November 2, 2014

This week we had a real Mish Mash Splash day.  Cannon got the cover for the table from the newly organized supply closet and helped spread it out over the table. We set up the whitle board to make our list of activities for th day.  I opened my big bag of this and that and suddenly realized I had forgotten to bring the new canvas for Cannon to paint on.  So instead of a painting project we explored some of our old materials and some new.

First we got out the label maker and made some labels for our supply boxes. Cannon made a label of his name for his lunch box and made a label for Avalon too.

We made some new entries in Cannon's "passport".  We found images of stamps from each country he visited on his fall cruise.  We cut and pasted them in his book and noted the date he visited next to the stamp.

 Next we got out the measuring tape so Cannon could measure Avalon for an art apron just like his.  It wasn't easy but she finally held still long enough to get the three measurements we needed.

Then we made a paper pattern for the apron and traced around it onto the fabric.
We got out the electric scissors and Cannon cut out the apron with just a bit of help and a guiding hand.

We found all kinds of things in the closet, the "noodles" you can stick together with a little bit of water and the Squand, indoor modeling sand, and something new. It was a spin art set with all the equipment and supplies needed to experiment with this kinetic art technique.

Cannon helped with the assembly. He unscrewed the battery cover, inserted the four batteries and replaced the cover.

We mounted the blank paper onto the spinner turned it on and then dripped and dribbled colored inks onto the paper as it spun around and round.
It was fun to see the designs that were made by the centrifugal force of the spinner pulling the inks from the center out to the edges of the paper.

 

It was a good day. 

October 26, 2014



Cannon's impression of a wasp's nest.Acrylic 11"x14"



Engineering Insects

 

This wasp’s nest in the corner of my porch awning has been abandoned for a long time. 

 

It was time to bring it in for Cannon’s close scrutiny.  After noting the pattern of hexagons and the variations of gray, white and brown Cannon was ready to start painting. 

 

 

 

 

But first why not bake a wasp’s nest cake a little different from what real wasps build and tastier. It can be baking while Cannon is painting.

Chef Cannon read the recipe and mom helped gather all of the ingredients and equipment needed to engineer our cake nest. 

 Ingredients

• 1 (3 ounce) boxes cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
• 2 cups milk
• 1 yellow cake mix
• 1 (12 ounce) packages butterscotch chips

Directions

1. On the stovetop, mix pudding with milk and bring to a boil.
2. Dump in box of cake mix.
3. Stir and pour into a greased 9x13-inch pan.
4. Sprinkle on butterscotch morsels.
5. Bake in 350° oven for 30 minutes.
6. Let cool; serve.

*find the nutrition facts at the end of this blog entry.

Cannon used the wisk to combine the pudding mix and the milk.  He turned the on burner to just the right temperature and I started stirring it on the stove while Cannon set the oven temperature and timer.


Time to get back to that painting project.





 

 

A Wasp Nest Inspired Painting

 

Cannon examines the wasp nest and looks for paints that match the subtle grays and and whites, beiges and browns that he can see in the nest.

 

 

 

 Painting Without a Brush

After Cannon directs the placement of his colors directly on the canvas - each color is placed in three places that would form a triangle. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cannon uses the small printing brayer to roll the paint onto the canvas directing me to turn the canvas at intervals, until the colors blend and the canvas is covered.  The brayer has left some straight lines at different angles.

 

 

Time to let the canvas dry before adding the details.

 

 

 

 

 



The cake is cooling.
 

 

 

 

 Let's Carve the Pumpkin!
Cannon helped cut the top off of the pumpkin and then pulled huge hand-fulls of pumpkin "guts" out until it was as clean as we could get it.

Then it was time to draw the face and cut it out. Should it be scary, funny or silly. 

Yes, he opted for silly.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 More Painting
At last our first layer of paint is dry and now it is time to add some details.  Cannon used his brush to apply paint to a piece of small bubble wrap.  Then he laid the painted wrap paint side down and smoothed it onto the canvas with the large brayer.  When the wrap was pulled off it left behind a pattern of dots very much like the pattern of the wasp's nest.  He repeated this process several times until he was satisfied.

 

 

 


Cannon's impression of a wasp's nest.

 

 

 

Comparing our cake nest to the wasp's nest.
Yum! Time to eat!

