LOST & FOUND

PASTEL

BEGINNING 2-D ART

pastel on black construction paper

I was working on another post tonight 

and ran across this brilliant piece that was missed from last year.

But I cannot find the name of the young artist.

Need some help young ones please! 

How about junior Sarah Oh??

Sarah, let me know if this is yours from two years ago.

Thanks!!

Heard from Sarah. 

 It was indeed her work.

SO MANY TALENTED 7TH GRADERS

VALUE SCALES

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 2ND QUARTER - 2017-2018

graphite & some colored pencil on drawing paper

It never ceases to amaze me that at this school for academically gifted children,

we also have so many gifted young artists.

It is such a pleasure to teach these young ones.

They bring so much skill & creativity to our art department.

Let's take a look at these 2nd Quarter kid's very first assignment.

One of the most gifted artist's in this group of 31 kids was Audrey Cho.

Just look at the skill level this child is coming to me with.

So sophisticated!

Even the border is cool!

Next we have this super clean piece by Kayla Vicencio.

It's very unusual for 7th graders to have this level of craftsmanship on their first assignments.

Beautifully done Kayla!

What I really enjoyed about Hanna Estrada's piece was the story she is telling thru her design,

as did Audrey above.

But also the very subtle touch of blue colored pencil she applies overtop the graphite.

Lovely!

And then there is Ben Chen who never seemed to be with me in class,

if you know what I mean,

but then he'd turn in really delightful & creative pieces.

Talk about telling a story here.

Great job Ben!

But of all of these, 

my favorite belongs to Zoe Hoksbergen.

It so reminded me of a children's book illustration.

In fact I liked it so much,

she allowed me to buy it to teach with next year.

Thank you Zoe,

this piece is highly inspirational in it's childlike innocence.

A GRANGER UPDATE

I'm so in love with this little guy.

He's growing up so fast.

He's doubled in size since I first posted about him.

Almost potty trained,

and he's already trying to herd all our other pets.

They aren't too happy with him right now.

Here he is in the car with his mommy.

He goes everywhere with her.

SO VERY THIRSTY

 I'm just crazy in love with Hydrangeas,

all sizes, all colors.

I've bought them for myself and others,

but just couldn't manage to keep mine alive here in the Southland of California.

So I decided to take a couple plants up to the cabin to try them out there.

This is my largest one, 

and also the one that's been in the ground the longest.

I believe it's been there about 4 years now.

I can't tell you how many times I've almost lost it because of lack of water

during the summer months.

But this year it has finally taken off.

I threw a rusty old can around the stems this winter 

thinking it might make cool changes in the colors of the blooms.

This is a picture of it above when it started blooming 2 weeks ago,

a fairly unimpressive light pink.

And then another bloom opened last week,

and oh man oh man did I get excited!!

And now this week,

can you believe it????!!

This is the same plant but seeing it from the backside of the first photo.

It's moving from light pink thru some lovely lavenders and finally to that gorgeous blue-violet.

It's been so worth the wait and all the watering.

And now I know why in the recent movie The Judge with Robert Downey Jr., 

 the last thing he said to his wife was "Don't forget to water the Hydrangeas".

They are very, very thirsty critters.

THERE IS ALWAYS A PLAN "B"

From a broken/destroyed coil pot to a magnificent mask form

I applaud senior Christian Balbido for not throwing away his broken coil pot pieces

and taking my advice,

saving them,

and putting them back together at a later date.

If you click on Christian's name above 

it will take you to the post that I published earlier in the year about his misfortune.

Christian was one of my most talented 2-D and Ceramics students this year,

and a top award winner at Senior Awards Banquet Night for his art.

I'm so proud of you Christian and look forward to seeing where your critical thinking skills, 

your design skills,

 and your creativity will take you.

May all your dreams come true!

Disney Animation is waiting for you  :)

BACK TO IT

WATERCOLOR BLOB ANIMALS

7TH GRADE ART WHEEL - 1ST QUARTER - 2017-2018

watercolor and pen & ink

I'm sure all you art students have noticed I've taken a rather long break 

from posting your pieces this summer.

This seems to happen to me every summer.

Just needed a bit of time off to decompress from the very busy school year.

But as August draws near,

I'm back to it and will try to blog everyday to finish off this past school year.

This was the 7th graders 1st Quarter Final,

these fabulous Blob Animals,

inspired by illustrator Carla Sonheim.

