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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Friday, October 19, 2012

IF - Sky


"Bright Tonight" by Garbage


From the beginning, we were always going to fail
We were the next thing that the world could not wait to tear down
Off balance in our own minds
Off balance in the ways we looked to everybody else
On and on all summer long, we never stood a chance
Sky bright tonight
Live forever always bright tonight

Hey you
You be who you are
You be who you are forever
You be who you are
You, my brightest star across the sky
You're bright tonight

It was right now and then suddenly it's gone
We were both wrong, but here we are, we're right where we belong
Off balance in our own lives
Off balance in the ways we looked to everybody else
On and on all summer long, we never stood a chance
Sky bright tonight
Live forever always bright tonight

Hey you
You be who you are
You be who you are forever
You be who you are
You, my brightest star across the sky
You're bright tonight
You're bright tonight
You're bright tonight
You're bright tonight

You shine so bright
 

Friday, October 12, 2012

First Friday Art Class for October 2012 - Zentangle, Part 1

Today's class was completely inspired by Joanne Fink's Zenspiration lettering and design.

We began by talking about what 'zen' means. We also talked about when you have a large task to do, how do you do it? By breaking it down into smaller steps. Art is the same way. If I had shown the girls the letters at the beginning of class and just told them to have at it, they would have thought I was crazy. But by the end, they could do it!

We first began by learning Joanne's basic patterns. We concentrated on four lines and a circle, swirls, triangle and fan since those are the ones Joanne seems to use the most. (All Zenspiration handouts were printed from HERE).

Then we looked at the FRAMES and BOARDERS worksheet as something simple we could do with our newly learned patterns.

We then watched Joanne at work as she drew her butterfly. You can find the video HERE. After that, the girls got to work doing their own butterflies, using the handout from the above linked site.

This is seriously the quietest I have ever seen this bunch. They were utterly engaged and totally concentrating!
They used their Papermate Flairs that they got last month and worked in their comp books to begin.

I think the butterfly is a great place to start. It's simple and helped the girls gain confidence in their ability to grasp the concepts. (It also helped them immensely to watch the youtube video and then go do it themselves!) They were encouraged to try the heart at home.
We then watched THIS video from Joanne on patterned monograms. She has a great teaching style and a very calming demeanor. I quite like her.

I printed the full alphabet for each girl, but I also made individual worksheets for the girls with their own initial. I thought this would help them get started.
We decided that it would be fine if they wanted to trace step b as their guide to start their letter. They worked on 4"x6" blank index cards, which worked wonderfully. Great size, nice thick paper, not too intimidating (i.e., there's plenty more if you mess up). :)
They all did a wonderful job and were quite proud of their monograms! And with good reason--they were gorgeous!!
And yeah, we did get a little bit silly...

What a fun group! I'm so glad class is back in session. I'm already brainstorming ideas for next month!! See you in November...

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

IF - Mirror

My new avatar--it's like looking in the mirror! :)

Illustration Friday - the theme this week is MIRROR.