, yellow-green, ochre, tan, amber, and red-violet (yes, some trees turn this color) and put little paper muffin cups of these colors on the tables.  (Disposable after the mess is done!)

The students could further mix these colors by dipping a stamper in more than one color.  Sometimes we might draw tree trunks and ground with crayon and then stamp our leaves.  Other times we might stamp pages full of leaf colors, and then cut them out to collage.  Or we might paint watercolor sky and water, stamp leaves/trees along the shore, and fold horizontally to create a reflection of the colors in the water. 

There are so many possibilites, but sponge painting is one of the easiest for autumn leaves.  At the end of class, the mini sponges all go into a bucket, and are replaced with another set of sponges for the next class.  At the end of the day, soak the sponges in the bucket, and find some student who wants to rinse and squeeze.  It is so wonderfully messy, the kids will fight over the job!  They don't have to be perfectly clean.  Let them dry, and put them away to use another day!

 Autumn colors are fleeting; if you live in an area that is as glorious as it is here, the students will be excited to represent them, and the projects can be completed in one or two art classes.  Do you have favorite autumn lessons?

Busy girl; random thoughts on painting prep and more

I've been busy, and as a result have been a very bad blogger.  

'Gulliver' - installation at SUNY New Paltz

I may be retired, but somehow I seem to fill up my calendar ridiculously fast.  Between teaching my weekly after school class (I currently have just three students), and enjoying the magnificent autumn, and prepping for four (yes, four; I'm insane) workshop presentations at my state conference next month, and working on sewing projects and beading projects, attending meetings for this and that, and prepping and freezing the remnants of our garden, and attending my 40th college reunion, and subbing a couple of days ago for the gal who replaced me, it's a wonder I have any time to do anything else, but, on top of it all, today I attended my first Beginner's Yiddish class (and I think I'm in WAY over my head), and somehow I still find time to eat too much, sleep (not enough), read, watch trashy reality TV, exercise (once in a while, anyhow), and figure out how to use my new laptop.

Below, a few views of SUNY New Paltz, my alma mater, 40 years after graduating

Wow.  I'm tired just re-reading what I wrote in the run-on sentence/paragraph above.   If you didn't quit reading after the exhausting first paragraph, I actually do have some things to share.

 

 Above and below, views from the Tang Museum at Skidmore College.  That's me above wearing stripes.  The cups in the pool made awesome sounds as they bumped into each other.  And the work below?  Look at all those matches!  Cool, or what?!?

Anyhooo  - A couple of days ago I subbed in my former classroom.  She warned me ahead of  time that her schedule is so crazy that she was afraid that after I subbed once I would never return.  And yes, the day was pretty zany, but I had a great time and will be happy to come back.  My former students treat me like a celebrity when they see I'm in the room, even after 2 years.  But when I came home, I felt half dead.  My voice was shot, and so were my feet.  Luckily, we had reservations at the local dinner-and-a-movie place, where we saw The Judge (excellent) and had a nice dinner while we watched, that I did not have to cook. 

But about subbing - I'm prepping a workshop for the NAEA conference in New Orleans this spring, called Designing Your Program to Say Yes to the Mess (or something like that).  My subbing day definitley helped remind me of certain points I will be sure to make.

• First is what I call 'curriculum choreography'.  Sequence your day and year to make it easier for you to manage the materials of a multiple art classes/grade levels/projects.  For example, while it may SEEM to make sense to have everyone painting on the same day (after all, the brushes and paints are already out), it's really a BAD idea.  Your drying rack will be full with no place to put the wet work after a few classes.  So mix up your day with some grade levels painting and others using dry media that don't require the drying space.  Same thing goes for sculptural work.  If everyone is building something 3-D at the same time, where will you put them?  Mix it up!
• Second, remember that not everyone who paints needs to use a brush that needs to be washed. Paint with old sponge bits, Q-tips, cardboard scraps, cotton balls, and other things that can be tossed in the trash.  Or, if everyone needs to use a brush, put just one color or color family on each table, with brushes that stay with them.  Limit the color choices for the kids to use, or rotate them to different tables.  Brush washing only has to be done when all classes using the paint are done.  And then, make sure the kids wipe the excess paint off the brush and put them into a soaking bucket.
• Maintain a sense of humor.  Spills happen.  But, when the kindergarten students were using liquid watercolors to paint over their crayon pumpkin drawings, I should have thought to put the cups of paint into little trays (I like those little flat black dishes from TV dinners) on each table.  Then, when the paint got knocked over, as it did on 3 tables out of 5, the paint would have gone into the tray, instead of all over the table, and none would have been wasted.  Duh!  I guess I was a little rusty and forgot to do this!

