Summer in Madagascar

WOW, it's been a long time since I blogged. But I'm back!  Where have I been and what have I been doing, you ask?  I've been away all summer working (and playing) in Madagascar! Why Madagascar you ask?  If you're new to me or my blog, then maybe you haven't heard me mention Madagascar about 769 times.  I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and lived there from 2008-2010, so it's pretty important to me.  Only 2 years of my life, but it's become a part of me and a second home.  

Last spring, I found out about an opportunity to go back there to illustrate a field guide of medicinal plants.  The project was created by the MAHERY organization, and funded through National Geographic. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC! The book will be a guide of medicinal plants in the Maroantsetra area of Madagascar, written all in the Malagasy language (the language most spoken by people in Madagascar).  The book will be printed in 2014, and distributed for free to health workers in rural villages. Totally a Peace Corps-style project, but with a bigger budget and huge name behind it.  Pretty exciting stuff. I submitted some work samples and the hiring committee was tied between me and another applicant. So we split the work, and the pay, and we both went! I was there for about a month, knocking out 2-3, sometimes 4 illustrations per day, all digital!  Now, I knew Photoshop before, but doing 85 realistic plant illustrations using the program definitely refined my skills.  I also learned a lot from the other illustrator on the project.  Below is a picture of one sample. See more by clicking here.

The project happened to be located in a town close to the village I lived in my first year of Peace Corps. (That's when and where I met the guy who started this project). So during that month, I took a trip out to the village for a few days and stayed with my "family" (sister from another mister, and her family).

The Fam

Trip to the waterfall with the kiddos!

My family's store

It was SO great to be able to get back to the village for a visit.  It had been a long time, and it was good to see how things had changed - and not changed.  Someone remodeled my old house! (ok, remodeled is a strong word. They added a porch and put up wood walls instead of reeds). There's also been a few family moves, a few deaths, a few new houses built, a few new babies.  The murals I painted all over for people are all still there. Faded, but there. That was pretty cool to visually see something I left in the village. Great part of the trip. Before I knew it, the work part of my trip was over, and I flew back to the capital, Antananarivo, to meet my family! (my real, blood one). My parents and sister came out to meet me, and spent the next month traveling around with me! I can't even begin to explain in blog form how amazing that part was. Maybe I'll dedicate my next post to that part. But for now, i'll just say that it was definitely one of the highlights of my life so far, to be able to show them around.  My worlds collided: My life here, and my life there. Now they get it. They understand me in a way that they didn't before. And I got to share with them this beautiful country and the people there I care about, so that they could experience it all as well. It was amazing and I'm SO grateful that my parents and sister were able to make the trip. We'll never forget it and will always share those memories as a family. Anyway, more to come! If you're STILL interested in my trip (really?!?) then click here to see the chronological facebook photo album. Thanks for reading, dear readers....it's good to be back. :)

Goodbye for 2 months!!

Hey everyone,

Thanks for reading and your support on this blog. I'll be taking a 2 month break from blogging consistently, as I'll be working on an illustration project in Madagascar starting this Saturday. Wahoo! I'm really excited and grateful to be able to go back and for the great opportunity. (I did Peace Corps there from '08-'10).  I got offered a job to help illustrate a field guide of medicinal plants through a grant from National Geographic.  Super stoked. Anyway, thanks for following and I hope you will check back every once in awhile.  If I get a chance and find an internet connection that moves faster than dial-up circa 1998, then I will post updates while I'm over there.  In the meantime, thought I would share an old blog of mine that I kept while I was in the Peace Corps.  If you're interested click here to visit that blog.  Below is an excerpt from that blog, which is an excerpt from a book I was sort of kind of piecing together about my random experiences there. This part is about my best friend in my village, Bory. Enjoy! See you again here soon! :)

