Sunday, February 9, 2014

What the Art Teacher Wore #89

2-Hour Delay Monday: I dunno about you, but I HATE me some school delays. I get it, the buses need time to warm up, the two specks of snow on the ground need to melt (remember, I live in Tennessee, snow is like our kryptonite here), whatevers. But I'm seriously more off-kilter and wacked-out on these days than normal. I needed a good POP! to get me going. sweater, skirt, tights: Target, they might still have the sweater on their sale rack, got mine for $12!; shoes: Dolls by Nina
So, if I might whine and carry on like a big baby for a minute (because I'm super good at it), this week has pretty much been One Fat Hairy Pain in the Patootie. Lemme give you the run down: we discovered a mystery leak in the kitchen that's causing our floor boards to buckle. So we've had two roofers and three plumbers out to investigate. Of course, the roofers say, "it's the plumbing!" and the plumbers say, "it's the roof!". There was more finger pointing going on than in a kindergarten class. So we threw bunches of money at 'em and our fingers are crossed that everything has been properly patched, caulked, installed and screwed. Insert your inappropriate comments here.

Just when we thought the drama was over, the downstairs heat decided to up and die. Yes, seriously. I've been wearing two pairs of fleece pajamas, three socks, a hat and fingerless gloves since Saturday. I'd snap an outfit photo for you but my camera is frozen. Sorry.

And just when my feel-sorry-for-myself-itis (side effects may include an annoying blog post and hairy legs) was in full swing, I get the news that my blog received...


Wait. WHAT?! 

Seriously, you guys. I was just so thrilled and honored to be nominated, I truly didn't expect to place within the top ten. I mean, did ya'll see who the nominees were? I read and gain so much from each of those art teachers! Please bookmark these blogs and spend some time perusing them. You won't regret it.

Also...I'd like to say thank you very much to those of you that nominated this blog and voted for it. It's meant so much to me, you guys! Especially after this leaky and heatless week!

Now, if you're new to this blog because The Art of Education brought you here, lemme tell you what happens here: weekly, I'll share a peak into my art room either with an art lesson or some other craziness; I'll post some creation of mine (hint: it's usually some tacky ensemble I've crafted); and I'll share what I've worn during the week which is what this post is all about. This week I decided to include my drawings from our One Drawing a Day book club adventure (go here and here to find out more and join the fun, kids!) and some fun-ness goin' down in the art room. If you are new, I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to shoot me an email or leave a message in the comments. Thanks, ya'll!
Drawing #1: A Still Life in Pen. Now, just cuz we are 7 days in to the book One Drawing a Day doesn't mean you can't join any ole time! In fact, don't tell the others, I'm behind by two days, whoops! Hoping to catch up this evening. But, really, the whole purpose of reading this book together is to get us all drawing and creating again. As art teachers, we have a bad habit of neglecting our own creativity. No more, I say!
Again, these tables. Suggestions on how to clean 'em really really well? They are whipped down daily by me and the kids...and still, this. And don't tell me Magic Eraser because I need a Super Magic Eraser to take care of this. In other news, look at that awesome Chinese calligraphy! Years ago I got a grant that paid for grinding stones, ink sticks and bamboo brushes. On this day, the kids were introduced to grinding the ink, properly holding the brush and writing in Chinese...all in our short 30 minutes of art. I love how this student really went to town.

School-Teachery Tuesday: I've been getting these lovely eye infections so I decided to give my balls a rest this week (that'd be EYEballs, ya perv). It's interesting all the (positive and negative) comments you receive from the little people when you suddenly appear in glasses. I also noticed that my wee friends in glasses were especially excited by the fact that I wear glasses too. sweater: Urban Outfitters, last year; dress: vintage; tights: dunno; shoes and pencil hair clip: DIY, go here

