THE BLOG
Spring School Visit
I packed up my books and chalk and paper. I packed my pictures of Bailey and my giclee’ prints and my computer and headed up to Creekside Elementary Arts Night. The principal is Vicki Jessen who has won a state award for backing the arts in her school. My host was the art teacher Carrie West. It was one of the most organized school visits I’ve presented at. I was greeted and given assistance to carry in my supplies for the presentation. A couple of young boys also helped me out to my car. The principal said, “I have many grandchildren.” and they were great helpers. I was introduced by the principal and the audience was very attentive and polite. They had a drawing to see which students would come up and pose for the sketching in front of the presentations. I met many nice parents and students.
Along with my presentation on illustrating books were movies the students had made, photography, chalk art, balloon art, caricatures, pottery, cookie art (a favorite), origami and face painting. A lot of parents attended with there students and had a great time. Thank you Creekside.
Making the Most Out of a School Visit Check list:
1. Contact author or illustrator months ahead to coordinate visit and talk type of presen tation and about fees
2. Prepare students for visit by announcing, and reading the author or illustrators books to familiarize the students with the work and get them excited.
3. Some schools like to coordinate book sales with a book store others want the presen tation with out the books sales
4. Support the presentation with projector support, crowd control, and introductions
5. Follow up by talking to students about what they learned from the presenter.
What could be funner than long boarding for the first time. Bailey popped back into town carrying two long boards. One for me and a huge one for him. Bailey wanted me to stand up but I thought that would end up in a concussion and fracture of some kind. When he said ok, you don’t have to stand up, you can sit, I thought I’d give it a try. After all if I started going too fast, I could just lean to the left and zoom off the sidewalk into the grass. I had to stay out of Bailey’s way. His long board was a lot bigger than mine and because of his weight, he could go a lot faster than me. He would whip past me with his helicopter hat just a spinning. Then he would tumble off into the grass and laugh in that deep familiar rumble. Bailey took this picture of me after I hit the grass and tumbled. I wore the leather gloves to protect my drawing hand. Bailey said when he first started, he wore all the fur off of his left hand rubbing it against the sidewalk.
Shadows Are Intriguing
Shadows are intriguing. They almost look like the object that hides them from the light source. They almost move like us but they are different enough to capture our attention. Shadows can make a watercolor painting come alive.
I love these shadows of balloons and how the color of the balloon transferred to the wall.
A Perfectly Pure Critique
Here is your assignment, a watercolor portrait of a young girl. You will be using a picture from when the girl is about three years old. Now she is about four or five. You do the sketch. You check it carefully and work on it for a long time. Finally it is ready to transfer to watercolor paper and you begin the painting. It is a long process but it’s going pretty good. Finally the painting is finished. It’s time to give it to your client. She comes one night to pick it up. It is quite late. She comes in with her young daughter. The daughter says, “How did she get my smile?” “How did she get my piggy?” “Those are not my eyes.”
And there you have it, the pure critique. I smiled. It can’t get more honest than that.
Bailey Heads for the Hills
Benjamin Franklin said that fish and visitors stink after three days. There was a slight odor that hung around Bailey but I’m not sure he smelled as bad as a three day old fish. He did eat all the fish that we had in our freezer and the couch will never be the same. He laughed when I showed him the James C. Christensen painting that hangs above my studio door. “The blind leading the blind” Yea that’s what it feels like sometimes. Bailey said it was time to head towards the mountains. He packed up his art supplies and checked which way the wind was blowing. He gave me the biggest bear hug I have ever had. When he saw the tear in my eye, he said he would stop by from time to time. I watched as he lumbered up the road toward the mountains. It’s always hard to have someone as big as Bailey as a guest in the house but I’ll tell you one thing. It was a lot easier to have Bailey around than when the triplets came to visit.
Bailey at the watercolor class
I’m not sure that watercolor is Bailey’s thing. He listened carefully to my discussion about texture and some different methods to get different effects but when he put brush and paint to paper, the paint went everywhere. I told him that usually students try to keep the paint on the paper and not on their neighbors. He smiled sheepishly and drank his water that he had rinsed his brushes in. I told him that was probably not the healthiest thing to do but he said he thought it would taste like strawberries since it had a nice rosey color. He did make some interesting paw prints but most of them were on his shirt and the tables and not on his paper.