Studio Space!

This little "nook" in my townhouse, although cramped, makes for a near-perfect studio! Complete with window garden, antique tea set, and seashell collection :P

Friday was a mandatory-work-from-home-teacher-work-day, which I spent painting, of course. It was so nice and sunny I couldn't resist taking a picture. Rarely do I get to paint with natural daylilght during the winter months--what a treat!! My fellow art teacher and very close friend and I were discussing apartments, townhouses, roommates, etc. and deemed A.S.S. (Art S!@# Space, or Art Stuff Space, rather) an absolutely necessary part of any living arrangement. Perhaps we should come up with a different acronym?!

Update on the Italian Cafe Window!

Little by little I am finishing up "Cafe Window in Italy"--a wedding present/commission for a co-worker friend! It has been tricky because in the photograph itself, the window is slightly crooked AND off center which totally fools with my eyes when I am trying to even out the window frame and shutters. I also need to add some warmer colors for a more glowing effect. Can't wait to go home and work on it this afternoon. After some yoga of course!

And now for some random teaching tidbits---

• Preschool girls should NOT be wearing eye-liner.
• Why do my 6th graders confuse a wedding shower with a bachelor party with strippers? OH DEAR. I do believe when I was in 6th grade I knew nothing, thought even kissing was icky and decided I would just shake hands when I got married......
• Apparently the tree branches I cut out look like "tree pants."
• I can make a very nice olympic torch out of cellophane and construction paper!
• Me to new student:" Hi! I'm Miss Fontaine! What's your name?"...New Student: "Amen" ...Me: "What was that???!"
• One of my students just got an "asthma TV" at home (I guess being on free/reduced lunch does free up the budget a bit)
• Two students at lunch eating corn on the cob: Student 1:"I like to put ketchup and cheese on my corn on the cob.".. Student 2: "EW"...Student 1: "It's Spanish, you should try it!" Student 2: "Well black people don't eat corn on the cob that way" And there you have it!

Have a super Wednesday!

No school until next year!! Thank you snow :)

Hmm it is 11:21 on a Monday morning..I am still in my pjs, drinking coffee and perusing the internet. With up to 2 feet of snow, they canceled school today, tomorrow, and our half day Wednesday. ..Not that the students would be missing out too too much! This close to holiday break, it is best to take advantage when the librarian runs "Polar Express" 3 times a day on the school TV circuit, not to mention having endless amounts of holiday themed "arts" and crafts to further occupy the children. They are probably having a blast in the snow--hopefully they all have warm coats, hats, and gloves-- and missing school only because they couldn't get their ceramic projects to take home from their fabulous art teacher!! I love living in an area that can't handle any weather worse than rain! Makes a winter storm that much more exciting....

As far as the holiday hubbub...I sent Christmas cards last week and have so far shipped any presents that need shipping and only have a few painting projects to finish as gifts (which is what I SHOULD be doing right now!) Pictures coming soon! I do believe then I only have ONE painting that I will be working on for someone else. Time to get creative--more pencil/ink drawings, more spontaneous paintings, more random still-life drawings/paintings. I have an entire stack of photos that I have been saving to paint and so many blank canvases (I tend to buy them whenever they are on sale) begging for attention..

And tonight---shall I make a Thai stir fry? PW and I found this great little Thai cookbook at Marhsalls a few months ago. We discovered that you need some very interesting ingredients to make Thai. For example PW was very hesitant to buy an entire $5 jar of "sesame oil" when the recipe only needed 1/2 teaspoon. I keep telling him--hey soon we'll have ALL these weird ingredients--but every new recipe calls for some random sauce or paste that we don't have yet that involves 10 laps around the grocery store to find :P oh well. Maybe I'll do something simpler --pork chops and mashed potatoes?!

Stay warm!!!

Meet Lucy!

Right after school today I am heading to the UPS store to ship this commissioned pet portrait! This lovely yellow lab is named Lucy. I started with these sketches in charcoal and watercolor to decide the better "pose." Lucy certainly has a lot of personality!

Now I remember how much fun it was to just play with the watercolor and charcoal together--very neat effect. I need to "play"with materials more often...I did so many interesting collage, ink, water color, oil pastel projects in high school and college! Maybe after the Christmas projects I'll do more experimenting with different media...

Below is the final portrait!! I think it is quite a success! Although for some reason it has some glare and does not look AS clear as it should on my camera---Guess that is what I get for photographing it at 10:30 pm when there is no daylight available.... I hope to get more pet portrait commissions soon--they are a challenge with lighting, texture, and personality, but nonetheless relaxing to work on!

Custom framing: Expensive but WORTH IT!

First and foremost, I would like to thanks Michaels for having the 60% off custom framing deals often! That lovely deal knocked $300 off the $200 total ( no new shoes for awhile I guess...)

