My Beauty Best Teacher

The artist who strives for realism may feel dissatisfied if a painting of a dog or portrait looks cartoonish. Mountains or rivers appear look cut out, shadows resemble dark smudges and flowers idealised. How does the artist create paintings that look convincing?

How to Make Paintings Look Real

Oil Painting with Realism Rachel Shirley

The reason why a painting lacks realism is often down to one thing: the dictatorial part of the brain that overrides what the eye actually sees. This dictatorial part of the brain may insist upon illustrating symbolic versions of objects regarding lines, shapes, colours and tone, which could be some or part of the following:

The sky is blue, all chairs have four legs, all fingers are long, children are scaled-down versions of adults, all shadows are dark, snow is white, the grass is green and all eyes are almond shaped.

When it comes to what the eyes sees, the above is often not true: Skies can be silver or indigo, chairs can appear to have three or two legs, fingers may appear stubby in foreshortening, children have different proportions to adults, snow can appear blue, shadows can be orange, grass can be violet and eyes can be lots of shapes.

These are simplified examples, but the dictatorial part of the brain may interfere with the painting process in very subtle ways which the artist may not always be aware of, such as how a line curves or the chromatic shift of the sky.

Why Paintings Look Disappointing

What is the solution to this dilemma? The theory is simple, the practice is more difficult: Shut off the dictatorial part of the brain. This will help not only the painting process, but the whole business of creating realistic art, including drawing, pastels and watercolours.

Illustrating the world how it actually is can be done by the following strategies:

View the subject matter in front as abstract shapes and lines rather than what it is. A cup is no longer a cup, but a jigsaw of colour and tone. Half-closing the eyes will help simplify this jigsaw.

• Keep looking at the photograph or subject matter in front. Not doing so means relying upon memory and the memory is the enemy of realistic art. Memory is where the dictatorial part of the brain takes over.
• If copying from a photograph, turn the photograph and painting upside down.
• Stand at least ten feet from the painting periodically. This will help the artist appreciate the painting as a whole rather than in its parts.
• View the painting through a mirror. This will reveal hidden errors in the painting.
• Take half an hour’s break from the painting and return with a fresh view.

Creating Realistic Tones in a Painting

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Working on a white surface will mislead the artist on the true tonal values of colours. Pale blue for instance will appear dark by comparison. Work on a toned ground. This entails the application of a thin wash of oil or acrylic paint over the painting surface, which could be grey or brown. This will kill the off-putting white and give a more accurate indication of the colour’s tonal value. I always include all tonal values in my paintings from pale to very dark to prevent the artwork from looking insipid or washed out.

Oil Painting Techniques for Realism

Overriding the dictatorial part of the brain will take the artist a long way towards creating realism. However, the artist may use art techniques to achieve a high finish. A combination of oil painting glazing and fine detail will create a photographic painting. Smooth effects can be achieved by applying two or three translucent layers of oil paint for skies or backgrounds for instance. A broken glaze can be applied for skin tones and dog fur. A few touches with a fine sable will create realistic hair and highlights.

Art Materials for Realism

The following are vital if the artist hopes to achieve photographic realism in paintings:

• Good quality photos.
• A good range of oil colours that include the primaries. Cadmium yellow (pale), permanent rose and pthalo blue are close to the mark. Other essential pigments are: titanium, ultramarine, cadmium red, burnt sienna, burnt umber, lemon yellow and viridian.
• Good quality fine sables such as Kolinsky. Winsor & Newton or Daler Rowney are good manufacturers of sable brushes.
• Linseed oil for thinning the oil paint to glazes.
• An alert artist.

There is more to achieving a high finish to oil painting than this article can cover, but the links below will explore glazing techniques and producing high detail in painting, as well as articles on this blog.

