Remember

A friend of mine posted this image on Facebook today.  I thought it was beautiful. I did a little research and found out that this image is actually from a project called the World Trade Center Outline Project, by artist Fynnegan Sloyan. I couldn't find much information on the artist, except that he has worked in Brooklyn, and that he was here in Belgium in 2002 at Zuivelmarkt 33 in Hasselt.

Start

I realize that when I last posted on the 1st of June, that it very well could have signaled the end of this blog. I wasn't intending to end the blog, but in a way I did. My absence was due to many wonderful events that took place over the summer, but I think that there is probably more to it than that. Isn't there always? I want to pick up the pieces and fill in the gaps of the last few years. It's a good story, with a happy ending.

See?

 Happy!

I'm back in Belgium! Living in Leuven. 

When we arrived on the 1st of August, I couldn't believe it. So much was the same, but something was different. 

I can't quite put my finger on it, but something is going on in this town...

Or maybe it's me?

It's taken all this time for things to sink in, but I am starting to get used to the idea of being back. 

(De Werf... one of my favorite places in Leuven.)

In some ways, it's as if we never left. 

I hope you like stories... I do.

I have many to tell.

All of these photos were taken today. I thought it was important to note that.

Over and Out

Last Daze of School

I guess the cat's out of the bag. I got some cards from kids today...

I love this one...

Packing up a classroom is like packing up an apartment. My mom hired a friend to come and help me move today; that was awesome. All of the contents of a classroom packed into the bed of a pick-up.  It was surreal. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the giant crayons and pencils sticking out of the bed of the truck. That is a colorful memory that I will keep forever. 

I still have to pick up the last little bits - mostly papers and stuff. Then I have to get the room ready for summer school. I have to label furniture, store technological equipment, and take care of business. 

One more day. I can do it. 

Christmas

For me, opening kilns is always like Christmas.

It's down to the wire, I am and forever will be 'Last Minute Lydia.' Tomorrow is the last day of school and I have a final kiln to unload in the morning, all of my belongings will be moved out of my room, and I may or may not have to prepare my room for summer school. We'll see. At this point, it's never a dull moment, but I am SO ready for this year to be over.

Come on 2011 - 2012! Be over already! It's time to live life!

Beads and Baubles

A few weeks ago, I took a private class at Beads of Splendor. It was a silk knotting class, which I actually took more than three years ago. I had a necklace that I wanted to restring, to make new again, and also wanted to make a few options for some wedding events that I have coming up. It had been a while, but knotting came back to me rather quickly. Over the course of the last month I've made 8 necklaces!

Here is the selection that I have made for myself.

Strand 1: Faceted Amazonite
Strand 2: Fresh water pearls. (Hello, Barbara Bush!)
Strand 3: Lapis Lazuli
Strand 4: Greige Swarovski pearls

Here are some strands that I have made for others...

Strand 1: Potato pearls. (Funny name!)

Strand 2: Faceted Agate (I think...)

Strand 3: Pink pearls

Not pictured: but posted here. I also made a pretty one out of green garnet beads. 

I love natural stones, I always have. I would much rather have natural stones on my neck than fake plastic ones. My astrology sign is an earth sign, which I think explains it... That and I wanted to be a geologist when I first started out in college. I ♥ rocks!

Rocks ROCK!

Three Day Weekend

Getting ready for the wedding:

Getting ready for the end of school:

Just hanging out with my soon-to-be-hubby and enjoying summer temperatures and our neighboorhood.

Best veggie burgers from Lakewood Landing.

Happy Memorial Day. I wish to thank all of the men and women who serve and have served our country.

Thank you.

Post as Promised

My giant things post as promised, mostly has to do with with papier-mâché. I tend to associate papier-mâché with piñatas. Do you?

An Austin party place full of piñatas. Scary, no?

One thing I love about teaching art is getting to try so many different projects. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. My 3rd and 4th grade students had spent the earlier part of May learning about the artist Wayne Thiebaud. The blog, Art for Small Hands is a great blog that I visit regularly for ideas and inspiration for my lessons. I used this lesson with my 4th grade students, but wanted to try something different for 3rd. One of my facebook friends, and grad school classmates, posted a project that she was doing with her students. It looked amazing and easy to do, so I gave it a go.

My Wayne Thiebaud inspired 3D cake.

Basically, students built pieces of cakes out of cardboard, papier-mâchéd and then painted them. It took about three lesson (45 minutes each), and I prepped their cardboard for them.

After 2nd lesson:

And their results after the 3rd lesson. I like the way they turned out. 

Once, we papier-mâchéd the cakes, I set out to make my props for my Black and Yellow performance. Wiz Khalifa sings, "everything I do, I do it big!" So, I was determined to turn these mailing tubes into big crayons and pencils. 

Here's how I did it. I took some cones from the box of yarn, made circles from scraps of mat board and glued/taped them to the top of the mailing tubes.

Looks just like a crayon form, right?

Next, I gessoed the tubes. I only gessoed because I had a few bottles in the classroom. I wasn't sure if I needed to do it, but when I went to apply the paint to the tubes, I was really happy that I did.

It made the paint colors stand out.

For the crayons, I took a crayon and measured out the design onto construction paper. I wasn't sure how this would look, but I was so happy that I did.

Because if you ask me, I think the paper really sells it as a giant crayon. 

You can check out the paint brush and pencil on stage in my video.

Lights, Camera, Action!

How cute are these earrings?

I wore them the day of our performance. I've been doing a lot of shopping this week - shopping for the wedding, shopping for school, shopping for gifts. 'Tis the season, I guess... The good news is that my outfit is complete, my mom has something to wear, so does my groom, as well as ring to place upon his finger. All very important purchases. It's been fun, but exhausting especially after working all day. It's also mentally draining, because it makes me think about money. I don't like to think about money, but I am trying to change my bad habits. These were a bit of a splurge, but they are so tiny and covered in rhinestones! They make me happy.

Tomorrow, I hope to post about giant things.

Black and Yellow

Here it is! Enjoy!