Saturday

Who gets up at 4:30 on a Saturday morning just because.......

Apparently I do.  

I am an artist.... I have been an artist for over 35 years.... actually, really......

And for the last 15... I have been a teacher as well....  

I went into teaching because I could not stand to be home alone after all my kids headed off to school to grow up......

That empty house panicked me.....  

I took my 7th child with me to the school where I taught.... she kept me company before and after school.... she helped me connect the dots.....  

I threw myself into teaching with a vengeance.  I really did.   I put every bit of creativity into my classroom.  I also put every bit of MONEY into my classroom-  filling it with books and creative supplies for little hands and minds.   I made a total of $24,000 a year before taxes those first years.   HAHAHA!!!! (This was only 14 years ago people!!)   I certainly did NOT go into teaching for the MONEY!!!

I loved it at first.  I really did.  Each year I had a whole room of children that became part of my family... part of my heart.    Each year I also saw the education system become more and more demanding... more and more robbing children of their childhood.... and creating a system that also robbed them of quality learning time.   They took away recess..... they demanded that children have their patooties tested off..... I have been soooo sad to see these changes cause a less than wonderful working environment...... Sooo sad.  

It made me NEED to find that fulfillment in my artwork again.  I still teach..... I still do NOT do it for the money..... I couldn't..... they simply do not pay enough to compensate for what we do in the classroom.... in our lives.... to make it happen.....  

But the kids.... they are still family.... they are still worth it....

So, I teach by day..... trying my best to totally give all I have to create splendid learning experiences for my little people.... AND meet all the mandates that come from the top down......


and I come home, needing desperately to create a wonderful world of my own.... needing to express myself in my artwork.... but.... feeling like there is never time.... never, ever enough time.......

HAHA!!

I am trying to teach myself how to digitize my artwork.  I am pretty comfortable with my pen or paintbrush in my hand..... Online skills are still being learned.... by inches......

So... back to TODAY---  I popped out of bed at 4:30..... worked for the last 3 hours fiddling with watching youtube videos on 'HOW TO'.... and then trying out the skills...... that I ALREADY practiced this summer.... but "do to circumstances beyond my control"..... have lain dormant while I dealt with back to school fun times.......

It was like starting over...... again.........

But.... I WILL NOT give up...... haha!  No, I won't!!  

I will train myself to succeed here as well.   Yes!  

Here are some examples of what I came up with this morning..... YES.... they are digitized versions of my original hand drawn artwork.  

Cheers!!!!
judifer

Thursday musings

Today I realized that I should share my classroom fun times.  I love to doodle on the board when we are exploring a topic.

This year we went straight from the oven (85 degrees in our UN AIR CONDITIONED classrooms) to.... FALL!  So... with it.... I leaped straight from BACK TO SCHOOL thoughts of procedures and expectations.... to.... PUMPKINS!

Yes... I totally hopped, skipped, and JUMPED right over the standard "apples" and "bees" that I usually begin with...

Finally, that fresh cool breeze blew in and made me think it was fall.... at least for the moment.... in a blink... Old Man Winter will blow in and we will be talking about the deep freeze that will blanket our every waking breathing thought...... but for now.... for a moment...  

LET THERE BE PUMPKINS!!!!!

My students are so excited about this... I have been tiptoeing in with a pumpkin a day and we have been reading fiction and non-fiction books about the topic.... and.... as I am prone to do.... I could not even HELP myself ..... I sketched a little on the board.....

Thought I would share....

Breathing happy FALL THOUGHTS!

Cheers!
judifer

Wonderful Wednesday

I love Wednesdays.  I just do.   Some say it is "hump day"- heralding the fact it is the middle of the week.... I think it is HOPE day.... that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.... I can see the TUNNEL...... I have made it this far.... I have.... HOPE... haha!

Just silly thoughts...

I have been jumping out of bed before 5 in the mornings so that I can get to "work" on whatever floats in my mind in that pre-dawn not quite slumber, where my creative thoughts like to flow even though I tell them to BE QUIET and sleep a while longer....   They pay me no heed.... so.... I stop fighting them.... and found it to be more peaceful to just lay there with my eyes closed.... and let my thoughts wander.... until they find a place that catches my attention..... and then ... my heart races a moment and I leap up.... anxious to get them down on paper.... or... on the computer.... or....

yes.... those creative thoughts take me places that make me happy....

BLINK!

Out with summer and in with fall!  In a BLINK!  I was so tickled to go outside and NEED a jacket.  Yay!

LOVE me some FALL weather!

Cheers!

Happy Pumpkin Sort Of Day

Happy Happy Cool Weather Day!!!

Oh this blissfully lovely day!  I could drink it and never get tired of it.   The perfect temperature and the perfect sunny-ness... AND a lovely afternoon at HOME!  Balm for my soul!  Down time.... time to just enjoy..... and think.....

