August, 2023 I recently traveled to southern New Mexico to pick up my son (different story). It’s a two day drive, so I knew I would need to stay somewhere overnight. That place happened to be Shamrock, Texas where I found a great Air B&B at the Shamrock Country Inn (yep, motels use AirB&B too). […]
On a cold day in November, 2021 my friend Ashley called me and said “Can we start getting together on the regular? I need a weekly art time and I’m up for whatever. ” I said “Sure!” I had actually been planning to do a deep dive into color theory with the book Color: A
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May 1-6, 2022 Time number two visiting Ghost Ranch did not disappoint. This time I would be focusing on drawing and charcoal, and staying at Casa Del Sol, in a private area about a mile away from Ghost Ranch proper (still on the property, just isolated). Upon arrival at Ghost Ranch proper, the staff greeted
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This has been a tough one to write. Words don’t really express the profound experience of Ghost Ranch, but I will attempt to lay it down here. In June I travelled to Ghost Ranch, New Mexico for a 6 day Oil Painting intensive. It has been one of the most liberating and genuinely awe inspiring
February, 2020 brought great adventure. It was the first time I traveled for an art class, and oh my goodness, I’m hooked. I travelled to Stillwater, Oklahoma for a two day screenprinting workshop at Prairie Arts Center. It was so liberating and educational. I traveled alone on a cold Friday after work and took an
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I teach middle school at a gifted education center. 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students attend my major unit 1 afternoon per week for 2.5 hours. I’ve taught some really great units in my three and a half years of gifted, including soil science, stop motion animation, fiction film, non-fiction film, gourd art, and printmaking.
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This semester I taught a non-fiction film unit to my gifted middle schoolers. We met for 2.5 hours per week for 17 weeks. They got a good introductory course on crafting a non-fiction story with film. I was able to craft my skills this semester as well. I used my new Panasonic Lumix G7 to
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Last Sunday I visited the Georgia O’Keeffe Exhibit at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas. It was lovely and oh so inspiring. Georgia made me want to paint flowers and that’s just what I’ve done. I’ve painted 6 watercolors over the past 12 days and it feels so good. As I paint I tell
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I tested out my new camera’s (Panasonic Lumix G7) video quality by making a little movie of the Ozark Mini-Maker Faire. Even though I covered the audio with music, I notice the audio is much improved from my old Canan point and shoot. I am very satisfied with the video quality and look forward
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My camera fell in the sand on the last big day of our vacation. It’s a blessing really. It’s a Canon A510 that I’ve had for years. It has provided and I appreciate it’s long life, but it was time. As I’ve made more and more movies I am ready to upgrade my footage
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This summer my family of four embraced the opportunity to go on the longest adventure yet. We piled all of our gear into the car and headed west for a 25 day National Park tour. We camped 19 of the 25 days and ate out 5 times. It was glorious. In estimating, it may
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I recently attended the Spring, 2018 MAEA (Missouri Art Educator Association) Conference in Branson, Missouri. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn from other art educators around the state and spend time creating. I will share a few of my take-aways. One session I especially enjoyed was taught by Amber Mintert, Art
I completed my first linoleum reduction print recently and decided to try the technique on a woodblock. I used a photo of my cat Sally and laid it over carbon paper for planning the colors. I used my linoleum Speedball carving tools for this carving and they worked very well. The woodblock is
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My printmaking classes are moving right along. Students have been working on their first linoleum prints and we are discussing our plans for progressing into multi-color prints. We have a few options for this. One option is using multiple blocks, one for each color. Another option is reduction printmaking. In the process of reduction
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Paddling Boquillas Canyon Our family recently paddled the Boquillas Canyon portion of the Rio Grande through Big Bend National Park. This is quite an excursion from our home in the Missouri Ozarks. For this 33 mile trip all paddlers must carry their own water, pack a fire pan, and pack out human waste (yep,
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A semester long printmaking unit takes a wide variety of equipment and supplies. Also, these materials can be somewhat expensive. I recommend spending time comparing prices and then allowing two weeks for shipping. I purchased the majority of materials through my school district, McClain’s Printmaking Supply Company, and Blick Art Supply. I am
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This semester I am teaching an Art of Printmaking class to gifted students in grade 6, 7, and 8. Students will attend class one 2.5 hour class per week for 17 weeks. I am hoping to help others by sharing some of the trials and errors I encounter along the way. Let’s start with the
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I am a mother of two boys. One of my sons enjoys cooking, so we decided to make a cooking show. So far we have filmed four episodes of The Buzz Cooking Show. Filming these shows take much longer than just making a recipe, but it is totally worth it. (I use WeVideo for all
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