Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Updating my reading list on my blog. I'm also trying to decide what I want to buy at the craft store. I'm allowing myself to spend €100 of my birthday money on fun things, but I really haven't got a clue what I want to get yet.

You need some oh I don't know what crafts you do.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

You need some oh I don't know what crafts you do.

I like to photo journal/pocket scrapbook (Project Life), make cards and I'm attempting to get into Mixed Media, though I'm still scared of messing up (thanks to one art teacher in secondary school). Most stuff I bought can be used for all, some are specific for the scrapbooking, some for mixed media and I bought snowflake paste for some Christmas cards.

We also went to a supplier specialized in stuff for cafés and restaurants to get booze for my mom (it's a lot cheaper than in a regular store). There I found various sizes of paper doilies which were very cheap (in the craft store you pay €4 for 25 coloured ones of the same size, I paid between €0,89 and €1,54 for three packs of 250, yes they're white, but I have enough inks, sprays and paints to colour them).

Best of all: I didn't spend all the money I had allowed myself to spend. So tomorrow I'm going to the travel and outdoor sports store to buy a couple of small things I need for the trip to Bruges.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I like to photo journal/pocket scrapbook (Project Life), make cards and I'm attempting to get into Mixed Media, though I'm still scared of messing up (thanks to one art teacher in secondary school). Most stuff I bought can be used for all, some are specific for the scrapbooking, some for mixed media and I bought snowflake paste for some Christmas cards.

We also went to a supplier specialized in stuff for cafés and restaurants to get booze for my mom (it's a lot cheaper than in a regular store). There I found various sizes of paper doilies which were very cheap (in the craft store you pay €4 for 25 coloured ones of the same size, I paid between €0,89 and €1,54 for three packs of 250, yes they're white, but I have enough inks, sprays and paints to colour them).

Best of all: I didn't spend all the money I had allowed myself to spend. So tomorrow I'm going to the travel and outdoor sports store to buy a couple of small things I need for the trip to Bruges.

Cool on the scrapbook stuff.

Oh and as per the messing up, I have been known to toss stuff in the trash when it didn't work out or in the case of a beaded banner, chunk the pattern and keep the beads for another project.

As per secondary art teachers, I was put in art class as punishment. The woman took one look at my first project, said I had no artistic talent and sent me to help out in Special education. I have to sort of agree. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler but hand me graph paper or needle and some type of thread and canvas and I can do art work.

So like I told some youngsters years ago, if a teacher says "you can't do something", it just means she is probably incapable of teaching you or doesn't want to take the extra time.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Cool on the scrapbook stuff.

Oh and as per the messing up, I have been known to toss stuff in the trash when it didn't work out or in the case of a beaded banner, chunk the pattern and keep the beads for another project.

As per secondary art teachers, I was put in art class as punishment. The woman took one look at my first project, said I had no artistic talent and sent me to help out in Special education. I have to sort of agree. I can't draw a straight line with a ruler but hand me graph paper or needle and some type of thread and canvas and I can do art work.

So like I told some youngsters years ago, if a teacher says "you can't do something", it just means she is probably incapable of teaching you or doesn't want to take the extra time.

In secondary school I was in the last year that was able to choose his or her own courses for the last couple of years, and I did choose Art and Art History. We had two art teachers, one was really nice and encouraged people to find their own style. The teacher I got wasn't like that. She always had a clique of students around her, they always got good grades. Those that she didn't like, like me, could never get a really good grade. She like big, abstract paintings, I liked to draw with pencil, charcoal and India ink on small (a4/letter) paper and where you could see what the subject was. Looking back I did try to experiment with various textures (sanding paper as a surface) and different materials (paint that would light up under a black light), she didn't like that either.

We were the first year that had to keep a log, with sketches about how you made your final art work and why you made certain choices. You also had to hand in any sketches and failed attempt that didn't fit in the journal. I called it the BS journal, just telling how you chose a colour because you liked it or because it looks good with the colour of the background wasn't good enough. She expected you to describe your feelings and how you chose a certain colour because in Greek mythology it stood for whatever, blah blah blah. I didn't do that. And yes, she critiqued you sketches.

To top it off, the school was legally obliged to keep your artwork for a year, in case the inspection came by. If you didn't pick it up within a couple of month it would be thrown out. When I went to pick up my stuff all my journals were gone and about half of my artwork was missing, too. She promised she would look for them, but I went back several times and they were never found (personally, I don't think she really looked).

I used to love to draw, but after those years she ruined it for me for a long time. With doing mixed media I'm trying to teach myself art can be fun and doesn't have to have a meaning and it doesn't matter if you mess up; you can turn the page or throw it out.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

In secondary school I was in the last year that was able to choose his or her own courses for the last couple of years, and I did choose Art and Art History. We had two art teachers, one was really nice and encouraged people to find their own style. The teacher I got wasn't like that. She always had a clique of students around her, they always got good grades. Those that she didn't like, like me, could never get a really good grade. She like big, abstract paintings, I liked to draw with pencil, charcoal and India ink on small (a4/letter) paper and where you could see what the subject was. Looking back I did try to experiment with various textures (sanding paper as a surface) and different materials (paint that would light up under a black light), she didn't like that either.

