BSU Art Methods Class Almost Completed

I only have two weeks of my BSU class, Art Methods for Elementary School, and most of my spare time has been preparing for that.

Last Saturday I helped out at the Family Art Day at the Boise Art Museum. The theme was to create a piece of art with a black and white theme (no color) because one of the exhibits at the gallery was the black & white photography of Ansel Adams. I had a great time and I think I may have recruited a new art student! I was helping a talented girl about 9 years old who loved to draw and her dad was there. As I got to talking to him, it turns out that his daughter has a twin and they both love to draw and would be interested in taking art lessons from me.

I also spent an hour this past week helping one of the teachers at Hillcrest Elementary School with an art project the class was doing--Potato Necklaces. So with this and the three hours I spent at the Boise Art Museum, I have a total of 30 hours of teaching assisting & observation, which fulfills a major requirement for my Art Methods Class.

Now the only thing I have to do for my art class is make a 15-20 minute presentation in front of the class on an art lesson plan that I have developed for elementary-junior high school kids. I have that to do on May 7th.

The only art I have created these past few weeks has been art related to my 322 Art Methods class. Between my art class and my part-time job, there is very little time for doing my own thing. My job ends May 15th and then I am looking forward to being able to spend time doing my own art projects. I recently started on a really interesting cat theme art piece that I think has great potential and is a very original idea. (More on that later.)

See Horse Exhibition at Hemingway Center, BSU

This week was better than last week, but it was still stressful because I had to endure yearly evaluation time at my custodial job. Although it was not horrible, it also was not good either. All part-timers have their last day of work on May 15th because school ends in a few weeks. However, I don't really want to go back again in the fall if I can find something else. I am going to try and find something that relates a bit more to my major at BSU, which is art and art education. And if I can't find that, I'll take some sort of office job.

I have only three more weeks left in my 322 Art Methods class! I thought I had longer than that. I have a lot of homework to do for this class in the next few weeks and I have spent a lot of the weekend working on that homework. On May 7th I have to give a 20-30 minute presentation to the class on one or two art lessons for kids that I want to teach.

Last Thursday our Art Methods class went to a Student Thesis Art Exhibition called "See Horse" that was in the Hemingway Center on campus. This is also called the Senior Show and is part of what an art major has to do to graduate. I will be doing this someday too. Anyway, there was an exhibit that had to do with a white grey hound dog. At first I thought it was really wierd and didn't understand it, until a classmate said that the artist recently lost their beloved pet dog and decided to dedicate his senior show to his dog. There were paintings of his dog as an angel and as the Virgin Mary, and there was a beautiful water fountain that the artist had made and he a sculpted portrait of his dog. I then connected with it totally and it made sense! As a matter of fact, I think I am going to do something like this for my senior show. It will probably be called "Maynard, the Maine Coon."

Sometimes even our heartaches and hurts can be turned into art and that art can be a source of healing for us and for others.

Maynard, The Maine Coon 1993 - 2009

It has been an extremely painful week for me. Today's blog is dedicated to Maynard, the Maine Coon, who passed away last Tuesday, April 7th, due to a cancerous tumor. He was a beautiful cat, very intelligent and very comical. He had the loudest purr and the softest fur of any cat I have ever had. I wanted to share some of the portraits I have done of Maynard. Goodbye, Maynard. I will love you always.

Sick Cats, Booking Shows, and Batiking

Not much to report this week. My cat, Maynard, is becoming very high maintenance and is on about four different types of medications. It is stressing me out. I think I need to take a weekend vacation sometime very soon--just me and my artwork and no sick cats to tend to.

I have been booking some art shows this week for the summer. I have one show during the summer (for one month) at Happy Fish Sushi and Martini Bar which is in downtown Boise. I am also looking into some others.

Last Tuesday, in my Art Methods class, I learned how to do Batiking. The whole class did a Batik art project. It is an ancient art that many cultures use. You put a design of melted wax onto fabric and then paint the fabric with any type of design or color you want. It was fascinating and I really loved doing it.

I am trying to generate some portrait commission work from people who said they were interested, but so far, I haven't gotten any responses. Some people are holding off because they have too many expenses right now.

BAM Spring Break Art Camp

My Spring Break Art Camp Monotype Print

I have had this week off from work at Hillcrest Elementary School because it is spring break. It has been great to have a change of routine.

Tuesday through Thursday I went to the Boise Art Museum (BAM) to do some volunteer work. This work was part of my homework for my Art Methods class at BSU. There was a Spring Art Camp at BAM where children 7-12 got to create several different types of art projects. The theme of this art camp was "Black and White All Over" based on the current gallery exhibit that is going on right now of Ansel Adams photography.

