Becoming a Famous Masterpiece

In my Elementary Education courses we were taught about "becoming the character" you know so you can really think how someone feels, what it would be like to be that person, thing, whatever. I remember having to choose what "building I would be" and why- it was really strange and also a very creative process. Just think how people who create movies think or people who write books. Really, think about how people create movies like Monsters Inc., Cars, Over the Hedge, The Bee Movie. You really have to pretend to be that character to create it. So anyways ..........that was all really off subject.... the real thing I wanted to share was my cute little student who "Became the Masterpiece" today. She was really happy, she even got to put her handprints on my painting uniform (I'll never mix those jeans up again with my good ones :) not to sure how here mom felt though- she painted her own clothes too :( I really wonder why I forgot to pull out the painting smock????? a little confused to as to why I let her paint right next to my fancy Japanese walls (they are covered in paper and I don't think they would clean well) really, questioning my brain this afternoon. Oh well. It was a fun day. If I find something cute in her size when I go to the U.S. I'll snag it :) but for now on - this is her painting uniform!

How I am taking over the living room.. is this a house?

O.K so I knew someone who once turned their whole living room and dining room into a preschool :) It was really neat, the rest of the house was for their family but this part was the school. They had a family room that was their living room, etc.

So, I asked my husband if he would go for that. He said if I had the right amount of students..... 20. O.K. well then he said no, there was no way we would live like that..... but it is difficult to teach in a small space....

So I have streched out a bit.... here is the special intrest area:

Notice the laundry.......

Here's the kitchen.....

and the reading/lounge area with art books...

oh and lets not forget the drying area/laminating station:

What do you think? hmmmmmm.......maybe I am taking over :)

Sometimes I like to Cook

It just depends on my mood. Usually we have nice dinner night on Tuesday and Sunday because those days are the only days we are home early.. even the crockpot is not an option a lot of the other days because we get home after 7 PM and with a bunch of junk from the base to put away. So it is Sunday and I can smell good food cooking in my crockpot :) Picture of last weeks good dinner :)ooooooooh these pictures are teasing me........ we are having chicken stew but enchiladas look so good now.... maybe Tuesday!

Yes, I Live Here!

Sometimes the worst and best parts of working from your home are just that, being home. It's a struggle sometimes to find that balance, I mean it is your home but it needs to look nice when people are coming over but again it is a home- sometimes there is folded laundry on the couch.... sometimes there are dishes in the sink or they are drying, sometimes there is paper on the floor from the work I did in the late hours of the night. That's just the way it is :)but it is difficult. I finally splurged and found someone to come and clean once a week and that has been a HUGE releif! HUGE! I cannot beleive how much brain space has been freed up by the one act! So here, picture of my kitchen, we have no cupboards except ones that are supper high and I cannot reach even with a step stool so everything we use is out to see......

Students Work

My Japanese students artwork based on the book "Planting A Rainbow" as always I TRY to give students a choice (sometimes I don't)so there is also a Pokemon character! I think the Pokemon turned out pretty good, I had something that she was able to trace so that was very helpful :)The flowers look good too! The students took home their original artwork and 9 ATC's which were traded among each other! The students ages 4-6 worked alongside their mothers, it was a nice class followed by homemade Japanese and American desserts- my favorite kind of class :)

Art Work in the Library

My artwork is now up in the Children's Section of the library at the Yokosuka Base. Stop by and take a look if you are near, I think it looks nice and bright- just what I pictured with my artwork, I have always wanted something to hang in the children's section! Also, don't forget about my print giveaway! I'll post a picture the next time I am over there.

U.S. Flag Art Giveaway

I've decided to do a giveaway. To enter leave a comment in the comment section of this blogpost. In your comment please tell me how my artwork makes you feel. Go ahead and go thru my flickr and look at past artwork, etc. Usually I hear the same comments which are what I was looking for anyway but I am a little curoius what other things people will say :)

3 chances- 1. leave a comment on this blogpost 2. blog about my giveaway 3. tweet about the giveaway on twitter! Let me know you have done each of these things with an additional comment (3 comments only!)

I will be giving away an 8 x 10 print of my Collage "U.S. Flag". Please note that I am in Japan and it may take a while to receive your prize!

I will draw a name on July 26th and will try to mail out the prize the following week!

Enjoy!

Christmas in JUNE????

Yes, I have already started....... It seems every year I run out of time so I have decided to start while I have time :) I remember my mom taking us to the pool and taking her Christmas ornament stuff with her! These ornaments are balls that have torn pieces of my painted papers, Japanese Washi paper or both combined. The white ball is covered with cool paper I found in KamaKura over the weekend.

Paper Mache Bowls, Letter and American Flags

Projects my art class is working on. They asked for paper mache so we started with the basic bowl, I am hoping they will finish up the last coats of paper mache in the next class, then we can move onto painting. The bowl in the picture is finished- I think it turned out really good. We worked on tearing small pieces of paper (kids want to use HUGE pieces) and not soaking the pieces, the result is almost no bumps, very smooth looking. We are also working on American Flags for the 4th of July. All of the flags should be ready to go home by the end of the month. The letter is something I am working on- the only problem was I did not measure correctly so I have a little bit of a lopsided L, but I have never measured correctly so oh well........

Glad to see

I made some people hungry with my soup :) finally my turn!!!!!!

Pampering Beki

Check out her website! She is doing her 1000th Blog entry giveaway. It's an interesting blog with a little bit of everything- kids, bad babies, cute little babies, food, jewelery, ideas for your home, crafty things, just a mix of about everything. So go visit Pampering Beki. and enjoy! Oh and she has some cool music playing in the background and since we don't get good radio here in Japan I hook it up to the stereo and that's what we listen to :)

Chicken Taco Soup

with cornbread, this was the first time I served it with avacados. It was sooooooo good :) I think it is my favorite. Great soup, cornbread, nice dessert- served in a fancy bowl with cheap paper plates....... and IKEA spoons for half of us since I ran out of spoons.........

Little Student

She is so cute! She is 5 years old, this is her first project. She was so excited when she came on Sunday and saw that it had dried all sparkly! I don't think she could really focus on anything she just kept picking up her picture. She also made a bag to carry home her art projects. This class is very enjoyable! Oh and she speaks enough English to hold a little conversation :) Too cute!