External Links on Creating Realism in Oil Painting

• Glazing techniques for oil painting
• Advice on buying sable brushes for oils
• Which art medium to use for glazing
• Using alkyds for glazing
• Mixing accurate colours
• How to draw accurately
• Flesh tones in portraits
• Oil painting art materials

• Will 'National Opt Out Day' Spark a Testing Backlash? - Education - GOOD

  Be aware. here comes national Opt out day where students and their parents choose to opt out of tests. It is shocking that superintendent John Kuhn from Texas says that students spend 45 out of 180 school days administering standardized tests. At my school it is 3 days of 2-3 hours each per class. That is it. Perhaps that is why our test scores are so good - we actually have time to teach.
  
  A new grass roots movement is underfoot.

  tags: news education

• Mozilla seeks designers to supercharge learning in digital badges competition « o p e n m a t t

  Graphic designers, web designers, and educational technologies are invited to design badges for Mozilla's Open badge project. This is going to be an exciting program.

  tags: education oer mozilla openlearning competition news

• Newport Beach, California Students Caught Cheating On Exam, Bought Answers From Amazon

  OK, time to blog Amazon. (not really) Students are buying test banks from them. Honestly, if a student really wants to find a test bank, they will be able to in this day and age. They're able to get alcohol and cigarettes, what makes us think they can't get the test if it is available for purchase online? We have to be better than just giving a test that is in a test bank. Even if I start with a test bank, I always customize it and make sure that the knowledge that students have to share can't be condensed to multiple choice. 
  
  About 10 sophomores at Corona del Mar high school in Newport Beach, Calif. purchased test banks, which provide chapter-by-chapter answers for the exam -- designed to help teachers write tests that properly measure student learning, the Daily Pilot reports. A total of 180 students took the exam.

  tags: education assessment news

• Seth's Blog: I was wrong

  It is so hard to admit you are wrong. There are those who never admit it and I steer clear of them. Then, there are those who do. Others just blame everyone else. Seth says it well:
  
  "Two elements of successful leadership: a willingness to be wrong and an eagerness to admit it."
  
  Eagerness would be hard for most people because it means we screw up and we're afraid others will point it out more often, but it is something we must be willing to do. 

  tags: education inspiration news leadership

• Do school librarians have "enduring values?" - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog

  Doug Johnson writes about the values of librarians by starting with Michael Gorman's ALA enduring core values that he shared with the association in 2000 but added to by Doug's 10 values of his own. At the heart of what Doug believes beats the pulse of a true democratic society. A great read and discussion post for librarians.

  tags: education news librarian libraries

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Right now I'm listening to Obama try to scare us into giving him more power, and I'm shaking my head in sad laughter- did I understand correctly that he said that the debates about the role of government in general and the role of government in the Great Depression were settled long ago? Did I black out or did he say that there are no earmarks in this pork bill? Did I blink into bizzaro world or did he say that government is the only option available to create jobs and that capitalism has failed? Poke me in my eye- the failed theories of the last 8 years have horribly failed and so we're going back to the failed theories of communist Russia?

Even though Obama claims we can have a 'respectful debate,' he immediately dismisses entirely with my philosophical ideas and uses his power to try to shut me up- that isn't respectful to me, and so my tone isn't going to be respectful here.

Moving on, it is quite obvious that the fairy tale is over with this guy- midnight struck and this guy has been shown to simply be a dangerous pumpkin. As Charles Krauthammer writes in the Detroit News this weekend:

"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe." -- President Barack Obama, Feb. 4. Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

And yet more damaging to Obama's image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama's name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.

It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.

It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress' own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama (said he) came to Washington to abolish.

Not just to abolish but to create something new -- a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the "fierce urgency of now" includes $150 million for livestock insurance.

The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports the Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting "planted" for "ready to market" would mean a windfall garnered from a new "bonus depreciation" incentive.

After Obama's miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell -- and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Who voted for this moron? Did people really just imbibe the silly juice for a couple of months, and elect this inexperienced left-wing blather because the wool was pulled over their eyes, or am I missing the hope and change here?

