The Art of Practice

I have been continuing the journey of mixed media collage.  (If you missed my initial foray into mixed media, check out The Art of Getting Messy)  It is hard, y'all!  I am learning to embrace practice canvases.  Though, when I started, I was pretty sure I could skip the step of practicing and move right into creating super cool pieces.  Ahhh, the arrogance of the uninformed.  I have a stack of "Beyond Hope" canvases waiting to be carted away. Only one canvas made the cut of being "Kinda Okay Because I Really Need to Work on Mantra Stamping."

I just finished reading the Young Adult book,Vincent and Theo, by Deborah Heiligman.  The author drew on the numerous letters sent between Vincent and his younger brother, Theo, to write a moving, yet extremely depressing, novel.  (Fun fact:  Vincent sent approximately 600 letters to his brother.) Vincent spent most of his life practicing the art of color and striving to learn.  

Vincent forgot to eat and his teeth rotted out because he was so busy practicing.  Oblivious to social norms, Vincent roamed around in stinky clothes.  He simply spent all his time painting.  Theo was an art dealer and Vincent needed his brother's help to get his paintings noticed.  It took years of practice before Theo even considered putting Vincent's painting into his art gallery.  

So many lessons to be learned.  Here we go. . . 

• Self-care is always important.  No matter how far in love you have fallen with mixed media, or whatever, you still need to brush your teeth and do laundry.  This is especially important on humid summer days.  

My beloved college roommate had this print hanging in our apartment.  Which Van Gogh did you have hanging in your apartment?   

• Vincent never felt his art was "good enough" and always wanted to improve.  His years of frenzied painting made him, arguably, one of the most famous painters in modern history.  I mean, soon millions of college students will be tacking his paintings up in their dorm rooms.  Practice is necessary if you want to get good at things.  Writers write.  Painters paint.  Gardeners plant. 

• Maybe it isn't a good idea to base your livelihood solely on your brother's opinion.  It bothers me that Vincent relied so heavily on his brother's opinion.     

I need to invest in some spray paint.

Today I will continue my journey of dancing between paint and collage.  I will celebrate pieces that are good enough and toss aside practice canvases.  Being a tree hugger, I will also check out Pinterest for creative ideas of how to repurpose ugly canvases.  But first  . . breakfast.

Prairie Eydie 

PS - Don't recommend Vincent and Theo to your favorite 11 year old unless you are willing to explain syphilis, prostitutes, and brothels.  

Oh all right.  Here is the "good enough" canvas.

The Art of Getting Messy

Part of my summer's design was to take an on-line class. (If you missed my post on designing your summer, here it is - The Art of Designing Your Summer - AGAIN)  I signed up for Kelly Rae Robert's class, Mantra and Mixed Media.  

Section 1 of the class surrounded getting quiet and writing mantras.  This was hard due to kids, road construction, and a short attention span.  Eventually, through old fashioned journaling, I came up with some helpful mantras. My mantras were 6 words or less and not in the mountain top yogi league.  Here are some examples:

• Pause
• Trust the journey
• Permission Granted:  Create
• How free do you want to be?  (I went over the 6 word limit here, but it is SO good!  My dear friend passed this mantra on to me.  Now I am passing it on to you. Ask yourself this question when you are surrounded with clutter or negative friends or a boring book.  If you want to be free - get rid of the clutter, negativity, and the boring book.)

I was excited to finish getting all quiet and philosophical because Section 2 was when the paints and gel medium came out.  Kelly Rae, my encouraging on-line instructor, kept blathering on and on about giving yourself permission to be messy and to channel your inner 8 year old.  She also said to follow your curiosity.  I didn't think I would have a problem being messy because my house is constantly messy.  I can block out globs of toothpaste on the counter for days.  Wiping kitchen counters?  Only when I have the energy. Me and Mess hang out together.  I was so confident I wouldn't struggle with being messy, that I asked an actual 8 year old, my daughter, to join me in the studio.  HA!  Take that Kelly Rae.

