Jaggedotter's Art Corner

Mixed Media with ECP

2012-03-19T11:48:00.000-07:00

My ECP class is always a challenge to create art lessons for. The students range in disabilities from visually impaired, varying degrees of autism and Down's Syndrome. I work very closely with the ECP teacher to plan lessons that reinforce what they're learning in their regular classroom. Earlier this month they were learning about geometric shapes. Their teacher told me they were finger tracing shapes to help with recognition.

I had them use craft sticks to make various shapes on a large sheet of paper. They had to pick the shapes and be able to name them to make them. After we glued them down, I let them paint the whole paper. Some were very abstract looking and some tried to make it a recognizable picture.

They really like to paint. That's always fun...at least until I get phone calls from angry parents, lol. Somehow, even using art smocks, kids still manage to get paint all over the place.

We also used small colored tiles to help decorate our shape designs. It's a little hard to see all the detail after the paint was added but they still turned out nice.

After we get these matted and possibly framed they will make fine additions to the hallway display or maybe even our upcoming art show.

We started working on 3D shapes the last week or so using paper mache. They are painting their forms and will be decorating them further with stickers

Their teacher wants them to have larger shapes that they made and can manipulate with their hands.

Lighthouses Pt 4

2012-03-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

We had to take a lighthouse break for a couple of days. My 4th graders are starting to burn out on it I think. We started working again today and got most of the painting done. The next time they see me we will start putting on the final details. Some of the kids brought tiny rocks, seashells, and are adding them to their creations.

They are looking a little plain at the moment, but that will change when the new stuff is added.

The painting part has been a little tough for them. For some reason, some of them began using the wrong colors for their lighthouses. They were assigned a specific lighthouse from our state to create. They have photographs to work from but some have deviated from the design. I supplied them with the colors they asked for and didn't pay attention to they photos. Oh well, live and learn.

Now for a little peak at my first grade projects. I have never made a triorama and decided to make them with first grade.

We have an art show coming up next month and I think the trioramas will make fine additions.

Simple Machines

2012-03-04T13:47:00.001-08:00

My 5th grade art classes have been working on a simple machine project for a few weeks now. The assignment is to use at least 4 simple machines (a pulley, lever, fulcrum, inclined plane, wedge, wheel and axle, and/or screw) to propel or roll a marble. There are 5 groups of 4 working together. The group that sends the marble the furthest wins. I've been largely staying out of their creative process. I told them they had to make a plan first, then follow the plan as closely as possible. If they wanted to change parts of it they all had to agree. Working as a group is not their strongest quality. There has been a lot of arguing. I'm curious as to how these will turn out. Some of them are looking interesting. Whether they will work or meet all the requirements is another story.

My dilemma is do I help them more or let them figure it out. Some of them are on the wrong track and I've been giving hints as to whether I think something is just not going to work. The thing is one group tested their contraption out and it almost worked. It sent the marble almost straight up but that was a start. Now they are excited and working on some slight changes to send it off at more of an angle. These are just a few pictures I managed to take while dodging flying marbles, lol.

Unique drawing Experience Pictures

2012-02-25T06:32:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I told you about an art lesson I do with first grade that they almost universally hate...at first at least. I form all of our tables into a big circle. The students are given a pencil and a piece of drawing paper. I tell them to draw a certain shape or line, then pass their paper to the right. Now the next student has their paper and makes a new shape or line. After the paper has gotten around the table and back to the original person, their paper is full of lines and shapes and there is a look of horror on their collective faces. Now for a minute all I hear is so and so messed up my paper and my drawing is ugly. I ask them to look at each others drawings and tell me if any ones design looks the same. Everyone says they all look different. I ask how many look similar and explain how similar means they have the same kinds of lines and shapes, but all in different places. After I explain that I'm not grading on how the design is drawn they start to calm down, lol. I tell them they now have to color their new design. I take up the pencils because some students will try to start erasing and "fixing" their designs. The rules are that they can't cross a line with a color and the same color can't touch itself. Some are better at coloring than others, but it doesn't really matter. These kids are at that great age where they love art and aren't self conscious about their art work. At least normally they aren't. They get over it quickly though.

The Price of Art

2012-02-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

I noticed that our classroom scrap box was starting to overflow. When a student is cleaning up they will throw their left over scraps in a big box. When we do projects, I have them use the scrap box for construction paper to save on the new stuff.

Before class starts.

After the stampede.