Look, to be perfectly honest, I'm going to continue in my bad habits of the past and think logically through things and vote Republican- my philosophy is screw the new age of Washington where they throw you in the gulag for disagreeing with liberal Democrat policies. Obama is talking right now about how it is so awful that he inherited a trillion dollar deficit- he is doubling it in a week! What a hypocrite- who can respect this guy? I can't. I can't. Why do you?

The colour green in landscape painting often poses big problems for the artist, because it is found in abundance within trees, grass and foliage. The beginner may fall into the trap of using just one green to express what should be an abundant variety of greens in nature. The resultant painting may fail to convince the viewer.

How To Mix Greens for Landscape Painting and Botanical Art

The problem with green is that is it often viewed as a colour of convenience for backgrounds, or for when the artist runs out of ideas of what to do with a particular area. The following practices are the culprit of unconvincing greens:

• Using only one green to paint foliage within a painting, merely lightening the colour with white, and darkening green with black or a dark brown
• Again, using only one blue and one yellow to mix green and using it throughout the painting
• Failing to observe the subtle varieties of green which may contain reds, violets and earth colours, resulting in a harsh representation of chlorophyll on flower paintings and landscapes
• Using a thin brush to illustrate every leaf and twig within a painting, resulting in highly illustrated and harsh feel to foliage
• Forgetting to look at greens of real life, painting what is imagined rather than what is real

Tips on Mixing Greens for Painting

The following tips will help improve green mixing when painting nature

• Natural greens are surprisingly muted, containing other colours such as earth colours, crimsons, pinks and violets. Viridian green, for example, is a harsh colour on its own, and will spoil a landscape painting, but when mixed with another colour, beautiful greens will result
• Including blues and yellows with different colour temperatures within the palette – warm and cool, will add variety to greens in painting
• Greens also have varying tonal values as well as variations in hue. Green can be darkened by mixing green’s complimentary colour, red, or any colour containing red, such as crimson, violet or an earth colour, which is better than using black. Greens are surprisingly pale in the distance, often muted by an earth colour and white
• Observe greens in real life. Autumn leaves contain cadmium yellow and burnt sienna; unripe apples contain lemon yellow and pthalo blue, both greens contrasting sharply. Greens can differ as much as the colour spectrum if observed closely, and will raise awareness of how greens actually look.
• Begin a painting with the green aspect, to avoid falling into the trap of rushing the painting at the end, and not giving proper thought to greens

Essential Art Materials for Painting Greens

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Painting natural looking greens can be achieved by widending the green palette. This can be achieved by including two yellows, two blues, viridian and white within the colour selection. Ultramarine blue is a warm blue, and can often be seen on shadows on lawns. Pthalo blue is a cool blue, and can be seen in pine trees. Cadmium yellow is a warm yellow, which can be seen on autumn leaves. Lemon yellow is a cool yellow and can be seen on young willow trees. Viridian adds punchiness to a green mixture, but in nature, green is often surprisingly muted.

Burnt sienna, burnt umber, permanent rose and violet are ideal for muting greens to express misty weather or to darken green. Using good quality bristle brushes such as ox hair will help retain an Impressionist representation of green. For detail on foliage, a thin sable brush can be used.

Articles on Mixing Greens

• How to mix green paint
• Demonstration on painting a green landscape
• Primary colours in art
• Books on floral art

An otherwise effective oil painting could be spoiled by a garish tree, a black splodge or a grey expanse of water that is not in keeping with the vibrant colours of the painting. In an attempt to put the painting right, the artist may fiddle with the area, overworking the paint until it looks a muddy mess. How can the painting be put right?

