Summer Break-Day 1

Boy, was I wiped out over the weekend. It's go, go, go that last week of school. Then all of a sudden that last bell rings, the kids get loaded onto their busses and it's all over. We usually ride the busses the first week and the last day of school but my wonderful partner in crime, Kelli, our grrrrrreat music teacher rode my bus for me while I finished the book above. Thank You, Kelli!

It was a gift for our principal, Angela, from our staff. Earlier this year, Angela was one of 8 school principals selected as finalists for the Rodel award. Four of the 8 were selected to be awarded $3000 and the opportunity to mentor other principals. Their profiles were in the newspaper and the winners would be announced in the paper as well. Unfortunately, Angela wasn't one of the Rodel winners but our staff knows we have the best principal ever.

In addition to the two schools I've worked at, I traveled to a couple of others and got a taste of other school climates. I feel very, very fortunate to have worked for Angela for 12 of my 13 years in this district. Many of us do. As a result we all wrote letters that were compiled into this book. Kelli presented Angela with her book on Friday at our end of the year BBQ. It was an unexpected surprise. Those are the best kind!

Since I'm on an aluminum tape kick, that's the technique used for the covers. The "A" stands for Angela and dolphins are her favorite. Tim Holtz's texture hammer was used on the dolphins and a, (sewing), marking wheel was used to add texture to the "A."Saturday was "Collage Day" with Sylvia Luna at Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale. Look what we made!

Sylvia had us work in prescribed steps. It was different than I'm used to so it was great to learn another way to get started. First-layers of paper pieces. Then inks, then some gesso. At some point we were given a focal point to use. The pickings were slim so I used something I probably wouldn't have picked on my own. Another break from the usual. It's a good thing! Next paint was used or was it stamping? Then more paint. Above was my first effort. It's OK but not my favorite YET. It'll get reworked some more.#2-I like it! Again, we used the same steps. Glue some paper pieces down, include focal image(s), rub inks, dry brush gesso, stamp...tweak here, tweak there. I want to finish it off with some handstitching.

Sylvia had a container full of papers to rummage and pull from. There must have been some kind of medical/ailments dictionary or encyclopedia. The above image came from the "death, sudden" page. Creepy! Creepy-er when I added the words "Death, Sudden" above the male and female figures. I may not be in the best mind set to start dating again.....
#3- At this point everyone was buzzing along. I broke with Sylvia's steps and glued down a layer of the paper towel I'd been blotting with. My focal image was meant to be the dark shape to the left but my 4th piece influenced this one. The male silohuette came from the left over piece when I cut out this guy:
#4 is CREEPY but a pleasing kinda creeepy. This last collage came together in minutes. I took some scrapbook papers, tore them into strips and glued them down. The patterns on the papers were still visible but became richer with inked rubbed in. I skipped the gesso and stamping, although stamping would have added a bit more depth but I'm still really happy with this one.

The armor image was left by someone else as was the postage stamp of a mideivel figure. The scissors repeat the "X" of the armor as well as the idea of the cut away flesh.

All the papers and images are from Sylvia's stash. We didn't have to bring anything but scissors, an apron and an open mind.

Although, I hadn't planned on taking this class this weekend, I'm glad I moved the date up for it. It was perfect for my half dead state-of-mind. Being told what to do took some of the pressure off. When my brain woke up, I did my own thing and that was perfectly OK too. There 8 of us in the class and as always, it was fun to see how different everyone's pieces came out.

Sylvia's teaching this class in two weeks at Mystic Paper in Old Downtown Mesa. Sign -up!

Now that I'm home I can call the evap guy, the plumber and the handy man to get some much needed maintenance done on our "castle."

Happy Monday!