UPDATED! New Question!! and a big thanks and blogger advice needed

FYI, the new question has been added at the bottom of this post, in dark red font. 

Today I discovered that I now have 888 followers.  WOW!  What a cool number!  That's a lot of people taking a peek now and then to see what I am up to.  I am very appreciative of all of you, more than I can say.  Thanks for stopping by!

 

And now, since I have your attention (maybe) I need your help.  Let me explain: I've been doing my best to ignore the changes (doom and gloom) that are coming down the pike, in relation to using Blogger.  Avoidance has been easy, but I know I can't avoid much longer.  In fact, I have discovered that perhaps I've waited too long.

Unlike many of you, at the time I didn't really care much about the loss of the Google reader, or whatever the name of it is/was, (it's gone already; it left when I wasn't paying attention) because honestly, I only used it when I wanted to hunt for something.  Otherwise, I pretty much use the Dashboard to see what's been newly posted, and if there's something I want to find my way back to, I pin it on my Pinterest page.  However there are some things from way back that I wish I could still find, but... oh well.   And I am pretty clueless about some of the stuff you guys were recommending as a replacement (Bloglovin? etc) and of course, since I  no longer have the Google reader to search for what you were saying, I can't find your advice and recommendations any more.  Dumb of me to wait so long...  I have just spent an hour scrolling through old posts on the Dashboard to try to find what everyone was saying, and with no way to filter the posts, I never found what I was looking for.  So I need some solid advice, written in a way that someone (me) with absolutely NO comprehension about downloading and other technical whoop-de-doo will understand.

And aside from the need to find a new reader so that I can do searches, there was something else happening / changing  (when?) having to do with blogs that are not Blogger blogs.  Will they all be gone from my Dashboard at some point?  How do I prevent that?  (I have some that I don't want to lose track of.)  And what the heck is Google + and do I want it?  Why? What will it do differently than what I've been doing these past three years?  HELP!  I'm feeling very dumb right now, and I will very much appreciate your help.  I'm feeling a bit alone here in my technophobia.

Here's the update: 
So, friends,  I now am signed on to Bloglovin', but am already a little flummoxed.  The Google reader had a search option, where you searched through the blogs you follow for a specific word/topic - for example "Chihuly" or  "color wheel" etc.  Then you could highlight them and get back to them easily.  Bloglovin' has a nice clean format, but as far as I can see, the search option on Bloglovin' searches every damn blog it can find (not just what I follow), thus making it impossible to find that post you are looking for.  I couldn't figure out how to search as I did on Google reader.  Any advice?  Do I need to try Feedly instead?  And what does it mean to 'claim' your blog?  Why would I want to/need to do that?

Student Art Show 2013

I spent the day subbing for my replacement yesterday, while she set up for today's annual student art show.  She and the high school art teacher said it was OK if I snapped a few pictures of their students' work to share with you.

On the left and below are a couple of papier-mache monsters, made by 5th graders.  My replacement had no previous experience with papier-mache, so at her request I came in one day and helped her get started.  But this was the first time I saw the completed work.  

 I believe the coil pots above were made by 4th graders.  The ceramic pieces below were made by some high school students, and the pencil drawing below the ceramics is also the work of a high school piece.  My photo isn't great, but I think the drawing is!

 Grrr.  Sideways photos - all three of the next photos - for my favorite part of the exhibit: 3rd grade papier-mache angry birds!  I'm proud to say that the idea of displaying some of the birds in the large potted tree was mine!  You may remember that last year's art show had a large Chihuly tower in the center of the show, and the year before, my large dragon Lucy sat on a table in the center.  So it seemed that 'something' was needed to anchor the center of the room, and I remembered the tree in a friend's classroom and thought she'd be willing to loan it. 

 

 And some hydrangea paintings (I think they are made from bubble prints) by, I think, 2nd grade:

 And a couple of cute sunflower paintings:

 

 And some Klimt trees, I think maybe grade 5:

 And some snakes, made by printing bubble wrap,by grade 1:

 And a glimpse of a part of the room (1/2 the 'big' gym):

 When I finally left school after subbing and checking out the art show, I noted as always how beautiful the school grounds are, and I stopped to take a couple of photos.  Isn't it lovely?

 

I've got my head in the clouds!

 I don't know when I've been more excited about what I saw on a blog post than by this one right here: http://manualescanigo.blogspot.com/2013/05/sol-y-lluvia.html.  I have so many ideas as a result of this blog post that my mind is whirring.  I've chosen not to copy Cristina's photos to this post as I would not do so without permission.  But there are clouds of white fluff hanging from the ceiling, with all sorts of raindrops - made from stuffed felt, bottlecaps, and more.  There's smaller clouds that look like perhaps painted sponges, with raindrops (foil?) hanging from them.  There's a large table area covered with a painted pond, with ceramic ducks swimming, lily pads with frogs, and again, more. 

One of my ideas is based on an image from the blog of little wire people with their heads surrounded by white cotton fluff.  It's got me thinking of all kinds of 'head in the clouds' artwork, both 2 and 3 dimensional.  I see so many possibilities!