Culprits to Making Mistakes in Oil Painting

Correct an Oil Painting Rachel Shirley

Few things are more frustrating for the artist than completing a satisfactory oil painting, except for a particular area. The view holds true that an oil painting is only as good as its weakest point. No matter what the artist does, the offending area of oil paint will continue to draw the eye unintentionally. The undesirable option of scrapping the painting and starting again may seem to be the only option. The following may have brought the artist to this point:

• Completing the painting in one go causing the final part to be rendered when tired or in a rush
• Guesswork an area of painting by trying to paint it from memory, for instance by using green paint neat from the tube for grass or trees
• Trying to work from a poor photograph
• Fiddling too much with an area of the painting, causing the area to lose life and become muddy
• Trying to erase a mistake by adding ever thicker layers of oil paint
• Having insufficient colours within the palette to express the colours required, causing the artist to use substitute colours which are unsatisfactory
• Using cheap brushes, which do not control the paint sufficiently
• Not thinking through the composition properly until the paint has been applied when it is too late

How to Put an Oil Painting Right

Scrapping the painting need not always be the only option, unless the overall painting is unsatisfactory. If only one area is at fault, the following may be worth trying:

If the area is quite large, such as a lake painting or area of sky, for example, carefully wipe the paint off with a clean soft rag. Keep wiping the area with a clean area of cloth until most of the paint is removed.
With a little linseed oil on a clean rag, wipe the last remnants of the oil paint from the painting surface
Leave the area to dry for two days or so, or until the painting surface is dry

If the offending area of the oil painting has completely dried, the area can be lightly sanded down with fine glass paper to remove any impasto effects and paint ridges until smooth. Using a dust buster or vacuum will prevent the dust from lodging into another area of the painting.

Tonking an Oil Painting

If the offending area is close to an intricate area of detail, the artist may use a method known as “tonking,” named after sir Arthur Tonks, who came up with the idea. It is quite simple and is akin to blotting.

• Cut or tear a piece of clean paper (newspaper will do) into roughly the size and shape of the offending area of the painting
• Place the paper over the area and press down with the palms of the hands
• Gently lift the paper off
• Repeat with more clean paper
• Lift off again
• Repeat until no paint can be seen lifting off with the paper
• The painting can be left to dry over a day or so and new paint can be reapplied over the area

Essential Art Materials for Successful Oil Painting

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Mistakes are unavoidable and are part of learning how to oil paint. However, the following will help minimise mistakes from spoiling an otherwise effective oil painting:

• Good quality artist’s resources, such as clear photographs or sketches
• Including the primary colours for colour mixing
• Having good quality sable brushes or bristles
• Stick to recommended oil painting manufacturers such as Winsor & Newton or Daler Ronwey
• Composing the picture properly before applying the paint

When tired or time is running short, don’t rush it, put the painting away. It can be completed the next day.

Links to Advice on Oil Painting

• Oil painting tonking technique
• Oil painting books

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting

More here
Via AllAfrica

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Aaron Stewart ponders bottom-up development:

It constantly amazed me that for a country that was so lacking in basic infrastructure the South Sudan government had quickly mastered the art of bloated bureaucracy. Within this there is corruption and lots of it, greasing the palms of officials might get you what you want but your credibility will not win out in the end if word gets around to other agencies and donors that you operate this way...These things have only strengthened my resolve that whenever possible, obviously if possible, grass roots aid and development directly with the people that will benefit will help keep money out of the hands that see it as a chance to profit. There are no easy answers to this and I'm not proposing any, just processing.

Kathryn Pearson-West, an active Ward 5 parent wrote a follow up email to yesterday's WaPo article by Colbert I. King titled "Beyond Publicity, What is Rhee Producing ?" which highlighted Chairman Vincent Gray's proposal to appoint an 'independent evaluator' to examine the impact of education reform under Chancellor Michelle Rhee. Kathy sent copies of her response to WaPo reporter Colbert I. King, Chairman Vincent Gray and DC city council members as well as Iris Toyer from Parent's United, Mary Levy and myself. This recommendation by Chairman Gray mirrors what happened when NY Public school parents sought an 'independent evaluation' of Chancellor Joel Klein's reform efforts in many of New York's small schools. The independent evaluation was titled the "Small Schools Study" and it provided a more accurate assessment of public education reform in NY.

