'The Little Boy' by Helen Buckley

Sharing a poem my Grandmother shared with me.

Once a little boy went to school.
He was quite a little boy
And it was quite a big school.
But when the little boy
Found that he could go to his room
By walking right in from the door outside
He was happy;
And the school did not seem
Quite so big anymore.

One morning
When the little boy had been in school awhile,
The teacher said:
"Today we are going to make a picture."
"Good!" thought the little boy.
He liked to make all kinds;
Lions and tigers,
Chickens and cows,
Trains and boats;
And he took out his box of crayons
And began to draw.

But the teacher said, "Wait!"
"It is not time to begin!"
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
"Now," said the teacher,
"We are going to make flowers."
"Good!" thought the little boy,
He liked to make beautiful ones
With his pink and orange and blue crayons.
But the teacher said "Wait!"
"And I will show you how."
And it was red, with a green stem.
"There," said the teacher,
"Now you may begin."

The little boy looked at his teacher's flower
Then he looked at his own flower.
He liked his flower better than the teacher's
But he did not say this.
He just turned his paper over,
And made a flower like the teacher's.
It was red, with a green stem.

On another day
When the little boy had opened
The door from the outside all by himself,
The teacher said:
"Today we are going to make something with clay."
"Good!" thought the little boy;
He liked clay.
He could make all kinds of things with clay:
Snakes and snowmen,
Elephants and mice,
Cars and trucks
And he began to pull and pinch
His ball of clay.

But the teacher said, "Wait!"
"It is not time to begin!"
And she waited until everyone looked ready.
"Now," said the teacher,
"We are going to make a dish."
"Good!" thought the little boy,
He liked to make dishes.
And he began to make some
That were all shapes and sizes.

But the teacher said "Wait!"
"And I will show you how."
And she showed everyone how to make
One deep dish.
"There," said the teacher,
"Now you may begin."

The little boy looked at the teacher's dish;
Then he looked at his own.
He liked his better than the teacher's
But he did not say this.
He just rolled his clay into a big ball again
And made a dish like the teacher's.
It was a deep dish.

And pretty soon
The little boy learned to wait,
And to watch
And to make things just like the teacher.
And pretty soon
He didn't make things of his own anymore.

Then it happened
That the little boy and his family
Moved to another house,
In another city,
And the little boy
Had to go to another school.
This school was even bigger
Than the other one.
And there was no door from the outside
Into his room.
He had to go up some big steps
And walk down a long hall
To get to his room.
And the very first day
He was there,
The teacher said:
"Today we are going to make a picture."
"Good!" thought the little boy.
And he waited for the teacher
To tell what to do.
But the teacher didn't say anything.
She just walked around the room.

When she came to the little boy
She asked, "Don't you want to make a picture?"
"Yes," said the lttle boy.
"What are we going to make?"
"I don't know until you make it," said the teacher.
"How shall I make it?" asked the little boy.
"Why, anyway you like," said the teacher.
"And any color?" asked the little boy.
"Any color," said the teacher.
"If everyone made the same picture,
And used the same colors,
How would I know who made what,
And which was which?"
"I don't know," said the little boy.
.And he began to make pink and orange and blue flowers.

He liked his new school,
Even if it didn't have a door
Right in from the outside!

The art show was a success.

The art show was a success. It was also boring and hot. I'm happy that I tried something new, but there is no way that I could do this on a regular basis. I don't know how people do it...

Thanks to everyone who came out to visit me at the show. It was nice to have people to talk to.

FOR SALE: JULY 9 & 10 @ the Royal Oak Outdoor Art Fair

My art show is coming up quickly.

Royal Oak Outdoor Art Fair

(Corner of 13Mile and Woodward)

Saturday July 9th: 10-6

Sunday July 10th: 10-5

Oil on canvas: Yellow Rose

Selling the Original.

Prints available in many sizes.