 

 

 

 

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 (1438 g) = one whole cake

Servings Per Recipe: 1

Amount Per Serving% Daily Value Calories 4730.3 Calories from Fat 160033%

Amount Per Serving% Daily Value Total Fat 177.8g273%Saturated Fat 102.2g511%Cholesterol 78.8mg26%Sugars 522.4 sodium 4622.5mg192%Total Carbohydrate 739.3g246%Dietary Fiber 6.2g25%Sugars 522.4 g2089%Protein 46.8g93%

 

 



 

Sunday October 19, 2014

 

Fall Fire!

 

  Fall Fire Acrylic 11"x13"4

This week Cannon explored the explosion of colors that come with our Midwestern Fall. We wanted to focus our exploration not just on the flaming leaves of the maple and oak trees but on the perennial plants that surround my little house, hydrangea, hibiscus, goose necks, and more.  Each plant offered different colors and patterns and some had seed pods that rattled. 

 

Out came the magnifier and each leaf was closely examined.  We opened seed pods to see the inner chambers and Cannon shook out the tiny round black seeds.  There were bright yellows, deep wine reds and bright oranges.  It was time for Cannon to select the colors for his palette.  The names of the colors are as exciting as the colors themselves; Naples Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Oxide, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Medium, Magenta Medium, Red Oxide, Burnt Siena, Burnt Umber, Metallic Gold.

 

 

 

Cannon loads his brush and puts the first energetic strokes of color on the white canvas. Once he starts his brush starts to fly over the canvas. 

 

Short, long, curving and round brush strokes are added and just like leaves falling to the forest floor they build up on his canvas.  No time for taking pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 

A break for drying aided by the hair dryer and a break for Cannon and then back to the canvas.  One of the hardest things for an artist to learn is when to stop.  Cannon always seems to know and puts down his brush and then we take a look. He has captured the colors, textures, and shapes - the movement of Fall Fire!

 

Proud Artist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

with his assistant.

 

 

A Morning Glory Sunday
September 28, 2014

Sunday morning and the sun was waking up the morning glories over running the garden.  Their trumpet shaped blossoms matched the blue of the morning sky.  The perfect subject for Cannon’s next painting.

 

A visiting bee is looking for breakfast.

 

 

 

 

Cannon took a close look at the blossoms with his magnifying glass.  He noticed the different colors in the blooms from deep blue violet to the pale yellow throat.  He looked at the pale green heart shaped leaves and the curling tendrils of the vine.

 

 

 

 

Next it was time to select the colors to use on his canvas. We loaded his palette with the colors and he selected the large round brush.  After loading the brush with paint he began to paint.  Cannon sometimes “double loaded” his brush filling it with two or more colors letting them mix on the canvas.  He varied his brush strokes, short, long, curved. 

 

He stopped periodically and indicated he wanted the canvas turned or that it was time for a break to let one layer dry before adding more colors with different sized brushes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To hurry the drying between layers Cannon used a hair dryer.

 

With one last detail, light green paint on a very small brush, Cannon added brush strokes indicating the winding tendrils of the morning glory vine.  Time to sit back and enjoy the results and make up a story and put together a puzzle of the USA.

Morning Glory Sunday Acrylic 11"x14"

 

 Sunday August 10, 2014

This school year we will be focusing on one of Cannon’s favorite activities – PAINTING!

Each session we will focus on some aspect of the natural world, examining specimens from our Indianapolis environs whenever possible and sometimes adding a bit of research to answer questions or get more information.  Cannon will use his favorite medium, acrylic paints. Last year he explored color mixing using the primary and secondary colors.  This year he will make his selections from his new set of paints that offer samples of 36 colors that will really expand his palette. 

 

 

 

 

This session he focused on a botanical.  A composition made up of the Surprise Lilies that make their appearance in late summer.  In spring this plant sends out large, dark green, elongated leaves that eventually wither away like the leaves from daffodils and tulips.  August is the time when the pink composite blossoms pop out of the ground almost overnight on long stems and bloom for just a few weeks.  The composition also includes a stem from a pink hydrangea and a couple of stems of pale green hydrangeas.

 

Cannon studied the flowers comparing their petals, forms and details. Then he selected a palette of pinks, a couple of greens and a violet along with white to mix tints of the colors and began painting. 