I finally broke down and got my favorite painting custom framed....I knew I would never want to sell this one AND I have been back and forth deciding whether or not to custom frame for 2 years. The standard 18 X 24 frame that it was in for the teacher art exhibition just did not do it justice! They did such a great job helping me decide on the linen matte, dark violet matte, classic black frame, and even the museum quality non-glare glass($$). I can't believe how fancy and classy it looks. Custom framing could become an expensive guilty pleasure!

Anyhow life has been moving QUICKLY these days. The Christmas season is definitely busy. I have two paintings commissioned for Christmas gifts to finish by the 17th and two painting projects for family that need to be finished just in time for Christmas....Whew!!! I'm trying to cram holiday-related lessons in at school and realized this morning that I only have a week and a half left. oops. Oh well! To ease the holiday stress--may I recommend some homemade chili and Fa-La-La Lifetime movies?!!

I've been reading "Quit your day-job" blogs on Etsy and wonder while reading each one, if I would really like just staying home and being in business for myself. Eek! It would be absolutely wonderful to not worry about being late for work or traffic or whatnot....At the same time, I'd have to remind myself that sleeping until 10am and lounging in pjs with coffee and pancakes all morning would still be unacceptable. And I'd need some business education--Hmm. I also fear I'd become a weird reclusive artist and resort to singing and talking to myself all day/night. But I do love coming to school and seeing the crazy projects my kiddies make, not to mention being social with the fellow teachers. Teaching also allows me to "quit my day job" in the summer months--however hindered by visits to the pool/beach/and other outdoor hotspots. What a dilemma. I think the answer here is to somehow--and without doing anything illegal--become independently wealthy The blogs are inspiring though!!!!!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/search/tags/quit-your-day-job/

Looking forward to Friday! My sisters and I have this Christmas tradition where we take one day off every December and have a Leesburg outlet shopping blowout!! Pray that the heating maintenance man comes as early as possible in the 8-10 slot... I've already called the place twice to make sure they know we have "an important appointment" at 10:15!

Ok have a great day :)

Tidbits

Oh Wednesdays...Right smack dab in the mid-week chaos. Despite still being incredibly sleepy, my mind is going a mile a minute making me quite stressy...lesson plans, Sub plans for next week, whether or not the Comcast guy will actually fix our wireless internet box, whether or not the Comcast guy will come too early when none of us our home.....Silly Comcast..

Sidenote on Comcast: Our Internet stopped working two weeks ago and we unplugged and replugged a thousand times only to call Comcast and find out that our wireless box is "EOL" which is the acronym they use that literally means "End of Life"..Shouldnt they have some kind of automatic system where they send you a new wireless box if they have it in their records that yours is literally "circling the drain?!

Ooooooooooooh I really wish I was home in my little art "nook" working on these projects!!

They are all in-progress and surprisingly I am not tired of them yet! The double portrait is a commission for good friend of mine--Christmas present for the brother and girlfriend in the painting. The landscape is a winery in California, also a commission that I kind of want to keep for myself :)

And the last is a quite unusual painting. If you look closely, you'll notice that the painting itself is on unstretched, unprimed canvas taped to my desk. Fall is quickly becoming my favorite season specifically because of color. I've been adding to this painting little by little because the paint really soaks into the canvas and stays a bright pure color, even when you add another color on top. I just hope the paint is not creating a permanent bond with my desk and I'll be able to peel it off when I'm done!

Teaching, Painting, and High Hopes!

Where did September go? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was posting only my second post about the beginning of summer and the excitement of the summer months ahead?!

So begins another school year and after the semi-lazy days of summer, I welcome the chaos of a daily routine, lesson plans, interesting child behaviors, and attempting to fit some creativity and painting somewhere between 4:30 and when I fall asleep at night.

This time of year always forces me to reflect on various topics...Maybe it is the lovely fall colors and the cool clear air that provide so much artistic inspiration....Or the way some of my students act that make me, heaven forbid, want to thank my parents for raising me the way I did...Or the beginning of another school year reinforcing the fact that I am indeed a successful, independent young adult already in my 3rd year of teaching (where did the first two years go?) paying my own bills....AND in an awesome and promising relationship, I'll call him PW!....AND even squeezing in enough time to sell artwork here and there......please excuse my lack of sentence structure!

Coming soon..... Some portraits and landscapes already being completed on commission for Christmas presents!!! And of course the daily antics of my creative and crazy young students. And maybe some book or movie recommendations and yummy recipes!

And now I am ready for the weekend, heading out to meet coworkers for an after-school "staff meeting" at an alternate location that serves yummy beverages and appetizers!

Have a good weekend!