I promised people that I would post images of the things I will be selling. Not everything is ready yet... Still glazing pottery, and a couple of my paintings are at the printer. Here are the images I have from my phone:

This pottery piece made it on the cover of the Royal Oak magazine! Its for sale.

I'm attached to this piece... but an artist has to learn that they cant keep everything they create.

RAKU pottery:

It will be hard for my to sell these because I like them so much...

STONEWARE pottery:

All but one of these are mine. All will be priced to SELL! More is baking as we speak.

Oil on canvas: 1957 Chevy

Selling the Original (24"x 24")

Prints available in many sizes.

Oil on canvas: Orange Ranunculus

Selling the Original (24" x 24")

No prints available.

Oil on canvas: Magnolia Tree

Selling the Original.

No prints available.

Oil on canvas: 1947 Pontiac Torpedo

Selling the Original.

Prints available in many sizes.

Oil on canvas: Blue Ranuculous

Original will be displayed: SOLD!

Prints available in many sizes.

Oil on canvas: Railroad

Original will be on display: SOLD!

Prints available in many sizes.

I just got some of the prints back today. They look amazing! I'm so excited to share my art with people. This show will be a huge learning experience for me. Hope you will stop in to say hello!

Royal Oak Outdoor Art Fair

(Corner of 13Mile and Woodward)

Saturday July 9th: 10-6

Sunday July 10th: 10-5

WSU Art Education Gallery 2010

Here is some of my work that is displayed in the art show for school this year.

Apple blossom

A couple of my favorites.

The three prints on the left are mine.

Newsletter

Royal Oak sends out Newsletters to everyone in the city seasonally. This summer's issue has a picture of my pottery on the front page! It's the one is the top center. All the art shown are samples of what you can find at the Royal Oak Outdoor Art Fair the 9th and 10th of July. Guess the judges must really like my pottery. I never expected this. :)

Exciting News!

I have two art shows coming up! I have lots of work to do in the next couple of months....

Here are the cards I made to invite people:

Now on Etsy

Below is the link to my Etsy account where you can get the card from my previous post!

Above is an image of my painting that is on the greeting cards.

Hurry, there is only 100...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/68933471/greeting-cardprint-of-old-rusty-car

Greetings!

My new greeting cards are now available! They have a print of my "Ninety Eight" oil painting on the front, are 5x7, blank inside, and have the copyright on the back.

$4 each

I'll have them up on Etsy soon... (search AmerLeeArt) Contact me if you want one. :)

Winter 2011

I'm taking Printmaking this semester. Here is what I've come up with so far: (Each color is a different layer that is pressed separately till you develop something.)

Iris

Dock in Venice

Wave

Ceramics class

The semester is finally over! Ceramics was such an amazing class. I spent hours forming clay, was forced to leave in the evenings and would come home inspired to create till I couldn't stay awake anymore.

Some of my pottery will be featured in the school art exhibit in May 2011. I'll be sure to let everyone know about it!

I will be selling all of the below pieces.

Contact me for prices.

Amber722@gmail.com

Knife Oil Painting

My latest inspiration:

Oil painting with a knife by Francoise Nielly.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Arcimboldo Faces on PhotoPeach

"Four Seasons" by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527 – July 11, 1593) "was born to a distinguished family in Milan, Italy, and began working as an artist at the Milan Cathedral, creating stained glass, fabrics, and paintings. His father, a painter, probably provided his early training. As the official artist and Master of Festivals for three successive German Emperors, Arcimboldo designed costumes, stage settings, chariots, and other diversions for courtly events and ceremonies. He was also in charge of making acquisitions for the royal cabinet of curiosities, which included art, antiques, curios, oddities of nature, and exotic animals and birds. He engineered creative water works, and even dreamed up a “color-piano” that was played by court musicians. He was perfect for the job and was richly rewarded for his inventiveness.

Arcimboldo was best known for his fantastical “composite head” paintings. These were portraits composed of objects such as fruit, flowers, books, or even a plate of meat. — that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognizable likeness of the portrait subject.

