A thought on art and education

Hello,
I wanted to share this video, and this is the only way I could think of doing it. I love it. I could watch it several times and not get tired of it. It's source is this website, ted.com, which is filled with inspirational speeches from all different backgrounds. I will be exploring it more in the future.

Childrens book "The Gifted Ribbon"

Hello,
I thought I would share the project I am working on in Illustration. It is a text less book called "The Gifted Ribbon."

So far, I have two images completed. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I am extremely excited about this project. I love the characters and I wrote the story myself, so it is even cooler. I hope you enjoy!

 Since it is a text less book, there won't really be names.  I've included
them in the story for clarification of the characters.

Jessica comes into the kitchen in her best dress.  Today is a special day.
Her mom gives her a beautiful red ribbon and ties it in her hair.  On the
way into the community center, a gust of wind blows the ribbon out of her
hair and carries it away.

A block away, Jamal is looking out the window when he sees a red ribbon
blowing across the pavement.  He goes outside and gets the ribbon.  He
ties it to his puppies leash and takes it for a walk.

As Jamal is rounding a corner, he sees Normita crying.  She is still
getting used to her new leg braces and fell, scraping her knee.  He gives
her the red ribbon and she ties it over her scrape.

Normita forgets about her scrape and goes to the park to play.  A girl
named Lucy sees the red ribbon and shoes Normita her stick.  Normita gives
the ribbon to Lucy.

Lucy ties the ribbon to the end of her stick and dances, swinging her
arms, watching the ribbon twist and twirl in graceful arches.  When she is
tired of dancing, she takes the ribbon home and gives it to her mom.

Lucy's mom is wrapping a package and she uses the red ribbon to decorate
the package.  She and Lucy go to the community center for a birthday
party.

Lucy gives the birthday present to Jessica.  All of the children gather
around Jessica as she unwraps her birthday present.  Jessica realizes that
it is her red ribbon on the package. 

A memory collage

I have to admit, I was not excited about this project. I've never been a big fan of collage, but I started to have fun once I figured out what I was including. It is made from a collection of items I inherited from my grandmother on my fathers side. After Grandma died, the adults got together and went through anything of value. Next, they laid out the smaller items such as jewelry and beauty items and let us grandchildren pick the items we wanted to keep to remember her by. She had a lot of little odds and ends. Some items have been lost or thrown away, however, these I will never get rid of. The bracelet was (to my knowledge) brought back from world war two by my grandfather. It is made of coins with designs hammered into one side. I love it both for its aesthetic value and its craftsmanship. The red background is a small red leather wallet with a beautiful design imprinted on it. The strange lit areas are actually a cheap pearl necklace that was manipulated after it was scanned. In the end, I am very happy with the image. It makes me think a lot about the things we get from our families that we don't even recognize as gifts. Strength, will power, the belief that we can be anything. I grew up with some very powerful women, and they made me who I am today.

Trying the blog thing again

Clearly, my life has proven too busy to keep up on this blog. I am now working two part time jobs while going to school full time. I know that other people have done this and still managed to keep up on house work and family events. I am not one of those people. This semester, I am in digital imaging, the 200 level illustration class and Native American Experience. I can only post my assignment for digital imaging, since I haven't taking pictures or scanned any of my work in many months. However, I'm pretty happy with my first assignment in digital imaging.

On a second note, after looking at many more online art portfolios, I am painfully aware that my website design needs an update.

I guess it was a good thing I didn't take the picture of my painting yet.

Mr. Phegan had me redo almost the entire painting. If it wasn't so close to being due he might have asked me to redo everything. That's OK though. I understand. I was treating it like a watercolor with thin washes instead of thick oil paints. I guess when I do the next painting, I will have to be more careful about that. Cheers to those of you reading my blog.
Angela

Busy at school

Well, its that time again. Both Headstart and Northern have started and I am insanely busy. Funny that once I get busy I would think it was time to get back to my blog. I did my first oil painting for class. Unfortunately, I haven't taken a picture of it yet so you will have to wait and see it. In the meantime I am going to post a part of my English assignment. I am really happy with it. I had forgotten how much I love writing.

My gaze scans the image in the mirror and settles on my lips. They gently shift in color from the pale skin surrounding their wild rose petal hue. They move freely in an intricate pattern of vowels. They spill my secrets and random thoughts in a waterfall of whispered words. “I can’t do it.” “I’m a failure.” “Is that a piece of broccoli from lunch?” Seventeen years of tightly grasping hand rolled cigarettes have permanently creased their tender pink surface in horizontal bands. I can still taste the sweet yet pungent flavor of that last long exhale. I breathe in deeply, feeling the cool air rush against my moistened inner lip. I cannot smell the lingering aroma of ashtray remnants, but I know its there.

Brandy and Rich's wedding pictures are finally finished and uploaded.

I'm afraid I haven't posted in a while. I've been watching kids for the family and working on my sisters wedding photographs and album. It is finally finished and I can get back to working on my art (as well as the housework and bills.) If you would like to see the final photographs, let me know and I can email you a link. If I don't have your email address make sure to include it when you contact me.
Cheers! Angela