“Aia ny masaka e!” What’s cookin’? She called out from the path running
North to South between our houses. The sounds of tiny, squeaky voices
and tinkling seed pods as the dry weeds were parted got closer and
closer.
“Karibo e!” Come on in! I’d yell back from my place on my couch-bed,
hurriedly folding down the corner of the page in my book. I’d stick my
head out the door just in time to see the last of the weeds opening
like a gate and her family streaming out into the dirt clearing around
my house. Bory first, with her baby on her back, then her oldest, Lory
(12), Joby, her Nephew-turned-son (10) and finally Zaranay (3)
straggling behind still fighting the weeds. She would sit on the
ground outside my house as we exchange the usual, “What’s going on?
Nothing much, you? Nothing much.” I’d sit leaning against my door
frame, half in, half out of the house, facing her…the door’s curtain
blowing around me like a wild mane of hair.
Bory smiled at me, the upper corners of her grin growing wider and
wider, revealing her overbite and the dark place where she was missing
one tooth exactly in the center. I’d try to replace the tooth in my
mind imagine her with it there. I could never figure out which front
tooth she was missing; it looked like her teeth had just slid over to
one side so the missing notch was neither right nor left, but
perfectly, beautifully centered. As she jumped into a story concerning
our neighbor, I held her friendly gaze. Bory always looked me in the
eye when she talked to me. When I first met her, I remembered being
slightly taken aback by the bugginess of her large, round eyes. Now
familiar with her face, I let myself study her features, the high
cheekbones, the full lips, the sharp jawbones held up by an impossibly
thin neck. She had an un-obvious beauty that made me glad to have the
time to appreciate.
Still chattering on, the endless stream of words spewed out of her
tiny self and just as fast, my mind tried to compute them. Some words
stubbornly seemed to hang in the air, dancing around in front of my
face, waiting for recognition that would not come. If I focused my
attention on them, I would lose all that came after. It was like
having to squint at those magic eye posters to be able to see the
image. If you just focus on all the squiggly little lines, you miss
it. She was talking about how our neighbor had picked a fight with her
yesterday while I was out. A cow had wandered into Bory’s family’s
manioc fields and destroyed a lot of plants, so her and her
sister-in-law, Denise took it by the rope and led it back to its
owner, Maman’I Zafy. Apparently this led to a shouting match and ended
with ‘Antandroy’(dialect of ethnic group in Southern Madagascar)
insults hurled at Bory. A beggar. A dirt poor bitch. As far as I could
see, neither of them was more dirt poor than the other, and I’d never
seen Bory beg at Maman’I Zafy’s door, which I can see from my house.
It embarrasses me still to admit my naiveté in those weeks before I
came to Madagascar, when I’d lie in bed at night, eyes squeezed shut,
trying to picture my future home. I’d conjure up a golden plain
surrounded by rolling green hills, dotted with mango trees as the
backdrop. There would be a clearing with a few little huts built in a
circle. Women would cook outside their houses on fires and chat. Men
would walk around in the center, saying whatever was the equivalent of
“Hidey ho Neighbor!” in the local language. All wide smiles, laughing
children, bright clothes, bare feet. In this utopian image of the
village I held onto, African-print sarongs might as well be tie-dye,
their wearers whispering “Peace, man.” into the warm breeze.
This drama did not fit into my scene. I understand now more clearly
than ever the saying, the world is a village and each village, the
entire world.
Bory was still going strong, lifting her eyebrows and pausing from
time to time, for effect. I grunted and made noises to show I
understood and was listening, which I was, but I couldn’t honestly say
I was riveted. By this time, Lory and Joby had gotten restless and
started chasing each other around and around my house, screaming “No
you’re a dog penis!.” Zaranay had been restless from the start, but
now just
wanted attention. She picked a pinching fight with the 6 month old on
Bory’s lap. This of course, was completely one-sided. The baby
screamed and a clump of dirt he’d been munching on fell from his
mouth. Bory whipped out a breast to quiet him. Zaranay kept pinching.
Bory’s eyes never left mine.She holds Zaranay back from the baby, her
slender forearms stuck out separating them, all the while, spitting
the words quick like butterflies that I tried desperately to catch
before they fluttered away. By the time they go home, I am exhausted
though all I’d been doing was sitting.

Art + Science Integrated: Pollination and Parts of a Flower!

Today was my last lesson with my second graders.... can't believe Summer is here already! I was going to do this lesson with the kids because I just love love love how they turn out, but the 2nd grade team asked me to make an adjustment.  They asked if instead of a bird sitting on a branch, if we could make a pollinating hummingbird and bee next to a flower that included a stamen, anthers, petals, etc. Of course! Any time I can connect a lesson to science that the kids are already studying, I'm happy to do it. I could go deep into why kids need art and how art can help teach kids important concepts, but you probably already know that.  If not, then, well, trust me.  Or just do yourself a favor and read this book.  Actually, read that book anyway, whoever you are.  Anyway, onto the lesson! A lesson about the birds and the bees..... Not the one you're thinking ;)

MATERIALS:

• black sharpies

• colored drawing chalks

• half sheets of a flower petal color, and green for leaves. 

