art ed digested

In my own art education, I did not experience oil painting until my senior year. Even then, I was in an advanced placement course.

One of my great loves is still oil painting, the saturation of the colors, the depth of tone, the smell, and the forgiveness the long drying time affords.

Considering that many of my future and past students may never become acquainted with the wonders of oil paint, I thought it best to try to love acrylics, which domintate art classroom supply closets.

Here is the first of my recent studies. Acrylics are tricky, and to coax them to obey, you need to work quickly or find a medium to bend them to your will.

This excercise reminds me yet again that students are constantly provided with materials that are unfamiliar and equally unforgiving to the learning process. So my advice to the art teachers of the world for the Summer is, take your least favorite medium - and fall in love with it.

As for acrylics, I’m still learning to love.

There are so many choices available to teachers now to share ideas and ponder the various trials and triumphs. The blog is a format I began using in early college life, and since then, the blog seems to have morphed into something infinitely more useful and meaningful in our culture.

I am inspired by the work done through the fabulous edublogs familiar to me, especially NeverEnding Search, which happens to belong to my very talented mom.
I will endeavor to make this blog a place to find inspiration, controversy and general musings on the art world, the education world and where those two worlds meet.