Roldan's Haven

A little over a year ago, my 2 co-workers, our students, and myself create a native plant garden on our campus. It was many months of many long hours, but today it was totally worth it.  This month has been very stressful.  It seems to never end, and it continues to become more stressful as our visitations arrive.  Spending time in our garden has been one of my happy places this week.  It is amazing!  Everyday something new has bloomed.  And there are ladybugs EVERYWHERE!!!!  I have finally caved in and signed up for instagram (mizzleadventures).  As I have been taking photos and posting them, I had decided to tag the location "Roldan's Haven."  It is a wonderful place to be. Here are a bunch of photos I've taken these past few days:

Mini Challenge

The La Habra Art Gallery is displaying their Small and Miniature Show this month.  Art work has to be 8x10 or smaller.  It seemed like a fun challenge.  I began with my blank wooden nesting dolls.  I had bought them over a year ago.  I never drew on them because I was afraid to mess up.  But I ended up having a lot of fun drawing on them. I used pencil and a rapidograph pen.  The ink began to bleed in some areas, so I coated the wood with a light layer of gel medium.  That seemed to help.

I always seems to have odd sized canvases in my home and decided to draw on a small 4"x 4" square.  This is the 2nd piece I did for the show.  I wanted to include a drawing of all of the main Mizzles that I love to draw.  After finishing the drawing on the top, I began to draw on the sides.  The entire canvas is drawn with a rapidograph pen and ink.  

The last piece I created is my favorite and from the amount of "likes" on Facebook, it seems others feel the same.   The canvas is 12"x4".  I drew this illustration onto watercolor paper and used Derwent Inktense pencils and Prismacolor Watercolor pencils to color it.  Then I used Gel medium to adhere it to the canvas.  I was a bit surprised to hear that it won 3rd place.  The work in the gallery tends to be more traditional.  I like showing my work, so I never expect to win any awards when entering the group shows.  But I'm delighted about the award!  It makes me feel like I'm definitely headed down the right path.

Firmoo

It was 6th grade when I had to begin wearing glasses.  At that time I was a little too big to wear the children's frames, but still too small for the adult frames.  I remember having to go with these pink Mickey Mouse glasses because they were the only ones that fit my face well enough.  I hated them.  One, they were pink and I was never really a "pink" girl.  Two, there was a Mickey Mouse face on the sides of the glasses.  When you are in middle school, it is the transition of not being a little kid anymore, so that made me feel very child-ish.  I was very self conscious wearing glasses and only wore them in class to read the bored.  But the moment I didn't need them I immediately took them off.

In high school, I still refused to wear my glasses all of the time even though I had transitioned into frames that were more appropriate for my age.  But now that I'm an adult, all of the concern about how people see me seems pointless.  Not that I'm unaffected by what people think about me, I think it is just human nature for it to impact us a little.  I am just more concerned about how I see myself.   And I love wearing my glasses!  I do wish I could wear contacts for some instances, but I've come to terms with the fact that I can't.

So, imagine the amount of joy I had when Firmoo asked me to try their glasses and write a review!  I was extremely excited about choosing new frames!  In the past, I have always bought my glasses from Kaiser or Lenscrafters, which means I would spend close to $400 on prescription glasses. Ordering online was a different experience and a bit frightful because I am responsible for entering in all of my information.  But, I enjoyed the process of ordering my glasses online from Firmoo.  They have a really easy to use format.  Plus, you can upload a photo of yourself and select glasses to try on digitally. Or you can use one of the photos they provide.  They provide easy and simple to read steps throughout.  Again, normally I spend about $400 on my glasses, but the glasses from Firmoo would have costed me somewhere from $33-$86, without taxes and shipping, depending on the type of lenses I chose.  I, especially, loved the service they provided.  Immediately after placing my order, they contacted me about my glasses prescription to verify it.  I was feeling a bit unsure about ordering my prescription glasses online, but I felt more assured about receiving the correct prescription after talking to them about what I was reading on my eyeglasses prescription.