 

 

 

He used three sizes of flat brushes and independently selected his colors, loaded his brush and applied the colors with a variety of strokes.  He indicated when he wanted the heavy water color paper to be moved, additional color to be added to the palette and cleaned and blotted his brush when he changed colors.

 

 

 

Periodically he took a break to let the paint dry before adding additional layers of color.  When he was finished we sat back and reflected on the results of his efforts – an energetic impression of the flowers he studied.

It is difficult to tell where flowers end and paint begins.

 

After we cleaned up we enjoyed adding some parts to the new Captain Underpants game and putting the USA puzzle together.

 

 

Good Morning Cannon,

Kaeru and I have been very busy enjoying the beautiful spring weather here.  There are flowers blooming every where.  There are lots of cherry blossoms falling; they call it “cherry blossom snow storm”.  They have many of the same flowers we have, tulips, daffodils and bachelor buttons.

 

Cherry Trees in Front of My School

Two Castles in Two Days

Last weekend I visited two castles.  Maybe you visited these same castles when you were in Japan.  While we were at Nagoya Castle there was a traditional processional.  Everyone was dressed in traditional costumes and there was a big drum.

  

 

 

Mail and McDonald's

Yesterday Kaeru and I took an envelope to the post office.  It is addressed to you.  I wonder when you will receive it.  You can start looking for it three weeks from today. When will that be?  Inside you will find something to help celebrate Children’s Day in Japan. Children’s day is coming in May.  It is the fifth day of the fifth month. It is a national holiday.  It is a day set aside to “respect children’s personalities and to celebrate their happiness”.  I am afraid your envelope will be late but you can celebrate any day.  Children should be celebrated everyday. 

 

Kaeru was very popular at the post office.  Everyone wanted to see him. His cousin is the mascot for this Ward.  So I see pictures of him everywhere. After we went to the post office Kaeru and I stopped for a special treat at McDonald’s. 

In the spring they celebrate the Sakura (cherry blossoms).  The trees are full of soft pink flowers, they look like pink clouds. Kaeru liked them very much.  At McDonald's they have a special cherry flavored sparkling drink with ice cream floating on top.  Kaeru really liked it.

 

Today I am going to Toyota City.  There is a nice park there and we will eat at a Thai restaurant. It should be interesting. Kaeru will come with me.  What have you been doing this spring?

Kaeru wanted me to include both of the McDonald's
Pictures

 Kaeru and I say hello to Frog and Toad.  I miss them.

 

 

 

March 2014

Greetings from Japan!
I have at last found the right person to help me get to our Mish Mash Splash!
Here is the lesson I have learned from this frustration of not being able to sign into our Mish Mash Splash blog that I want to share with Cannon. 

If you don't get an answer or an answer that works, keep asking. This is good advice for both of us.

I am so excited that I don't know what to ask or share first.

First - Time!
Adjusting to the time difference between here and Indianapolis has been another big challenge.  Finally my daughter figured out an easy way for both of us to know what time it was for the other one. So are you ready....

1.  Whatever time it is in Indianapolis change am to pm
2.  Then you add two hours to that and you will have my time in Japan.
3.   I will subtract or go back two hours to know what time it is in Indianapolis.

There are only a few hours a day when we are on the same day.  How can I be on one day ahead of you and you on a day behind me?   Take a look at the globe and see if you can find a line between Japan and California that tells you the answer.  Hint.  It is on the Pacific Ocean.

 So here is challenge question.  If it is 3:30 pm on Tuesday here in Nagoya.  What time and day is it in Indianapolis?

Meeting Kaeru
Kaeru came to school with me and met some of my students.  The students made a diagram of Kaeru's name that would help me pronounce it better.  You can see that they didn't know how to spell Cannon but they tried and came close.

Kaeru is getting a big salad for lunch!

Kaeru likes to sit in the spring plants that are in the corner of my apartment.

Kaeru met Chef Steve, and visited the computer lab.
It was Valentines day so he bought a
heart shapped cookie from the first graders.





 

YES!  We have snow too.
But no snow day for us.  The children really enjoyed playing in this "big" snow fall.
Many of the children had never seen snow before and were very excited to play in it.

 

The view of the city from my art room window. Usually I can see big buildings and the snow capped mountains in the distance.  They call them the Japanese Alps.

It has been nice to visit with you on MISH MASH SPLASH!  I will see you next week -maybe.