October, almost November

 Been learning a little more about the Mona Lisa.  Do you know that she came to the U.S. in 1963 for three months?  This is the only time the Mona Lisa has been on our soil.  The French Minister of Cultural Affairs accompanied her and she was displayed in the White House guarded around the clock by U.S. Marines, and then the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  After she visited the U.S., she went to Japan for a special exhibit and then back to the Louvre where she was encased in a special bulletproof glass case that was a gift from Japan for the loan of the painting. 

 In other news.  I have been recycling, and making bookmarks to give away for great behavior in art class.  The kids love them. 

A project from summer art camp.  draw several shapes on a large piece of colored construction paper.  paint those shapes using bright colors.  add lines and patterns inside and outside of the shapes with black and white paint.  Keep going until u have filled up the space. 

September

 Been busy in September, made carmel apples with Emma's friends, yumm! 

 Put this tree up in my classroom.  Saw a cute one on Pinterest, and had to have one of my own. 

 We had a monkey visit the artroom so we went over the rules for monkeys in art class, by the way, the rules apply for students too....FYI

 Started these farm landscapes using a little bit of perspective, and my tractor is a John Deer.

 More monkeys, for the older kids, they practiced symmetry.

and, from last year, I put up their portraits again, so they can see how they have grown over the summer....

Food Art

Ymmm! English Muffin Pizza

Fall

With the start of school comes the fall season and fall decor, which I love almost as much as Christmas. Got the Fall decor boxes down from the rafters, and enjoyed putting them up, especially in the entry way.

Some metal decorations, the ghost is a candle....Made this room freshener into a formaldehyde poison bottle....Got the crows out and added them here and there around the house. My mom gave me this pumpkin a couple of years ago, I love the white with the black writing, give thanks....

Been keeping my eye out for lanterns lately. I think they are really cool and good to have incase of a black out......

These are some of my favorite decorations. The cat is missing a wisker, but he's still cute and the candle is one of those battery operated ones.

and.... a put together a cone for a door hanger, with a crow of course.

Got this off another blog, I can't remember where, but I loved it of course, cuz it's so true. Had a rough week a couple of weeks ago and then transitioning from being off to having to go to work and meetings and such, gave me a bad attitude. Then school started Weds. and I got to be creative once again with my students, who I missed over the summer. And, art made everything awesome. I'm in the creative groove again. Brainstorming some ideas about art lessons and projects for M.C. Escher. Anyone have any great ideas out there?

Disruptive Monkey

A monkey came to art class last week and he was really disruptive. He didn't listen and follow directions, he didn't stay in his seat and he didn't share his crayons. He was even playing with the art supplies while I was teaching about a famous artist. He was talking so loud while I was teaching the other kids couldn't hear me. I asked him to stop. But then he just got louder. Finally I told him he had to leave, that disruptive monkeys weren't allowed in art class. He started to cry. He said that he had never been to art class before and that he didn't know the rules. He said he wanted to stay and learn the rules and asked if I would help him. I said he could stay if he learns the rules and follows them so that all my students can enjoy art time. I will be asking my students what the art class rules are, so we can teach the monkey, so he can stay and be artistic with us.

School

Can't believe the summer is almost up. Wow, it seems to just go by so fast. I am looking forward to school and work though. Looking forward to the structure of the day and the kids and art making. Looking forward to fall too. Though I'm certainly not ready, just looking forward.