Part of the Art Journey

During my own personal journey of art, I have created paintings and drawings focused on a subject.  It seemed to be my safety net.  My first subject was the wolf.  I began drawing them in high school and found some comfort getting lost in drawing their fur.  I admired their strength, dedication to family, and their ability to maintain their individualism all while working together in a group.  In the start of college, I continued to paint them. 

While I began making my Mizzles, I fell in love with the Rapidograph technical pen.  It is my favorite drawing tool.  I discovered the book The Technical Pen by Gary Simmons, which inspired me to create my Randomness Series.  They began just as an exercise to practice with and pen and get over my fear of making mistakes. 

 

Then I began creating paintings of my Mizzles, which led to drawing trees and squirrels.  It is here where I've stayed in a safety net.  My entire illustrator's portfolio is strictly Mizzles.

I tried drawing kids, but it never felt quite right creating kid characters.  Perhaps it is because I was afraid to branch out of my comfort zone.  I began taking the Hero's Art Journey online course with Mira Reisberg at the beginning of June.  I had been feeling stuck with my illustrations and story.  This course came at the right time and it has been amazing.  Mira has developed a great online course that is simple for any person of any skill to follow and enjoy.  Each day is planned out with short articles to guide and inspire.  The other thing I love about the course is that we are encouraged to show our work, especially if it is still in progress. 

I wasn't completely sure what to expect from this course.  I figured if anything were to come from taking this course I would leave with new ideas and techniques to share with my students.  But I have received so much more.  Somehow and somewhere a little girl appeared in my artwork.  I'm not sure where she came from, but I have enjoyed seeing her appear and grow.

This is still in progress, but it's coming along.

There are 2 more weeks in the course.  I'm not sure if she will continue to show up in the next two paintings, but I'm happy she has appeared in these.

Random Thoughts Thursday- Changes

I didn't keep up with my blogging routine last week for a few reasons.
1)  I was packing up my classroom
2)  My classes were transitioning from ending one assignment and immediately jumping into another.
3)  I was trying to get the 2 murals and native plant garden that we have been working on since January closer   to completion
and
4)  I was being lazy and felt burned out from all of the changes that are happening.

I love my routine.  I love how reliable and predictable it is.  But I love change, too.  I love the newness it brings.  The past few years I've been feeling stuck in life (on and off).  As I've described in an early post, I felt like I was running really fast, but not moving anywhere.  I have been feeling burned out at work and have come to realize that next year will be my 10th year of teaching.  TEN YEARS!  That just blows my mind that it has been that long.  I still feel like I'm only in my 4th or 5th year.  But change comes at a great time. 

My classroom is room U-2, which I love because I love the band U2.  I have a Bono poster on my door welcoming my students to my classroom.  It is in a great location and is very large, but the storage is lacking.  Next year I'll be in a new room, which is bitter sweet, but I'm excited about the amount of storage I'm going to have.  Plus, my schedule is changing.  I'm a bit sad I'm giving up my intermediate/ advanced drawing class.  It is my baby that I've developed over the past 6 years, but it is time for a new challenge.  I'm trading in my class for intermediate/advanced/ AP studio art.  I feel a little nervous about this step, but I feel ready for it.  I'm going to have to make adjustments to the way I teach, especially since I was diving into illustration type lessons that coincided with my personal goals of illustrating.  I know I can make this work.  The future is beginning to look very exciting. 

The SCBWI summer conference has a great illustrator intensive this year about writing for illustrators, which is exactly what I need right now.  The yoga retreat inspired a new book idea and allowed me to finally let go of things that have been hindering me.  And I just received an email from Mira Reisberg saying I won a Skype critique with her!!!!   This is really exciting!  I have been using one of her children's book with my beginning students for years.  I love that my journey has connected me to her.  It makes the world so much smaller. :) I am also signed up for her online art course.  I just realized that it will begin on Monday.  She is having a sale on the course if you are interested.  Here is the link: 
www.herosartjourney.com

I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason.  Right now, it feels like all of the planets in my individual universe are aligning perfectly.  Could it be that after all of the tears, tough obstacles, nonstop hard work, and determination to keep moving forward that it is beginning to all pay off?  I go into all of this with an open mind with only one expectation: to come out of this a little bit wiser.

Recon mission

This seems to be a year of making decisions and research.  Last night was a fun evening of recon work with some illustrator gals.  We were scoping out some possibilities of showing our work.  The experience brought up a lot of questions about what we want and how we want to represent ourselves.  But it also got me thinking about my own personal goals. Today I went to a grant writing workshop, which ended up being a waste of my time.  It only resulted in more questions.  I have ideas... many ideas of what I would love to do.  But they are so scattered and I need to make decisions.  I would love to make a living being creative all day.  I know being an art teacher one would think I already have that, but I would love to make a living creating my own art.  I plan on continuing making art, illustrating, reading, and writing, but I need to do more research about the various avenues I'd like to go in.  There seem to be a lot of options and possibilities becoming available to me.  I just need to figure out which ones will be best for me.

2012

In 2011, I completed my master's degree which focused on integrated teaching through the arts.  Even though it was a masters in education, it led me in an unexpected direction.  Before the end of the program, I found myself entering the world of children's books writing and illustrating.  I became a member of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators.  Since then, my life has been engulfed by newsletters, blogs, books, and any other type of publication about writing and illustrating.  I have also began producing more work than I have in a very long time.  The year had ended with making the decision of participating in Novembers' PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and somehow finding 30 story ideas for children's book.  I'm not sure if they are any good, but it is definitely a start in the right direction.  I also sent in my entry for the Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award.  He chose an excerpt from “Chicken Licken,” by P.C. Asbjörnsen.  Here is what I entered for the excerpt:

So they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey
“Good morning, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Daddles, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny,
and Chicken Licken,” said Turkey Lurkey, “where are you going?”
“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling and we are going to tell the King!”
“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.
“Ducky Daddles told me,” said Goosey Loosey.
“Cocky Locky told me,” said Ducky Daddles.
“Henny Penny told me,” said Cocky Locky.
“Chicken Licken told me,” said Henny Penny 
“I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears,
and a piece of it fell on my tail!” said Chicken Licken.
“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey, “and we will tell the King!”

 Tomorrow the winner will be announced.  It is exciting, but I can't imagine how they are going to decide on the winner.  Through facebook we were able to share images of our entries.  There were so many wonderful illustrations.  Regardless of the outcome, I had a fun time creating this image. Now my next part of my journey begins with the 12x12 in 2012 challenge, maybe the picture book dummy challenge, and my own new year's resolution to create one quick illustration a day(starting tomorrow).  I just need to get into the practice of creating more movement in my drawings, which gesture drawings will help with.  So welcome 2012, a productive year of writing and illustrating!