What are your thoughts on Gray's plan to appoint an independent evaluator ? Feel free to weigh in. Here's Kathy's follow-up email:

January 3, 2009

Chairman Vincent Gray and Mr. Colbert King:

"I read with great interest the article, "Beyond Publicity, What Is Rhee Producing?" Many citizens are asking just that. What are the actual improvements in the school system ? The school bureaucracy has been greatly expanded resulting in a deputy mayor for education, a state education agency, a local education agency, and an agency for school renovations. The chancellor gets paid more than other superintendents that had all these roles, however, I have yet to see where the nation's capital is headed in terms of education and what the real vision is. I applaud the council for deciding to spearhead an evaluation process in the spring. Now is the time to see what substantive improvements are being made that were not set in place by the previous school administration.

Citizens might want to see a lot more than union and school bashing and school leadership that appears to relish the limelight and closing schools and firing people. I was glad to read that the Council is going to move forward with an evaluation project to see what progress is really being made with the schools and to see what the DCPS leadership is up to. It seems like the chancellor has absolute power and having that much power with not much accountability to or respect for the citizenry/taxpayers may not be the best thing for the District of Columbia. Spending seems to be uncontrolled--spend then present the bill without any regard to a budget. Hopefully the evaluation process will somehow involve ordinary citizens and parents to get their input. Involving groups like Parents United would also be a plus. Since Ward 5 was greatly impacted with the closing of so many schools, it would be especially worthwhile to focus additional attention on our schools to see what or if there is any impact on educating our young people.

It might also be worthwhile to check with various communities to see if there are any performance measures/criteria that they might want to see included in any evaluation of the school system. I have copied Iris Toyer, Parents United; Mary Levy; and Candi Peterson, Washington Teachers Union, who I have seen quite active on many of the education issues and are active on list serves getting information out to citizens. I have also copied the Ward 5 Council member and the At Large council members. Keep up the good work on promoting positive education reform and academic excellence for all our young people. I agree with the old African proverb quoted in the article: "When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." Yes, as the article states, "If a Rhee-union war paralyzes the school system, children may be the ones who suffer."Happy New Year and have a super fantastic day." (Posted by The Washington Teacher).

Kathryn Pearson-West
Ward 5 citizen

Clarence Thomas has long been my favorite Supreme Court Judge, and that was even before I read his amazing book. This weekend marks his 20th year on the Court, and we as a nation can only hope that he is on there for another 20 years. John Yoo wrote the following article as a tribute to him in the Wall Street Journal, and I hope you all get a chance to read it. Here it is in part...

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Clarence Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court. In his first two decades on the bench, Justice Thomas has established himself as the original Constitution's greatest defender against elite efforts at social engineering. His stances for limited government and individual freedom make him the left's lightning rod and the tea party's intellectual godfather. And he is only halfway through the 40 years he may sit on the high court.

Justice Thomas's two decades on the bench show the simple power of ideas over the pettiness of our politics. Media and academic elites have spent the last 20 years trying to marginalize him by drawing a portrait of a man stung by his confirmation, angry at his rejection by the civil rights community, and a blind follower of fellow conservatives. But Justice Thomas has broken through this partisan fog to convince the court to adopt many of his positions, and to become a beacon to the grass-roots movement to restrain government spending and reduce the size of the welfare state.

Clarence Thomas set the table for the tea party by making originalism fashionable again. Many appointees to the court enjoy its role as arbiter of society's most divisive questions—race, abortion, religion, gay rights and national security—and show little desire to control their own power. Antonin Scalia, at best, thinks interpreting the Constitution based on its original meaning is "the lesser evil," as he wrote in a 1989 law journal article, because it prevents judges from pursuing their own personal policies. Justice Thomas, however, thinks that the meaning of the Constitution held at its ratification binds the United States as a political community, and that decades of precedent must be scraped off the original Constitution like barnacles on a ship's hull....

