Where in the World Am I?

I remember, years ago, when I was an aoljournals blogger, John Scalzi was the editor, and he often traveled. When he did, he'd post a picture of the view outside his motel window. Whatever it was, that was what he showed us. So I did the same today... the view from my window, looking out on the beach. I don't think I've mentioned to anyone where I am. So where am I? There are some clues in the picture. Anyone a beach expert, traveler, vacationer might recognize the strip?

The little pink umbrella... that's ours, That's my husband. I joined him eventually.
Look at the size of the shade we had compared to the huge shade of our well-covered neighbors.
You can't tell f rom the photo how windy it is. Temps are beautiful, but very breezy here.

Well, now this might give it away!

There was a white bird walking on the beach, which took to flight
just as I lifted my camera to take its photo.
I think it's an egret.

Vote for Fascinating Art Teacher Blog of 2012

OKAY... it's voting time. I looked at the other nominees for Most Fascinating Art Teacher Blog of 2012, and I am honored to be considered along with them in this category. So if you still would like to vote for my blog, click on the barrel shaped badge in the right column of this page, it's at the top. That link will take you to the voting place. 

When you get there, scroll down to the second Fascination awards (the first one is for technology integration), and you'll see :

"Cast Your Vote for the Most Fascinating Art Teacher Blog of 2012" followed by the words:

TO VOTE: Click on the comments to view the entire list. Look for your blog of choice. If you hover your browser at the end of the blog url, a red "+1" will apppear that you can click on. Its in the same location where you see the votes for the other blogs. For blogs that already have some votes, the "+1" should be immediately beside the vote count, to the right.

I tried it out. I clicked on 57 comments, which opened up the entire list of 57 nominated blogs!! Mine is the first one on the list, A New Bridge. If you click on the name of my blog, it will take you back to my blog. I think you are supposed to click on the red +1 to cast a vote. I tried that but nothing happened. I'll look into it... maybe you'll have more luck with it. I'm trying to do this while away from home, so don't know if it's my computer or the connection I've got.

I do hope all my friends will vote for me! You can vote from June 18 through June 25th, 11:59pm. I invite you to check out any of my previous blogposts, listed by month in the right column.

The last time I posted, I added some drawings the first grade students had started, but I didn't include any finished pieces. Here are some that were completed with washable markers. These are the same kind of markers that I soak in water to make watercolors.
Enjoy the students' abstract alphabets!

Some finished pieces of abstract alphabets. First Grade 2012.



The directions were to connect the letters and numbers, then to color
 in the shapes made by these connections. This student's interpretation
 of the directions resulted in this interesting piece.

I like how light and airy this one is compared to others
that were colored more heavily. Each student had his own point of view,
his own approach, his own idea of what shapes he liked to look at and draw.





This student's abstract alphabet reminds me of Paul Klee's Twittering Machine.

What I find interesting is that I didn't introduce Paul Klee's work, although

I did talk about the work of Stuart Davis and show examples of his work.

 



2012 Fascination Awards ... I've been nominated!

Ahh, I hear birds, the patter of rain on my deck. And I'm thinking, I'm on summer vacation! It's a short one... we're year round, but still, there's not many jobs that have a month long summer vacation built into the year's schedule.

I'm going to post pictures of my classroom the way it looked after I spent two days cleaning it up so I could walk away with no worries. But mostly this blogpost is about my blog's nomination for the 2012 Fascination Awards!!

Which has nothing to do with the photos, but I like posting photos.... makes the page more interesting. Plus, it's a record of the school year, and gives you an idea of what it looks like when students are not in it.

I just received an email from Accelerated Degree. Here's a portion of the email:

"An article you wrote in 2012 titled Funny Faces and Making Watercolors fromDried-Up Markers has earned your blog a nomination for a Fascination Award: 2012's Most Fascinating Art Teacher blog.

The comments posted in response to your post prove that your content not only inspires your audience, but it also creates discussion around your posts, both of which are requirements for the nomination of a Fascination award.

As a nominee of this award, you have full permission to display the "Nominated" emblem on your website.

Voting begins June 18th at 1:01 AM (EST). The blog with the most votes by June 25th at 11:59 PM (EST) will win the
grand prize, a $100 restaurant gift card and a plaque."

I am honored, and surely would love to have your vote if you think my blog here meets the above criteria. I visit art teacher blogs every day, and link to them, and use them as resources for my own classroom, so to have my blog listed at a website where other art teachers will come looking for ideas and inspiration is an honor. And a boost for the urge to blog! Like I need another reason to write, right?
 

If you are one of my regular visitors who leaves a comment, thank you! Apparently the commenting aspect of blogging is essential... otherwise, why blog, right? I appreciate the comments... lets me know who's reading my posts, and whose blogs I need to visit so I can leave comments.

Below,, you see a photo of some masks I've made, along with one I bought. The Tiki mask I bought at Myrtle beach. It's made of wood. 






There's a Two-Faced mask hanging above to the left, looks a bit like a bird. It's made from two gourd halves glued together. The little blue and gold mask to the bottom left is an actual plaster mask made from my friend's face many years ago. The eagle face to the far left is actually a milk-gallon jug covered in foil and tape and painted. It was part of an animal Totem Pole one year as a fifth grade project. 

The Blue-Hat face in the middle is made from discarded materials (dried up sharpie markers, paper plates, string, brown packing paper, and other throw-away plastics).  I call her Mother Earth... she is actually the head of a very large puppet I made two years ago for Earth Day celebrations at our school. I had to retire her body when I ran out of places to store it. She dismantled easy enough, so to put her back together would be a cinch. In photo at left is what she looks like in full size... I would carry her in the school parade on Earth Day. There's a broomstick pole inside the black plastic garbage bag. Yeah, that's me, three years ago standing beside her. The students loved her, but if it was windy or raining outside, she was difficult to carry around.

Just before I closed my door for the summer, I took a photo of the watercolor paints I made from watercolor markers over the past two weeks. I can make plenty more, but ran out of bottles. I'll be using them for watercolor resist paintings this year. I wrote about these paints in the previous post.

Makes me want to blog more, but school is out now and I'm ready for a summer vacation. Rest assured, there will be art making this summer as I prepare for the new year. I'll be sharing some of that over the next few weeks.

BTW, voting for the 2012 Fascination awards doesn't start until June18th, so I'll be reposting here and at my Facebook page because I'd love to get the most votes... would tickle me immensely! To vote, please click on the Vote for Me icon in the right column of this blog page. It will take you to another website where you will look for my blog and click on it. More directions will follow on the 18th.


Here's a link to the post that got the attention of the 2012 Fascination Awards, if you are interested in reading it.

Thanks!!
Bea