Here they are using their found materials to create their various ideas. There were clowns, insects, monsters, spaceships, and various other unidentifiable designs. Sorry I didn't get pics of the final creations, but at this point it was almost time to go and they had a lot of cleaning to do, lol. I don't let anyone leave the room until their messes are picked up.

Even after letting all my classes use the scrap box, it still looked full. I guess I need to let them do this kind of thing more often. They seem to enjoy it. We're hopefully going to be starting the paper mache projects soon. I'm trying to get done with the 4th graders lighthouse projects first. They take up so much room for storage, I have no room for anything else.

Most of the lighthouses are ready to paint. The kids have been bringing rocks, tiny seashells, etc., to add after the paint has been applied. It's been taking longer then I thought it would to do, but they had 9 weeks to finish the project for their classroom teacher.

Alright, back to lesson plans, lol.

Keeping it Real!

2012-02-13T15:06:00.000-08:00

This is for my loyal followers who have been demanding that great Elementary Art classic, finger painting. Yes, we do finger paint on occasion. What I like to do is spread out a few large sheets of bulletin board paper and let the kids go to town.

This is a little sampler of my kindergartner's creations. By the end of the day it was completely covered. I'll get some pics of the finished product, but I thought it looked nice and clean at this point.

Enjoy!

Lighthouses Pt3

2012-02-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

It's lighthouse update time! We are a little slow going with the lighthouses, but they're coming along nicely. We had a couple of quick projects we needed to do but we're back on track today.

You can see the lighthouses and houses taking shape. Most of the students are covering their newspaper with torn pieces of brown paper towels to make them easier to paint. We'll be adding rocks, trees, and whatever else we can think of to make our lighthouse models seem more realistic. The kids are coming up with some good ideas.

A few students brought in tiny seashells they found in the sand from the playground to add to the beaches they plan to make next to their lighthouses. The sand from our playground is brought to us from the beach. The kids like to dig for "fossils" I thought they had a good idea.

I think they're looking fantastic at this point. Some of the students were having trouble applying the paper towel. It's much thinner than the newspaper and wrinkles very easily. The secret they found was using very tiny pieces. It takes longer to apply, but goes on much smoother. Any wrinkles that do occur can be made to look purposeful. Some lighthouses are very weathered looking. I believe some of them will be ready to paint next time and I can't wait. I'm ready to see some finished products.

I'm a Good Heart Teacher

2012-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Last week I had my kindergarten class use colored tissue paper to make hearts. Well, actually they used the tissue pieces to cover a white paper plate. I had one class cover the plate with mostly cool colors. I had the other class use all warm colors. The cool colors we used were blue, green and purple. The warm colors were red, orange, and yellow. We used watered down glue to brush the colored tissue paper down. The colors ran and blended together making a very painterly look. This week I drew hearts on the plates and had the kids cut them out.

As I drew the hearts for the students, one of them said that I was a really good heart teacher. I thought he said art at first, but he said "heart", which I thought was cute. My heart drawing skills are finely honed from years of practice, lol.

I then gave the students another plate and had the ones that made warm colors make a cool color background and the ones that made a cool color heart a warm color background. We then glued the hearts to our new background letting some of the hearts bend up to make a 3d effect. One of my students began crying until I explained it was supposed to stick up. Then she was happy. We attached a wire to the backs of the plate so they could be hung up.

The hearts had a really nice texture because of the colored tissue paper and the students were in awe of how it looked like paint when they were through. I told them to see if their parents could guess how they made them. Overall, it was a nice 2 day project that kept them engaged and enthusiastic. That's all I can ask for. It was a good day.

Monday Madness

2012-01-30T14:42:00.000-08:00

I thought instead of focusing on any one project like I usually do, I'd give you a few snapshots of my Monday.

It started with the Wright Brothers. Reading fun day is coming up in a couple of weeks. This time the theme is "First in Flight". So I'm making the Wright Brothers as lifesize cutouts. They'll stand at the entrance and exit of are area. So I have to make 2 of each.

Next is a mini update on the lighthouse project. As you can see, the fourth graders are adding more forms with paper mache. They are taking shape. Houses, boulders, bushes, etc., are being added.

And last but not least, our ECP students used tissue paper, tempera paint and paper plates to make a Valentine's Day hangings.

That shows you some of the variety of projects I'm helping to make throughout a given day. I certainly don't have time to get bored. This was only a half day with students. Most of my morning was working on the Wright Bros. Tuesday is a full day with wall to wall classes. I'll be able to show you some more progress on the lighthouses.

