Plans afoot...

Another year has passed, nay, flown by. My analogy for the year as far as my blog is concerned is you know when you start to trail off towards the end of a sentence...? Well, that's it. More especially because you keep spotting something shiny whilst you're speaking. That's my blog. I keep wishing I could write like the girls who write the art lesson blogs I follow. But hey. Life has got in the way of regular blogging. But you know what, I really am happy with that. So be it.

This year's plans (remembering a plan is a basis for change ;-)):

:: keep going with Artist of the Month but with focus on the artist I choose for the spotlight board on the KS2 board at school. Lesser well known ones for the kids to comment on.

:: artwork of the moment, again that comes from the KS2 art board.

:: more focus on the children's art work here

:: my sister's wedding. For me beforehand, this encompasses hen do plans and bridesmaids' dresses. Sooooooo excited....

:: my solo trip over the summer :-) for another tick off the bucket list.

:: and continuing to tick, more like enjoy, a few more things from the bucket list

:: this is my 40th year. I will be setting on a 40th Birthday project that I will complete by the time I turn 40 in January 2015. So watch this space for updates through the year :-)

:: each morning, be thankful for another day. And the people who feature in it. And for what they are teaching me, whether they realise it or not!

My 2013 conclusions:

Be peaceful and happy.

Be thankful.

Look for the lessons in the day.
Do not force or push my way through life. Peace will set in when I slow down.
To have real friends I must be a real friend.
I am not afraid to ask for help.

The washing up can wait. Go tickle my children. Or have a Brandy Alexander :-)

Listen to my body.

Happy New Year.

X

A look at other Art Bloggers

I've just taken a look through my blogs in my reading list...I usually head straight to Cassie Stephens...she makes me giggle...and she has this awesome guitar apron that I WANT!! However, today Olive at Olive ART caught my eye again as she hit on a subject that's at the back of my mind for the year coming up.

I think I focus on it already but I really want the children to start to automatically offer an opinion on a piece of famous art or even an artist's style. I know I encourage discussion and opinion in a structured format that leads into the lesson but would like to find another way that tells them it's OK to ask a question or offer a thought at any time. So I liked this idea from Olive and also this one too that makes up more of a lesson.

Olive ART! Do You???: Looking at Art: She has a bulldog clip with her chosen painting and her bubble whiteboard next to it with some magnetic words. And this allows the children to choose their word that they associate with the picture, whether it is something they see or something that they feel or even the mood of the painting. Whichever it may be, as she says, it encourages the children to learn to 'see' more in art.

Her other recent development I like would to see how she gets on with, has the pupil discussing the quote and the piece of art, do they like or connect with the painting, do they agree or disagree with the artist's quote, and the children concluding from this what it is to make art...it's not just about paint and pencils and making marks. I'd like to do this with my year 6s.

I would have activities like this in an area every week and for every year in which they could discuss, describe, think about a piece of art, a type of art movement or an artist. I used to do things like this with Maths or Literacy and especially Science, around the classroom, for early finishers, say.

(Having said that, I am a peripatetic...well, between the classrooms, not schools...art teacher...I have yet to have my own art room. We are having a new school built and plans were for it to be completed for the school year 2014/15 with me having a room. However...seeing as we're in the Middle East, it ain't working like that. And I will continue to lug that huge not-quite kid-proof Ace Hardware toolbox around, with it's handle and clips held on with bits of string. I'm going to see how much longer it'll last!)

Thanks Olive, you've inspired me to start collecting and creating activities like this for my fantasy classroom! In the meantime, for a plenary at least.

I prefer the old fashion way...

I am getting entirely pissed off with blogging at the moment. Technology keeps fu**ing things up, losing drafts, disconnecting from the Internet. It was so much easier in the diary-writing days. And right now, I'd prefer to go back to that.

So bear with me whilst I calm down and sort this s**t out. Nothing may be published but I'm drafting things in the background.