Make sure you take a minute to read the rest and gain hope for the future of our great nation.

Image via WikipediaThe Dealia's swimsuit catalog came in the mail for my teenage daughter and I handed it to my youngest son and asked him to take it to her. He padded in the den and I heard him say,

"Here's your bathing suit catalog, sis. Pick something that won't scar me for life!"

Scarred for life? lol. Hmmmm. Not a joke if I think about it.

Scarred for Life.
As I listened to my book on iPod and cleaned the kitchen, I started thinking that that is what is happening to many of today's teens.

We have driver's education because we want to protect kids from themselves. A car is a powerful machine and can kill.

We have sex education because we want to protect children as well. Sex is a very intimate thing that shouldn't be taken lightly. Sex can also kill if one contracts various STD's.

Cell phones and the Internet are powerful vehicles. Yet parents give kids cell phones like they are the latest gadget, ignoring what can happen if a child makes a childish mistake. They can be scarred for life.

Driver's education cannot stop accidents among teenagers - but well done - it can reduce them.

Sex education cannot stop sex among teenagers but it can prevent STD's and have students take it more seriously.

Digital citizenship education cannot STOP the headlines of people who do scarring things through improper use of their technology but I believe it can reduce them.

Margarite's Mistake
In the Saturday New York Times Article "A Girl's Nude Photo, and Altered Lives" ( a story we'll be talking about in Digiteen this week), Margarite is an eighth grader who posed nude in her mirror and sent the picture of herself to a popular athlete, Isaiah.

Isaiah forwarded this to a former friend of Margarite's who then forwarded it to every contact in her cell phone with the message:

"Ho Alert! If you think this girl is a whore, then text this to all your friends."

Pressed Send.

The video went viral and through four middle schools. When parents started calling in to complain, the Middle school principal at one school launched the investigation that led to the confiscation of student cell phones and three students being charged with dissemination of child pornography (a class C felony.)

The county prosecutor, Mr. Peters said, "The idea of forwarding that picture was bad enough," he said, "But the text elevated it to something far more serious. It was mean-girl drama, an all-out attempt to destroy someone without thinking about the implications."

As other kids left school to go home at the end fo the day, Isiah and Margarite's former friend were led off in handcuffs.

Scarred for life.

The article goes on to say that sexting (between adults) is protected first amendment speech and that many magazines are giving tips on "how to look good" in sexting photos. However, as many as 24 % of 14-17 year olders have been involved in "some type of naked sexting." (AP & MTV Poll - PDF)

Forwarding such photos can land you in jail.

Don't Freak Out, Fan Out
I think that banning cell phones and removing them from schools is NOT the right answer. You might as well dam the Mississippi in a few weeks during flood season. See if that will hold!

It would be like banning cars because too many kids die in traffic accidents. Not realistic. We have to co-exist with cars because they are part of our society and the way we get around.

Banning cell phones is not realistic. We must co-exist with cell phones because they are part of our society and the way we communicate.

When someone lost an earring in the grass the other day - we all took a small space and fanned out to find the earring and eventually did.

Likewise, we should all take the "plot of ground" assigned to us. Our classroom. Our Home. Our school. Our community.

We can't do it all but we can do something.

Don't Lecture, Learn.

This should be treated a lot like driver's education which does have a bit of classroom work but a lot of time IN a car navigating the spaces. If a kid is going to have a problem with a left turn or parallel parking you want them to have it under supervision so it is not scarring for life.

The final example from Facebook Friending 101 for Schools (about the student I named "Zipper) that I posted on Friday is from one of our Flat Classroom projects. (I did change the names.) The teachable moment that I discussed in that case study transformed our our kids and they all went in and changed their privacy settings.

Digital Citizenship in Situ
That is why I think effective digital citizenship education is done WHILE students are using educational networks (social networks for education) and cell phones. In fact, that is why we founded Digiteen and spun it off as a nonprofit - because we felt like the kids who came in to Flat Classroom weren't ready because they were clueless about managing their personal identity in safe, wise ways!