Lighthouses Pt 2

2012-01-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

I wanted to give everyone an update on our 4th grade lighthouse projects. If you remember, we started putting paper mache on various cylindrical forms. These were going to be our lighthouses.

At this point, we've started attaching our newly paper mached forms onto a flat board.

A nice start I think. Next time we will start adding houses, rocks, trees, etc. After that it will be a simple matter of painting our creations. Some of my students have expressed a desire to add a beach and ocean to their lighthouses. All we have to do is add another board to extend the scene. When I first told them we were going to be using paper mache for most if not all of the project there was a collective groan. They know how much work is involved. I think I've converted them though. They can see the lighthouses taking shape. I hope you can too. 8D

On a side note, I just found out I'm going to have a college student coming to observe me for the day. She wants to be an art teacher. Do I encourage or discourage her? LOL. I'm just kidding. I love this job. 8p

Masters of Arts Education

2012-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

One of the things that always comes up during my teacher evaluations is when am I going to start working on my Masters of Arts Education. The truth is, I've been putting it off for a while. Part of it is how expensive it is. The other part is just the lack of time. I recently started researching it a bit more and found out it can be done completely online. That may solve the time issue, but not the money issue. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, my art portfolio is severely lacking at the moment. I framed and sold almost everything several years ago and haven't built it back up yet. So I have a lot of work to do. I went to East Carolina University (GO PIRATES!) and they do offer a Masters of Art Ed program. They had this to say.

East Carolina University's Master of Arts in Education program will develop your competence as a creative artist, art teacher, or classroom-based researcher in art and education. In addition to a five-course core in the philosophy and pedagogy of art education, you will choose electives in studio, computer-aided design, interdisciplinary studies, and art history. You will complete your degree by writing a thesis or presenting a comprehensive project.

Maybe it's time. It's been 12 years since I graduated from ECU and began my teaching career. I really have no interest in going into the administration area of teaching...becoming a vice principal or principal...but furthering my education and increasing my salary does have its appeal.

Anyone out there among my interweb friends have their Masters? How much work is it really? When I get home from teaching I feel wiped. I hope I can get my motivation up and do this. I really do need to get started. I'm actually tired after reading the requirements just to apply to enter the program, lol. I may be in trouble.

Macaroni Art

2012-01-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

I have been asked by a couple of my blogger friends about macaroni art. Apparently, when they were in elementary school, they made several macaroni art projects and find it astounding that I haven't done them in my art class. While it is true that I have never in my 12 years of teaching elementary art used macaroni as an artistic medium, I am not opposed to it. In fact, upon further reflection, I took part in a science lab class where the students used macaroni to make a human skeleton. They actually turned out fairly nice. I decided to do a little macaroni art research and came up with a few ideas.

We have done projects that deal with facial expressions and what it looks like to be happy, sad, angry, etc. So this might be a project we can do.

We have most recently made food collages using torn paper as a medium. I see no reason we can't do something similar using macaroni. Now I want a cheeseburger.

I doubt very seriously if any of my students even know who the Spice Girls are. But it would appear that someone out there really, really likes them....and has a lot of time on their hands, lol.

Those are a few of the ideas I had just doing a little web surfing. I'm sure my students can make something really fantastic with macaroni. They can pretty much do anything if I can get them to focus for a few minutes on any one thing, lol. Anyone have any macaroni art stories to share? I can always use more ideas.

Lighthouses

2012-01-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Our fourth grade students do a lighthouse project around this time of the school year. In the past, they've been allowed to work on it at home with a set list of materials they can use. The projects can turn out quite big. They make models ranging in size from the size of a 2 liter bottle to 3 ft tall. The problem is that some of the projects came back looking too good. They almost looked professionally made. Well meaning parents may have helped too much, lol. Some of the students would even say during their presentations that they didn't make any of it. Well, the fourth grade teachers decided to fix that this year...by requiring the students to build their lighthouses at school...in my art class. I scrounged around my trusty art closet and collected anything I thought might be useful. I had a bag of pringle's cans, a bag of big gulp cups, a lot of newspaper, and various other materials. I decided to have them use paper mache. We're going to make lighthouse scenes with houses, ocean, trees, etc. Here they are starting to paper mache their various forms. I thought it would be nice to take pictures of them during their stages of development.

You can kind of see them starting to take shape. I'm going to post pics as the lighthouses develop.

