Creepy Crawlies

I have recently started imbedding bones, skeletons and the remains of small insects, reptiles (geckos) and chickens in my artwork.

This sounds a little creepy but not as strange (yet fascinating) as some of the images on the ravishingbeasts blog. The author of the blog, Rachel Poliqui comments: "The reasons for displaying a dead animal are as various as the fauna put on view: to flaunt a hunter’s skill, to immortalise a cherished pet, to collect an archive of the world, to commemorate an experience, to document extinct or endangered species, to decorate a wall, to amuse, to educate, to fascinate, to horrify, to delight, and even to deceive."

Prehistoric structures rock!

I am still teaching prehistoric art to my Grade 10 students. We looked at Prehistoric structures like Stonehenge today & then in my internet wanderings I came across these images of a house in Portugal.  

This amazing structure is called A Casa do Penedo, or The House of Stone, and is located in the Fafe mountains of northern Portugal.  It was constructed in 1974 between two giant stones and linked with a concrete mix, the house is rumored to be inspired by the popular American Flintstones cartoon. Although quite unusual, the prehistoric-looking residence has two stories, a swimming pool and a fireplace.  As you might expect, the house’s design attracts thousands of tourists each year.

Animation in light

I am introducing sketchbooks/Visual Journals to both my Grade 10 & 11 classses. A lot of this term will be devoted to drawing in these books. I will start by revising line drawings & all their various permutations (contour/outline/broken line/double line/implied line etc.) My Grade 11's watched the following animation in line called "Lucky" today. "Lucky" is ananimated light painting video created by the Australian-based animation company Dee Pee Studios for All India Radio.

Getting organised

I have spent part of this holiday organising my studio - my Scottish origins are probably to blame - the Scots traditionally do a  "New Year's cleaning" on Hogmanay (December 31).  I wish I had found the blog storageandglee before I started. It is packed full of interesting ideas for organising and beautifying ones "nest". 

Some of the following projects appealed to me: 

An innovative and visual way to store shoes

 A wonderful way to recycle old furniture & create extra shelf space

A great solution for electronic cables (toilet paper rolls re-purposed) 

and finally my best - A set of shelves for those of us who "were not born with long legs". See below: 

Play with Letters

I have just found the letterPLAYGROUND

In the words of the creator of the site: "letterPLAYGROUND is a place to play with letters.

Letters are so simple but can be represented a million different ways.

How many different ways can you represent the letter "M" or the number "6"?
 
How can I participate?
    * Step 1. Anyone can participate.
    * Step 2. Once you register, you can upload your own letters, make comments, create a favorites list, etc
    * Step 3. Enjoy life .. listen to good music, eat some good food, hang out with someone that makes you laugh."
 

I might use this idea for my first Grade 9 or Grade 10 lesson of 2011 & get the girls play around with their own initials. Hopefully they will be as successful as the interpretation of the letters below. I might upload the best student designs on to the letterPLAYGROUND site?

I copied some interpretations of the initials of my name from the site (letter "J" and letter "M":