The first painting lesson focused on 3 techniques - dripping, rolling, and smooshing paint.  The 8 year old started off all organized and rainbowed all the cool colors in front of her and all the warm colors in front of me.  I skipped the step of finding the vinyl tablecloth because it seemed like something my mother would insist on.  No biggie if paint got on the table, it would probably look cool.

We started with dripping - crossing our canvases with acrylics and spraying the paint with a water bottle.  The dripping process left muddled paint puddles on the table.  I kept my paint puddles relatively contained with a stack of napkins we found in our mini van's glove compartment.   (I also skipped the step of buying paper towels because I am a tree hugger.)   The 8 year old was dripping and spraying with abandon.  She had NO interest in the napkins and managed to sully the water IN the spray bottle.  The mess was causing me stress.

This is a brayer.  If you are painting with an eight year old, make sure to buy two brayers.

Rolling, with a brayer, was less messy and my stress level decreased.  The 8 year old had no problem mixing warm and cool colors.  Didn't she remember Kelly Rae telling us that this would result in muddy colors?  When I gently reminded her, she reminded me we were supposed to follow our curiosity.  HA!  Take that mom.  

New mantra - Permission granted:  Make a Mess.  Ignore Common Sense.

You probably saw this coming, but smooshing took the mess to  URGENT ALERT panic level.  Smooshing is a fun synonym for finger painting.  During the instructional videos, Kelly Rae wiped her hands on her apron.  Naturally, I skipped the step of buying aprons, so the 8 year old and I wiped our hands on the piles of used napkins.  

I couldn't take anymore when I noticed the 8 year old had streaks of paint running down her leg.  Lesson over.   I sent the 8 year old off to take a shower, after yelling at her to not touch anything with her filthy paws and to check the bottom of her feet to make sure her creativity wasn't being tracked through the house.  I was disappointed with myself.  When had I become such a drag?

Sigh.  Before our next painting session happens, I am ordering aprons, buying paper towels at Costco, and finding that damn vinyl table cloth.

Prairie Eydie

Oh all right.  Here is my canvas.  Don't judge.  I got curious about mixing warm and cool colors too.  

The Art of Rethinking

All teachers have that student.  The student you desperately want to be absent.  You compulsively check attendance on your computer.  Your heart flutters to see he is absent 1st hour.  Your mood improves when he is also absent 2nd hour.  Yahoo!  He still hasn't shown up 3rd hour.  The angel chorus is warming up.  Then the 4th hour tardy bell rings and he saunters through your door.  Ugh.

You feel anger towards his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd hour teaches.  Why did they escape him and you didn't?  You feel annoyed with the attendance secretary.  Why didn't she shoot you an email to warn you?  You might as well go home, your day is ruined.

Flaming Hot Cheetos rank 7th on my list of pet peeves, right after asking to use the restroom while I am giving directions.

What?  You don't recognize this student?  Here are some more details.  He is often chasing screeching girls and smudging your books with the red devil dust of Flaming Hot Cheetos.  He always has something unrelated to contribute.  For instance, if you are talking about antonyms, he is wondering about the stain on your ceiling.  If you are exploring theme, he is curious about your marital status.  Oh, this is also the student who falls asleep the second he is asked to open a book. 

I was so happy on the last day of school.

• No more uncontrollable attendance checking.
• No more red devil dust.
• No more anger swallowing.

Summer vacation - here I come!

Twenty plus days into my summer vacation, I went to a lake with my friends and kids.  Blue skies.  Raked sand.  Lazy lapping waves.  All was blissful, until . . . I looked up from my book and saw that student.

There he was, trudging through the sand towards me.  Wearing a red t-shirt, black gym shorts, and his beloved Jordans.  (Dear Lord, have mercy on me!  I survived the month of May with him.  Is there no justice?)  I prayed he wouldn't spot me.  I wrapped a beach towel several times around my neck and firmly pushed up my sunglasses.  

Hmm.  He wasn't walking toward me, rather towards a little girl playing in the sand.  She had been filling a pail with sand and repeatedly dumping it out.  

