I love paint. Love the smoothness, color, thickness, feel and smell. I use acrylics mostly and some watercolors. A student asked me today if I thought art was fun. I said yes, of course. He didn't feel the same. When asked what would make it fun he didn't have an answer. I sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone loves art like I do. Picture how I felt in math class, way back when. That was torture. How could art ever be torture?

It's just around the corner.

A couple of my "love" pieces.

Which way?

When I have so much to do I lose focus. It is the end of the semester at school and with k-8 grading to do it gets crazy. Add in that I need to finish up lesson plans for the coming week which includes creating an i-movie along with my own artwork, I get a bit crazy. I was looking thru pics and found this from our summer trip to Williamsburg. The definition inspires me to do my best. Look next week to see artwork for Valentine's day. They will be up for sale before the end of the weekend on etsy.

Thank you Martin Luther King, Jr.

My son, Nathaniel

"And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!""

Check out my Etsy shop

Finally have some of my pieces on Etsy. Visit my shop at enjoyjourney.etsy.com. A few pics here to see what I have been working on.

These photos are from 4th and 5th grade art. The 4th graders created these birch trees with watercolors from tubes. This was their first time using paint from a tube and they saw how much color such a small amount of paint can create. This idea comes from www.artprojectsforkids.org/search/label/winter. Kathy Bar bro has a great sight with lots of lesson plans.

The 2nd project is from my 5th graders. This is my sample. They create "stained glass" with tissue paper, mod podge, a sharpie, and duralar. Students have been learning about architecture and Frank Lloyd Wright. The windows imitate how FLW changed organic items into simple geometric shapes in his stained glass.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I have two of these plates. Bought them at a garage sale quite awhile ago. Love the design. The antique pencil box was from a sweet guy who surprised me with this gift. Was one of those unexpected things. Someone who you talk to when they are helping out at school and gives you something special of theirs, just because. I wish we could all be so thoughtful.

These two pieces are favorites. Having a hard time letting them go. These are influenced by the Impressionists. I used acrylic paint and oil pastels. The flowers I cut out from photographs I took in my garden and of course I had to add some inspirational words and shine. Will be stocking up my etsy shop this weekend and will include these pieces.

Something old, something new...

My last hurrah before school begins. Went to a great wedding last night. The purse is vintage, a gift from a friend and the shoes, brand new. Aren't they cute? Yes, I am a shoe girl. Always looking for a reason for new shoes or no reason at all. Decided that so many women love shoes because they always fit. Don't have to worry about those extra holiday pounds.