National Portfolio Day Info

It is that time of year again, time for the announcements for National Portfolio Day to begin coming in.
Often I forget to remind everyone, but not this year! Yay for you.

That's the mailing I just received - which is also posted in the classroom. If you click on that image or HERE, you will be able to go to their site.

While they don't have the time listed, they do have the date set (Jan. 17th, 2015) at San Francisco Art Institute.

This is a great time for Juniors to take in some work and get feedback from a bunch of different art schools pertaining to what they like and what they think you might want to work on. If you are a senior it can still be helpful, but by that time you should basically have most of your work completed.

If you have questions please let me know.

Great Article, Ritualize Practice

My last year in college I decided to keep track of each hour I spent in the darkroom/studio. His was only for my photo work, mind you, and didn't even include all of the time I was out photographing, and it definitely did not include all of the time I spent in the other studios for my other classes.

And I recorded everything. Even if I just stopped by for 20 minutes after work to think about what I wanted to accomplish the next day I recorded it - even though there was no physical "art making" at the time.

What I noticed was that a) I spent a lot of time in the studio (a lot), and b) I was highly productive and full of ideas and work. 

This can't be a surprise can it? No, not really. 

I like THIS ARTICLE from Tony Schwartz at the Harvard Business Review quite a lot. 

Especially number six. 

Ritualize Practice. Read it. Write it down. It is so true and it doesn't matter if you are talking about art or water polo or riding a horse. Build that time in and create a habit. 

You shouldn't have to ponder he making, just the how or what you are making. 

Kind of like my old boss used to say, "Ain't nothin' to it but to get down and do it."

Mixing flesh tone acrylic painting: How-To from YouTube

Here's a nice little video about mixing some flesh tones.
I think my favorite part is that while you know this is something this artist has done many times, you can tell it's a process. He has to add little bits of this and that in order to make it work.
This is all part of the process, right?!


Note: you can ignore the whole color wheel think with the hole in the middle at the beginning. That will save you some time.

Enjoy

Did Someone Say Mural?

Well, it happened today. Paint got on the wall that is.
What a day to begin, too, what with the heat and all. I know one thing, I am exhausted.

If you come by the school you will see a very loud and crazy "painting" so far. Trust me, it's a long way from being finished.
Remember, it is a work in progress.

If you want to follow along on the interwebs in places other than just here, look for tags such as #lghsart and #studio502

 

Having said all of that, the above pic was taken today. Just a very small peek into what happened.

Oh, and the raffle winners have been drawn.

Congratulations to: Sharon Pratt, Hans Candries, and Lucy Kain.

They will get their custom paintings within the next couple of months. More on that to come.

Mural Ready

Well, the time is upon us to begin the mural. Not only are the benches moved, but tomorrow morning the wall will be washed.
I'm hoping this means we can get some initial paint on the wall during Art 3 and Art 4 before the weekend so the wall can go from this...

to something like the below two images from HENSE
Well, not exactly like these, but with similar shapes and colors and layering.

Speaking of Hense, there is a great interview - with a lot of great pictures - with him on DesignBoom you should check out.

Wish us luck. This should be fun!

Time Lapse Painting

Last year I had the pleasure of meeting local artist Tom Yacoe as we were preparing for the advanced art painting exhibition in the Town Council Chambers. Here is a video I ran in to recently that shows him creating one of his abstract landscape paintings using acrylic on canvas.
Short and interesting...in case you wanted to try one of your own.

Senior T-Shirt Design

Seniors, this is your chance to get your ideas from head to paper to t-shirt...and have bragging rights.

Designs are due on 9/24 in room L5.
Please specify if it is a design for the front or back of the shirt, and if you have questions I do not have answers so ask someone in leadership.

Ready, set, GO.

Back To School Night v2015

Students, it's that time of year again.
Time to get your parental units out of the house and send them to spend some quality time with me.
When, this Thursday, 9/4 at 6:30
Where, well, school, naturally.

Parents, it's time to spend some quality time away from your kids. Sorry, not on a date, but at school!
Back to School Night is here so let's do this.

The main thing that will be different this year is that the advanced art students will be holding a raffle/fundraiser for the mural we will be painting on the outside of the Art 1 room some time this fall (this month?).

