Author: lauramchugh

Oh what fun we had today making five textured backgrounds upon which to place our ephemera. We used hair dryers to move along the drying process, paint, plastic wrap, masking tape, gel medium, and pages from the phone book to create the grounds for the first 90 minutes. Then, it got really, really quiet while everyone worked on putting images onto the grounds.

Success: the canvas paper worked well for today’s lesson and having each student use the same paint for all five of their pieces allowed them to see how each different technique varied.

Learning: give students a second brush to keep with the matte medium so it doesn’t get tainted with paint from their painting brush.

I’m in a sour mood today. Have been all day. Not sure why. Got plenty of rest last night – too much? Actually, I’ve been in a sour mood for days now. Since Friday of last week.

I was all ready for one set of things to happen, but then another set of things happened instead and it turns out, when it comes to those things, I’m not as flexible as I thought. I like to think of myself as someone totally willing to always go with the flow, but clearly, that is not always the case.

I had my mind and heart set on getting work-work done on Friday so I could do art on Sunday. I had my schedule set so that I could go to a family event on Saturday, then be all prime to get the art done on Sunday. But life intervened. Children needed help, and I wasn’t at all helpful. I was quite rude and grumpy and in the process, alienated them, and hurt their feelings and got myself into a frame of mind that wasn’t at all conducive to producing any art.

That feeling lingers today, and I continue to be less helpful than desired. I’m tired but can’t nap. I’m hungry but don’t feel like cooking. I just feel obliterated. This too shall pass, but in the meantime (no pun intended…) I need to be more kind to the children.

Here’s today’s photojojo too; my sunshine and birds with my partner’s dark music club shot.

Here’s my piece from yesterday’s class. It started out kinda plain and I wasn’t very happy with it. Then, I worked with others in the class, giving tips and tricks, and came back to it. That’s when I realized I had some lovely dark brown mulberry paper (tissue paper) that was the same color as her hair, so I gave her “extensions” and added the skirt. Voila!

Next week – background treatments.

Learning this week – canvas paper doesn’t work so well for this class. It stays too wet and floppy and things buckle and bubble too much. Pam doesn’t like the bubbles so we’ll work on that.

I’m back! Been busy getting ready for and teaching a 6-week art class. Here’s today’s jojo – my partner’s tree and my look up at a power pole. I’m fascinated by power poles.

Happy Friday!