The Furious Bee

This week I have been busy teaching art classes to kids at the museum. In the morning we had a group from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and in the afternoon a group of kids from Lily Mission. All of the kids are african-american and most seem to lack any aesthetic appreciation for art. The week of classes is made possible by a grant and these kids are able to attend the art classes free of charge. These kids are a much different mix compared to the kids we usually have sign up and take classes at the museum. So it's been interesting. I have had a few frustrations, but for the most part I really enjoy having the opportunity to provide these kids with some fun art experiences that they may have never had otherwise. I also got the chance to try out a few new projects this week.

On Tuesday, during my lunch break I took my journal and visited the Hurst Gallery where there is an exhibit of women's clothing and acessories spanning 100 years from 1840 - 1940. It is quite fabulous and I enjoyed sketching a few things...although my time was cut short because the afternoon group showed up 20 minutes early that day. I was interested in the dress clip, as I did not even know such things ever existed...of course, in my generation there is no need...but I just thought it was an interesting piece. The dress I drew was very plain, but I loved the unique steel buttons. The description mentioned that a few were missing and had been replaced. I also thought the velvet trim on the hem was a nice finish to a plain dress. Today we finished our tempera batik...I had tried one of these at the MAEA Convention a couple of years ago with little success. I did not try another until now. Some of them turned out fabulous. There is a trick to the ink though...in a book I read to let it dry for 30 minutes...not good results with that...a lesser amount of time, say 15 minutes or so was much more successful and yielded stunning results. A couple of the kids' batiks did not turn out real well because we waited to long...also the tempera must be mixed with white (pastel colors) and painted on fairly thick in order to prevent the ink from soaking into the paper where it has been painted.

I used my batik for a book cover for a small journal (another project I did with the kids). I like the way it turned out as a cover. Tonight we decided to be lazy and go out again...we were hoping for the 5.00 pizzas at little ceasar's, but there were so many people ordering pizza that they had none on hand and we had to wait almost 45 minutes for our order, during which I snuck a little cat nap in the car in between hearing Karson cry every 5 minutes and me telling Savannah to feed him another cracker to pacify him a little longer while he sat in his carseat with the sun beating down on him. (Is it ok to have run-on sentences in a blog?...'cause I could have made that even longer.) So the Pizza finally came out with Sam looking a little stressed after waiting in the crowded take out only restaurant. We were off to Cascades...found a picnic table and mowed on the pizza...it was worth it, it's been a long time since I have had pizza that came out of the oven 5 minutes ago. Anyway, Cyndi and the kids went along with us and we supplemented the meal with carrots and grapes that we brought from home in an effort to give our kids a healthy meal. Aren't we good moms? It wasn't to long before Andrew announced his need to use the facilities in a much less polite way of course. So I took him and Savannah across the street, over the river and to the port-a-potty on the other side of the park. We went to open the door and this bee flew right out at Savannah...it looked to me like it bounced right off her head, but I guess it landed long enough to drop it's stinger on her forehead right above her right eyebrow. It must have been mad about something because it came right at her. She started screaming and crying...what a horrible thing. She has been stung when she was little, but she probably doesn't remember it. I knew she wasn't allergic though and I just tried to comfort her and help her relax. She didn't go to the bathroom...too traumatic of an experience I think to relax enough to go...By the time we got back to the picnic table, she was excited to tell dad all about her bee sting. We spent about 10 minutes playing on the playground with the kids and then headed home so Sam could go work (deadlines tomorrow for a job). It was a crazy evening and on the way home I noticed it was 7:48 and I remember remarking to Sam that I was glad because it meant that I could get the kids ready for bed as soon as I got home. I am exhausted and ready for this week to be over.