Little Monsters

2012-01-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

We're back to school as of Monday and we got right back to work. I showed you fifth grade's clay faces and kindergarten's pinched pots a few weeks ago. First grade did not want to be outdone. They used their previous knowledge of pinched pot making and made their own clay faces, but with a twist. We had read Where the Wild Things Are recently and decided to make our own Wild Things. Do not be afraid. These are nice monsters...for the most part.

These creatures were fired but not glazed. We decided not to make them all shiny looking and paint them with tempera paints. I had to get a picture as they came out of the kiln though.

We'll be painting these in the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the finished product. I have a large display case sitting empty waiting to be filled with artwork. I'll get a few pictures as they get painted for your viewing pleasure.

A Family of Artists

2012-01-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

I tend to focus on a particular style of art. They tend to be black and white pencil or charcoal drawings. My wife, who I met in one of my college art classes, still likes to explore multiple medias. I'm a little jealous of her focus when she tries something new. I was doing the murals at my school a while back, so my wife decided to do one. If you don't remember, here's one of mine from my elementary school.

So my wife painted this.

Yes...she can be considered a one upper. 8p

I was doing charcoal drawings and made this one.

She made this.

A much more artsy loose look. A look I have a hard time duplicating.

Then she got bored and made stained glass projects.

I have to get a closer shot of these. They look pretty cool in the window.

As you may imagine, the house gets pretty messy sometimes with our various projects and materials lying around. My 3 year old daughter has become living art a few times when she got into our paints and charcoals, lol. Next time I'll show you some of our 3 year old's paintings from her sketchbook. That's all I need, more competition, lol.

More Gestural Detail

2011-12-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

So I was digging through my old college portfolio again. I sorted through some awful sketches and paintings...my earlier work. I refuse to post any pictures of them, lol. I immediately packed them back away and contemplated destroying them...but I didn't. I did find another one I did that I considered a breakthrough at the time. The project was to go out and find a natural setting to draw. I grabbed my equipment and set out to a nearby park. I always hated going out to draw outside. Not that I have anything against nature, but I would always get approached by people curious as to what I was making, lol. Most of the time they were cool, but I would get an occasional crazy person. I mean the talking to themselves, rant out of nowhere kind that hang out at local parks. It seems that an artist's life can be dangerous sometimes. I've been chased off property I thought was vacant trying to get a picture of something interesting. I had a guy on a golfcart with a gun rack come after me once, lol...I didn't stand around to explain. Oh well...got off on a tangent. This particular piece I yet again cheated, shhh. I was supposed to find a setting and draw it exactly. Well, I found a couple of settings and sort of combined them. Those three trees weren't quite so close together. I used charcoal, wash, and ink, like on the coat study. It was done just before the coat from the last post. But I can see myself finally loosening up.

Gestural Detail

2011-12-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was going through my old college art portfolio the other night. Most of the stuff in there is horrible, lol. The paintings and sketches do show the stages of my improvement I believe. The jacket one was one that I really loved at the time. It was part of a jacket study I was doing back then. I know...jacket study, weird, right? LOL. It was made with charcoal and wash. Wash is just water tinted with the charcoal. It's actually quite large. This project was basically our finals in this drawing class. One of the "fun" parts of this class was that we all gathered around and critiqued each other's work. My flaws were always that I couldn't loosen up. My drawings were always too clean and precise. My original jacket studies were said to look like doll clothes <wince>. I had to stand back and use my whole arm to draw. It was one of the hardest things to do at the time. I was used to bending over my paper and drawing from a couple inches away. This jacket was my turning point. It was pointed out by the teacher and other students that I finally broke through that wall that was holding me back and "loosened up". I know, sounds very over dramatic...but that was my whole world at that point in my life. I did lose points for not using color. But I couldn't bring my self to add it. It felt finished. Our teacher said it showed "gestural detail". He meant that I didn't really add any detail but hinted at it. At first glance, it seems to have a lot of detail but it really doesn't. I don't know...at the time I thought he made up the term on the spot, lol. I eventually got a B- on it. The teacher liked it but I lost points for not following the rules. Well, here it is.

Not exactly hanging on the wall material I wouldn't think. But I was asked by a friend if I could do one like this for her husband who is in the military. She wants one like this but with his bomber jacket. So maybe I can add this to my repertoire, portraits, pet portraits, landscapes and jackets.