Last week, I shared with you the beginning stages of a 2nd grade painting project. This week we painted cherry blossoms on our practice sheet before painting them on our watercolor paper. The added bonus of having a practice sheet is that it's just as lovely as the finished product! P.S. don't you just love that little pinky up?!
Drawing #2: Organic Still Life in Calligraphy Pen. I keep noticing that when I'm drawing, I am either holding my breath or tensed up. I'm such a finicky artist that I'm hoping these exercises allow me to loosen up a bit.
"No Offense But You Don't Match, Mrs. Stephens" Wednesday: "I mean, you have orange on your legs and your shoes are two different colors," pointed out one well-meaning 4th grade boy. "She also never wears PANTS!" shouted one 4th grade girl from across the room. And my classroom management plan proceeded to fly out the window. sweater: Forever 21; dress and tights: Target; shoes and palette hair clip: made by me, shoe DIY here

I decided to try out something new in my art room this week that was suggest at the AOE Conference by Art Blog of the Year Finalist Art Teachers Hate Glitter. Instead of giving the kids "free draw" paper when they finish early (when, in my 30 minutes of art class, that usually means they have less than 5 minutes of free draw time), allow them to draw on dry erase boards. Holy cow, ya'll! This is genius! They absolutely love it and there's no wasted paper in my recycle bin. I found these dry erase boards at Walmart for about $2 each.
Day #3: Draw Someone with a Bamboo Pen. No bamboo pen on hand but I did have a feather quill. I much more comfortable drawing myself than hubs or the cat. I sit still much longer than they ever would.
My Favorite Colors Thursday: The inside of my dream airstream trailer will be covered in salmon pink and turquoise with a pop of coral and leopard print. dotted blouse: Old Navy; sweater and hair bows: Forever 21; dress: vintage; tights: Target; scarf: gift from a student

I started teaching an afternoon sewing class to 4th graders with a couple sewing buddies of mine. We have about 17 kids in the class and they are currently learning how to embroider and cross stitch. I'm excited to see them finish their name and sew on some buttons this week before we bust out the sewing machines and turn these into pillows!
Drawing #4: Use a Charcoal Stick to Draw a Still Life. No charcoal stick on hand but I did have a charcoal pencil. Not gonna lie, I loved working on this drawing of junk from my sewing room.
Drawing Day #5: Draw a Person Using a Variety of Values of Ink Washes. This was me on a Friday off from school so I could entertain the the roofers and plumbers that dropped by. As you can see from the drawing, I wasn't the happiest of hostesses.

19 comments:

  1. Congratulations, I love your blog! I wish I could get a little Cassie Stephens wardrobe make-over!! But I love how you DIY your shoes and clips SO CUTE!! I wish I could put cute outfits together and look as cute as you for work everyday! WOW! My uniform is a t-shirt and some sort of stained blue jeans EVERY day! I bet your students adore you and your art class is a fun place to be!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Natalie! Oh, a makeover would be fun! But I'm guessing we live far apart (if you ARE in N'ville, lemme know, let's go shopping!). You CAN put cute outfits together cheaply -- hit your thrift store! And, if you get paint on it, eh, you only spent a coupla bucks, right? You could paint some of those shirts and jeans since they are already stained -- that would be super cute!

      Delete
    2. Natalie, let's write a grant! We can go to Nashville and shop with her! She would love our Thrift Family Outlets here in Houston!!! Maybe she should come here instead!? And teach a workshop in our district!? What do ya say Cassie?! HeeHee!
      I wish I could wear blue jeans every day!
      Congrats to both of you on your blog wins!!!

      Delete
    3. Oh, lemme come to you, I've never been to Houston! I could go thrift store diggin' all day long! And congrats, Natalie! I love your blog!!

      Delete
    4. That would be awesome! We could even call it "staff (wardrobe) development" and get hours for it!!!! No but seriously I would LOVE that!!

