Friday, April 29, 2011

A Note of Thanks...


to my senior art student, Breeana Johng, for this lovely wedding card that she made for Jim and I. It is the most thoughtful gift you could have given us. And the heartfelt words you wrote inside touched me deeply. Thank you for this very special gift. Love you!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Green Scene 2011


Two weekends ago my son Zach and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Fullerton Arboretum for it's crazy, wonderful plant sale. There were plants from all over the world, a lot of exotics that you can't find at our local nurseries, so Zach and I were in hog heaven. There was also an amazing selection of fruit trees and vegetables.

But it was the flowers that really caught my eye, as well as the community gardens.

For my Mother's Day gift, Zach bought me two gorgeous bearded iris starts; a yellow and white flower, and a spotted purple variety. And then the grower threw in another for free, a beautiful rich, dark purple one. So when we got home we planted and potted our hearts out. We also picked up a black raspberry vine. Our boysenberry vine that we bought last year is in bloom and beginning to form it's fruits. Pix to come later in the month.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Soap Scrubs Run Amuck...


Not everything goes as planned with my students. An example would be the recent soap scrubs that were completed by my 3rd quarter 7th grade group. Too many colors going on like the ones above...

Or fibers looking like brains sliding off the edges...


Or my absolute favorite, a young one who completely did not follow directions and almost all his fibers slid off the soap forming a separate 3-d sculpture right on top of the scrub. It's actually pretty cool LOL


"Life is like a box of chocolates, you just never know what you're gonna get!" For EXTRA CREDIT on a piece of PINK paper cut into the shape of a bar of soap, put your name and period on the front side and on the back side write down what movie my quote came from. Hand it to me when you walk in the door tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Some Wedding Highlights


The Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana


The Flowers


Jim saying his vows



The Kiss (there were lots :)



The Temporary Rings (jeweler couldn't get the real ones done in time)



Clowning around in the Judges Court Room



Meet the Sposas!!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Going to the Chapel...



...and we're gonna get married. Yeap, this Tuesday at the Old Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana, Jim and I are gonna tie the knot. Wish us luck! So you young-uns, I'll be Mrs. Sposa when we return from Spring Break. :) Karisma... check out those earrings I have on, do they look familiar?? LOL Won't be posting again till Monday April 25. See ya then...

Senior Discounts - Woo Hoo!!

I finally reached that age last week when I'll be able to cash in on all those senior specials. Had such a great time on my 55th b-day. I was with my students all day and got to do a fun demo. in my 3-d class and made the mask above. During 5th period the student council kids came in with a scrumptious cake and sang me Happy Birthday. And then we promptly devoured it. :) When I got home from school Jimmy whisked me off to one of my favorite restaurants in Laguna Beach where we did some serious wining and dining. LOL It was a really warm day so the temps. at the beach were perfect and we rode with the top down and really enjoyed Laguna canyon, and all the cool hillside homes. Also drove by the Sawdust festival that should be opening in late June, another favorite spot of mine to purchase great art pieces to teach with. Cruised by these gorgeous mosaic benches as we drove thru town. And were able to catch a gorgeous sunset on the way back home. We were back by 8 that night for band practice at Dan's. That next night, Friday, Jim's band played at Java Joe's in Yorba Linda, and Jimmy brought in a big cake and the band sang to me Sixteen Candles. My cousin Kathy came and both my kids showed up with boy and girlfriend's in tow to sing, dance and celebrate with me. Doesn't get any better then that! Forgot my camera that night so I'm waiting on pix to be e-mailed from a friend. Sat. night the Rockits and Highlites had a gig at the Newport Harbor Elks Club. It was a very formal affair, their induction ceremony for their exalted one (grand puba I think he's called) with dinner and dancing. Man oh man can those old folks dance up a storm! And then Sunday night my 2 babies came over and took me out to dinner, and we played (I cheated) a couple of games of Scrabble. All in all, one of my very best birthday weekends ever!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

One More Incentive...

...to come and view the student's art on display here at Whitney High School. We are at 16800 Shoemaker in Cerritos. We will be open from 5:30 till 7:30 tonight. And if you can't make it tonight the art will be up for another 3 weeks. So drop in and let me show off my students. These pieces you are seeing are called Before and Afters. On the left side is how the students were drawing when they came to me and how they are drawing now on the right after instruction. This top one belongs to senior Rachel Kim. Rachel came to me with very good skills already in place but look at her go now! This top one belongs to senior Alvin Chou, and I feel he is one of the students who made the biggest improvement in his skill level. Alvin drew sophomore Marison Arcilla. And below we have junior Gary Fong who drew junior Michelle Lee. Beautiful attention to detail Gary.

