What the Art Teacher Wore #15

Monday, Nobody Likes You: A coworker told me she had recently purchased these same Target sandals...and contemplated taking them back after seeing that the "crazy art teacher" also had them -- humph! cardigan, flower pins: H&M; dress: gift from a friend; belt: Pinkyotto; sandals: Target

Well, I dunno about you, but in my little part of the world, this week was like a sucker punch to the gut. My poor students and their teachers had to endure our state's standardized testing. For at least two hours every morning, my students had to take these tests that were most definitely written by trolls who live a kid-free life in their underground dungeon. By the time the kids came to art class, they were like zombies straight out of a horror movie.

Speaking of movies...I decided to take a different direction on this week's What I Wore. Instead of pairing my ensemble with a masterpiece, I decided to track down vintage movie posters that I found complimented my look. My search also lead me to a couple of goodies that would make my look complete, if only. You'll have to tell me what you think. Now go enjoy yourself a good movie and your weekend!

So while hubs and I were outside taking a photo of Monday's outfit, the neighbor's cat Rhett Butler (no, not kidding, I do live in The South) decided to join the fun. He's quite the character, loving one minute and attacking the next. So this book cover illustrates his craziness nicely. I know, I said I'd show movie posters, but this was just too perfect: From "Wiplala" written by Annie M.G. Schmidt, illustrated by Jenny Dalenoord, Holland, 1958

My feet say "no" but the crazy cat lady says "yesssss!" Pixie Lott in Mui Mui.

Tuesday: sweater: ebay; dress: The Hip Zipper, the best vintage joint in Nashville; owl sandals: Anthopologie

I love this poster...and would love to see the movie. I think I would fall under the "spoiled" category. My dear hubs lets me buy anything I want...at the thrift store. Image found here.

Can I please lounge on this in my pink gingham dress and be a bad sistah? Oh, summer vacation, you can't come soon enough! I found this lovely couch here.

Guess-who's-excited-she-finished-her-embroidery Wednesday: This is the dress that I embroidered and shared a DIY over at this lovely blog. dress: The Gap; shoes: Borne...these are the worst shoes ever, don't buy them. They absolutely will not stay on your feet, ugh!

Oh, Doris Day, you so stinkin' cute! Send Me No Flowers, found here.

I have needed a floral fix almost daily. Is it spring or a new trend? Don't care, just gimme some more flowers! Tights found here.

Thursday, You're such a Wild Cat: dress and sweater: thrifted; belt and sandals: made by me. The sandal base is from Sseko; headband: Peachy Tuesday

Boxers, briefs or...jungle panties? Image found here.

Can you believe the awesomeness that is my headband? No extra accessories needed, this is just perfect. Thank you, Jen at Peachy Tuesday!

Friiiidaaaaaay!: sweater: thrifted; dress: super cute vintage shop in Knoxville called Four Seasons Vintage; sandals: Frye; hairclip: made by me

Honestly, I struggled to find a poster for this outfit. It's a stretch but I'm thinking the stripes and the kinda-sorta similar palette makes it work...right? Found here.

Wanna know what I just did? I just got the Pink Panther theme song stuck in your head. You're welcome!

In the Artroom: The Art History Wall

A Rockin' Trip Thru Art History with...Mona Lisa's Masterpieces.

This week in the art room, I thought I'd share with you the backdrop seen in many of my What-I-Wore-This-Week posts. Every school year, I create a theme of study. The year I created the Art History Wall, our theme was Rockin' Thru Art History. I wore this wacky apron and the kids created guitars and rocked their way through the history of art.  I loved the wall too much at the end of the year to take it down. With the exception of a random piece of art falling off the wall, it's held up well through the years and, more importantly, it's proved to be a valuable educational tool in the art room.

Every art room should have a mascot.

I am fortunate in that I have a very large art room. Once upon a time, my art room was the school library. So it is very long with plenty of former book shelves turned cabinets and storage.

The Wall in total. Narrowing down the history of art to fit my wall was the hardest part.

That being said, I have this very large wall space which seemed to be the perfect canvas for a giant display. I began by jotting down the major movements in art history. From there, I rooted through my mountains of visuals: old calendars, postcards, posters -- even cutting up the art history books I'd hoarded since college, to find just the right images.

In the Beginning...we had rock art, no paper, no scissors.

With my art movements and visuals sorted, I began the writing of the Art History Wall. This proved to be difficult as I had to keep it simple and kid friendly. To add a little  three dimensional pop to the wall, I clued a piece of foam to the back of the purple papers as well as some of the visuals.