If you would like to win one custom painting (of one person/pet) by one of our truly stunning students then drop your name in the "hat" - trust me, you'll see it in the classroom.
We are asking for a $20 donation to be eligible (but you can donate more if you like). There will be slips of paper for you to fill out when you attend back to school night - and probably more information then as well.

Sometimes Everyone Needs a Do Over

Fun stuff from Mental Floss. Click HERE to read the (short) article.

What, the LG Museum announcement already?! Whoa!

Welcome back and all that jazz.
I just received an email from the Museums of Los Gatos referencing the high school exhibition they will hold in the spring.

Art 4's, you will be required to make a piece for this exhibition. While I will try to spend some time brainstorming with you in class, the sooner you can start thinking about it, the better.

Here is what I know so far:

That is the theme. Bridges: facing challenges. I can think of a lot of options and possibilities so far so I hope you can too. There is more information here, so please check it out.

High School Showcase

Nice little write up about the Art Museum of Los Gatos' annual high school exhibition, with a pic in the Weekly of some of out students in front of Sofia's painting. 

Nice!

AmazonSmile

AmazonSmile must be new, but I was able to select our very own New Millenium Foundation as the future recipient for Amazon donations based off of my purchases. Pretty cool. You should do the same.

Cat's Corner T-Shirt Contest

CATS CORNER T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST
Do you want to see the entire student body wearing your design? Designs for next years Cats Corner T-shirt are due may 9th in L5.  There will be an all school vote to choose the design on may 15th in L5 during tutorial!! Come and place your vote for next years t-shirt!

See me about how we can incorporate this as part of your assignment/study drawings.
Would love to see one of you have your design chosen.

Museum Opening

There were shenanigans.
And people doing weird things. Although by "people" I might just mean me.

At any rate, it was a good and crowded opening at the Art Museum of Los Gatos tonight.
Franny and Sofia were represented by their families and myself and there was a lot of other really good work on display from school all over the county.

Read the previous post to see about the extra credit that is available, and check my Instagram to see a couple of funny pics. I believe the show is up until May 11th.
If I get around to it I'll post some from my phone tomorrow.

Even More Extra Credit

Tomorrow, 4/24, is the reception for the county wide exhibition that Sofia Kuta and Franny Lin had work accepted into. The reception lasts from 6-8, with awards at 7.

I would like to encourage you to attend the show not only to see their work, but to see the work made by other local high school students. I have yet to see the show and am looking forward to it.

The show is up until May 11 and if you take a selfie in front of either Franny or Sofia's art while it is on display and email it to me I will give you some extra credit for attending.
Ideally you would go tomorrow, but any day between now and the 11th with work.

Additionally, don't forget that there is a call for student art for a smaller show at the museum which closes on April 30th - next week.
If you copy me on the email you need to send the museum I will get you points for that as well - regardless of if they choose your piece or not.

There is a lot of good work from this year that you should be proud to show so do it! Now!
Or now!

If you need help getting a decent pic of your work, let me know.

Cheers.

More Art Needed

I said I would, so here it is.

If you want to donate art to help as two different fundraisers, please see me and/or Emily Blaker for details.
They are good causes and your peers are trying to do good things, so...

For EXTRA CREDIT, if you submit something to the Jr. Art Docents/Museum Exhibition that is coming up in May, please make sure to copy me on the email.
If you do, I will get you some extra credit at some point.
Also, send them a good photograph. Get rid of misc background; take a pic straight on; etc.
You can get a decent image from your phone - and crop it there, too - or you can use the camera in class (all the art 3 and 4 students know how to use this by now).

The Full News Release for the Contest

You Want $$$?

Here is an interesting opportunity from the District Attorney's office that can pay you some cash money. Let me know if you have any details.


Greetings,

I am writing to ask you to spread the word among all high school students about a contest run by the District Attorney's Office to make a poster that raises awareness about Teen Dating Violence (please see attachment).  The contest will award a prize of $500 to the first place poster, $300 to the second place winner and $200 for third place.  In addition, the winning poster will be used in the DA's Office's October campaign for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The deadline for entry of the 24" x 36" posters is Friday, May 16.

Please send this information to all students, their art teachers and anyone else who might be interested in submitting a poster.

We are looking forward to seeing your fantastic entries!