As for my glasses, I call this new pair my nerdy glasses!  I have never been so happy to live in time when looking nerdy can be considered fashionable!  :) My glasses are light and fit snuggly on my face.  I like them a lot. I do, however, wish there was an option to purchase those UV Transition lenses that darken when you go outside.  I do love that about my old pair of glasses.  I never had to switch from my glasses to sunglasses.

Overall, I am extremely happy with Firmoo's product.  I am actually thinking of buying another pair...or perhaps get some sunglasses!

Here is my latest look!

I recommend you try out Firmoo, especially if you have kids or teens who lose their glasses all of the time because they were like me, who felt insecure about wearing them.  Glasses are never cheap, but you won't be spending quite as much having to replace them.

Merge Conference

This past weekend I attended a women's conference called Merge.  It was a place for us to discover our passions and figure out a way for us to "merge" them with a career or business we will love and be passionate about.

To be completely honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the conference.  It wasn't horrible and I don't feel like I wasted my time, but I don't feel enlightened or enthusiastic about it either.  I feel like the conference was truly meant for someone who was unhappy in their current career and needed help figuring out how to transition into a meaningful creative career.  I am not in that position. One, I love my current career as a high school Visual Arts teacher.  It is through my search of creating fun, interesting, and inspirational assignments where I find my own personal inspiration.  I might have mentioned it in a previous blog, but I often times inspire me instead of my students...who my hard work and research is intended for.  Two, I have somewhat of an idea of what I want to do next or in addition to my current career.  I'm just looking too closely at the bigger picture that I frighten myself with all of the possibilities and/or I'm just very exhausted at the moment from being the "rock", the "glue", or the "strength" for the people around me.  I'm tired of taking on projects for other people and making their visions come to fruition.  I need a break to recharge my batteries, and then I can go full steam in my own projects.  Or that is what I'm hoping for.  At the current moment, I look at my list of commitments and am realizing that might be happening for a little while.

I loved that the conference was just for women.  That created a safe environment for everyone to share and not be judged.  Everyone was extremely supportive and seemed to instantly become friends.  I didn't like the conversation of male v. female.  It seemed that many women had a difficult time working with or communicating with males.  I sat there thinking "I LOVE WORKING WITH MY GUYS!!!! THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!"  But maybe it is because the group of men I have surrounded myself with are supportive and trusting where they have no problem taking direction from me because I trust them to do their best as they do in return.  I have learned to not be afraid to ask for help, and I learned to accept the best people can give me, or to utilize their strengths.  I never ask people to do something they don't already do. If I do, I attempt the task with them and solve the problems together.

I didn't learn anything in particular that I didn't already know about myself, but the conference did reinforce what I already knew and made me realize I need to get over my fear and begin in small steps.  I did find it interesting to people watch.  That probably sounds really horrible or judgmental, but I enjoy observing people interaction.  I found it fascinating that some women cried when sharing.  I know people do this, but it always amazes me when people are so happy or overwhelmed by appreciation that they cry.  I have never experienced it, so I don't truly understand it.  It does fascinate me.  It makes me wonder "why"?  Did they grow up around people who never believed in them?  Were they never told they were smart, creative, fun, beautiful, or wonderful? It's a little sad to think about, but it does occur. 

I feel like being an artist helps me be the survivor I am.  Diving into my art is what helped me when I felt lost in life.  It helped me rediscover myself and figure out where I'm going next.  It has taken me on this incredible journey that seems to always lead back to a specific thing.  There was a woman in one of my groups who felt like she knew her passions, talents, and what she would like to do with them, but didn't know exactly what that career or business would look like.  Some of the others felt like her journey to discovery wasn't done.  My recommendation was to embrace her "inner child" to play and explore the areas that she wanted to make a difference in, but for herself.  Through her exploration for herself, she will discover what she is meant to create or do; and to know that when things look or feel wrong it is okay to stop and move on to something else.  Mistakes are good.  I shared with them the conversations I had been having with my AP students about the good, bad, and ugly art.  Everyone in my group seemed to agree with me about this process.  It seemed like a foreign new idea to a few, but I think it is because I'm trained to think and process in this particular way.

