A Lesson in Mondrian and Other Fun Updates

So I have been teaching my LEAP after school enrichment classes for the last 2 weeks for my kindergartners and first and second graders. This last week, I was super excited at how the class and paintings turned out, and I wanted to share. We talked about Piet Mondrian and how he used the primary colors in many of his paintings.

We also talked about using lines and color in a composition. The Mondrian paintings also helped the students learn to control the paintbrushes and their brushstrokes- especially when painting lines.
And like I said, I love how their Mondrian paintings turned out. Here are a few of the students' pieces from the class.

So proud of my little artists!

In other fun updates...
I have begun my background in the color pencil piece. Keep in mind that this is VERY rough and still quite sketchy, but in the end I want it to be a forest, like the forest of the night wisps in Legend of the Seeker (haha, I'm such a nerd, I know-but it's such a great show!)

A dream is a wish that will come true

These last few months, I've been giving a lot of thought (or stress) to what I truly want to do with my life, what I want to go to school for, what my career should be, etc. What I've discovered is that the things that I am really passionate about that I always just put aside in my mind for the sake of realism are the very things that I should be doing. I think, oh one day that might be a great idea, or well maybe if I get enough money with a different job then I can start doing that full time. There are certain things that I have prayed and prayed for direction with. I keep asking God to make my desires His desires. Yet overwhelmingly, the more I seek His will, His wisdom, and His guidance, the desires of my heart and the things that I love and feel passionate about, as "unrealistic" as they may seem, are the very things that I feel I now must do. These are the things that God is calling me to- He is calling me to be ME of all people! What a blessing.... the more I follow after Him and the more He transforms and renews me, the more I become the me He created me to be.

All of this has really given me a desire to make a list of the things I really want and now must do. So here it is.....

Pursue my MFA (in painting most likely)

Paint a new series

Create a new series in color pencil

Really go after a self-employed career as much as possible---including selling my artwork, prints of my artwork, being a muralist, perhaps even taking commissions for portraits, etc.

Enter juried exhibitions in hopes of getting into a few shows

Find a publisher to publish prints of some of my pieces, to publish my work as a part of a book, or to use my pieces/commission me to do pieces as artwork/covers for books

Or self-publish my art myself

Learn Irish Gaelic

Travel to Ireland, Scotland, and England

Learn to sew, crochet, and knit (perhaps take a class on one or all 3)

Run a 5k, a 10k, a half marathon, and eventually... a marathon! (dreaming REALLY big here)

Practice yoga regularly

Read more classic literature

Research my ancestry and further build on the family tree that my family has started working on

Write a book (a novel perhaps)

Be a better friend

Show the love of Christ more actively


What about you? What have you always wanted to do? Don't wait until 5 or 10 years from now, or even until next week. Plan it out and do it now! Don't live in fear any longer. Pursue the life God is calling you to, and don't look back!

"Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland."

-Isaiah 43:18-19