The Mystery of The Jaggedotter

     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...

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...

Word Up!

     I've had this bulletin board up for a while now and am having trouble changing it.  Usually our teachers change their boards every 9 weeks.  I've had this bulletin board up since school began.  I just like my word wall.  I refer to it all the time.  Whenever I introduce a new art term to the students, I ask them to find it on my word wall.  When we start a new project, I have them point out all the terms that apply.  Sometimes I just gaze at it from my desk and admire its greatness.  I may have to bite the bullet and just change it.  I've been getting some subtle and not so subtle hints that it needs to change, lol.

When They Won't Let You Paint on the Walls.

     I was asked a while back to start painting murals around the school.  I posted a few of those small murals earlier on my blog.  I was also asked to put something in the media center, but they didn't want me painting on the walls.  Now just to show how everything is really connected in our universe, I just happened to have several storybook characters that I had painted and put on cardboard for a previous school event.  I posted some of those as well.  The ones I showed earlier were from the books, "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Olivia".  I had several more that I'd said I didnt have pics of at the time, but I'd show you later.  Well, here they are.

     Now that I look at them all again, I realize that they are not all from story books.  The farm animals were from one of our plays put on by our music teacher.  I made those to use on the stage.  The giraffe and the dog in a suit are from different books. This is how I got around not being able to paint on the walls in the media center.  I still plan on, at some point, doing more, but it's tricky.  Any teacher can tell you that no matter what you use to stick something to a wall, it will eventually fall down.  Tape, poster gum, sticky tags, hot glue.....they all fail eventually.  It's why I used the cut outs to begin with....well, that and I 'd already had the cut outs made.  If any of you have some ideas, let me know. 

Paper Mache

     Just thought Id show you guys a little fixture from my classroom.  A while back, my students were making various paper mache projects.  Some were making piggy banks, others were making vases, and some were making globes.  I decided to show them something new.  I started working along side them and wouldn't tell them what I was making.  They did figure it out at a certain point of its development though.

Guess who.

     They ask me almost everyday if they can have it.  I tell them I may give it out at the end of the year as a prize.  But I dont think I can part with it, lol.  So, as a reward for good behavior in my class, I sometimes let one student wear it back to his classroom.



I AM IRONMAN!

My Circus Mural is One Step Closer to Completion

     Some might argue that the latest piece to my circus mural is the most important piece.  It is probably the most ingrained image in our minds when someone mentions the word circus.  When I started painting the circus themed paintings for Math Strategies Night, it was the image I was asked to paint the most.  Of course, I'm talking about the infamous Clown Car.

(No, these are not teachers car pooling to work.)

     I cheated a little bit and found some clowncar clip art online to use for inspiration.  I did one last year for a circus themed event but it was much smaller and even more important, I didn't like it.  So, I conveniently misplaced it. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

     I also started a juggler with the face blank so the kids can put their heads through the face for pictures. 

(In Progress)

     This one of course is not finished, but you can see the process.  I do a quick marker sketch, then paint in the bright flat colors.  After that, it's all about the finishing touches, shadows, hatching/cross hatching lines, line weight, etc. 

      Only one more day till the event and much work to do.  Wish me luck, I'm probably going to need it, lol.

     



My New Pottery Wheel!!!

   I was really excited about our new toy.  Our school's PTO bought the art dept a nice heavy duty pottery wheel and several kids pottery wheels.  I also stocked up and spent a nice chunk of my art budget on clay this year.  We're going to be hitting 3D hard in the next 9 week block.  Pinched pots, coiled pots, tile carvings, human head and animal sculptures to name a few.  My students have been asking all year when we're starting the clay unit.  It's a little difficult lining up the clay projects with the classroom teacher's curriculum.  Whatever the classroom teachers are doing for that week, I have to have an art lesson that previews or reviews that particular subject.  For example, we did a "Parts of a Lightbulb" collage in 4th grade last week.  Now before you make faces and scoff at that art project, they actually turned out pretty good.  I dont have a pic atm though, sorry.  We used torn construction paper to make a collage of a light bulb, then labled its several components.  I was actually proud of how it turned out.  Anyway, back to the subject, our new pottery wheel.

I let the kids take turns trying it out one day.

     Clay projects are definitely my students favorite unit.  I started this clay pot on the wheel and let each student have a turn manipulating it.  By the end of the class, it was pretty much gone, lol.  It's not as easy as it looks.  I was surprised they did as well as they did for their first time at it.  Well, wish us luck.  One other thing the kids found out was that the pottery wheel is very, very messy, lol.