Student Art Show

April = the district art show.  I remember going with my parents to see the warm and cool color fish I painted when I was in 2nd grade (my best work came out of that year) it was very avant-garde.  I got to see my students displaying their work on the same walls and it was a little bitter sweet.

From our watercolor unit.

I decided to quit teaching.  February was a strange and dark month for me- feeling restless, feeling lost, with out much direction or purpose.  March was really frustrating, as I went back and forth between wondering if I wanted to quit because teaching is (really) hard or if I want to quit to follow a truer path for myself.

My Mentor & Friend Shalei- Best heart on earth.

1.  I keep getting the feeling that I need to be doing something that focuses on my art making.  I just don't think I can ignore that feeling anymore.

2.  Fear will keep me from experiencing some failure, but will ultimately keep me from realizing my full potential- and that is a BIG failure.  I need to be brave.

3.  To quote Rent- "No day but today".  Lol- Am I right?  What am I waiting for??  I can't completely drop everything today to journey on my creative quest but I can start taking some real leaps of faith...

I talked to my principal and told him I am not coming back next year.  So scary. I don't have a job lined up.  Blake is still in school.   I just knew I had to do it.  I just know for now, I need something that will pay the billz and give me enough time to work on art (teaching takes up sooooooo much time).  I was hoping that something might work out with my part time job- but it doesn't look like that will be happening any time soon, but I will find something.  I am also taking a couple classes to prep me for my graduate degree!!! My program conveniently starts when Blake graduates.  In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy the last few weeks of teaching and squeeze some art making in for myself.

Some student work:
 

tttttasty-tasty

Pencil & Charcoal 

These are the students that make teaching art worth it.  Especially the students from last year, who are now at the high school, coming up to me and telling me that I helped them find some confidence in their art.  I'm gonna miss that. A LOT.