New Etsy Treasury

Go on take a look. It's very fun to curate a treasury. I created one titled "uP, OVER and under." I found 12 beautiful bridges on Etsy. The treasury has expired, but the collection is to the left.

Camera 101 at Roswell Visual Arts Center for Middle Schoolers Week 1

Today is my first class for Camera 101 at the Roswell Visual Arts Center. The class lasts eight weeks and there are still a few spots. Click on the link above to learn more. Then click on Youth Visual Arts. I will post the assignments here on my blog to motivate you and just in case my students forget...

The assignment today is to practice off-centering the subject. Take ___ landscape shots. Bring 5 best to class next week. And, find another shot of Ansel Adams' that you like on the internet. Bring a copy to class. I found a nice bio and photographs on this site.

We will discuss the tic-tac-grid. Here is a visual reminder of where to place your subject. Place the main subject in the green areas and avoid the center or red ex.

New Menorah Image

I changed this just a touch...

Chanukah

Chanukah will be here before we know it! I really enjoy lighting the candles each night. Choosing just eight presents for my children is a nice exercise. With Christmas, we had no limit... I like the limit, but I do admit to wrapping several items together when the kids were younger... now their wishes are too expensive and eight is just the right number. But Chanukah is really about the lights, oil and the miracle of the oil lasting eight nights, the victory of the Maccabees, and reconsecrating theTemple in Jerusalem.

This is my favorite menorah!

EastCobber Parade was FUN

We attended the EastCobber Parade Sat., Sept. 12, 2009. Johnson Ferry was lined with moms, dads and kids. The parade was complete with several high school marching bands, politicians, area businesses and not-for-profits. Here are a couple shots of a band because I carried a base drum in high school! Go Wildcats!

High Museum Film -- Dorothea Lange

Atlanta:  Sure to be informative. There is a film and panel discussion titled Women in Photography on Thursday at the High Museum in Atlanta in the Walter C. Hill Auditorium Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 7 PM. Dorothea's son Daniel Dixon discusses Dorothea Lange and Her Impact on American Society in the film. Click on the Women in Photography link to learn more.
Lange was an important photojournalist of the great depression. One of her most poignant images is the Migrant Mother. Clearly this image is of a woman with so many thoughts, worries and troubles and several children. So much is captured in one click of the shutter.

Where to Hang a Child's Art?

My children attended Montessori schools for many years and I enjoyed learning Maria Montessori's philosophies. In general my belief in life is to gather lots of information about a subject and come up with my personal way.

One of my favorite Montessori views is of art. The littlest children are not too young to learn about the greatest artists! In the classrooms the art and work is easy for a child to reach. I set up our house this way. I am now moving the images up the walls, but I still have to bend over to pull out the china for the dinner table. (Don't worry... I think I've accidentally broken more china than they have!)

So, the next time you put a nail in the wall, check with your youngster to see where his eyes are on the wall.

Busy Puppy Potty Training

As if I had nothing to do, I am now also training my sweet puppy I adopted in Tennessee. We named her Tennessee. Here are a couple photos so you can get the picture about why I brought her home with me from my parents' farm house. I am using Everything You Need to Know about House Training Puppies and Adult Dogs. The logic of praising during the act and not punishing is very smart and seems to be working. Keep your fingers crossed! She is my full-time job right now. The kids LOVE her!

Cabbage Rolls

My Grandmother was from Lithuania, and she loved to cook! I enjoyed making cabbage rolls tonight with my father for dinner. We steamed the cabbage for 15 minutes. and then stuffed them with cooked rice and raw ground beef. (1.5 pounds meat to 1 C cooked rice.) We used toothpicks to secure and filled the very large pot with tomatoes (1 can), tomatoe sauce (2 cans), carrots, potatoes and water. We simmered for about 1.5 hours.

Arthur Leipzig

So. One of the lessons from school is that we artists are influenced by all the images we have viewed before our next work. Click on Arthur Leipzig's Chalk Games and then let me know how it compares to my Kickball in Parc Guell, left, taken in Gaudi's parc in Barcelona. Streetball Barcelona is shown here to the right. I studied Leipzig long before taking the Barcelona shots. Leipzig was born in NY in 1918. Leipzig has a lot of neat shots of children playing in the streets of Brooklyn. Click to read a short bio on the photographer. Study Leipzip's works and go shoot an image in his style.

Pittsburgh

WHAT A COOL CITY! I guess I am in love! I will return to Pittsburgh and just purchased the Moon Handbook titled Pittsburgh and a detailed street map to study up! Here is my latest shot.