• quarter sheets of yellow for middles of flowers

• whole colored sheets for the background

Day 1:

• Lead a step-by-step drawing of a bee and hummingbird with pencils first.  Don't be scared! Start with the big shapes: first a lemon shape for the bird body. add a circle for the head. Make a big "V" on the bird's back. Add feathers to both sides of the "V" to make the wings. Add feet. Add head feathers and tail feathers. See? You can do this! And I'm gonna let you figure out the bee :)

• Trace over drawing in sharpie.

• used smeared chalks to color them in....sharpie lines still show through!

Day 2:

• Review parts of the flower with the kids.

• Draw the stamen and anthers (the middle parts of a flower) on the quarter yellow sheets.

• Make flower petals out of half sheets.

• Make leaves out of half sheets.

• Cut out ALL pieces, including bird and bee from last time, arrange on paper how you want it, glue!

Trompe L'oeil Tuscan Porch Mural

Here's my latest mural project I've been working on.... last one till I leave for Madagascar!  The idea for this one came from a client's doormat that was in front of this back porch door! Never underestimate where inspiration may come from. The scene was somewhat similar, with an old wall with brick showing, and some other "Tuscan-y" things around. (Honestly, I'm not exactly sure what constitutes something looking "Tuscan", but apparently this is it). Anyway, I think this went nicely with the client's house and taste.  We realized that when it was done, the flowers were all in primary colors - the very colors she is most drawn to when buying clothes or anything. Perfect! I've done faux brick before, but this gave me a little more practice.  I'm happy with how it came out, now that I've done it a few times before.  I like how the whole thing makes me feel like I'm on vacation or something. Which I guess is the whole point of a mural like this - to transform a space, to lift your mood, to take you away to someplace nice.  Fun, fun!

Romero Britto Art Lesson for Kids

Uh, so I just ran across these pictures in my iphoto and thought, "aw, that was a fun lesson..." and then realized that I never posted about them here for my fellow art teacher types! So here it is,

  The Art of Romero Britto for 3rd Grade (and up)

You will need: black sharpies (or similar), colored markers, and white paper. And at least an hour, or a couple sessions broken up. 

1.) We talked about the life of Romero Britto, and his rags to riches sort of story of how he came to fame in the gallery scene. (Wikipedia his name to get more info.)

2.) As always, show a slideshow of his work, and ask kids what they notice. How do we know that these are all done by the same artist?? (talk about: pattern and what makes something a pattern, his bright colors, etc.)

3.) Have the kids draw a pet, or a favorite animal. Some kids needed some extra help on this, so we walked through drawing a few of the more popular animals step-by-step. 

4.) Trace the animal in black sharpie, then use a ruler to make at least 5 lines through their pictures. 

5.) Fill each area with a different pattern, using colored markers.  Show a few examples of patterns to get them started, and thinking outside the usual polka dots and stripes. 

So cute!

Paul Klee Cubism Castles!

Paul Klee with 3rd Grade

Today was my last art lesson with my 3rd graders of the school year! :( So crazy! I'm glad it was a fun one!! Read on to see how we made these beautiful Paul Klee inspired castles!

I showed them a slideshow of Klee's more Cubist pieces, and as always, asked the kids to use their powers of observation to practice analyzing art.   It was the last art lesson I taught them this year, so by now they're getting good at this. They surprise me sometimes with the things they notice - "It's like, abstract, but you can still see buildings some places", "He likes to put bright colors next to more boring ones", "He has a theme of a color and then puts a few other random colors with them, like mostly purple and blue, but then some random yellows". Aw, brilliant! Kids can analyze art, you just have to give them some vocabulary and let them do it.

ALL YOU NEED: Orange paper and oil pastels!

• To make our Klee Castles, we talked about Geometric vs. Organic shapes. 

• Then, we talked about what kinds of things we might see on a castle. 

• Then, on orange paper, kids drew their castles with pencil, using rulers to make straight lines.

• Then, they broke their castles up into smaller geometric shapes. 

• Then, they filled in each shape with a different color of oil pastel.

• Finally, all their shapes were outlined with either black or dark blue oil pastel. 

AREN"T THESE SO AMAZING?! I loved how they turned out :) Have fun!!!

On the Job Pup Friend!

I'm painting a new mural for someone and this is the best part: she has a greyhound pup! I looove greyhounds, and this one is the sweetest (hence her name, Sugar). She kept coming out the back doggie door and saying hello, sniffing around as I worked, then going back inside, then coming back outside, etc. Unexpected job perks for the win!

I'll post the finished mural soon. :) This is the last mural I'll be doing before I leave for Madagascar for the Summer. Have a great day everyone!