My Sketchbook

2011-12-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

I tell my students that it's very important to keep a sketchbook and to be always drawing if you want to improve. It's also a good way to see how much you're improving. Well, I haven't been as good with keeping up with my own sketchbook. I had a few half finished sketches in one sketchbook and several ones that I've collected that I haven't put anything into. Here are a couple that I managed to finish.

I've been working on a series of sketches with old barns as the subject matter.

Right now these are straight pencil sketches, but I may go back and add color. Or use these as a study and do a larger painting based on these.

And here's the one I'm working on as we speak. I like drawings where you can see the process.

I think I'm going to start taking pics of my work as I'm working on them. At least I'd find it interesting.

2nd Graders Scenic Paintings

2011-12-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

My second grade art students created some paintings made from pictures taken from around our local area. I had taken some pictures and found some on the internet for them to use as inspiration. We used watery tempera paint to make some of the water effects. We talked about perspective and using overlapping shapes to create distance in our paintings. We talked about color changes to create the illusion of space and distance also. I was blown away by some of their work. These are the ones that really stand out although they all did a really good job. This is one of my best classes.

I'm not sure I could make an ocean wave this well.

The fact that she made the railing appear to be moving away from the viewer impressed me. Plus the water and atmospheric color changes are really good.

This artist had planned to add a lot more stuff in her painting but I stopped her right here. I said she could make another one and add boats and planes.

This artist used almost every art technique I'd taught, overlapping, foreground, midground and background objects, objects getting smaller the further back in the painting they are...she even left a white border around the edge of the painting. I'm keeping an eye on this artist.

This artist managed to create fairly realistic tree reflections in the water. He did this drawing a row of trees and folding the paper and making a rubbing to transfer the image on the bottom, then painting.

She wanted to do a lighthouse and I said it sounded like a good idea. When I got back around to her she hadn't done what I'd expected and that was a good thing. I expected to see a picture dominated by a light house with a little sky maybe showing. She made the painting more about the sky and the ocean and then the lighthouse. I love it when they surprise me like that.

I loved the variations in color they all got in their paintings. When your doing paintings of mostly sky and water it can be tricky. These are definitely going up in the hallway display for a little while.

Kindergarten Pinched Pots

2011-12-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

So I posted earlier that I broke down and let some of my classes do a clay project before the holidays. A couple of my kindergarten classes are doing their first clay project , the pinched pot. Those in the know can tell you a pinched pot is a clay ball that is pinched into a bowl shape. They glaze the bowls the following week and into the kiln they go.

Due to budgetary constraints we only had 3 colors to work with...blue, yellow and white.

I had them pick one color to paint the inside, one color to paint the lip, and another color for the outside. Color mixing was going to happen so I wasn't worried about not having enough variation.

The first batch came out nearly perfect. I may have done a somersault or 2 when I opened the kiln the next day. I have had issues with clay breaking or exploding in the kiln due to air or moisture getting trapped in the clay and not giving it enough dry time. The one at the bottom of the pic is not a pinched pot. One of my students was absent for a while and missed making one...so I let her glaze something I had made earlier.

I'd say considering we only had 3 colors to glaze with, there was plenty of variation.

And finally a little teaser of another project I mentioned in a previous post, the clay animals. I'll show you more in a couple of days. These are a second grade project and they're working on the habitats for their creations. Till then...

My New Holiday Creation!

2011-12-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

After finishing the murals and cutouts for Math Strategies Night's circus theme, I had no time to waste. I had to get started on the scenery for the Christmas Play. The music teacher and I brainstormed ideas based on her chosen musical, Flakes! I began making the props for the show.

The snowplow is on cardboard and is fitted with handles on the back.

The background for the play had to be big. It will hang up on the back curtain of the stage. Here it is in progress. I start out gluing large sheets of bulletin board paper together. I sketch it out with a marker, then paint the lines dark with black tempera paint. After I get it all outlined nice and dark, I start painting.

I started on it yesterday. I guess I work pretty fast when I can get a chance. I was able to work on it while the kids were practicing with the music teacher. I still have a little bit of fine tuning but this part is mostly done. I'll post more as I finish. Wish me luck. Christmas vacation is almost here, yay!

Funny Clay Faces

2011-12-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

I decided to break down and let some of my students do a clay project before we go on Christmas break. I usually wait till we get back so we have plenty of time to make, glaze and fire them. Also, storage becomes an issue when you have several hundred clay projects at varying stages of development. I have specific clay projects for each grade level each year and 5th grade gets the Funny Face project.

Faces after the first session.

