Rattleskate was the jammer for the black team last week at a demo scrimmage with our friends from Saint Louis Junior Derby and Minor Threat last week. They played for a packed house of Girl Scouts during the Arch Rival half time. Honestly though…as much as the kids enjoy skating, feeling like a superstar as they signed autographs for girl scouts who thought they were the fiercest, coolest kids was the highlight of our team’s night.
The last couple of weeks have been so crazy busy with work that it feels like work is all I even have time to do. hahaha. That’s just not the truth though. I picked up the kids from school on Monday and we picnicked and played at the park before going to the library to do homework. Olive wrote me this amazing note and packed it in a handmade envelope for me. I had breakfast with friends and talked about art, projects and life.
I’m teaching two drawing classes this semester. The first one is Beginning Drawing. It’s only a five week course that meets on Wednesday evenings, so I try hard to teach strategies for learning to see, and to figure out what to do next when something doesn’t look right, or it looks not quite finished. There’s a balance to be had as we try to break down large concepts into smaller pieces, and also to challenge each other without being frustrating.
The other class is Sketchbooks, doodling with a purpose. It’s a fun, sort of hang out class where we draw together and talk about the process of drawing. I always feel more relaxed and friendly with the sketchbook class. and it’s kind of amazing watching the two groups of students grow and improve while working on different paths.
Last Friday I participated in a Harry Potter themed event at the Saint Louis Science Center. I enjoy doing a few events like this during the year and exploring other peoples ideas in my style. I saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them last Spring and just fell in love with Newt Scamander. So I painted this cartoon portrait of him for the event. There’s so many large, flat fields of color on him that I really struggled when it came to finishing him up. Being brave and really pushing the contrast in a painting like this goes a long way. Hahaha. At the end, I feel like that trust payed off, and I’m really happy with how he turned out!
This weekend, I’m working on getting the quarterly sketchbook put together for my sketchbook club. There’s a few drawings that I did in class the last couple of weeks that I still need to scan and tidy up before I can really put them in there. I’m looking forward to getting it together!
Thank you so much for stopping in. Until next week, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey