The Path I Am On...

I am an artist......

....and I have been blessed to be able to share art with the children at an awesome Lutheran school in Iowa.

I have traveled with my family for years, adrift in the world, looking for my path.  He has always guided me.  There has always been a reason for all of the places we have lived.  God has always sent us with a purpose.

We can fight it and try to go our own way, but HE always knows which direction we should turn and what path we should take.

A man sat at my kitchen table one day and said, "Hey! TLS needs and art teacher! You should go apply."  I had just finished a retail management gig and just wanted some me time. Me. My art. Find myself.....

I said no.

The air conditioner quit.

Three hundred dollars later, I received a phone call from the principal.  Really....I really want some ME time.  I am not a teacher, just an artist.  I don't think this is a great fit.  No, thank you.

Does the house feel hot to you again?  Yup....you guessed it.  This time it was another part altogether and a five hundred dollar bill.

Are you kidding me Lord?

I don't know why the principal called again.  He said he was getting desperate and just wanted to see if I would come in a talk a bit.

Yes.  Sure.  I can come talk.  I think I am being nudged a little in that direction anyway.

That was eight years ago.

I am on HIS path.

Feeling Blessed

What a day!  I am still full of excitement as I attempt to settle down for the night.  I presented two classes today for the Lutheran Educators Association Convocation in beautiful Milwaukee.

What.....A.....Day!

Thank you to all that stopped me in the hall to thank me.....

Thank you for the words of encouragement.
Thank you for the warm wishes.
Thank you for the prayers.
Thank you for the love.

You are all fabulous!

I plan to begin posting the slides from each session in small sections.  Please - don't forget to send me questions or if you need help adjusting or adapting a lesson.

I am so grateful for all of you and give thanks and praise to Him for putting me on this path.

Julie

The Bones of a Tree

4th Grade looks at trees each year.

We look at the bones. The structure.

The kids are very quick to realize that, as a tree grows,

the branches get smaller.

 Each time the tree splits into branches, it creates a "V".  Makes perfect sense to them ..... until they try it.  Every time a branch splits, it remains the same thickness, but gets shorter.  The pictures resemble brier patches that never end.  They are beautiful designs in themselves, but not the idea of the lesson.  I really wish I had a picture of these shrubbery, but this year in my frustration of the lesson, I whipped out my favorite thing in the world.....

......a strip of paper.

I folded it into quarters and began to cut long strips into it, stopping at folds. 
I cut in half down the middle (I cut about 2/3 of the way down).
I cut those halves in half to the halfway fold in the paper.
I cut the four strips in half again to the 3/4 fold.

It looked like a strange strip of paper until.....

I folded the branches out...... and it is a tree.  Each branch getting smaller, until I am not able to cut it in half anymore.  The kids decided this was worth a try.

Each branch is folded back to glue one section at a time.

I can't wait until the trees are finished. We began to add color with markers, but scraps of paper was pulled out, and now the collage is beginning on top.  I loved when they asked for "just one more class" to finish adding some paper piecing and collage materials to make them look just right!

We have to wait a couple of weeks for the final outcome.  I will be off to the 2013 Lutheran Educators Association Convocation this week to present two classes.  I am just a tad bit excited about going, but I can't wait to see how the kids finish their trees when I get back....

Were You Born In A Barn?

Portraits.

I think portraits are every kid's nightmare.  
My kids breathe a very heavy groan when I announce 
we will be working on portraits or self portraits.  

I asked them this year - why do you have this fear?

"It is just scary!  Our pictures never look right!"

So this year I proposed a twist on our first grade portrait unit.

I found some incredible photos to share with the kids.  Check them out here http://vectroave.com/2013/04/animal-portraits-by-yago-partal/

I asked the kids to imaging they were from a family of animals!  
What animal would you imagine to be from?

Hands went up and they all knew immediately what kind of animals they would be!

The sketches were fun!  All new shape was realized with snouts and beaks!  
No scary people noses here!

....and then the painting began.

Check out that awesome sketch!

We laid in the background first so we didn't have to paint around anything later.  That is the cool thing about paint - you can paint on top of the background for a clean line!

Then we moved on to the outside frame.

Then our "person" is painted.

Finally some details. Some chose to add details around the frame and others chose to add details inside the frame.  Isn't art awesome?  So many individual choices!

This project took two 45 minute classes to paint.  

I will show the finished portraits in another post.