My student squatted in the sand next to the girl.  (I couldn't believe he was getting his Jordans sandy.  He was always wasting my hand sanitizer and Kleenex to get the smudges off his pristine, white shoes.)  He showed the girl how to fill the pail with sand, tamp it down, and tip it over to leave a perfectly formed mound of sand.  I watched as they slowly built a fortress of sand around them.  How had I ever dreaded this adorable boy?  A boy who would play in the sand so sweetly with a little girl. 

Walking back to my car, I didn't look back.  I wanted to keep the vision of that student playing in the sand intact, until September when I will see him again.

Prairie Eydie
  

The Art of Visiting Washington DC

Part of my summer's design is planning road trips with my kids.    This year we found ourselves in Washington D.C. 

10 REALIZATIONS AFTER A WHIRLWIND TRIP TO WASHINGTON D.C.

1.  Everyone in Washington D.C. thinks they are super important, so expect lots of tinted windows.

2.  The Capitol tour is worth the hassle of emailing your representative. 

• This was a quite a process for me.  First I emailed my representative and got tickets.  Then I changed my travel dates.  Oops -  I was told there were no tickets for my new dates.  So I sulked.  And then moved on.  Out of nowhere I got an email with tickets!  Government in action.

THEN

NOW

3.  It is possible to get star struck by a politician (as opposed to sickened or disillusioned).  

• I walked by John Lewis who was sitting outside the Capitol on a rascal scooter.  I wanted to tell him how my students LOVE his graphic novels about the Civil Rights movements, but I was too shy.  

4.  The  United States Mint's machinery looks like it was last updated in 1972.

• I was surprised to see that money was shrink wrapped into currency bricks.  I would never want to work there. 

See what I mean?

5.  Allow at least a half a day to wander around the National Portrait Gallery. 

• We had a time crunch by the time we got to the Portrait Gallery.  So we jogged through it on a scavenger hunt to find the Obama's official portraits.  NOTE:  Remember all the controversy surrounding Obama's unconventional portrait?  Have people forgotten about Bill Clinton's portrait??!  It was crazy and I felt the spirit of Jerry Garcia shine through it. 

6.  Anyone who thinks war is a good idea should visit the Vietnam War Memorial.

• We visited the War Memorial shortly after Father's Day.  Many people had left letters for their dads at the wall.  The letters and photos were heartbreaking.

Holy cow, Batman!  Look at those cranky kids!

7.  The Batmobile, currently parked in the lobby of the Museum of American History, will lift the spirits of weary, hangry children.

8.  Expect traffic jams due to protests, motorcades of "very important people with tinted windows," and lots of cars.  
Many times walking was faster than calling a Lyft.  

Watching people study here is magical.  How do I get a library card?

9.  The Library of Congress will take your breath away, even if you aren't a reading specialist.  (If you are a reading specialist, you may want to pack your inhaler.

• If you happen to be leaving the Library of Congress during a downpour, here is a helpful hint - The numerous gift stores do not sell rain ponchos and their umbrellas are too boring to spend 15 dollars on.  Just get wet.

10.  The pandas at the National Zoo are totes adorbs AND hilarious.  

• Did you know they eat bamboo for up to 12 hours a day?  That is 28 pounds of bamboo.  

Prairie Eydie

The Art of Designing Your Summer - Again

Every May I spend some time designing my summer.  When I say every May, I mean the last three Mays.  (Here is the link if you would like to read about how I designed the summer of 2017 - The Art of Designing Your Summer 2017)

Top Reasons Why You Should Design Your Summer

You can put an end to the August freak out

• We have all been there.  It is August 23 at 11:33 and you are wearing pajamas streaked with Cheeto dust.  You have perfected the art of sleeping in.  Your main activity is watching Nailed It after your daily Starbucks visit.  You are wondering where the last 9 weeks went.      

This is textual evidence as to why I dislike Amy.  Who says stuff like this?

You can read more.

• The first summer I read the Harry Potter series and finally figured out what all the fuss was about.  The second summer I reread Anne of Green Gables.  Like Anne, I started day dreaming more and renaming streets around my house.  The Street of the Never Ending Hosta Beds.  The Street of Teens Driving Over the Speed Limit.  This summer I will be rereading the Little Women series.  (WARNING.  Possible spoilers ahead.  But in my defense, Little Women was written 149 years ago)  Will I still cry when Beth dies? Will I still despise Amy?  Will Jo still be my hero?  

