...a little sleepy, but I made it through my first day of art camp and it was a good one!  The theme is Ancient Greece and Rome and so far my two groups are off to a great start.  Today each student helped to make a hieroglyph (that they each made up) for the letter(s) of the alphabet that I gave them.  I posted those up on the wall and then each student wrote a TOP SECRET message in our 'class hieroglyphs'...to be deciphered tomorrow!  We used a crayon resist method, the students went over their pencil lines in crayon and then we did a light yellow wash over the paper to make it look more like an ancient papyrus.  We even crinkled them up and some of the students tore the edges.

In the afternoon classes we talked about the scarab beetle and the students made an oil pastel drawing and then a second scarab beetle out of collaged wall paper scraps. 

I also took pictures of each student...we will use these to 'travel back in time' in some fun paintings later this week...stay tuned! 

And just a few notes about today's piece...it's getting a little late but I did want to address...I guess it is frustration (?)  

So...I see a face I like on the back of my Cosmopolitan, a gal winking.  I sit down to draw my version of the face while catching up on the season finale of Game of Thrones (that was also frustrating...I hate cliff hangers!  Give me closure!) I digress...

I draw the face with my crayons...and it seems like I have seen it before.  Looks very similiar to a picture I made last June when I was drawing Bettie Page all month...which THAT piece resembled Caravaggio's, Head of Medusa.

Yikes.  I didn't mean for that to happen.  

And now..I sleep.  I will figure out how to draw the 'winking face' at some point! (shaking fist in the air)

She would have been 35 today.  Amy, she would have been 35.  

And you know, it's sad.  It is a sad thing...a sad day, for John and Jennifer, for her family...for all that knew her.  But I am more sad for  anyone that never got to meet Amy.  She was amazing.  She was fierce, she was kind.  She was talented, beautiful, funny...she was so many things to so many people.  She was my best friend.

So on this day, while I am sad, I am celebrating the birth of such an amazing person, and the fact that she was in my life at all, however briefly. I feel lucky to have known her, to hear her laugh, to see her smile.

I decided to celebrate Amy's 35th birthday in kind of an unconventional way, I guess- I got a tattoo.  Now, I have been thinking about getting a tattoo on my wrist for a while, and I was just waiting for the right time...turns out, that was today.  I decided to get a tattoo on my wrist today, in honor of my free-spirited, creative friend...who loved life and I have no doubt accompanied on this venture today. But first...some background on the actual tattoo...


I have a few reasons for wanting the word, 'Artist', on my left hand.  

I am left-handed, so every time I look at my hand- when I wake up and my hand is on my pillow (I sleep a little crazy)...when I am drawing..I want that constant reminder of who I choose to be- an artist.  That is the quickest explanation.

But there is more to it than that.  

When I think of Amy, and of my mother in law, Lucy who passed in 2005...the beauty of these two individuals reminds me to enjoy life, to live it to the fullest...and to make your mark on the world and to make an impact. What do the kids say now, YOLO?  Yeh, that.  My way to make a mark on the world is my art, even if it is a small impact.  The tattoo on my wrist is a visual reminder to be who I was meant to be and to CREATE. If you do only live once...and you don't know how long you will be on this world...then by all means...LIVE.  

I truly feel that art is what I am meant to do in this life, to be an artist, to make my art...and I don't ever want to forget that.  My grandmother has Alzheimer's now, but back in the day she was also an artist of sorts- she crocheted, quilted, did all kinds of what I now recognize as fibers.  Granny- well, she doesn't remember that she has this in her...and her fine motor skills are there anymore..but in any case, when I am older I want to see that word, 'Artist' and hope that it will remind me of what I have inside of me, the desire to make art.  I don't ever want to forget that.

And there is some thing special about the writing on my tattoo- it's Amy's handwriting, traced from old letters and cards...so that makes it even more meaningful to me.

