Layers in Mixed Media Collage

My last post was about my struggle with watercolors. Apparently that art form requires much more patience than I used to exercising when it come to artwork.

One of my go-to's when I'm in the mood to create art has always been mixed media collage.

One of the benefits of this form is that you can do it with very little money. I always try to use old canvases (I just put white gesso over them to get a blank slate), and I have been gifted some, or found them in thrift stores, or even on the side of the road in 'free' piles.

I have found that the secret to make a great mixed media collage is layering.

First I layer the gesso. Even if the canvas is already white, it just makes a good foundation.

Then I layer the acrylic paint in my choice of colors.

After that, I start putting down the images I want. I usually get them from old magazines or greeting cards, but you can also purchase vintage-looking ephemera at craft stores for these types of purposes. I use Mod Podge to attach them.

After I have a number of images in place, I use some washi tape to frame the images, or create interesting lines.

I also use some of those word/phrase stickers sometimes to create little poems or stories within the collage.

Then on the top layer, I put ribbons, or buttons or pieces of discarded jewelry or any other accouterments I want. I fire up my glue fun for that step.

After all those layers, it usually looks complete to me. Sometimes if I find a perfect button or something, I'll go back and add it later, but this one is already hanging up in my bedroom now.

So there's my art-inspired blog post of the day, for at least as long as COVID-19 is forcing the closure of my school.

Experimenting with Watercolors

Since I've has a lot more time on my hands recently, I decided to give watercolors another try.

I have never been very good with watercolors, or with trying to paint anything realistic; I'm much more about abstract art and acrylics.

But I wanted to try something new.

This is what I did today; I actually used a combination of Stabilo woody pencils (which are hybrids of wax crayons/watercolors) as well as watercolor brush pens. John did a lot of painting today, too

 

Please excuse the exhibitionist mermaid.

Turtle Power!

Years ago, I made a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles dollhouse out of a cardboard box. I put a lot of work into it, and it would always get a lot of attention when I displayed it at libraries or maker fairs.

We recently went to see the original film in Portsmouth at a 30th anniversary screening:

It was great seeing the movie on a big screen again, and the pizza was fantastic! Afterwards, I got inspired to dig out to TMNT house so that John could play with it. I was disappointed to find it damaged and warped though, from years of moving and storage.

I was able to salvage the 'sidewalk' top that I made out of a piece of Styrofoam and coffee stirrers. There's even a little compartment that I made to look like nuclear waste was being dumped:

I made the dumpster out of a tea tin.

I found a new cardboard box to make the turtles' lair. It's not finished but it looks pretty good so far. I added some tiny pizza lights that I found at Dollar Tree, and I let John set up all the furniture the way he wanted inside, and he did a great job:

He loves to turn the lights on inside at night time and play with it, and it's great to have something to occupy him for a while:

Not too bad for something we slapped together in a couple days!

Exhaustion of All Sorts

Well, this wraps up the first week of distance learning. It was actually only 2 days of official online teaching, but it might as well have been a whole week because I am exhausted.

It's not the same kind of exhaustion I am used to feeling after a busy week at work; I'm used to teaching classes, rushing to accommodate students who come in between classes, get books checked in and shelved, recess duty, etc. It's mostly mental and emotional exhaustion.

I am mentally exhausted from scouring the Internet for good resources to pass on to staff members. I am mentally exhausted from news reports and social media that I see every time I get on the computer. I am mentally exhausted from trying to review and re-explain concepts to the students that we discussed in class, but now seem to have gone out of their heads, through a never-ending series of emails. 

I am emotionally exhausted from the stress of my new job situation, absorbing some of the stress from my husband's new job situation (also a teacher), and trying to keep our son occupied for more than a few minutes at a time so I don't have to explain to him yet again that Mama and Dada are not on vacation; just because we're at home doesn't mean we're not working.

And just for fun, there's the physical exhaustion that comes with constantly doing laundry and dishes because since we're in the house all the time now, we're dirtying the sheets, blankets, dishtowels, plates, silverware, etc.

We are trying to get into some kind of routine but it's going to take some time.

I am trying to find some time during the day to do creative things, but I end up feeling guilty if I do too much, like I should be checking emails, or entering grades, or checking out new resources, or recording a read-aloud.  .  .

I think the most important thing I have to do is to be there for the students. I have already received emails from several students saying how much they miss me and the library, and it kind of breaks my heart. So far, my favorite email from a student said:

"My mom started a homeschool, and my sister is a teachers pet and I was suspended. So everything is great, except the fact that I am bored, I HAVE NO BOOKS!!!!!!!!!"

That email made me laugh out loud.

A couple months ago, I treated myself to a new box of watercolor brush paints. I have never been very good with watercolors, so this is my first attempt:

It's supposed to be my cat Bella, but instead it looks like one of the humanoid-cat actors in the recent film version of Cats.

Update on Friends dollhouse

I posted in January about the Friends dollhouse that my husband made me as a Christmas gift.

I have been trying to work on it since then, and it's looking pretty good:

During February break, we took a little trip to NYC, and we visited the Friends apartment building (the one used for exterior shots).

I know the people who live in the building don't like this part, but I loved reading all the quotes and messages written on the wall by adoring fans:

Right now, I am on a quest to find (shopping online of course) a small duck and chick and monkey to hide somewhere in the scene.

The More (Mary Wickes), the Merrier (I am)

John recently watched the classic animated Disney film 101 Dalmatians. I hadn't seen it in a long time, so I sat down to watch with him.

As the credits were starting up, I noticed the name Mary Wickes, and I got excited because I love that actress.

For people who do not recognize the name, she played the 'grumpy' nun  Sister Mary Lazarus in the Sister Act movies:

as well as Sister Clarissa in The Trouble with Angels, which is one of my favorites:

Great Aunt March in the 1994 version of Little Women, another favorite,

as well as the ballet instructor in one of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy:

She also appears in a couple episodes of Punky Brewster (as a nun again in one episode!), but I wasn't able to find any stills from those episodes.

Anyways, I kept waiting to hear her distinctive voice, but it never came. So I did some research to figure out why she was credited if she didn't seem to be IN the movie at all, and I found out some interesting trivia.

Mary Wickes was the real life model for Cruella DeVille!

   

Disney animators use real life actors as models as they draw, but I never knew that she did that.

I love to sing the song "Cruella DeVille" to Johnny now, and now whenever I sing it, I can picture one of my favorite,  often overlooked, actresses. 

"It was dark times, Harry, dark times."

I have to admit that as soon as my school announced the closure due to COVID 19, that line from Hagrid is the first thing that popped into my head. Just last week I was taking the 4th graders outside to tap maple trees, torturing the 5th graders with my terrible singing voice (and a song about dracunculus medinensis) and getting hugs from Kindergarteners. Now I've had to pack up the library as best as I can to prepare for a thorough disinfecting. It doesn't even look like the library I tried so hard to make a friendly, comfortable, inviting space.

We've been preparing for distance learning for the past few days. It's very different than what most of us are used to in a K-8 school, but I am trying hard to be optimistic about it, and I hope that we are successful in it because it could provide more opportunities: like being able to instruct during snow days, or being able to provide better instructions on our sick days. For example, if my son gets sick and I need to stay home, I could potentially Skype into the library, talk to the guest teacher or ask the students if they have questions. 

I did not see this coming, and I know a lot of other people didn't either, at least not to this extent.

But I keep reminding myself that previous generations have faced world wars, widespread economic depressions, and natural disasters. 

This isn't fun, but a lot of things in life aren't fun.

Since I began with a Harry Potter quote, I will end with one, too:

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”