It's been a busy week and we are only half way through it. On Monday four out of the five girls I teach in the after school class finished paintings. You'll see Sarah with her 'smiling moon" a painting she has worked on for five months. Tiana holding her tropical sunset in it's new frame. Jenny, proudly displaying her peacock. And Ciena's 'golf course" painting she did for her brother's birthday.

I've also included some fun shots of the girls hands at work or covered in paint. These close up shots are pieces of art all on their own.

In the adult class gallery I added another picture of Mike. Very few of my adults want their pictures taken, Mike never seems to mind.

Three of my girls have work at the Silver Dollar Fair, Ciena, Jenny and Haylee. So if you are planing to visit the fair this weekend stop by the exhibit hall to see their work.
 
Congratulations to Sarah, Tiana, Sura, Jenny, Ciena and Mimi. These young ladies have completed the eighth grade and are to High school next year.  And a great BIG Congratulations to Amanda who is graduating High school tomorrow. Good luck to all of you and have a fun summer!

I was to lazy today to create a new post for this blog. So I posted an old entry from another blog I have. The post below I wrote some time ago. It still holds true today.

As an art teacher I'm always looking for new techniques to teach my students. I enjoy learning as much as I love teaching. At least once a month I go to the local book store to check out the art books. I have a large collection in which I use as references.

One of my favorite books is called "Acrylic Revolution" by Nancy Reyner. This book is full of "new tricks and techniques for working with the world's most versatile medium". It has page after page of fun and exciting ways to play with acrylic paint. There are so many techniques for both the professional and beginner artist to have many hours of fun creating paintings.

The first few pages are great guides for the beginner. starting with the 'Essential acrylic tips". Covering everything about the characteristics of the paint and the colors to use. Ms. Reyner then moves on to materials and equipment and how they are used. Such as Palette ideas, supports or surfaces to paint on and how to set up a studio.

Reyner then cover a large variety of tools you can paint with. Showing examples of paintings done with brushes, palette knives, cheese cloth and rags, string, sponges, eye droppers, toothbrushes and even feathers. All of her examples are done in an easy to follow, step by step process that makes you excited about getting started on your own. With over 100 pages of tips, techniques and projects you will soon be creating some amazing paintings.

Some of my more adventurous students and I have enjoyed experimenting with many of the techniques in "Acrylic Revolution". It's fun and exciting to see great results using non-traditional methods.

The painting posted here was done using hide glue to crack the paint. This is just one of the many fun techniques explained in the book.

I'm sitting here in front of my computer, trying to come up with my first blog. Being new to blogging, I'm not quite sure how to go about it. And having so much on my mind, I'm overwhelmed with ideas. So I'll talk about my students.

I have three after school painting groups. All three groups paint in oil. The age range for these groups start at age 11. Most of my students at the moment are ages 13-15 and all of them are girls. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I am greeted with excited energy from all my girls. The talent that is pouring from these young minds is exhilarating. Each one has her own unique style and ideas for painting subjects. These students are not only talented they are very smart too. They are all in "GATE" and most of them play a musical instrument, are in karate and some are into sports.

My "Saturday Kids" are a lot of fun. The age range for these youngsters are 6-10. For these young minds I concentrate on color mixing. We only use Red, Blue, Yellow and Black and White acrylic paint. We study a little bit of "Art History", learning about some of the great Masters and their paintings. Or we are busy creating special paintings for a Holiday.

My adult students are very busy people. Most of them have very active lives and challenging jobs. Some of them are Chico State or Butte Collage students, some work in the medical industry and some in the computer industry and a few of them are newly retired. Most of them come to class as a way to express their creative side and to unwind from the challenges of their lives.

Art has a way of balancing out one's life. It can relax the brain and shut out stress. Most my students are surprised by how fast two hours fly by. They are so into the creative process, focusing on their projects that "time" seems to stand still.

I love the challenge of my job. By teaching art to all three age groups there is a never ending flow of ideas and creativity. I'm learning just as much from them as they are from me.