Random Thoughts Thursday

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga!  I am so excited for this weekend.  My first yoga retreat! I am not allowed to bring any electronic devices, so my Sunday Agglomeration post will show up late Sunday evening, or Monday morning.  But I hope to have many photos and drawings to share!

Okay, back to my story.  For as long as I can remember, I have always been a runner.  I mean, my parents' favorite story to tell is about how I was 4 or 5 and started jogging 1 mile on Sunday mornings with my dad.  Their favorite and most detailed part of the story is about my blue jogging suit and my running shoes.  Running has been an on and off again form of exercise for me.  I was never a fast runner, but I have great endurance.  In high school, I ran long distance track and cross country.  I had stopped running for a long time.  Somewhere in my life I found myself in a relationship that encouraged laziness.  There were also some events that had happened which caused me to become unhappy with myself and I just didn't care.  Actually, I never realized that I stopped caring until I left that relationship.  I was at my heaviest weight and felt insecure in my own body.  As part of my personal journey to rediscover myself, I needed to feel healthy and happy again.  I began by taking a fitness kickboxing class.  I took this class for a little over 2 years.  I loved it.  But I started running again.  Things were going great until I did one of the moves in fitness kickboxing and pulled a muscle in my lower back. This put me out of commission for a month and when I slowly tried to go back to my routine, I would re-injure myself.  I was miserable.  I began walking.  Then, I received an email from Livingsocial.com about an offer for yoga classes at Freeman Yoga (http://www.freemanyoga.com/). Now, I was one of those people who did think yoga would feel like workout, or made the typical "om ..." meditation jokes that are made by people who only know yoga as how it is portrayed onTV.  But at this point, I thought yoga would be great to help strengthen my back muscles.  My goal was to strengthen my back muscles so I could return to running.  I admit my first yoga class was awkward.  I felt so out of place.  People are grabbing blocks, blankets, and belts.  People were stretching in silence.  There was a small group of people who were talking, but it was extremely quiet.  And as a notorious people watcher, I felt so on the spot because it was completely obvious I was people watching! But something amazing happened, I left class feeling relaxed and encouraged in a way I have never felt before.  Also, I never realized how I clenched my shoulders when doing various activities.  When I began, I had this small bulge that stuck out of my sports bra around the back of my neck.  It was more noticeable when I wore my bikini.  After a few months, it disappeared.  I noticed I would pay more attention to how I held my posture while standing, sitting, and walking.  With every class, I became more flexible and often times would surprise myself when I attempted a more challenging pose.  My body had changed so much.  I am stronger than I have been in a long time.  I can run again, too!  I haven't been running every day as I did before, but I have been participating in 5k's and I ran one 8k.  People notice and mention the changes they see in me.  I see the physical changes, but I think the emotional ones are the most important.  I love the way I feel!

At Freeman Yoga, there are different instructors and they each have their own style.  They are all great, but there are only a few that I absolutely love.  I think it is the energy they bring to the class. My favorite instructors are Jennie, Denise, Samantha, and Glen.   Of those, I enjoy Samantha's classes the most.  I think it is because of her personality.  She is like an artist with her medium.  She likes to play and explore with her poses.  I truly respect this being and artist.  I also understand it.  She is encouraging, but she also encourages you to laugh and have fun...especially when you fall out of a pose.  This makes it very non-threatening for a beginner.  I have learned quickly to trust her.  She guides you through each pose giving you great detail verbally how to move, and what the pose should feel like.  Usually by the end of our practice, I feel like superwoman because of the many challenging poses she guides us through.  Last week, we did the splits.  I have never in my life been able to do the splits, but I trusted Samantha would guide me into it successfully.  I was pleasantly surprised how close I was to doing the full splits.  My favorite part of her practice is the reading.  She reads a passage or quote from a book at the beginning and end of the practice.  She somehow always picks a theme that has been on my mind that day or week.  It resonates deeply with me, which creates a further calm in me because it is like the universe is reminding me that everything is going to work itself out.  If you ever get a chance to take her class, I high recommend it.  Here are a few of her websites:

http://www.yoginisam.com/
http://www.shantishantiyoga.com/

This weekend she is hosting a yoga retreat.  It presented itself at a time where I needed to do something for myself.  Three days in Santa Barbara doing yoga with one of my closest friends ,one of my favorite yoga instructors, and new friends.  I'm so excited!  I have a feeling I'm going to be refreshed and inspired in a much needed way!  I am taking sketchbooks, colored pencils, watercolor pencils, glue sticks, scissors... my usual creative kit.  I might take a Mizzle with me...or buy socks there to make a Mizzle from this trip.

