Newest Drawing

  
Some people say that drawings made from photographs are not art.


Some people act as though I am being self-deprecating or fishing for compliments if I explain in advance that I used a photo.


Either way, here is my latest drawing.  It is from a photo that I took.   I had a lot of fun drawing it.

I even bought a new sketch pad.  It is huge!

The end.

All photos and drawings are mine.  Please do not steal them.  I am a poor teacher.  If you share them, please share where you got them.

An Artist in my Own Right

At times I can be an egomaniac with an inferiority complex.  I grew up with a previously mentioned sense of not being good enough, and yet, I KNEW I could be good at certain skills.  I always had the sense that if I could not be in the top-ten percent of something, I needed to quit.  Because... you know, I wouldn't be able to do anything with the skill anyway if so many people were better than me.

Unfortunately for me, I went to high school in a liberal-arts town.  I loved to draw.  I took all the Art classes I could.  Oftentimes I was in the Art room when I wasn't allowed to be.  However, it was quite clear that I was never going to be a good artist compared to the people around me.

So I quit.



Over a decade later I am finally pursuing art again, but this time, with a clear knowledge that I don't have to be the best... I don't even have to be great.  I am "kinda" good, and I hope to get better.  Mostly, I enjoy creating, and I enjoy seeing something wonderful to me on what was once a blank sheet of paper.  And I love how dirty my hands and clothes get during the process.

As a Christmas present to me, I bought myself a half-priced easel and some pastel chalks.  I've never really worked with color before, though I always wished I could make art that had color.  The chalks were fairly cheap, so I grabbed them, fought the voice asking me what the point was, and treated myself to some creative tools.

About once a month I play some Radiohead, Beck, Weezer, or whatever is on shuffle, and go for it.

This was my first drawing in December of 2011.

January of 2012

 

February 2012

My Art teacher in high school often lectured us that drawings of photographs were not art.  Now that I am drawing for me, I am allowing myself to use photographs.  The next one is from a photo.  I was told she looks like she is having a stroke, but what can you do? 

April 2012

May 2012 (also from a photo)

Sorry if I just Pwned your upload time. 

Candy-Burger Buffet!

Moved here from my other blog, originally posted 6/12/2010
One day my students and I were in Art class. Their assignment was to make a burger out of construction paper. One student asked if she could make her construction-paper burger to look like it was made out of candy. Ms. Carlie, being the creative art teacher she is said, "Of course!"

Thus it began.

The students spent the rest of Art class imagining and discussing how cool it would be if such a thing existed.

Later that evening, I realized that I had to come up with a big reward for them for the end of NWEA testing. It only took me seconds to realize that I wanted to give them the candy burger of their dreams, to show that that they could turn their imagination into reality. I brainstormed all day, asked other teachers for advice on ingredients and scoured the isles of Giant Eagle. I also received the help of the other Language Arts teacher who went home that night to make "cheese" out of orange melting chocolates.

The candy-burger buffet ended up being one of the most fun rewards of the year, and it all started with one student's imagination. So let that be a lesson: While it is a lot of fun to sit around dreaming about what could be, the fun in much greater, and the rewards are much bigger when you decide to stand up and make it happen.





All photos by me.  If you share them, share where you got them.