Isn't Kelly Rae's studio DELICIOUS???  Please note that "delicious" is not a word that I just throw around.

You can learn new things.

• This summer, for the first time, I am signing up for an on-line art course.  I am taking a Kelly Rae Roberts class on mixed media.  Finally, I am going to start adding paint to my artwork with the virtual guidance of an artist I admire.  

You can teach someone something (and maybe make your life easier in the process).

• Like many moms, I am sick of cooking for my three children.  They always want to know what is for dinner and what they should eat for snack and on and on and on.  This summer I am teaching each kid how to make three meals on their own.  If all goes well, they will competently make one dinner a week during the school year.
• My youngest is an expert flipper (literally & figuratively), so she has already learned how to make pancakes and quesadillas.  The long suffering middle child is learning how to make eggs to order.  His specialty is breakfast sandwiches.  (English muffin, cooked to order egg, bacon, and avocado)   The oldest is a teenager and only graces the kitchen when he is hungry.  I am still working up the energy and patience necessary to teach him because he doesn't want to learn anything about cooking.  His first lesson will be  "How to Cook a Frozen Pizza.  It is a skill that will serve him well. 

You can improve your home.

• Since I am not handy with a drill, home improvements usually involve me painting something.  Helpful hint:  Use lots and lots of painter's tape if you are a messy.  This summer I am going to paint my kitchen and the front steps.  The sooner I do this the sooner I can stop thinking, "Gee.  The kitchen sure would look better if I paint it.  Blech.  The front steps sure are chipped up."    

By designing your summer, you can also improve your health, social life, and lack-of-yoga.  Let me know what you come up with.

Prairie Eydie

The Art of Examining Your Envy

I recently listened to the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast (Episode 6).   In the podcast, Gretchen asked her listeners to ponder the following, uncomfortable, question - Whom do you envy?  

I grew up thinking envy was a sin - I vaguely remember something about not envying your neighbor's wife.  My neighbor, Audrey, lives alone and sometimes I wish my three kids would move in with her.  If that happened, I would definitely not envy Audrey.  I see my other neighbor twice a year.  In Spring he makes a frantic attempt to weed his hosta beds and in Summer he works on his deck for an afternoon.  I have my own hosta collection and deck, so no envy there.  

It turns out the envy can help you know yourself better.  Envy means someone has something you wish you could have.  Envy shines a spotlight on something missing from your own life.  So, figure out who you envy and work to bring what they have into your life.  

I decided to look where envy abounds - Facebook. Where everyone is more talented, more photogenic, more traveled, more popular and more loved than you are.  

Some "Facebook Envies" were easy to bring into my life.  Like my friend who has beautiful skin and hair. Rather than being mad at her for being gorgeous, I asked her what skin care products she used. She happily listed off all of her potions and even forwarded me the links on Amazon.  I used every one of my friend's suggestions and threw my old lotions, cleansers, and toners away. Friends have noticed my skin looking better and I have passed the list on to them.   (Dear reader, you may think I am shallow for envying beautiful skin.  Truth be told, I am shallow about my skin. But I recently turned 50 and need to avoid a wrinkle induced nervous breakdown so I can continue to raise my kids.)

I also have a friend who posts weekly pics of what appeared to be fun Family Game Nights.  GASP.  Her kids were enthusiastically high fiving each other.  No one was throwing game pieces and no Monopoly boards were in sight.  What parent wouldn't be envious of a game night that actually looked fun?  I asked my friend which games she would recommend and quickly ordered them.  She also said sugary foods would perk up the most sullen of teens.  I took her tip and added root beer floats to game night.  Playing games with the kids is now more tolerable thanks to a fresh selection of games and extra calories.  No more headaches or temper tantrums from this Mama.

Many of my friends are successful writers.  Though happy for their accomplishments, I was also envious.  Truthfully, there was no reason in the world why I should be a successful writer because my writing goal, at the time, was to write a daily sentence in my journal.  One sentence.  Every day.  

