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