The piece above is sophomore Marison drawing senior Alvin. I make the kids pose for each other, and they take turns doing it. I usually give them between 7-8 days each. You are seeing another huge jump in skill level. Way to go Marison! Below we have junior Crislyn Ogawa drawing senior Michelle Guan. Crislyn is another one who came to me with some skills but just look at the progress she has made!



Junior Sarah Zhang drew senior Tiffany Wang in the lovely piece above, and below is senior Michelle Lee's drawing of Gary. Michelle is another one who pays special attention to those fine details and is able to capture them in her drawing. Just look at the time it must have taken her to do the hair alone with all those tiny dots of graphite.



And the last one I wanted to share belongs to sophomore Ashley Tang. She came to me with drawing skills already in place but everything in her work has improved so much; like likeness to original, projection, attention to detail, the list is long. Especially love how she handled the hair! So to see the rest of them, come on by!!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Open House 2011

There will be over a thousand pieces of student art on display tomorrow night, Wednesday April 13, from 5:30 till 7:30 in my art room, room 18 at the back of the school by the gym. Some of the pieces will be for sale, the rest just on display. This is a juried show so only the best works will be on exhibit. So please stop by and join us. Each of my Intermediate and Advanced 2-D art students were responsible for choosing pieces that looked good together and hanging a panel with them. These 2 panels, above and below were done by juniors Jaimee Chirico with the help of my art technician Michael Chen. Beautiful!
This panel was hung by sophomore Hannah Park, and has a very soft, sensitive feel to it. Love all the bubbles and ribbons she painted on after the pieces were hung, it really pulled the whole thing together for her. A special thanks to seniors Elise Engly, Kevin Aquilo, and Jason Kwon, and sophomores Cindy Kim and Samantha Arias for each hanging a panel. And a very special thanks to alumni Rikaya Obilio and Tyler Pratt for hanging all the paper to display the art on and for all the other help you give me, all the time. You 2 know I can't pull off this gig without the both of you. Love you guys!!!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Farewell 3rd Quarter 7th Graders

You were a bit wild and crazy, but a very talented bunch, and I really enjoyed getting to know all of you. When you were loud, you were very loud, but when I asked you to focus and get busy you guys were the sweetest ever. Just look at how hard both Anthony Clark and Efrain Quintero are working on their Linear Pattern pieces. And here is a rare moment when Sterling Thornton and Gilari Aguilar were not talking below. LOL Hope all of you stop by with your parents for Open House Nite this next Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Slab Boxes - Student Work

These belong to my beginners and are all exceptional boxes with locking lids. I was especially impressed with the glazing details, the kids are finally getting comfortable and familiar with the very difficult task of glazing their pots. The one above was created by senior Jesus Calderon. What a spectacular Mother's Day gift that would make! Above is senior Varsha Baheti, her craftsmanship is impeccable whether it be in her construction of the piece or her glazing. She is an absolute pleasure. Below is senior Matthew Ramos with his amazing looking piece. He used our copper glaze which makes the clay looks like it comes from antiquity. Love it!
Senior John Balagtas managed to make 2 boxes in the time it took the others to make their one. This was piece #2. Love the triangle format and the cool way he glazed the piece. He rubbed it with rutile oxide then put our transparent glaze over top, plus he melted a bit of glass in the carved out area on top. Below junior Alyssa Olea nailed this assignment with this lovely, very feminine box design. And her glaze application is flawless.


Above senior Christine Castillo incised a super intricate surface design into all her box pieces. Then she used the oxide rubbing glaze over top technique to finish it off. Stunning!! Below senior Andy De Avila's careful craftsmanship, geometric incised design and beautiful glazing earned him a spot in this post.



And last but not least is junior Joanna Paz who I've worked with since the 7th grade. She always gives me everything she's got. I love that she pushes herself in every assignment, and it always pays off for her. She used our subtle but beautiful tan glaze over top a rubbing of red iron oxide, and melted a bit of red glass into the top. Outstanding work all of you. Now for EXTRA CREDIT cut out the shape of your favorite box from brown paper and put your name and period on the front and the name of the student artist who made it on the back side.