Thanksgiving Vacation

Well we had the fun, NOT, Thanksgiving vacation. We battled both the stomach flu and bad colds. We thank our son and brother Mike for sharing with us.
My daughter Lacy brought her friend Yuki home for the school break. We enjoyed having the girls home from Missouri. Yuki is from Japan so we are always trying to find new things to show her about the USA. Our community has a Fantasy Christmas Village, so took her there on Friday night. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls.

Art History: Greek and Roman

For our Greek unit in Red 2 we were assigned certain images that we had to find on the internet and then print out. We had to combine these images and notes that we had taken from a power point presentation. These gave us an overview of the Greek and Roman time period.

Art History: Egyptian

For our Egyptian unit in Black 2 we started out by choosing an Egyptian ruler to draw a profile of. I choose Queen Nefertiti. After drawing our figures on tag board, we colored them in with colored pencils. We then left a 1/2" margin on the back side of the head. On the front side we cut out around the face. We glued our margin piece into our book so that our "heads" would turn like a page. We then used watercolors paper to draw a map of Egypt on. We used watercolors to paint our maps and then glued the maps into our books, covering the margin pieces. On the joining page we painted the book's text with glitter watercolors paints. The kids then had to collage items that they would have included in their tombs for their afterlife. Because I am a Christian, the only image I included was a clip-art cross that I had colored.

Art History: Egyptian

In Red 2 we researched Egyptian paintings and then created our own. We colored our pictures with color pencils and then painted with gold paint in areas just like the Egyptians might have done. We also found a web site where we could type in our names and then see how they would look in hieroglyphics. We added our signatures to our art work in this way.

Art History: Mayan

In Red 2 we had to paint our pages in colors that would be considered similar to what might have been used by the Aztec and Mayans. We also had to paint a boarder using symbols of that time. We cut out images from this era and glued them on. We studied about the Aztec god Quetzatcoatl, and then created our own version in clay. After they were finished we took pictures of our project to include in our book.

Art History: Pre-Columbian

In Black 2 we created our Pre-Columbian unit by drawing an Aztec pyramid and then adding Aztec symbols all around the edges. On the facing page we added a title and then wrote in or typed in interesting facts that we had discovered about the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. We then used chalk to add age to our pages.

Art History: Venus Of Willendorf and Lascaux Cave

In Black 2 we created a side pocket by gluing 3-4 pages together and then tearing the page about 1/3 the way in. We painted this side black (school color), glued a picture from the Lascaux Cave on the pocket and then inserted the cave drawings we did in this classroom. On the opposite page we used a wash to paint the page red (our other school color). On this side we glued multiple copies of the Venus of Willendorf. I then used a technique I learned off Yahoo's Altered book site to create my own transfer for her name. I used a transfer sheet and did a print of the letters using their mirrored image. I then let it set for 10 minutes and laid it ink side down on the page. Using a popsicle stick I rubbed the backside of the transfer to move the image to the painted page. Very cool technique.

Art History Ancient Art

In Red 2 we glued about 1" worth of pages together. We then used exacto knifes to cut out the opening to our caves. We glued the inside of the cave pages together and then painted the pages in colors that would look like we were inside a cave. We added pictures to the cave that are from the Lascaux Cave and the Venus of Willendorf. After crumbling more grocery sack to a soft leather feel, we taped them to the sides of the walls, turned off all the lights, and did our own cave drawings using chalk.

My Art Work

Here are two of my latest drawings.

Last November I drew the picture of my dad playing his guitar. It is titled "The Swamp Fox" which is the name he uses when he is performing.

The other drawing is of my nephew Trent, who is currently serving a second tour in Iraq, and my mother-in-law Margaret at Christmas. I took their picture just before he shipped back out in January. I am not happy with the job I did on Trent's face, but very pleased with Margaret's. So far I am still playing around with a title for it.

Art History Art Timeline

Our second project in our altered books was to make timelines of the different periods of Art History. In our Black 2 classes we glued pages together and then folded them to form triangle shaped pockets. The kids then had to come up with ways to attach the pocket to the pages behind them. Some of the kids choose to glue the pockets. Some used wire. I choose to sew my pockets using some very soft yarn that I had found at Wal-Mart. We made accordion style timelines in which we added pictures we found on the internet for the different periods. These time lines then fit into our pockets.
















In Red 2 we also made pockets for our timelines, but made them by gluing 3 pages together and then tearing them about 1/3 of the way from the top edge. We then glued 3 more pages and tore them about 2/3's of the way from the top edge. We then glued these two pages to each side of the page to form the pockets. After this we used watercolors paints to do a wash over the pages leaving the print behind to show through. We broke down our timelines into groupings and made cards that were about 5" x 7". We then punched two holes in the top and bound them together. Some students used metal rings, some used string and some used yarn to hold their cards together.

Art History Front Inside Cover

Each art teacher had different requirements for the inside cover of the books. I choose to do my layout using a different approach on each side of my inside cover.

On the one side I decorated my book with stamps and passport images from different countries. We had to make some sort of pocket in this area. Each student designed their own pocket. I choose to design mine to look like a portfolio. Inside the pockets we had to create a story telling how we found this volume of the History of Art through the Ages.

The other instructor wanted the students to personalize their books. They choose images from magazines that appealed to them, typed out the words to their favorite song (school appropriate of course), and then choose different fonts to write their names on the page.

Art History Altered Book Cover

I am a para-educator at our local High School. Because I studied art in college, I attend art classes with my students. For the second year in a row the art teachers are using Alter Books to teach the basics of Art History to their Intro to Art Classes. This year we started out with old tax law books that were found at the local recycling center. We took paper grocery sacks, crumbled them until they were soft like leather, and then covered the inside and outside covers of our books. The kids had to decorate their spines in some way using string or collage. I chose to use macrame' and beads on my spine. We then had to create a frame on the front cover of our books. The kids had to design their frames and then cut the frame out of cardboard. Next they paper machete around the frames using glue and brown paper towels. They had to paint their frames, and then add a picture that they had either drawn themselves or a photocopy of another piece. I chose to use a photocopy that I colored in with water color pencils. I then added my own text.

Word Picture of Myself

Students used a certain formula to create a poetic word picture of themselves. They then printed them out and did a self portrait on the page somewhere.

Things That Have Meaning To Me

With this project the students were learning to doodle using markers. They were to do a drawing of items that had meaning to them and then color them in with marker making sure that the entire page was covered. A fun alternative way to journal.

Getting started

I am hoping to use this site as a way to share my artwork and whatever else comes to mind with those out there. At this moment I am busy working on doing some altered books with my high school students. I hope to add pictures soon as to what we are working on.

We spent some time last year where we had to find a picture from a magazine and draw it in color. We then did a black and white version of the same object.