Love the classical style. Here is a tribute to the great George Stubbs...

Letting art happen...

Some new art...
19 apples...still not quite finished...

Experiment with MDF board

Lemon still life.

Experiment using a palette knife for the blossoms.

“Summer afternoon … the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
Henry James

Getty exhibit: Noir

Technological advances in mid-19th century France saw a proliferation of black drawing media, which gave rise to unprecedented experimentation in drawing and printmaking. Explore the Getty exhibition Noir: The Romance of Black in 19th-century French Drawings and Prints to see how a group of artists drew inspiration from the color black, with all of its imaginative and narrative associations.

The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Towards Infinity, 1882, Odilon Redon.

Getty exhibit, Noir

Some new art....

The strange case of the glowing lava tube...

a diptych!

Love the little surprise details one finds on old buildings.
Here's a cool blog post about Ernest Batchelder from blogger, Michael Padwe

https://tilesinnewyork.blogspot.com/2013_10_01_archive.html

I'm a timeline junkie, and love this one from the Heilbronn Timeline of Art History from The Met in NYC.

Pick a time period, geographic region,  or thematic category. Or watch an endless display of artworks here: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works/

Rabbits in art from 79 B.C. to the 20th century.

Hans Hoffman, A Hare in the Forest c. 1585

https://artstor.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/hopping-through-the-centuries-rabbits-in-art/

Available through the Getty's Open Content Program; http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/tags/open-content-program/

Wonderful foray into Gelli Printing. It's fun, easy, affordable.  Found lots of videos at their site:
http://www.gelliarts.com/

Here's one of my first attempts at monoprinting. Monoprinting "is a form of printmaking that has images or lines that can only be made once, unlike most printmaking, where there are multiple originals" (Wikipedia).

So each of your designs are unique!

Encaustic painting

My first encaustic "painting" done at Terry Dowell's Rocket Encaustic workshop. Still have a ways to go, but fun nonetheless.

Digging through some ink and wash...
       
       Crow and Camera

Summer Freedom

Summer! Finally a wee bit of a break between the two jobs. Time for reflection and art without deadlines. Had a great year taking evening drawing classes at Cabrillo. Tim Craighead is a talented and insightful artist, and wonderful instructor. Went from a scrawler to a scribbler so there's progress!

Strugged with the challenge of creating a successful diptych. Finally I have to admit, it's time to get some Photoshop skills. But in the mean time, used Fotor...it's free!

Arms, Brain, and Dove. Surrealist drawing assignment, Spring 2014.

"Discovered" today...French avant-guard painter, poet, and typographist...surrealist, dadaist, artist Francis Picabia...

And a cool blog, "Grain Edit" here's their blurb:

Grain edit is focused on classic design work from the 1950s-1970s and contemporary designers that draw inspiration from that time period.
Site content includes interviews, articles, designers’ libraries as well as examples of rare design annuals, type specimens, Ephemera, posters and vintage kids books from our bookshelves.

Art Nouveau

French artist Francois-Emile Decorchemont (1880-1971) started his Paris glassworks in 1902.

His work with pate de verre brings a luminous, dreamy quality to glass objects. Translucently beautiful, Scarabee goblet (1907) is reminiscent of glass from ancient Greece or Rome and resides at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. Other of his works are at Musee d'Orsay.

Another charming piece is his Sirene du Poisson (1930) in the Corning Museum of Glass collection.

Pate de verre is a mixture of colored oxides with molten glass, spread into a lost wax mold and fired like stoneware.

Medieval Romantic Redux

Flora, a tapestry by Edward Burne-Jones was most likely a romantic & classical influence on the early Art Nouveau movement, with its love of natural curves and organic shapes.

J.H. Dearle created many of the background designs for Burne-Jones' tapestries. Artichoke Wallpaper shows Dearle's mastery & playfulness.

Oscar Wilde on Art

"Art is a bold attempt to put life in its proper place...and through Art ... that we realize our perfection."

[from, translation quoted by Andre Maurois in The Englander, Munich 1933 & Familiar Quotations by John Bartlett]

images from, Art Nouveau by Gabriele Fahr-Becker. 1997.

The Feminine Line

Typographer : a person skilled in the art and process of printing with type. Arnold Bocklin lent his name to the type style that defined the Art Nouveau movement. This "stem style" reminiscent of flower, vine, and branch showed up in print and in architectural forms and patterns throughout Europe as a sensual design element.

[balcony railing, Hector Guimard, Paris]

Link for Exercise Template

Success! I've started a Google docs template for next semester's students. Hopefully they will use it. I'll post an item on Debra's L10 blog that will read something like: "Click on the link below to view the Library 10 exercise template. Copy and paste the template into a word processing document, complete the Part One exercises, print and turn in the packet to the Library Reference desk by the due date".