Kids DON'T get it, but neither do adults. We are learning as we go.

In fact, I received a SCATHING commenter accusing me of not knowing Facebook privacy settings because she says she has set lists to:

"I friend students. I also have a specific list just for them. This list is restricted so that they can't see:
- any of my default wall posts (unless I specifically select my "students" list, but even then when I post to that one, I ONLY post to students, so that my other friends can't see it)
- anything anyone posts on my wall
- any of my photo albums except for the one of my profile pics
- anyone on my friends list (you can even restrict that, it's just on the privacy screen under "Connecting on Facebook" rather than "Sharing on Facebook")
- any pages or anything else that I "like""

Now, I've got it on my personal PD list this week to check this out and learn if this is indeed the case. Furthermore, I want to test it and see if it actually works that way. I value commenters that let me know that there is more to be told.  

(Of course this commenter didn't do it in a very nice way and that, I feel was poor citizenship, but onwards and upwards - if we cannot learn from those who are unkind to us, then we are letting our emotions restrict our learning potential - aren't we? So, my friends, don't let your emotions on this topic cause you to make a decision not to learn either.)

If I wasn't on Facebook and wasn't blogging - how would I know? It is a MISTAKE to ignore Facebook. You should all also know how to send and receive text messages.

Case Study: Who is Mij Cosby?
I've changed this name because we don't really know if this is a real person or not. However, last week as my class and I were brainstorming our action project for Digiteen, a student said - we need to talk about friending because "WHO IS MIJ COSBY?"

I asked - WHAT?

He said -

"There is this girl over in an adjacent county who has no friends at her own school but who has asked to FRIEND every student at Westwood. I won't friend Mij because I don't know who it is."

We talked for some time and everyone in the class but one person (who said he needed a lot of friends) unfriended Mij because they realized that NO ONE knew who it was.

But I left the question on the board and didn't think another thing about it. My tenth graders came in and saw the board and several shouted out

"WHO is Mij Cosby? I mean really, Mrs. Vicki, who is it?"

They too had been friended - such was the whole day!! We don't know who this is, but what we found out happened is that this person was able to get about 5 kids to friend at our school and then everyone started friending Mij. In 2-3 days at least 50+ kids (that I counted) had friended Mij and NO ONE knew the person!

They admitted that they look to see how many mutual friends they have and then decide if they should friend or not.

Almost all of the students unfriended Mij because we cannot find ONE student in the whole school who knows her. NOT ONE. We don't even know if there is a family in that county of 2800 people with that last name! We think Mij is a fake.

And yet, several kids didn't want to unfriend. ("But I want to have a lot of friends, Mrs. Vicki.") And many didn't want to make their pages Friends only -- some have it set to public. ("I want people to know who I am.")

This live in-situ case study that happened because we were talking about what to DO about digital citizenship caused around 90+% of my students to change their behavior - at least for now. That did more to help them understand friending than anything else. Facebook is unblocked at school (at least for now) so they took action RIGHT THEN.

Get them talking and acting and learning and doing!


Time to Take Action

• Does your school have to end up on the cover of the New York Times for you to take seriously the need for digital citizenship education?
  
• Do you know that problems WILL happen and they will be WORSE if you ignore this issue?
  
• Do you think lecture from a fear-based uneducated un-social-media-wise adult is actually going to change anything? Do you want a person without a driver's license who doesn't own a car teaching drivers ed? Get someone who uses this stuff and can relate to kids to lead them in educated discussions - or join something like Digiteen.
  
• Do you think you have to find a place for this before you do it? We do what is important.
  
• Do you think educating parents on proactive ways to help will do more than scaring them into taking away cell phones? Cell phones are the identity of many kids. Face it.
  
• The best defense is a good offense. Are you going to be proactive or reactive? Which will paint you as more of a leader? Be a visionary, that is your job.
  