Nevertheless, the weekend provided an interesting experience.  I'm still not convinced I learned anything in particular to benefit me, but perhaps I just need more time to process it all.

The Good, Bad and the Ugly

I feel like I have either written about this topic, or I have wanted to in the past, but never got around to it. But I believe there is a lot of value in creating bad art.  I feel I learn more from a piece that went wrong than one that turned out well. And part of us having the desire to create is usually in search of discovery... a new technique, a new style, enlightenment on problems we are trying to deal with, or discovering a new passion that engulfs us in the need to be creative.

Lately, it seems I have been having this conversation more and more with my students. Being a high school art teacher has it benefits.  It makes me reflect on my own personal beliefs in my own art and what I am teaching my students.  Sometimes they are not exactly the same thing.  I have noticed my teaching style and beliefs have changed since my journey has begun.  I believed that it was only about create great pieces of work, or building up to that.  Within the last few years, I have begun to transition on the importance of play, experimenting with materials, and just drawing no matter what it looks like. 

Today, one of my AP studio art students asked me about my education background and how did I end up teaching.  She began telling me that she doesn't think she is a good artist and that she can't see herself drawing her whole like.  I explained to her that her feelings are of a true artist.  I don't think any of us ever think we are good enough.  It really takes a lot of effort for us to stand back, look at our work, and notice what we have done right.  I told her that I feel as though she has found that medium, or technique, or subject matter that lights that fire of creativity within her and drives her to mass produce.  I don't think she'll never draw her whole life.  She has lots of talent.  This might not become a career for her, but I think she will continue with it as a hobby.  I shared with her how at one point in my life I felt unbelievably lost in life, where I didn't even recognize myself in the mirror.  I told her it didn't feel sad. It felt empty.  Art saved me from that feeling.  I began creating and creating more.  I explained to her that I have many pieces of work that are never finished, or turn out really bad.  I just keep producing work.  I have an openness to ideas and trying new techniques, which allows me to just play with my work.  If I stop creating for 2 weeks that empty feeling comes back and I begin to feel lost again.  But now that I've been creating more and more work, I have fewer pieces that turn out absolutely horrible. 

I know she doubts herself and as we get closer to the AP portfolio due date I continually try to get her motivated.  I told her that she needs to just keep producing work, collecting images of animals, or things she likes, and to just trust her and create.  And in that mass production of work, there will be art work that is horrible, ugly, okay, and absolutely beautiful!  But it takes making a lot of work before the beautiful begins to show up more than the ugly work. 

Here are a few unfinished or unhappy artwork that now occupy parts of my home until I decide to finish them or throw them out.

Happy Valentine's Day

Just a quick drawing for today!  Happy Valentine's Day from all of the Mizzle to you!!!!

Miniature March

The La Habra Art Gallery is going to have a Small and Miniature Art Show during the month of March.  I've been excited about the prospects of this show.  This was a just an idea in case one of our scheduled shows fell through.  It's been that kind of experience working with the La Habra Art Association.  I think things are starting to come together though.  Each time we meet, there is a bit of energy and excitement with small new ideas.  I have had this set of blank nesting dolls for a few years.  I have always wanted to paint on them, but I never have. I think part of it was fear of messing them up and having to coat the entire surface.  I really love seeing the grain of the wood.

Outer most nesting doll

So I took the leap of faith and began drawing on them with pencil.  I ran into the problem of smudging the pencil as I drew around the form.  I decided to ink the lines with my rapidograph, which some areas bled a little.  I should have prepped each surface with a thinned layer of gel medium.  That would have solved all of my problems.  Regardless of the small obstacles, I am happy with how they are turning out.  At some point, I have to decide whether to color or not to color. 

2nd nesting doll, next level down