I have had this book for 25 ISH years.  My grandma recommended that I buy it.  My copy is autographed, coffee stained, swollen with water damage, and possibly sprouting some dangerous black mold.  This book always gets me writing again,.  Thank you Natalie Goldberg!

I needed to up my writing game. Once again I dragged out Natalie Goldberg's book Wild Minds and started moving my hand across the page - every day.   I didn't need to query my writer friends about how they achieved success. I knew the answer. They keep their butts in their chairs and write, not letting themselves get distracted with planting fairy gardens and organizing spices in shoe racks.  

My life got better after shining a spotlight on people I envy.  I was able to improve my skin's hydration, enjoy family game night, and start writing again.  Whom do you envy?

Prairie Eydie

It is just amazing what can be done with shoe storage!

The Art of Never, Ever Giving Up

I am still waiting!  Not sure why my students continue to procrastinate and not stand on their desks and recite Whitman to me.

I recently made the mistake of a seasoned teacher.  I gave up on a student.  It happened despite the curled post-it on my filing cabinet that read:  Never, Ever Give Up.   After 26 years of teaching, it was hard to believe my "Oh Captain!  My Captain!" moment would ever show up.   

Join me in a short flashback to the 2016 - 2017 school year and meet one of my 6th grade students.  Let's call her Susie.  She was in my 8th hour Reading Booster class despite showing no interest in learning how to boost her reading.  Susie would routinely barge into class 4 minutes late.  Often she would be chased by random sixth grade boys who had lost their minds.  Susie would ignore that class had started and start blasting questions my way:

• Can I go to my locker?  
• I need a book.  Where's my book?  Can I go to the library?
• I forgot my sweatshirt in the gym.  Can I get it?

Nothing can stop me from teaching vocabulary.  Even if  the word is "debris" or "chaos."

I would continue teaching "Word of the Day" while silently directing Susie's attention to my florescent pink expectation poster. It read:  Ms. Gremmer expects you and your brain to stay in class. Like clockwork, Susie would yell, "DUDE MAN!" and flop on the floor.  

Then it was time for Susie's own personal "Choose Your Own Adventure." She would daily choose from the following menu:
A.  Roll around with a book in hand.
B.  Roll back and forth over the book.
OR
C.  Fall asleep. 
The class and I got used to Susie's snores.  Sometimes gentle and lulling, other times explosive and startling.  

I used all my "tricks" on Susie.  I took an interest in her life.  I ate lunch with her.  I found books specific to her interests.  I gave her extra attention.  And on and on and on.  The problem was Susie knew all the "tricks" because teachers had been springing them on her for years.  By May I had given up on Susie.  100% done.  Susie slept and rolled her way through our final novel of the year - Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Meyers.  

Okay.  Now flash forward to the beginning of this school year - 2017 - 2018. Since Susie made no reading progress in 6th grade, she was, once again, assigned to me for another year of Booster Reading.  Yes.  I had a bad attitude that involved sighing, eye rolling, and complaining to the guidance counselor.

The first day of school arrived, as it always does, and Susie was sitting in her seat on time.  After telling me she missed me, Susie asked, "What are we reading today?  That Darkness book again?"  All hour Susie participated and there was no log rolling, snorting, or attempts to escape vocabulary.  

A couple of days into the school year, all students were given a standardized reading test.  Because that is what we do in education, we give kids tests and then base all our decisions on that score.  After school I printed off my students' scores.  None of the results were surprising until I got to Susie's score.  She had rocketed up 23 points.  (Most students lose points over the summer due to never picking up a book for weeks. 23 points is MAJOR!)  

Sharing the good news with Susie made my day (well, that and a pumpkin spiced latte lunch).  When I asked Susie what changed, she told me, "I decided to try."  

Thank goodness Susie didn't give up on herself.  I have NO clue why Susie all of a sudden decided to try.  What I do know is how grateful I am.  Susie reminded me of something I used to know.  Never, Ever Give Up on a student even if they roll around your class, snore through amazing vocabulary lessons, and come late to class.   

Prairie Eydie