Influences-Maurice Sendak

Now that I'm deeper in my journey of illustrating and writing, I wish my grandma was still around so I could thank her.  I have always known the impact she has had on who I am, but I don't think I truly acknowledged that she is the essence of my creative existence.  Without her, I would have never been influenced, inspired, or encouraged to be the creative being I am.  She exposed me to a variety of art and activities to build my creative skills.  She introduced me to Claude Monet, but she introduced me to Maurice Sendak first.

 When everyone hears his name they immediately associate it with his book Where the Wild Things Are. Oddly, this is not my first thought.  I don't remember reading that book until my sister was born, although I'm pretty sure someone in my family read it to me.  I do remember looking through her book The Art of Maurice Sendak. It was, and still is, my favorite book to look through.  These were my favorite pages to look at:

When I was in middle school, my grandma bought me his book, Dear Mili. I loved his illustrations, but I admit I didn't appreciate the story.  It wasn't until a few years ago, when my grandma passed away that I went back and read it.  I cried, partly, because I love my grandma so much, but partly because the story was so beautiful.

 This is my favorite illustration from the book.

A little something to watch.

Sunday Agglomeration- Mother's Day

This is a painting I began.  I was feeling inspired and am letting the canvas speak to me.  I have no plan or idea of where this will go.

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  Make sure to hug and kiss your mother for giving you life!  My mom is pretty amazing.  She is my best friend and we always manage to have lots of laughs.   My younger sister and I are cooking her a wonderful lunch!  In addition to that, I made her this painting.  It is a mixed media collage of my grandma.  It will go with her collection of family drawings I've done over the years for her.

Mixed Media collage I made for my mom. There are photos of my grandma.  The two flowers are ones we saved from her memorial service.

I decided to frame this piece and give it to my aunt.  She is an amazing single mother, who was a big influence in my life.  She is a very strong woman and this kind of reminded me of her.

Also, I had a student ask if I could make a Mizzle for his mom for Mother's day.  I named her Rufaro. 

Rufaro means exuberance and joy. 
She is like the Energizer Bunny, who never seems to stop.
She is from Africa, but likes to tell people she is from Narnia.
Always on the go, she loves to finish any incomplete job.
She spends a lot of time as a conflict mediator
 on most elementary school play grounds,
where her Ph.D. in pig latin comes in handy.
 In her free time, she enjoys typing with her eyes closed
 and tap dancing in bathrooms.

This week we suffered the passing of Maurice Sendak, who is a major influence on the children's book world.  I don't think any person can say they haven't experienced Where the Wild Things Are.  As I contemplated what to draw this week, I began to think "what if the Wild Things and the Mizzles were friends?"  And this is what happened:

Wild Things and Mizzle sleeping

Wild Thing and Mizzle sharing ice cream

Here the Wild Thing is teaching a Mizzle how to flap its arms

 There must be something in the water! Or it is just that time of the year when students begin to act out.  It has been an upsetting week.  I had students who decided they were not going to work, or decided to walk out of class early.  Again, there must be something in the water because it wasn't just my group of "lovelies" who were acting out.  There is an epidemic going on.  Let the count down begin: 25 more school days before finals!

This is how I felt...or possibly what I looked like

Random Thoughts Thurdays- Mistakes

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
-Scott Adams

That is my favorite quote. But in my class, I like to call mistakes in art "happy accidents."  When you are able to allow your creative mind to be free to explore various possibilities, then you are limited by nothing; not even by a so called mistake.  It is easy for us to get caught in the details of a drawing or painting and attempting to be as accurate as possible.  I see this happen to my students all of the time, especially when faced with an abstract or loose style drawing assignment.  A panic attack almost occurs because they don't know how to just let go and embrace the "not knowing" feeling.  

I discovered a cute little book called Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg, which has enhanced my Ink Blot assignment.  I love this book and how interactive it is. 

I had my Intermediate/ Advanced Drawing class sit in front of me on the floor and I read to them. We talk about how it feels to make mistakes in art.  I explain that weith a flexible mind, an artwork can often times be saved.  The day before school starts I take a bunch of cards and drip, splatter, and spill ink onto them. This is the fun part for me. I've contemplated taking tea bags or coffee to stain them, but I always forget and stick to the ink.  After reading the book and showing them a few other images that were created from ink blots, I lay out the cards and have them pick the one that "calls to them."  They are to turn it into a fun drawing.  There are no rules about what they can draw.  Secretly, this is my test of their imagination.  After looking at their results, I can usually tell who will struggle with assignments that are based strongly on ideas.