If you are interested in creating your own wall, feel free to borrow from mine as much as you like. The following are the movements and their simple descriptions:

Rock Painting: The beginning of art...

Ancient Egypt: tombs, pyramids, mummies, OH MY!

Ancient Greece: athletic people that believed in many gods...

Ancient Rome: expanded Greek art ideas (after conquering them)

Middle Ages: Bible stories were told through art

Early Renaissance: Artists learned to paint realistically

High Renaissance: Michelangleo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and sculpted David; Leonardo da Vinci sketched inventions and painted the Mona Lisa

Dutch painting: Dutch artists painted portraits, still lives and genre paintings

Romantics and Realists: wanted to show emotion in their art

Impressionists: group of artists that wanted to show color and light

Famous impressionists were Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cassatt

Post Impressionist: artists that created after the Impressionists and expanded their ideas: van Gogh, Seurat, Cezanne

Modern Art: In modern art, artists realized that the possibilities are endless!

The bulletin board beside the art history wall.

What's the point in having a mascot when you don't get to wear a silly costume? I got this idea from one of the most amazing and inspirational art teachers I know, Debi West. You can read more about her and her students here.

And there you have it! We put the wall in action when we are learning about an artist or a certain movement in art. I'll ask the kids to follow me to the Art History wall so they can visually grasp important periods in art. Thanks for reading!

DIY: Floral Embroidery

So, do you remember that floral embroidery sneak-peak I shared with you here? Well, I finally finished it! But if you want to read more, you'll have to head over to one of my favorite blogs, The Little Red Squirrel.

Sweet Katie, the creative mind behind The Little Red Squirrel, is on vacation in Paris (I had to photoshop my green-with-envy face) and asked me if I wouldn't mind being a guest blogger for her. I shared with her readers my floral embroidery DIY. I do hope you'll take a look and add her blog to your blog reader, it's fantastic!

And thanks again, Katie, it was a delight. Enjoy your holiday!

Weekend Adventure: Back and Forth

I love this turtle mosaic by the Tennessee artist Sherri Warner Hunter. This guy was featured with several large mosaic fish and a lizard bench at a rest stop on the way to Chattanooga.

This weekend, hubs and I took a road trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Now, if ya'll aren't from around these parts, Chattanooga is a sweet town most famous for it's Lookout Mountain. To access the mountain, you can take what's called the Incline Railway which is a sort of train car that halls you at a near 75 degree angle to the top. It is not for the faint of heart.

It's about a two hour drive to Chat from Nashville. On my lap was my latest embroidery project. I'm working from a vintage dictionary with the best illustrations. I can't wait to share with you the finished product...but it might be a while.

Having done the Incline before, we passed on it. Besides we had other things on our agenda. Me, I was all about the vintage, antique and thrift shops. Hubs? Well, if you must know, it was the donut shop. Seriously. We drove two hours for donuts.

Not just any donuts, mind you, Julie Darling Donuts. They were pretty fab. We sampled the red velvet, blueberry and the glazed. None of them were your traditional donut: the glazed was amazing with a bread like texture; the blueberry was crispy on the outside like it had been deep fried and the red velvet had an incredible cream cheese frosting. They also had a bacon donut and an Oreo covered number that looked pretty interesting.

Chattanooga is a pretty arsty town with sculptures and paintings along their river front. I took piano lessons for years, but those of you that know me, know the real piano story. Those of you that don't know this infamous tale, let's just say it involves an Amish piano-tuning dude, my mother and something you'd never thought you'd find inside a piano.

After devouring our donuts, we walked along the riverfront venturing into shops. I managed to do a little damage at one antique store before we hit Lupi's Pizza.

One of my finds: I picked up this sweet little bird tray at The Knitting Mill Antiques. I loved it's unique diamond shape. Perfect for holding my wool snippets and my hook. The little snippets can be felted and made into things like this sweet pin cushion.

Our intent was to stay over in Chat...but to be honest, we felt like we'd done what we came to do: eat deliciously naughty food and buy other people's junk. To Do, Ta Done.

Getting home early allowed me to finish another square in my rug hooking! The flower took a lot longer than the geometric design but I'm really excited with the result.

The variegated yellow wool and the maroon wool that are outlining the flower are both from recycled clothing. I cannot wait to start on my next square. But I have entirely too many other things on my Shoulda-Gotten-Done-Five-Days-Ago list to even think about that.

Okay, the real reason we drove all the way to Chattanooga and back again? This sweet face.

Not only that, but someone has staked her claim in my wool storage! And, lemme tell you, if you even attempt to pull out a strand of wool on her watch, she'll shred you to bits with those claws. So, until she moves on, looks like I'll working on that embroidery!