I remember as a child that I would make pumpkins this time of year.... What I mean is.... MAKE pumpkins.... I would take construction paper and cut out hundreds of them.... and then, after raiding my mother's pin cushion, would pin them to the front porch window screen.... a virtual pumpkin BLIZZARD!   I would look at them dreamily.... happy for my little decorations... happy for the fall season as it approached..... just happy.....

Today, flipping thru my "current" sketch pad... I am noticing that I still tend to NEED to create pumpkins...... oh yes.... many, many pumpkins......

This week's sketch

Tall pumpkins for the porch!   

Pumpkin Notes!

Painted pumpkins!

In my sketch book 

The cutest little pumpkin EVER!  (with his own pumpkin hat!)

Just a pumpkin! 

And another... just because!

Wishing you all a pumpkiny wonderful sort of day... 

Cheers! 

judifer

start today

Just do it!  Make your life what you want it to be.

I am working on it!  You can too!

I am carrying a sketchbook in my purse these days.  I doodle anywhere there is down time.  I am going to make this something.  I don't know what the something is.. but I am going to make this something.  

Getting My Autumn On

Oh the weather is blissful!  Simply wonderful.

After feeling like I was melting, melting, melting these past few weeks..... In the HOT, HOT, HOT weather.... and working in a school with NO air conditioning... (yes... really)......

This BREATH of fall air makes my heart rejoice!  

I have had a quiet morning to myself... and feeling all energized by the cool breeze ... I headed out to the front porch to tidy things up a bit.   I emptied pots of flowers that were way beyond their prime..... (dried to the bone....) and I tucked away the garden knick knacks for the winter ahead... They prefer the "warmth" of the garage.... and I swept and cleaned.... and .... tidied...  

Then I tiptoed down to the basement to find the plastic tubs where I had stashed my beloved fall things..... It is such a delight to open the bins and find my old friends there waiting for me.   I don't use them all.... I rotate them from year to year... where the mood takes me.... but... oh!  I just get giddy with taking each thing out and enjoying them... auditioning them for the spaces that can be given a touch of fall pleasure.....  and deciding.... which to use this year.... which to tuck away again.... and.... which to...maybe..... pull out in a few weeks....

Some are like old friends... that I created long ago... but love.  still.

Some were bought and then dressed up to add to the fun.  

 Some reflect my personality..... all twiggy and full of birdhouses..... and of course... my scarecrows... who are too cute to scare anything.

And then the porch.   Oh... I LOVE having a porch now!  

 And of course.... I had to make something NEW to add to the fun this year.   

(Did I mention that I LOVE having a PORCH!!)   

Hoping today finds you breezy and happy!
Cheers!
judifer

FINALLY, FINALLY!!!!! (Maybe?)

So, it seems to me that I talk about the weather a LOT. It really does take a large portion of my thoughts.... It affects my choices and my abilities.   It affects my moods.   

That being said- FINALLY we have had a cooler day.   Yesterday was THE PERFECT temperature.   It rained a LOT but that totally brought the temp down into a place.....a good place..... a happy place....

And Saturday.... oh yes!  Saturday!  Glad for it.   Seems I just exist for Saturdays....... 

AND.... so.... In happiness over the momentus occasion of the cooler weather FINALLY arriving and HOPEFULLY feeling at home and wanting to STAY....

I went over to my drafting table and sat.... it has been a while.... my muched loved corner feeling very lonely for the last month or so.....  

and pulled out my containers of pens..... and chose... of course.... my old standbys.... my go to favorites..... when in doubt.... choose the ones that never let you down.....  

and just doodled a little..... just a few lines.... 

Cheers!!!  

judifer

Lost in the Back to School Craziness

I have a love/hate relationship with "Back to School".....

I do LOVE the children- very, very quickly we bond and they become part of my heart forever.  

That being said, the GRIND of beginnning a new year is TOUGH.  Every waking, sleeping, breathing moment is taken over by SCHOOL STUFF......

and I sort of fall off the planet..........

The parts of me that are SO ME..... get left of the shelf.... or under the bed.... I am not sure... but .... gone.... as if they never existed.  

Yesterday I was determined to find my marbles.... scattered though they were.... and see if I could recapture a little bit of what makes me tick....

I got up early (at 5 a.m. on a Saturday!!!) and made my newest grandbaby a tiny little outfit.   It will look darling on her.....

It really is quite tiny.  The photo makes it look big..... haha!  This is 0 - 3 months size.  

Then, I made some pumpking bread.... Oh YES I did.... I need to feel something ..... something dreamy and FALL-like...... And pumpkin bread made my house smell heavenly.... heavenly!!!  

And then in the evening, I got out a handful of pens and sat on the couch with a clipboard to draw/sketch/write a while...... It is soothing to me.... They were doodles and jotted notes.... NOT completed projects.... but the DOING is what makes me feel good..... the BEING who I am inside.   

 I am hoping/wishing happy FALL thoughts on us all!  

Cheers!  

judifer