James Gibbons-Shapiro
Assistant District Attorney
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, CA  95110
408-792-2985
jgibbonsshapiro@da.sccgov.org

Vans Custom Culture

I need your Vans designs on Monday if you want to be in the running for the contest.

Can you beat Dasha/Karla from last year?
Maybe a better question is, can Dasha beat herself?

I don't know, but if you want additional info, click HERE.

Europe 2015

As a reminder, the sign up window for the trip to Paris in 2015 is open.

Three people have signed up so far. It would be awesome to get most/all of the sign ups as soon as possible. That way I/we have an idea of everyone going before the end of the year.

Talk to your folks and if you need info, please let me know.

Great Day!

We finished. 

It wasn't perfect, but we finished. 

Today was the reading/showing of the collaborative project between the Art 2 and creative writing students. 

You write something, I draw a response to it, someone else writes a response to that, yet another person draws something from that. 

And so on. 

A fun idea that I hope the students got as much out of as I did. 

Crazy creativity these folks have. Truly impressive. 

Here is a little pic from our morning. 

You Want Extra Credit

Right away, BAM!

Extra credit here at the beginning of the semester. Two ways, actually.



First, we have our reception coming up at the LG Town Council Chambers. This is from 6-7:30 on Feb. 13th. You sign in on the sign in sheet and take a gander at the oil paintings that are on the wall and I give you extra credit for participating in Art.

Awesome.



Second, there is this movie coming out on Feb. 7th. If you can prove to me that you saw the movie, I will give you extra credit. But you will need to get me this proof before March 1st.

You can thank me later.



Oh, and by "prove to me", that means a ticket stub and something else. This could be a written impression, a piece of art inspired by, a critique of the film, or an equivalent. Bring your creativity to the table on this one.
And have fun.

Art 3 - 2nd Semester

I am copying this for the Art 3's straight up from the Schoology site as I want to make sure I don't lose the info, so this is most likely a duplication for those that it pertains to. FYI.


We are going to begin second semester with three quick projects (ok, maybe four - but three for sure). This will require you to brainstorm a bunch, make fast decisions, and get your final copies completed quickly.
All three of the of the images will be small in an effort to allow you to meet the quick turnaround times. I hope this helps.
At least one of these designs will be loaded onto Society6 by the end of the project.

Here are the details:
You have three topics you have to create imagery for (remember, since your image(s) is going online you cannot straight up duplicate an image that has been created by someone else - though you can combine different ideas and change up someone else's idea(s))

The topics are:
Geometry - pick a geometric shape (regular hexagon or circle, for example) and start from there (do you repeat that one shape, do they overlap, do you fill them with color or patter, etc.);
     does this help?
          http://society6.com/search?product=prints&q=geometric&submit=Search
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/awcomeon/nature/


Animal - pick an animal and do something different to it (you could create an interesting effect with color dripping or combine two different animals into one, etc), keep the background simple here - maybe really simple (yeah, a hint);
     maybe something like this
          http://society6.com/product/Glass-Animal-Flying-Fox_Print#1=45
     or some of these are pretty great
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=animal%20watercolor

Typography - pick a word or a phrase, pick an awesome font, then make it more awesomer together.
     do you want to see some examples here, too
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=typography%20poster&rs=ac&len=10
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=handmade%20type&rs=ac&len=12

Each piece should be turned in on a 9x12" piece of paper (you may or may not use every square inch, depending on the assignment's section)

You might find this helpful if you are going to create something with the intention of putting it on an iphone:
     http://www.lifeproof.com/en/iphone-5/specs/
or here, starting around page 15
     https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/Case-Design-Guidelines.pdf
    

I really want you to have fun with this. You will have just over one week to create each design. I do not care which design you turn in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and you will have a grade sheet for this assignment, but it will be your responsibility to turn in each image with the grade sheet (you will be turning in the grade sheet three times in total - don't worry, there will be plenty of reminders along the way)

Were it me, I would get out my sketchbook and start brainstorming right away. I mean a lot of ideas, too. Get them from your brain, twist other people's ideas around, steal your friend's idea(s) - whatever it takes. And you might as well share your ideas, too.

I would guess, roughly, 2.5-3 class periods for each piece is what you will get. This is subject to change so make sure you are paying attention.