TEAM team....

All three of the Thornwood TEAM entries received a score of excellent and
one of the team members got a perfect score on their written test! Awesome job!

Running for the Arts-Art Auction 2011

My 5th year for Running for the Arts...strangely my time gets worse each year. Even though I have lost weight, been doing kickboxing for 3 years and am generally healthier I am still slower? I guess I need to run more than just once a year!
I did end up getting a bowl but not the one I had originally bid on but an awesome bowl just the same. I did have to out bid my principal to get it though......good thing I am moving, hope she does not hold a grudge!

I am moving to Virginia.....

Yes I am leaving. I have had the most awesome experience
here in Spring BranchISD. The art department headed by Gloria McCoy is second to non in the nation. When
I became an art teacher 6 years ago Gloria was the reason I came here. Spring Branch and Thornwood
were the only school and district I applied in.

I can't begin to tell you how wonderful my school is, how fantastic my kiddos are or
how supportive my principal, Karen Liska is. Leaving is by far the hardest decision I have ever had to make. However,
as most of you now my husband is in the army and been deployed several times. We have not actually lived together in
8 long years! We have bought our first home in Virginia ( and yes it is hard it leave TEXAS)
but I have found and really great school district with an art director and a really nice art program.

I have the most wonderful husband in the world who has always told me to "move when you are
truly ready". Well I am not sure if I am ready but I do feel the time has come.
I look forward to seeing all the new faces in Virginia and all the things I will learn and do but I will
also miss all my friends and family in Houston.

Thank you again to all of you - for all you have done and all your wonderful support over the years.

Please keep in touch and follow my blog
www.artroomblog.blogspot.com
doodleallday@hotmail.com

Lots of love and respect,
Lee Tyler Darter

Student Work

Kindergarten

Third Grade

Fifth Grade

Fifth Grade

Art Gift Basket

We had a raffle to raise money for the uniform for the Dance Club.
Two large baskets were filled with hundreds of dollars worth of art
supplies were given away. Now Dance Club has an awesome uniform
to wear to their performance.Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket
we could not have done this without all your support!!!

South Beach Diet day-117

Awesome start to the day-eggbeaters and tomatoes with spinach and bacon. And yes I really do not like bacon but I am trying really, really hard to follow the diet to the letter! The Thornwood weight loss contest is almost over and I want to win. I hear someone lost 8 lbs. I have lost 20 this year but it was all before the contest started...would'ent you know it? Anyway I have an official weigh-in this Tuesday. I am actually just happy to not have put any back on! (I have missed a few kickboxing classes do to my life getting in the way of all the things I want to be doing)

I had a snack of apples and natural peanut butter, YUM!

For dinner it was a steak and a salad. It was the first red mead I have had all year....it was awesome!

South Beach Diet day-100

Did a great job of going back to Phase one...kind of! I went to buy a new stool for my drafting table at Ikea today. My big dog tried to do a circus trick by jumping on the stool then onto the drafting table and broke the old one. I loved that stool. Anyway I ate at Ikea-grilled chicken and steamed veggies. They had spinach and cheese crapes for 99 cents of I bought some for later. It was not till I was 1/2 way through the second one that I realizes crape must be French word for thin pancakes! I did not mean to eat the flour...I thought they were egg whites! I felt so guilty because they were soooooo good! Second official weigh in is April 19th.

"if..." Art Journaling Project Day 3

Using prompts is an easy way to work your way through an artist block. I will be working through the book "The Big Book of If..." by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell. I hope you will all follow along with me.

If you would like the buy the book there are lots of copies at
Amazon.com

To paint in- you can use any old hardcover book-look for one that is sewn together not glued or perfect bound or you can get a Strathmore sketch book like the one I am using. Look for pages that are at least 90lbs or heavier.

* If you could spend one whole night alone with anyone in history, who would you select?

It would be Amelia Earhart. We could stay up all night and have girl talk! If would be fun. I have so many questions I want to ask her. I think she must have been an amazing woman. So brave to do her own thing in a time woman were not encouraged to do so. She took off into the air to live her own life...

1. First I Gessoed the page white, though now I can't remember why I wasted my time doing that? The pages are already white! But it does help the rest of the paint go on smoother.

2. I put Crimson Red watercolor paint from a tube on both pages-dry- and then spread it around with a baby wet wipe until the pages were all red.


3. Next I mixed in a little raw sienna and washed it around with a baby wipe.


4. Then I rubbed on a little Lemon Yellow. This time I also wet a brush filled withblue liquid tube watercolor and "flung" it all around the pages.


5. I selected iconic images of Amelia Earhart to cut and alter and then collage onto my pages.

6. Next I selected some background paper that I thought would look good under Amelia. One of the papers I selected had early, industrial clock looking lines on it. It just seemed to fit her time period and the colors worked.

7. I altered the images of Amelia and then glued the background papers into place and then arranged and then the Amelia images on top of the background papers. I used matte Modge Podge to glue everything in place.


8. I gessoed the edges of the collage work to soften them just a little.

9. I added some travel stickers I found at Big Lots. The colors matched my pallet. I used some of the stickers to spell out Amelia's first and last name.


10. Using a graphic design tool. I created lines on the pages to write my story. The tool is really cool. It bends in all types of ways and then you can make the same lines over and over and you sentences will come out even-in any directions. Without this tool all my lines tend to up high on the back side, it's weird.

11. For some highlights I added baby blue dots around the page using acrylic craft paint. Then the blue dried I added white dots around the blue dots.

12. I wanted a little extra punch...did I just just a catchy graphic design phrase? YUCK! any way, for some added interest I painted red hearts around the pages.

13. Finally when everything was dry I aded the words and some doodling with a fine tipped Sharpie.


now its your turn...If you have any questions please contact me!

South beach Diet day-99

Must go back to phase 1. I am stuck, I am not losing anymore weight. I have cheated some, mostly with Coke-a-Cola. It should be illegal! I have done really good with not eating flour thought. And now when I do "occasionally" eat something bad I can totally tell, my body feels off and my stomach is yucky. It is not worth it to cheat anymore. I can do this!

Running For the Arts-Art Auction 2011

These are the 5 entries that Thornwood has for the Running for the Arts Art Auction. Please go inside the mall after the race to bid on our bowls. Thornwood won "highest sales" at last years auction. We received some high end art supplies as a reward. I would like to win again this year, so please go bid on Thornwood's art bowls! But please do not out bid me...just kidding...no really I want one of those bowls!

Thornwood won for highest auction sales and received a flip camera!!!!

Thank you auction buyers!

Monet lilly pads-Art After School Project

These are lilly pads made from clay the Art After School-City Art Works- class made.

What I did today! Texas Art Asylum

This is a canvas art collage I did at the Texas Art Asylum....

TEAM entries...

Good Luck to my 3 TEAM students who took their test and entered their art in the TEAM event.