Friday, February 20, 2009

Repose



Repose, by John White Alexander, Metropolitan Museum of Art (www.metmuseum.org)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Where does my time go...

That's the question I many times stop and ask myself. Lately I haven't been asking that, but perhaps wishing for more time instead. C'est la vie. A few nights ago I sat and colored samples for second grade, which was quite fun. Maybe I need to do more coloring-oriented projects! In fourth grade we will be making faux stained glass tomorrow, using Pebeo glass paints to color in the patterns the students created. Here is my sample in a couple stages of progress. The second photo shows the colors in the finished piece on the paper at the top.










Another recent project was to shepherd the process of making a tapestry as a play prop. The play was Macbeth and the tapestry theme was Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden of Eden: both men who listened to their wives with tragic consequences. We based ours on a detail of a fresco by Giusto de' Menabuoi. I designed the pattern from enlarged photocopies of the fresco and then cast the vision for our seventh grade students. They chose most of the fabrics (with a little guidance) and then helped fuse the layers. I stitched over most of them before the play, and was glad I did because the fusing would not have held up during the handling of it that night. I still need to finish stitching the figures. The students did a great job. I'm grateful, also, to Mrs. Bailey, who helped supervise the students, and to sweet Catherine, who painted the faces on the figures.



Personal art right now is largely neglected, but I have some ideas percolating. Hopefully soon I will have a little extra time...