We were the first year that had to keep a log, with sketches about how you made your final art work and why you made certain choices. You also had to hand in any sketches and failed attempt that didn't fit in the journal. I called it the BS journal, just telling how you chose a colour because you liked it or because it looks good with the colour of the background wasn't good enough. She expected you to describe your feelings and how you chose a certain colour because in Greek mythology it stood for whatever, blah blah blah. I didn't do that. And yes, she critiqued you sketches.

To top it off, the school was legally obliged to keep your artwork for a year, in case the inspection came by. If you didn't pick it up within a couple of month it would be thrown out. When I went to pick up my stuff all my journals were gone and about half of my artwork was missing, too. She promised she would look for them, but I went back several times and they were never found (personally, I don't think she really looked).

I used to love to draw, but after those years she ruined it for me for a long time. With doing mixed media I'm trying to teach myself art can be fun and doesn't have to have a meaning and it doesn't matter if you mess up; you can turn the page or throw it out.

She sounds like a real b itch.
Start drawing again don't let that woman stop you from anything.

I have heard one worse. A child got labeled special education because her first grade teacher told her she would never pass a test. I met her when she was going to college. She was bright and was passed along. I was her tutor. I finally asked her why if she knew stuff before the test and after the test why she failed all tests. That was when she told me about her first grade teacher. I told her well you can keep believing her or you can prove her wrong. Now go prove her wrong.
She went from F's to A's immediately.
She also went and told my boss to take her off Special population.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

She sounds like a real b itch.
Start drawing again don't let that woman stop you from anything.

Yes!

Unfortunately, art teachers with pre-defined ideas of what sort of art should be created are too common.

A few years back, I was at a function, and another attendee was Donato Giancola, a Hugo Award winning illustrator of Science Fiction and fantasy, who has done things like covers fror a set of HarperCollins Tolkien reissues. His work is gorgeous, with Renaissance influences. He has done workshops at SF cons on things like painting faces, and the attendees were all other pro artists, who looked like they couldn't wait to get back home, set up a canvas, and start practicing the techniques Dan was demonstrating.

He's also an adjunct professor at NYC's School of Visual Arts, and he introduced me to a chap he described as "his best student". The student was from Scandinavia, but had to study in the US. He wanted to do realistic painting, and professors in art schools back home only wanted to teach and see abstract art. I just shook my head.

I did decent freehand sketching when I was younger. Later on, I did graphic design, and could hand letter a comp to show what a design would look like that some people thought had been typeset. No longer, alas. I've simply lost my hand. Being able to use DTP on a computer releived me of the need to do comps that detailed. Now I do rough sketches to block out the elements, but the rest is done electronically.
______
Dennis

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

She sounds like a real b itch.
Start drawing again don't let that woman stop you from anything.

I have heard one worse. A child got labeled special education because her first grade teacher told her she would never pass a test. I met her when she was going to college. She was bright and was passed along. I was her tutor. I finally asked her why if she knew stuff before the test and after the test why she failed all tests. That was when she told me about her first grade teacher. I told her well you can keep believing her or you can prove her wrong. Now go prove her wrong.
She went from F's to A's immediately.
She also went and told my boss to take her off Special population.

I googled her today. Interestingly she now teacher portrait drawing and painting. I was into portrait drawing in secondary school, she hated it. Funnily she now does what I loved to do in secondary school and I now like to do mixed media, which is often more abstract and was her thing back then.

In my first primary school I was labelled as dumb. In fourth grade I had a teacher who had just started working again after a mental break down (which she clearly wasn't over yet) who bullied me. The next year one of my teachers was the headmaster and he was also a bully. At the beginning of the year we were one book behind in maths at the end of the year we were two books ahead and I wasn't good in maths, so you can guess the results.

The next year I went to a different school, but I was terminally shy and insecure because for over two years I was told how stupid I was. I ended up in the difficult class and was bullied relentlessly and the teachers didn't do much about it. It was my own fault for being so sensitive, I shouldn't take the bullying personally. Which is, of course, the wrong advice to give a sensitive, introvert and insecure kid who gets beaten up after school at least twice a week. In the final year, after all the official tests were done I did better than expected, but my teacher's advice was to send me to further education where I was prepared to work with animals, or prepared to go on to be a hairdresser or florist or such jobs.

In secondary school I slowly overcame my insecurities about me being dumb and ended up graduating from a higher level than my tests predicted I would be able to do and I've finished university. Despite me working for my dad now I actually am a secondary school English teacher.