Each child had to pick and be able to name their color scheme before they started.

They also had to add a bit of Zentangling as well as a lot of crazy creatures.

In this eye catching piece above by Eileen Rodriguez Salehi,

she has chosen a Primary Scheme which when worked Wet over Wet,

mixes and brings out all the other colors on the Color Wheel.

The next delicate piece above was done by Emily Ahn in an Analogous Scheme.

 And Aniket Chaudhry above used a Neutral Scheme,

 putting in so much coolness to find within his drawings and Zentangling.

David Song,

using an Analogous Scheme,

 gave me all his effort and superb craftsmanship.

I love how all his separated pieces connect in his drawing.

Reya Syed based her designs on a Harry Potter theme,

and I love how she designed everything to loosely float on a diagonal.

It creates so much movement.

Both Serena Lee and Eva Matentsiann used an Analogous Scheme with their blue and purples,

yet each looks so different.

Serena's is bold and striking,

while Eva's is soft and sophisticated.

Check out her use of Pointillism as well within her drawing.

Well done young ones.

AN ALL TIME FAVORITE

Retired Air Force Servicewoman,

1994 Whitney High graduate,

and Outstanding Ceramics student for me back in the day,

Wendy Hertel,

came to visit me in my classroom this past school year.

She wondered if she still possessed her throwing skills on the potter's wheel.

I told her to go for it while she was visiting.

What was so amazing 

was that after all those years she remembered where I kept the clay tools.

the batts, and the clay.

I loved how she made herself at home,

as if she had never left.

The current students were fascinated with her,

and her confidence.

What wasn't surprising to me was that she had retained all her throwing skills.

We all do who learned this global skill,

like riding a bike,

like learning how to draw, ski, walk.

She threw two pots.  

What she didn't have time to do was to come back the next day and trim the bowls.

So I told her I'd do it for her then mail one to her and keep the other.

This one was my favorite of the two,

thus the packing fuff around it.

It's flying off this week to Maryland where Wendy retired.

What Wendy doesn't know is that I blew it when I was trimming the piece.

I accidently went thru the bottom and made a hole in it.

Dang!!

That's what I should have said in my classroom in front of the kids,

hee hee.

I think I might have said something else.

Opps.

Anyways,

I believe I've told you all before that I love when something goes arye

because it forces me to come up with a more creative solution.

And I was bound and determined to save this piece.

So to her thrown pot, 

I handbuild a false bottom and allowed the seam to show.

Then I found a cool stamp and pressed it into the center.

I also took that stamp and pressed it around the outside top lip

and allowed the lip to stretch and buckle a bit so it would work visually with the organic seam

in center of piece.

To finish off the pot I first bisqued then glaze fired it to 2400 degrees.

Before it went into the glaze fire I stained the whole piece with Red Iron Oxide,

then dipped it into Transparent glaze.

I love how it turned out and I so hope Wendy will as well.

Farewell sweet pot,

godspeed as you make your way to her.

A POSSIBLE NEW INTEREST

For retirement.

Thinking about it.

TWO NEW LOVES FOR MY GIRL

Tristan & Granger

Our newest grandchild has arrived,

little man Granger,

an Australian Cattle pup.

He was bred to be a herder

and doesn't like to be alone.

He's smart as a whip and learns quickly.

At 8 weeks he can already sit and lay down.

My daughter has been wanting a dog of her own for a couple of years now.

He is a little love, 

super affectionate, and spirited.

Potty training has been a bit of a challenge,

but he's getting the hang of it after 3 weeks with his new family.

I've already got to babysit,

but believe me,

there was no sitting involved.

Grange is a busy boy.

He loves to run and already retrieves his ball.

I'm so in love with him and his puppy smell.

Here's our little guy sitting on his mommy's lap in her car.

He goes everywhere with her,

including the gym everyday.

WILDFLOWERS

Picked these gorgeous California Natives along the side of our mountain roads

early this summer,

and have been trying to identify them all with a little pamphlet I picked up called

Native Plants of the San Bernardino Mountains.

After they expired,

 I threw them into a special corner of the cabin yard 

hoping they had some seeds to share for next year.

STILL HERE

Celebrated my baby's 24th birthday recently.

Happy Birthday sweetheart!

I'm so proud of the young woman you are,

and am thrilled that you've found happiness and love.