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! 
...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. 
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!
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 
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! 