      Delete
  2. I WAS so excited to hear you were second (although I was secretly wanting to see the number one badge for you!) That CAR SWEATER is the coolest outfit and I think a girl wearing a vintage car would be the hottest outfit a guy had ever seen. Can I say that on this blog?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You so silly. You know you can say ANYTHANG on this here blog. I mean, I spent two paragraphs b#tching, er, GRIPING, so pretty sure you're good. And thank you! I dunno about 1st...I spend an awful large portion of this blog modeling ridiculous outfits! Not so sure on the educational value of that, sistah!

      Delete
  3. Congrats on 2nd place! I was happy to see your name way up on the list! Your drawings are very lovely and delicate. What I use for tables is Greased lightening spray and then (yes, I said it) a magic eraser. Let the spray have about 30 seconds to permeate the gunk on the table and then wipe. It works for everything with me for not a lot of physical effort.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah!! Thank you, Marcia! I'll pick some up at the grocery tomorrow, yay! No more embarrassing tables!

      Delete
  4. My kids are cleaning MACHINES if I let them be!!!! If I bring out a canister of clorox wipes, you won't see one kid without their hand in the air or attached to my body trying to get one to clean the tables. :) BUT, I bought a gazillion sponges tonight as they were $1 for 10 at my supermarket in their dollar bin. I know they won't be magical sponges, but.... it might help me save money on the wipes! Maybe 4 from each table instead of 8 get wipes and 4 get sponges!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea! My kids go into intense cleaning mode with their baby wipes...but those things can only clean so much off my tables. We've used ModPodge and acrylic paints that can be just as stubborn as a mule to get off. Maybe some scouring sponges would work...? Hmmmm.

      Delete
  5. You got the POP sweater at Target?!? Why don't I ever find stuff like that at Target? I'd wear that one in a heartbeat! Actually I love every sweater in today's post. And my hubby would go ape over the car sweater - he has a MAD passion for vintage cars, and even owns one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AND on the clearance rack for $12! They had a POP dress for a while too...but my rule is "if it's not on sale, it's not for me". I mean, when you have the amount of clothing I've got, you gotta have SOME rules against buying new clothes!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous2/09/2014

    I don't know if you've tried this already for your tables, but I work visual retail and we clean fixtures using rubbing alcohol with a spray nozzle straight out of the bottle. It works really well for every kind of finish but it does remove paint from trim and walls. We spray the mess and let it sit a minute then wipe it down with paper towels. On tough goo, we break out the orange plastic razor blades. They're plastic so they won't scratch surfaces and aren't sharp enough to cause anything worse than a papercut.

    http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Double-Handled-Mini-Scraper/dp/B007NNUFBQ/ref=pd_sim_auto_35

    When we're done we rub things down with wax paper.

    http://www.reynoldskitchens.com/products/wax-products/wax-paper/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congratulations! I am so pumped you won- you are the reason I was inspired to ditch special ed and get an art credential!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, you GET that art credential, gurl!! And join the crazy paint-splattery family :)

      Delete
  8. You may want to try this, but not til the end of the year, some of the "healthy" furniture stripper to take all the gunk off. Then after you strip and sand it down put 2 or 3 layers of marine Poly on the tables. Let that sit over the summer, unless you do year round school, then do this right before your longest break of the year so the Poly has plenty of time to set up. That might make it a bit easier to clean up. Or once you get them all cleaned, my friend taught me this trick, get those plastic table cloth covers, about $4 at Wal*art and cover the nice clean tables with those and then once those are filled up you can pull them off and replace with new. Good luck and I so love your outfits. My coworkers would totally lose their minds if I tried cute outfits like that. As it is they freak when I wear any of my vintage dresses. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I know I am a bit late to this party but I have been a fan for a while so I thought I would congratulate you on your blog award!!! Funny that you brought up Chinese Ink Painting, I have my Beginning Painting class working Chinese Ink right now (have you seen Jane Evans by the way?) and I was interested in your calligraphy hand outs do you remember what book they are from? I thought it might be fun to through that into the mix with the four gentlemen that we work on. I start the painters with this to teach them about brush control.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for your comments. I appreciate each and every one :)

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.