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.