I know many of you already are regular readers of Cristina's awesome blog, but if you aren't, you are missing out on a blog by an incredibly inspiring art teacher.  You will be amazed by the fabulous student artwork.   And by the way, for those of you, like me, who aren't good at foreign language, there is a translator button on the blog.  The translation isn't great, but it does help (though it doesn't address the process or materials at all; instead it is more philosophical in nature).

By the way, I don't like to write a post without photos, so I need to give photo credit/explanation.  The photos in this post are both by my son, shot during his stay at Stellenbosch University in South Africa (Stellenbosch is near Capetown) when he was there for a college internship 3 years ago.  The top photo is him, shot via self-timer. He always takes a photo of himself jumping on tops of mountains.  I wish he had tied his shoelaces better, but he made it home safely so I guess I shouldn't complain!

Pretty Pansies!

 

In my opinion, there is no better flower than the pansy.  The rich vibrant colors make me happy.  Each year, we plant pansies along a slate path from the back of our house to our driveway.  On Mother's Day, we go to a couple of garden stores, is search of the selection of colors I want (everything!).  It's interesting that what they offer changes from year to year.  Last year, I couldn't find much red; this year there was a lot of red, but no peach or black to be found.  Anyhow, here's a little selection from what we bought. 

The Return of the Texture Fauves

 I've been looking through my blog stats, and I want to, from time to time, bring back some stuff from a few old posts that never got many views on their first runs, because I think they deserve a 2nd chance!  So these images were originally posted here, in December 2010.

My 2nd grade students had been learning about Matisse and fauvism, had done a Matisse goldfish bowl painting project, and knew that the word 'fauve' means 'wild beast'. We also had previously done some work with textures, so they knew the meaning of the word.  So to use up some junk accumulating in the art room, the kids created these 'texture fauves' - wild beasts or creatures made out of various textural materials, mostly recyclable.  We had fabric scraps, pieces of foam, ribbon, lace, corrugated cardboard scraps, pompoms, feathers, doilies, toothpicks, wood shapes, and of course some wiggle eyes just for fun.

I purposely showed them NO examples, so they would use their own imaginations and creative thinking to solve the challenge.  They were given scissors, bottles of Elmer's Glue-All, and a piece of scrap mat board each for background, and I had all the assorted junk materials arranged on my counter-top. 

 

While most kids used lots of materials, I especially love the simplicity of this amazing shark (above) cut from just a few scraps of foam!  Bravo!

 Don't you love the written explanation on this one (above)?

 The kids were given the option of using construction paper crayons to alter the negative space, as you can see on the piece below in particular. 

  Straight from my prior post, these were the only rules/guidelines that were given:

1. Nothing sticking up off the board (the artwork should fit in the drying rack).
2. No blood or weapons.
3. You had to be able to tell it was a beast or creature.
4. Students could only take one thing from the selection at a time, and had to return stuff the same way it was found (ribbon rolled up, feather bucket closed, etc).
5. Everything had to be glued down by counting to at least 10.

Since the students had to get up from their seats numerous times to retrieve materials, I had them take their scissors with them (to cut off a piece of ribbon, for example, rather than taking all the ribbon to their tables).  So we practiced the 'scissor rap', complete with hand gestures and sassy attitudes:  "Points down, hands around, points down, hand around!" 

I hope you have enjoyed this repeat performance! 

Yaddo

A couple of days ago, my camera and I wandered through Yaddo, in my hometown of Saratoga Springs.  What is Yaddo?  Well, straight from the Yaddo website's history page:  "Founded in 1900 by the financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina, herself a poet, Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400-acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment." 
Visual artists, writers, performance artists, filmmakers, and composers apply to spend a period of time at Yaddo, where they are provided a place to stay, a studio, meals, and a peaceful creative environment without distraction.  The list of people who have stayed there over the years include some well-known people like Sylvia Plath, Mario Puzo, Truman Capote, Leonard Bernstein, and so many more.  The history of Yaddo includes the tragic deaths of young children, and a fair share of ghost stories as well!  As kids growing up in Saratoga, it was fun to explore the grounds, which included climbing a fence to the private grounds and hoping to glimpse something awesome or spooky.  Usually we just got bitten by killer mosquitoes!  The mansion at the top of the post is only a small part of the grounds, and while it is private,the mansion from time to time is opened to the public for tours or chamber music concerts. 

The grounds include a public rose garden and rock garden, ponds, and statues, all lovely to look at and explore.  The roses and other flowers are not in bloom yet, of course, but these views were all from the public grounds.

Wouldn't these two photos below be great for teaching perspective? 

 

 As I toured the public grounds, a class of what appeared to be high school students sat nestled among the new growth near the rock garden area working on drawings. 

 

Looking down on the yet-to-bloom rose gardens:

When I was a young teacher, my mother took a job working as bookkeeper at Yaddo, working on the private grounds.  At the time, she befriended a young painter who took me on a tour of his studio.  His paintings were small fresh landscapes, really lovely.

Anyhow, I thought you'd perhaps a glimpse into this lovely place.  I'll try to get back to take more photos when it is  in full bloom.

The polarizing filter, water, reflections, and a strange camera problem: Solved!!