I had a really terrific time at this camp. I helped out setting up and cleaning up, and I also helped the kids with their projects whenever I could. I also took lots of notes on how the classroom was managed, how discipline & order was maintained, and how to create the individual art projects. Whenever possible, I did the same projects the kids were working on so I could understand the process better.

Tuesday we took a short tour of some of the art at the BAM Gallery, then we went to the classroom and did a painting with white paint on black gessoed board and experimented with making things out of Crayola modeling clay. The interesting thing about this clay is that you could color it with a marker, knead the clay, and the clay would have a marbeled look.

Wednesday was my favorite day. We did printmaking. We did a black & white version (called a Monotype Print) and a color print. I really enjoyed this because I had never done anything like this before. It was a fairly easy process and a lot of fun. I have posted (above) a photo of the black & white Monotype Print I did in class. I was amazed at how well it turned out because I have never done anything this abstract before. I think this process really helped to broaden me as an artist.

Thursday we created a hand-made book, did some wood block prints, and some mixed media work with oil pastels and tempera paint. The hand-made book folded out to look like a star, but it is actually a book. I thought this was a very clever idea and I want to use it in my future art lessons. I didn't do a wood block print, but I tried the oil pastel and tempera paint project. We put white oil pastel onto a piece of paper, then brushed on black water-soluable tempera paint. The oil pastel repels the black paint making it look somewhat like a block print. It is an interesting technique. I have little to no experience with oil pastels so this was helpful to me.

There was LOTS of homework this weekend. I had to write two lesson plans for art lessons I would like to teach and write papers each of the 3 days I spent at the BAM Spring Art Camp. I managed to complete all of it.

I had also signed up to do some volunteering at BAM this Saturday, but I had to cancel this because we had an emergency with our cat, Maynard, the one who is sick and has cancer. We don't know how much longer he will be around. We are monitoring him closely and checking with the doctor to know what treatment to use and to make sure he is not suffering. But I know his time is limited. This has created some stress for me, but I am just taking it one day at a time.

The Cat Show and Dealing With A Sick Cat

"Maynard on Roses"

A portrait of my beautiful cat, Maynard the Maine Coon.

This weekend I was at the Idaho Cat Fancier's Show exhibiting my artwork. I wasn't sure what to expect with the economy being the way it is right now, but I did very well. Anytime I make more money than what I spend on the booth fee, I consider the show a success. Most of my sales were from people showing their cats and from other vendors. The cat show doesn't get enough publicity and it is in an area kind of hidden in the back, making it harder for the public to find.

I got about four orders for portraits and I will try and follow-up on them to turn them into actual sales. Most of the portraits are going to be cat portraits, which I have a special fondness for!

The day before the cat show, I found out that my 16 year old cat, Maynard, has a small tumor in his intestines that has caused him to lose a lot of weight. This was added stress to me that I didn't need because I wanted to just focus on the show and not worry so much about Maynard. He is on special medication & a special diet to reduce the tumor and help him gain weight, but this is a serious health problem. I can't let myself think too much about "putting him down" right now or I will probably have a melt-down. He is doing a little bit better than he was Friday, but we are just going to have to take it one day at a time. Maynard is one of those rare cats that comes along once in a lifetime. We have a special connection. He has a wonderful outgoing personality and temperment and one of the loudest "purrs" of any cat I have ever owned. Each day I have with him is a gift and from now on, I will treasure whatever time I have left with him.

The cat show was a kind of "therapy" for me because it helped me focus on something other than Maynard. I saw so many other cats that I wanted to take home but can't right now. (Maybe later?) It was wonderful seeing so many types of cats represented at the show. Some of them were quite beautiful and exotic looking. The young ones are so energetic and playful. They are so much fun to watch.

The Cat Show, Spring Break, and Art Methods Class

I have my first art exhibit of the year this weekend at the Idaho Cat Fancier's Show. This show is just down the street from where I live, at the Idaho Fairgrounds. I spent some of my time this weekend preparing for this show, gathering all my prints, note cards and displays.

I also managed to squeeze in some time to work on my black bear wildlife piece. It is 11 X 14 and is almost done. I have posted a photo of a portion of this piece (above). Not sure if I will have this piece completed in time for the cat show this weekend.

In my Art Methods class at BSU, we have been building an entire circus out of recycled material and wire. This project is based on the art creations of Alexander Calder and his wire art performing circus. I choose to do a circus elephant and a baby elephant, with a lady riding the elephant. I made it from materials like wire, plastic straws, soda pop can, plastic film canisters and brown grocery bags. It has really been a lot of fun. This doesn't seem like a college class, it seems more like "play" therapy!

I have all next week off because it is spring break, so no custodial job next week! Yay! I will be spending some of my time attending several children's art classes as an assistant and observer. This is part of my homework for my BSU Art Methods Class. By the end of the semester, we have to have a total of 30 hours of observing or assisting with a children's art class. By the end of March I should have about 22 hours.