Please note - I do realize my day of subbing was not 'typical'.  Most people do not leave plans for a sub that include four totally different painting projects, each using completely different paints, plus one collage project incorporating sequins and jewels.  But my sub knows me, and knows that I'm  willing and capable, and much prefer this to showing videos all day.  (Yuck.)  At the end of the day, the drying artwork was organized, the paintbrushes were clean (not by me; some early finishing 5th graders volunteered and did exactly what I asked), the tables were clean, and I think the art teacher was satisfied and appreciative.

At the Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs NY

Wow.  I'm tired out from reading what I've written, so I'll show you a few fall photos, and sign off.  In a day or two, I'll be able to share two fun projects done by my DragonWing Art students!  In the meantime, this is enough, I hope, to convince you I'm still blogging. 

 Above and the two pics below are the Betar Walkway/Bikeway along the Hudson River, just a few miles from my home.  The river is just to the left of me in these three photos.  That's hubs in the green jacket.  He evidently doesn't realize that I've stopped to take pictures (which I think I do about every 20 steps).

 

And a little 'wildlife' along the walkway...

my little slice of heaven

I have been a lazy blogger.   I am not ready with an art post, so to appease you, I'm going to post about my lake.  You've seen it here before, and will see it again.

view of town beach from my kayak

I've been smitten with lakes most of my life.  My first teaching job was near the shore of Lake Champlain, and it was there that, besides spending summers swimming and sunning, I also learned to windsurf and became a certified scuba diver, both activities which I enjoyed for many many years.

lake panorama, from kayak

When I first met my husband, and he told me he had this 'camp' on Loon Lake (one of many such named lakes), I was very excited, because it was at the same lake where my family vacationed many summers, and where I first swam, and where I first rowed a rowboat by myself.  Lo an behold, his property turned out to be a stone's throw from where my family used to vacation!  I can walk or swim there!

abstract ripples, as viewed from my lounge chair on dock

For many years, I poked around the shoreline in a little inflatable boat, or a canoe, until my son went to boy scout camp and came home telling us he wanted a kayak.  We bought one second-hand, and that is the kayak I have used extensively ever since.  We still have the canoe, and another kayak, and also a cute little rowboat that my husband likes to use.

 Above, a lone loon.  We have several loons currently on the lake, and it is always magical to hear them and see them.  For those of you curious about the fate of the loon with the fishing line in his mouth, the answer is simply "I don't know."  The loon expert was unable to locate and rescue him, and I haven't seen him again, but just a few days ago a neighbor told us he was still around, and had been diving and feeding.  So - fingers crossed that he is able to survive.

Loons - we awoke the other morning to their haunting calls!

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks ago, in my kayak, I was daydreaming and recalling a trip to Alaska many years ago, where they told us to always look for 'white golf balls' in the trees.  That's how to spot eagles!  So, while daydreaming, I casually looked up above me, and this is what I saw:

 A half hour later, I was relaxing in my kayak at the marsh at the end of the lake, when a huge shadow passed over me.  The great blue heron landed nearby, and here he is:

Anyhow, here's a few more recent pictures of 'my' lake. 

 This is my favorite time of year - autumn in the Adirondacks is beautiful!

These photos, by the way, are NOT edited.  It's really this pretty here!  I can't locate any photos, but I always loved doing elementary color-mixing art projects in the fall, because none of the colors we see are 'straight out of the bottle colors'.  We'd sponge-paint leaves, and reflections, trying to mix the varieties of gold, amber, ochre, red, burgundy, olive, mustard, tomato, and so much more, that we see all around us.

A few days ago, we hiked up nearby Stewart's Mountain, an easy climb.  Here's a couple of views of my lake from the top of the climb.

 And finally, a couple of weeks ago, before the colors started changing -