A while back one of my primary teacher, the one who didn't do anything about the bullying, visited our store. She was surprised at my academic achievements. It was very satisfying to tell her I've had great examples of how not to deal with certain classroom problems. She didn't like that.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I googled her today. Interestingly she now teacher portrait drawing and painting. I was into portrait drawing in secondary school, she hated it. Funnily she now does what I loved to do in secondary school and I now like to do mixed media, which is often more abstract and was her thing back then.

In my first primary school I was labelled as dumb. In fourth grade I had a teacher who had just started working again after a mental break down (which she clearly wasn't over yet) who bullied me. The next year one of my teachers was the headmaster and he was also a bully. At the beginning of the year we were one book behind in maths at the end of the year we were two books ahead and I wasn't good in maths, so you can guess the results.

The next year I went to a different school, but I was terminally shy and insecure because for over two years I was told how stupid I was. I ended up in the difficult class and was bullied relentlessly and the teachers didn't do much about it. It was my own fault for being so sensitive, I shouldn't take the bullying personally. Which is, of course, the wrong advice to give a sensitive, introvert and insecure kid who gets beaten up after school at least twice a week. In the final year, after all the official tests were done I did better than expected, but my teacher's advice was to send me to further education where I was prepared to work with animals, or prepared to go on to be a hairdresser or florist or such jobs.

In secondary school I slowly overcame my insecurities about me being dumb and ended up graduating from a higher level than my tests predicted I would be able to do and I've finished university. Despite me working for my dad now I actually am a secondary school English teacher.

A while back one of my primary teacher, the one who didn't do anything about the bullying, visited our store. She was surprised at my academic achievements. It was very satisfying to tell her I've had great examples of how not to deal with certain classroom problems. She didn't like that.

You have my sympathies on bullying. Mine was the vice principal.
I remember changing school districts between 8th and 9th grades.
I put myself in the classes they would have put me in if they had gotten my school records on time. Well the first day of school, I aced the science test. So visit to counselor to up my science class. Then a couple of weeks later, English had to be changed. In another month, my math teacher realized something was wrong. 3rd trip to the counselor. She asked since I was so smart, why had I put myself in the lower classes. I told her because that is where she would have put me if my school records had arrived in time.
2 weeks later, I got called to the counselor's office during my home economics class.
She was beyond furious with my previous school district. She put a note in my records saying ignore everything the vice principal had said.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

She was beyond furious with my previous school district. She put a note in my records saying ignore everything the vice principal had said.

Nice to hear a story about a GOOD educator! Especially when she's overriding a poor one.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Nice to hear a story about a GOOD educator! Especially when she's overriding a poor one.

Oh it gets even better on that vice principal. About 18 years later, he had moved to the high school. Well due to an adoption, my name was NOT on my son's school records when he went to the high school that vice principal had moved too.
Now my son has some pretty powerful local relatives. It was so funny watching that VP kiss my son's backside. And my son has enough of both parents in him to take full advantage of the situation.

[Rumpelteazer]

Looking at craft room ideas on Pinterest. My L-shaped desk is starting to be in need of replacement and I want a more practical set-up for both my computer and craft space.

Mind you, I first need to clean up my room properly. Which will be my next project after we get back from our Belgium trip. Then I have to clear out my closet and set it up so I can use that space for both clothes and art supply storage (I probably have my craft supplies than clothes, lol).

[Rumpelteazer]

I just found my grandfather's old type writer. My mother learned to type on it, and I did, too. I took typing class in secondary school and our year was the last year to learn on typewriters. The ones the school had were very beaten up, luckily we were allowed to bring our own typewriter to the exam. It's a Triumph Gabriele 20, what we in Dutch call the suitcase model; it's in a casing so it's easy to take with you.

This weekend I'm going to find out where to best get new ribbon. Then I can use it for my pocket journalling. Printing on 3x4 or 6x4 inch cards is hard, plus it look really cool. Mine might not look as cute as the ones I see on the pocket journalling Facebook groups or the one We R Memory Keepers is releasing, but it's a family heirloom.

Edit:
Except for the dried up ink ribbon the typewriter is still in good working order. I will need to practice again to be able to type well on it; it's one of those old fashioned typewriters where you have to punch the key a long way down. I'm just not used to it that I have to use muscles power to type.

[Bilbo1967]

Just booked four nights away in Madrid for my wife, youngest son, father in law and I in late October (my birthday).

I was there for a couple of weeks work earlier in the year and really enjoyed the city so it'll be great to be there purely as a tourist.

[Blossom]

Mom's home! After being in the hospital and then rehabilitation since July 15, she is finally back home.

Sent from my XT1528

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Mom's home! After being in the hospital and then rehabilitation since July 15, she is finally back home.

Sent from my XT1528

It's great to hear some good news from you!

I'm currently making a list of things I still need to buy before our trip to Belgium next week.