While his paintings amused and fascinated wealthy courtiers with their apparent whimsy, they also appealed to the intellect. The profile format of this painting was probably inspired by portrait heads of Roman emperors, known to Renaissance artists as depicted on Roman coinage. By using the same format in his portraits, Arcimboldo associated Emperor Rudolph II—to whom these works were linked—with a powerful Roman emperor."

Here is a video where a group of students put together vegetables to create a face.

Instead of using real food that will decay, today we will begin the process of creating ceramic object inspired faces that will last much longer!

Sistine Chapel web site

Check out this awesome web site I just found! It's of the Sistine Chapel. You can move your mouse around to see it without people. Zoom in too! I'll be using it for my presentation of my Italy trip!

I dare you to MOVE!

I Stumbleupon.com this... so true. Artist: Eddie Colla

'David' is done!

I've been working on this project for awhile... deadlines are coming soon...

Here is my charcoal drawings of 'David'. I was going to incorporate his penis and foot, however I did not have a good picture of his foot and the penis just didn't work well in this collaborative. So instead you get his pectoral and stomach muscles.

You may have heard this from me before but, seeing 'David' was the highlight of my trip! In person it is the most amazing piece of art I have ever seen. When you walk into the room where he stands, it's breathtaking. 'David' is at the end of the room, staring at his opponent, Goliath. (At first I noticed his hands were unproportional to his body; which was explained later that it is a representation of David becoming a man. Kind of like how puppies have big paws and grow into them.) Towering high, every muscle was carefully crafted, bulging out as the young shepherd prepares to defeat a giant with only a sling and stone.

(1 Samuel 17: 1-58)

In my previous post I told how my intention was to watercolor while in Italy. I did, but it was a disaster. I was going to watercolor on special postcard sized paper and send them to family and friends back in the States. Instead, what I ended up doing was sending blank postcards to my home and then once I returned, I've been drawing images that I took pictures of while in Italy. I would've done it there, but I literally did not have the time for it. The postcards are stamped from all around Italy and are hidden behind the backing of the frame for someone to find one day. Just an added bonus I guess. Oh, and I wrote a bunch of information about Michelangelo and 'David' on them.

[outtakes]

Watercolor Pouring Technique

In Italy I thought that I would do watercolors because it is faster drying than what I am used to (oil paint). I quickly learned that it was not as easy as it looks. Now I've decided that I am going to take a watercolor class before I graduate. Watercolor is a beautiful medium and I want to learn how to do it well.

Tonight I went to a watercolor pouring technique seminar through the South Oakland Art Association. Linda Allen did the demonstration and she learned it from a master: Roland Roycraft. It is a beautiful way to use watercolor! I am excited to try out this technique for myself.

Here are some examples from Roycraft:

'Iris'

'Dance of the Wood Nymph'

P.S. The POTTERS MARKET is December 3,4,&5th Go here: thepottersmarket.com for more info.

Out West

Mt. Rainier, WA

So it's now mid fall and I've been home from Italy for about 2 1/2 months. I'm getting antsy. I have a Saturday afternoon class and it has kept me from traveling like I'm used to. I generally like to go somewhere about once a month... Some call me a gypsy.

I don't currently have any plans to go anywhere besides Kentucky for Thanksgiving with my family. Maybe New Years will be my next option? Haven't been to Chicago for awhile... Love the weather in LA... I'm not sure...

Anyway, thinking about all these random cities has reminded me of when I went to Seattle/Washington/Oregon last. What a great vacation. Hiking Mt. Rainier, seeing the most North West point of the lower United States, visiting the first Starbucks ever, Pike Place Brewery, the market, stepping in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, Climbing Mt. Hood, big trees, bears and waterfalls. Gorgeous.

Here are a few photographs I took on that trip.

Oregon somewhere

Saw this one while hiking at Mt. Rainier, WA

No idea where this one was at.

This one is from the rain forest in WA.

The prints are all displayed in my room. But if you think they would look good at your house, let me know ;)