This post is long overdue...I want to just take a moment and blog a little about a place that I has been a part of my life for the past four years...that place is Indiantown Middle School. When I was looking for jobs in Florida...it was such a stressful time.  John had found out he got into some PhD programs and after talking about it we chose Florida.  I ended my school year at Wintergreen and pretty much left for Japan for a month with John's sister and a group of teachers on a Fulbright Study Abroad.  We would tour Japan all day, visit shrines, schools...walk, walk, WALK...and then, every night...I would look for jobs.  

And then I saw the posting for IMS, and I applied.  I was able to schedule the interview while in Japan.  I think I was back in the US maybe two days before we headed down to Florida.  I interviewed and got the job...and I have been there for the past four years.  I taught art,  wrote a bunch of grants, coached cheerleading, some good friends...and was even lucky enough to be the Teacher of the Year there...good times indeed.

Probably so much I could say...but instead I just want to post a few panoramic views...so I can take a peek back at my time at IMS when I miss my students and friends..if I ever doubt myself when faced with a new challenge... I will look back at these to remind myself that I made a difference, and I will try to do that wherever I go, regardless of the demographic of the school.

First view...my classroom.  A very lively place...with lot's of...well...EVERYTHING. 

 I think I really found that our when I was leaving because I had to get the entire room packed up and moved across the way into a temporary location. They are going to tear down almost the entire building that I taught in my fours years at IMS...so in addition to packing up my own personal items in the classroom...everything else had to be packed up.  And I did it- WE did it.  My students not only finished their projects and helped me sort and distribute them to each class, but collectively we boxed up that entire room.  I can only hope that it will be a little easier for the new teacher to set up the art room next year...I am so OCD I couldn't just box it up...I had to do color-coded labels..sigh. Life would be easier if I wasn't so set on organization!

And then...of course...the art.  We made SO MUCH ART.  Seriously.  I covered any wall that the tape would stick to.  They thing that was unique to IMS was the amount of space that I had, especially the past couple of years.  We opened up a new building which left the old cafeteria open for...art.  It became a gigantic gallery, we even used it for creating/storing sculpture.  Then, when they moved even more teachers tot he new spaces I had a room for 'resources' (basically, recycled materials)...a room for cheerleading...and a room I set up just for drawing and printmaking.  I definitely had space...and we filled it with art and art-making.

And now...well, now I am looking to the future.  My future includes moving farther south and leaving the public school system to teach private school.  I will be teaching digital photography, drawing, painting and survey classes to middle school and high school students.  Nervous?  Yeah, a little.  

Excited?  Alot.  (sorry, Mrs. Aldridge, I know that isn't really a word)

Yes, I am.  I am so excited I don't know what to do!

But first...I will just spend some time relaxing and enjoying my summer...but I will always have my memories of IMS to take with me wherever I go.  

I am back in Florida.  The past 7-8 days have really been a whirlwind, but somehow I managed to get it all done.  My students finished their artwork and took it all home...I packed up my personal classroom items and also the whole art room and moved it to the storage area for the new art teacher and new art room for next year (that will be addressed in a future blog post...lot's of changes!)...we made it to NC safely, stopping in Jacksonville to visit John's friend Sean, 'the world's most interesting man'...I made some 'live art' at Raffaele Italian Restaurant...got my favorite item off the menu for dinner (chicken parm...yum!)...I made it to Eastern NC for my sister-in-law's bridal shower and then back to West End NC for a wedding (same day, folks...same...day!)...I visited with my family...my sunglasses were hijacked by my granny at the nursing home (see previous post)...we celebrated Vito and Frank's birthdays...I went angel bombing with Amy's mom...we visited with one of my closest friends from high school in Charleston SC and I met her son Maylon for the first time... and we made it back to Florida safely. Whew!

Did I update the final pics from my May series or the new pieces in the June series?  Naw.  But I did make art...every single day, and I am proud of myself for making the commitment to do my art, no matter how crazy life gets.