Library 10 exercise template

Testing L10 template

I'm trying to test a new way for students to turn in their Library 10 exercises without turning in the entire workbook. I want them to see my preferred template and possibly link from the blog.
Let's see the options:
1. Make a template in Google docs that they can copy and paste into a word doc at home.
Test how it "travels" to Word on my computer. ** Tested...travels just fine from google to word.
2. Have them edit within a new Google docs account set up just for them. Google docs is "sharable" so maybe they can work directly in Google docs and then print their work. Downside: unless they delete their work when they are done, others can use their answers.
3. Give them the option of either: setting up their own Google docs, do their own work, print and turn in the packet, or do the same in Word.
4. Show them the PDF link from the library homepage, have them print it, fill them out by hand, turn in the packet. Downside, still doesn't solve the readability problem.
5. Hope that the techs can implement read/writable PDFs sooner rather than later. **update: cannot use a read/write PDF unless the student has the newest Adobe PDF application installed on the computer they are working from.

Using Web 2.0
An Adventurer’s Guide to Teaching and Communicating on the Internet

Purpose of this workshop: To highlight some of the emerging technologies available on the Web that are changing the way people, and society access information and communicate with each other.
Why should you care?
The Web is no longer a passive instrument. The Audience (our students, our colleagues, our families, ourselves) has become the Cast. By understanding how to use these new interactive technologies to communicate and inspire, is to make our teaching and social interplay more dynamic and memorable.

View the YouTube video:
The Machine Is Us/Ing Us. Created by Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Michael Wesch, Kansas State University.

Highlights of Web 2.0:
Blogs
Photos & Images: Flickr
News readers: RSS
Social Bookmarking: Del.icio.us
Social Networking: MySpace // FaceBook
Wikis
Video: YouTube

Blogs
Blog is an abbreviation of the original term ‘Web log', and refers to any Web site that displays usually short, frequently updated, topical entries in reverse chronological order. Although this has always been possible on the Web if one knew how to code Web pages from scratch, blogging applications dispensed with this by giving would-be Web authors an easily configured interface into which their text (or other content such as video, audio, graphics, news feeds) could simply be entered. Blog templates can be used as provided, or additional design elements can be added, moved, or deleted at will.

What do people do with blogs? The possibilities are endless: online diary, independent journalism, social commentary, restaurant, book and movie reviews, updates for family and friends, news and activities on a particular theme, project, or hobby. Integrate your photos from Flickr, videos from YouTube, updated news with RSS feeds, and link to other web sites with Del.icio.us.And it’s free!

Blogger
Take the Quick Guided Tour
You will:
1. Create an account.
2. Name your blog.
3. Choose a template.
4. Post, Edit & Design
5. View your Blog on the Internet

There are hundreds of new blogs being created every day.
A few of note from Blogspot:
The Daily Mammal
Decadent Tranquility
Do You Speak English? - A cool & unusual music blog

Blog Search Engines
Use Google Search to find blogs or try
Technorati
Ice Rocket

RSS
RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a file format for delivering frequently updated and dynamic Web content directly to the user. If you visit websites and news information sources everyday, a RSS feed will gather all those information sources and web pages in one place, all at the same time, without the ads, and without having to consume a lot of time visiting each site individually.
RSS is also great for tables of contents or articles from online journals and magazines. Rather than checking a journal site regularly for the latest issue, you could have the TOC appear in your news reader as soon as it's published.
In addition, your RSS feed can be added to your blog so that your readers can visit your selected sites. A great tool for channeling information to students and colleagues.
Look for the RSS symbol when you're perusing web pages. The orange box may say alternately, XML or RSS, but either way, it signifies an RSS feed link.
See the Palinet site for a RSS tutorial:
Palinet
Watch a YouTube video tutorial on Google Reader
Read, How to choose an RSS reader from SearchEngineWatch.com
Or go directly to one of the following sites to sign up for a RSS reader:
Bloglines
Google Reader

Social Bookmarking or Tagging with Del.icio.us
Tagging is an open and informal method of categorizing that allows users to associate keywords with online content (webpages, pictures & posts). Tagging is completely unstructured and freeform, allowing users to create connections between data in any way they want.

How does it work? You keep your list of bookmarks on a social bookmarking site like Del.icio.us and organize them into categories with tags. Del.icio.us also works well when the site you want to save does not have an RSS feed. Many users find the real power is in the social networking aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you.
Go to the Del.icio.us website and click on "Learn More".
View the Creative Commons video,"How to Explain Del.icio.us to Your Parents" on the Del.icio.us blog, September 2007.

A word about Zotero
Zotero is a personal research assistant inside your browser that allows you to collect, manage and cite your research sources. Zotero is a production of the Center of New Media and History from George Mason University.
Unlike the previous technologies we discussed, Zotero resides only on your computer. However, starting in 2008, Zotero will have a shared server where you will be able to access your files remotely.
Experience the Zotero tutorial

Once you've created your Blog, you can add some or all of these new technologies. These dynamic features add interest and variety to an online teaching tool or journal. And most importantly, they make it fun.

Image Credits
Sheena Queen of the Jungle. Book by Robert Rodi. From Hill City Comics. 2007.