Here are some of their Ink Blot Drawings:

I feel people fear making art because they fear making mistakes.  They look and compare themselves to others, which is only a good thing when you are using them as inspiration, not a measuring stick. In general, mistakes are critical in life.  You learn to recover from the mistakes, but you also learn how to not make the same ones. I'm going to be 33 this year and lately I have been looking back at my life...mistakes included.  I like who I have become.  I know that without the mistakes I've made along the way I would not be where I am now. 

Embrace the mistake!

Influences- Claude Monet

Claude Monet is one of the first artists I can remember learning about.  I remember spending time with my grandmother and looking through her art books.  There was one we loved to look through a lot, which was A Day in the Country. 

Terrace at Sainte-Adresse, 1867 was my favorite Monet painting to look at in the book.   This painting for some reason was burned into my memory.  I liked it because it was very realistic looking instead of the impressionistic look.  Even at a young age I was fascinated with a more realistic style.

Claude Monet
Terrace at Sainte-Adresse, 1867

My love for Impressionism continued to grow and I remember doing reports about Georges Seurat in middle school.  But my love of Monet was permanent on my first visit to New York.  I went to MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and saw one of his water lily paintings.  It was massive and as you sit and look at it, you become consumed by the serenity and calmness of the colors.  From that moment on, any time I was in New York, I had to go to MOMA and sit in front of the Monet. 

Then in 2008, I had gone to Paris.  It was my first trip to Europe.  It was a beautiful city and I was excited to see all of the graffiti art.  Then I stumbled upon the Orangerie Museum, which houses 8 water lily paintings.  They were massive and beautiful! I remember being a bit sad because my camera batteries were dying.  But I managed to get in some photos. I think I also bought every book they had in the gift shop about the paintings.  If you ever get a chance to see one in person, I recommend finding a place to sit in the middle of the painting and just stare.  

Sunday Agglomeration

I'm surprised how I managed to work on my own art this week, considering how tired I've felt. I wasn't able to complete a drawing a day, but that is because I worked on a few other things.

Here are some of the drawings I did this week:

Here are some Shrink-A-Dink Mizzles I created:

Before shrinking

After Shrinking

And lastly, I am working on an in progress watercolor piece. This week I was worked on the water. I am using watercolor pencils for the entire piece.

Random Thoughts Thursdays

Sketches of students faces while testing.
They all looked so miserable.

 I figured in my quest to reorganize my blog I would need a day to rant about something not related to my art directly.  So, Thursdays have been designated "Random Thoughts Thursdays."

This week has been exhausting, and people who know me are probably thinking "When are your weeks not exhausting?"  True, I take on a lot of different activities, or extremely huge projects that consume me.  But this week was the week I have dreaded all year...state testing week!  It is so exhausting.  This year, we tested students in our own classrooms instead of corralling them into the gym.  I actually liked having my students in my class and administering the test wasn't so horrible. What surprised me was how draining and exhausting it was to watch students take tests for 3 hours!  I can only imagine how my students felt after taking their tests.  A friend of mine compared administering the test to watching grass grow or paint dry.  It is so true! I do have to say my kids were rock stars!  They didn't complain or rush through the exams.  They seemed to take it seriously and do the best they could. 

I am not a fan of state testing.  I think it is ridiculous to judge student learning from a multiple choice test.  Everyone has a different style of learning: visual, auditory, or kinetic.  If we learn in these styles, why are we testing knowledge that doesn't address them?  With all of the studies that have been done, you would think there would be a better method.   But we are creatures of habit, and to make such a change would be a difficult one to maneuver.  It is just disheartening to see the arts get pushed aside because test scores are low, or due to budget cuts. *SIGH* But I'm beginning to get into a topic that becomes depressing for me, so I'll stop here.

In addition to testing week, we had our awards ceremony, The Golden Bear, on Wednesday night.  The Golden Bear Awards show is where departments select students who demonstrate great skill, knowledge and passion.  Any grade level can be nominated.  My colleague/guy best friend and I present the Golden Bear Award for the Visual Arts Department. We are second to LAST to present and by the time we get to the stage everyone has checked out.  It is a little sad, so for the past 3 years we have done something to liven things up.  The first year we wore masks of the other 2 art teachers' faces.  We got a few laughs for that one.  I can't remember what we did last year.  But this year, we made our winner a very colorful crown!  We do these things in hopes that they will get tired of our antics and put us at the beginning of the show to get us out of the way.  But I think they look forward to what we might do.  Even though it is always during an exhausting week, or around the testing schedule, it is always nice to see the kids get dressed up and walk on stage.  We have so many talented students!


I would say I'm looking forward to the week almost being over, but this weekend proves to be just as busy.  At least I will be able to sleep in a little bit...hopefully!