Spring = baby squirrels

As you may have figured out, I am obsessed with squirrels.  I have always liked observing squirrels in parks, walks through UCLA campus, or on trips in other states.  But my obsession with squirrels ignited when I began writing my story. Now I can't help but do a girly squeal when I see one.  In addition, my family have begun to share this passion of mine.  There is a squirrel, who visits my parents' backyard on a regular basis.  Her name is Striker.  Originally we thought she was a boy until I got a photo of her standing on her hind legs.  It told us a different story.  We know it is her because of her brownish grey fur and bushy tail.  There are a few other squirrels who visit also, but they have smaller tails and run at the slightest sound. 

Well I noticed a while back that Striker looked bigger.  I mentioned to my family that I thought she was pregnant.  I was right!  Sunday, she brought her 3 little ones with her as we fed her.  They ran around the trees, and one another, and would stop and watch me feed their mom from a safe distance.  When I was done feeding her, she spent the rest of the day burying peanuts in the backyard.  The 3 little ones just played non-stop.  It was fascinating to just watch them.

LACMA

Yesterday was Friday the 13th.  Ever since my little sister was born on Friday the 13th, it has always been my favorite day and yesterday was just as great as any other.  In addition to another rain storm, I spent the day at the LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) with my very good friend.  There are not many people who I enjoy attending museums with because people seem to think that because I have a degree in art and teach art that I am going to the museum to be their personal tour guide.  I'm sorry, but I like to go to museums to look at the work; to learn about new and old artists; to gain curiosity about techniques; and most importantly, to be inspired!  But my friend is not one of those people who expect a personal tour.  She is the perfect museum partner who adds to my creative banter on how I think an artwork could have been improved, or what the next version should look like.  She dreams with me in a fun verbal banter in such a way that I'm sure people around us think we believe it could all come true.  I think every creative person in the world needs a friend like this.  They love the freedoms of the imagination and never try to stifle it with judgment and harsh criticism.  Everything is about problem solving, creativity, and how to make what seems impossible completely possible. 

Currently LACMA has a special exhibit on display: In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States.
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/in-wonderland

I love surrealism.  I love the detail and realism some of the paintings maintain with their odd scenes.  My favorite surrealists are Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, and the pop surrealist Mark Ryden.  But as with any art movement, it is told from the views of the male artists.  This exhibit demonstrated how women artists tackled the same movement, but a very different intention of the meaning in their work.  It was exciting to walk through the exhibit and see some of my favorite paintings in person.  I have had the privilege to see works of Frida Kahlo, but to see the works of Dorothea Tanning and Remedios Varo was pure delight!  To my surprise, this exhibit was allowed to be photographed as long as the flash was not used.  Usually special exhibits do not allow photography.  I wish I had known this ahead of time because I purposefully left my camera at home thinking this special exhibit was like the others. But thankfully, cell phone cameras are more advanced now.  On this blog are the paintings that captured me the most.  The exhibit ends May 6th, 2012.  If you get a chance, you should go! I highly recommend seeing this!

Meet Seamonkey

 

Seamonkey is a fun loving surfer girl.  She loves being in the water and making friends with different sea creatures.  Everyone loves her calm nature.  She never panics, even under pressure. When she is not in the water, she loves to spend her time on a swing, where she pretends she can fly.

Meet Anila

Anila was fun for me to make. I finally had a recipe for creating the Mizzles. I learned they turned out really fun and exciting when I used socks that had colorful patterns.  I have noticed that I'm really drawn to stripes when I'm creating Mizzles.

Anila is a busy bee.  She is always fluttering around Twinkling Treetop performing one task or another.  It is extremely rare to see her still in one place except around the bonfire when Buh-gee tells his stories.

Rain and Writing

I thought I could handle participating in the 12x12x12 and the pb dummy book challenges, but it has been challenging.  I have been able to keep up with writing one story a month, but I have fallen completely behind on the pb dummy challenge. I have realized that the story I want to create a dummy for doesn't feel quite right, yet.  Plus, I have just begun to figure out my writing routine.  So, I decided today I would sit in Starbucks and finish rewriting it.  This seemed to be a great idea until I sat down and realized how easily distracted I was by all of the people.  I sometimes forget my passion for people watching. It is just interesting to watch the movements, facial expressions, and reactions of strangers.  To notice the way they wear their clothes and hair and wonder who they are in this world... what is their story? I decided I should probably plug myself into my iPod and watch the rain for a few minutes before starting.  I listened to the inspirational rhythms of Bonobo as I watched the rain fall. Then I began writing.  It would flow easily for a few minutes and then I would stop, stare at the rain and watch the story play in my head.  Then I would write a little more.  I'm much happier with this version, although I feel like it needs polishing.  Before I left, I decided to take advantage of my creative mood and create my drawing for the day.  It is a scene from my story.

Book: A Daily Creative Journal

I bought a book called A Daily Creative Journal: Make Something Every Day And Change Your Life! It is a great book to explore your creative side.  It helps break through a creative block.  What attracted me to it was the possibility of using it in the classroom.  Before beginning spring break, I told my Intermediate and Advanced Drawing students they were going to have a homework assignment to complete over the break.  They freaked out a bit, but when I explained the project they were a bit curious.  I told them to choose a number between 1-365 and they had to create an artwork based on that prompt.  The artwork could be a painting, drawing, photo, sculpture, video as long as they brought in it or documented it to show me.  It could be made out of anything as well.  The whole point was to be creative and have as much fun as possible.  When they began hearing the prompts, they became eager to choose their own.  I opened up the same assignment to my beginning classes, but offered it to them as extra credit.  I'm a bit excited to see what they come up with.

Squirrels Read, too! Color version

This past week has been a very busy and hectic week with preparing and setting up our high school student art show, then to take it all down one day later.  But, somehow, I managed to finish a new piece.  I took my drawing from the Squirrel's Read, Too post and turned it into a color illustration.