I taught the kids about stippling (creating textures, shadows, etc., using tiny dots). Some of them got very creative with hair and facial hair on their faces. Even some of the girls decided to make their dads just so they could use stippling to make facial hair. It's hard to tell from that group shot, but they came with very individual faces.

This one is cartoony.

A more realistic look

I was irritated by this one at first glance. Then I realized the student made the dots and lines pretty symmetrical. At that point, I was ecstatic. Believe me, any time one of my kids uses something they learned from a previous lesson on their current lesson, I start to get all emotional, lol.

These just show you the wide range of faces we got.

This brown clay dries to a light tan color. We'll glaze them next week and then its kiln time. I'm really lucky to have a kiln in my classroom. I'll show you the work in progress later. If I have time I'll also show you 2nd grades clay animals in progress. I have to save something for the next post, lol. Sorry some of the pics are sideways.

The Most Despised Art Lesson in the World!

2011-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

I love this lesson. Don't get me wrong. It's not me. It's them, my students. You see, my students are absolute perfectionists when it comes to their art work. If it doesn't come out looking exactly like mine, many will give up, throw it away or keep starting over till we run out of time. I try to explain that sometimes happy accidents yield better work. It doesn't need to be perfect as long as they try their best.
I found this lesson several years ago and have used it to combat this mentality. The kids start out curious, grow wary and then look at the final product in horror. It's called a Unique Drawing Experience. The kids sit in a big circle. They each have a sheet of drawing paper and a pencil. I have them draw a simple thing like a line from one side of the paper to the other, or a zig zag line from the top to the bottom. Then they pass their paper to the person to their right. That person then draws a shape like a square, circle, triangle, etc, whatever I think of at the time. Sometimes I make it up and sometimes I have a list premade. This goes on until the paper gets back to its original owner. I then tell them I'm not grading them on how well the design looks but on how well they color it. I immediately get cries of anger because so and so messed up their paper, or this person drew an ugly shape or line and ruined it. They had no control over the creation of the design, just it's coloring.
I have gotten the most beautiful original looking creations from this project, but the students almost all hate it.

Am I really an evil teacher that delights in the torture of my students? Is it worth all the grumbling to get through it? Yes, in the end I believe so...and yes, I probably am evil. They turn out looking fantastic. I wish I had one to show. I'm going to do this project again when we come back from Christmas break and will show some then.

The Mystery of The Jaggedotter

2011-11-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

A little background story may be required. I am frequently asked by people that know me why I chose the name Jaggedotter for the title of my blog. Jaggedotter is a fairly new handle that I've used here and there. In the past, I've gone by simply Otter when I was talking to people in the netverse. It goes back to my initial adventures into the world of computers back when internet chat rooms and computers in general were still a strange and new thing. I had recently watched Animal House for the millionth time. It's one of my favorites.

Still from Blogs.amctv.com

I had a choice of characters fresh in my mind from the movie in which to choose. There was Bluto, Flounder, Pinto, Boone, D-Day, Hoover, Stork and Otter. I chose Otter from the simple fact that he was arguably the coolest character in the movie and the name just sounded better then the rest. Now as time past and the seasons changed, I discovered that many many people in the netverse thought the same thing. Otter was getting more difficult to use. It was always taken. One day, I bought an online game and was required to enter a handle. I, of course, tried Otter and was denied. It offered me alternatives in the form of various odd adjectives to add to Otter. Jaggedotter just jumped out at me as a unique enough name that I wouldn't have any problems. So, here we are.
Now that that is out of the way, help me choose a new avatar. I have grown bored with my present one, lol.

Should I go with a fierce otter? Grrrrrrrrrrrr. Do they grrrr?

Do I go with the cute otter? Awwwwwww.

The Evil Genius Otter?

Or do I stick with my original?

That Barn Drawing...

2011-11-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

I stare at it hanging in its frame all the time. I want to take it out and try to add a bit of shadow here and there. I want to add more trees, erase trees, add bushes and grass or take them away. It taunts me with its imperfections. Maybe I should make a gift of it to someone so it cant drive me crazy anymore. Christmas is coming up. But if I give it to a relative...I may have to still see it when I visit. Should I try to sell it? I've actually had people interested in it, but I told them it wasn't for sell. It wasn't finished. Is it finished? Will it ever be finished? Maybe I should just move on. It's time. Start something new. Maybe another portrait of my daughter, or a seascape, or...maybe if I just darken the value just a hair on the front of the barn...