• What are you doing? Share.

Remember your noble calling. Handle this situation with nobility and wisdom and resist the desire to freak out and create fear.

And also remember this, I'm bringing attention to social media in schools because it is IMPORTANT. I will continue to talk about this and share what I know - but if I don't know something (and there is tons I don't know) please feel free to shoot me an email at vicki at coolcatteacher dot com and teach me something. ;-)

You are great readers and sharers. Thank you.

Everyone wants them, but I have them- the top secret details on Obama's job plan, with specifics, funding, and proposed legislative language. Here it is:












Ha ha, got you- Obama is all talk and no action. There is no detailed plan to create jobs, just like there was no detailed plan to bring down the debt and just like Pelosi and Reid wrote Obamacare. The only detailed thing he produced in recent memory was a budget that was rejected by everyone, and lots and lots of regulations!

UPDATE: I was wrong- he is going to come out with a detailed plan, that spends money while cutting money from programs that he wants more money spent on; he is going to cut regulations while increasing regulations; he is going to cut loopholes and tax breaks while giving them to other people; basically he is a snake in the grass who speaks out of both sides of his mouth while attacking straw men. Someone throw an egg at him or something.

Hans Silvester captures in his book 'Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa' the delectable headdresses of the Omo Valley peoples.In the Telegraph he states:

'They can take any material from the plant world - leaf, stem, flower, grass, root - and instantly transform it into an accessory straight from a fairy tale, without the slightest tinge of absurdity.'

Quoting Stephen Jones, John Galliano's atelier

'I was amazed, gobsmacked at how chic their creations looked - completely elegant - with a fine sense of balance and proportion.' They are as mannered, he says, as early 1960s Parisian couture.

via Spectrum Women

photos courtesy of Hans Silvester

The landscape artist may feel in awe of a particular landscape scene, but the drama fails to convey to the oil painting; mountains look flat, waterfalls resemble a trickle and mighty firs look more like Bonsai trees. How can the artist produce a landscape painting with depth and drama?

Problems with Dramatic Landscape Art

Dramatic Landscape Art Rachel Shirley

Sitting too close to a painting, misleading the artist on the importance of each brush mark as it is viewed close up. Fine detail may not be so visible from ten feet away, resulting in a painting filled with insipid brush marks that lack punch or expression.

Painting onto a white canvas which may also mislead the artist to the true tonal value of each colour mixture, as even pale ones will appear dark. The result is a landscape painting that looks washed out.

Over-mixing the paint and applying it onto the artwork rather like one would to emulsion a wall. Similarly, anguishing over every brushstroke and smoothing over imperfections. The result is a painting that looks overworked and lifeless.

How to Paint a Dramatic Landscape

Adding a sense of depth and drama to a landscape painting is mostly dependent upon the visual resources at hand, whether this is photos or sketches. Painting from memory must be avoided, or it will spoil the effect. The following tips will help create a landscape that has depth and drama.

Fine Art Photography

If panorama is desired, select an image that contains distant objects and near objects. The contrast in proximity will enhance the sense of distance, whether the scene depicts a Scottish Highland or Yellowstone Park. Using wide angled photography provides further opportunities for exploring big skies and vistas adding a real sense of space. Be aware of the horizon line. A high horizon will enhance the land; a low horizon will enhance the sky.

Furthermore, don’t clutter the landscape with lots of elements. Less can often be more when it comes to creating a grand scale.

Look for and create contrasts within the landscape scene: Big and small; sunlight and shadow or near and far. A small cottage will make a thundering waterfall appear more impressive. A lone poplar set against distant mountains will create a chasm effect. A streak of sunlight hitting a snow cap against a sombre scene will create a tonal focal point.

Painting Dramatic Skies


Landscape Perspective Rachel Shirley

Beware of empty skies that exhibit a lacklustre blue or grey. If a photograph features such a sky, another sky can be substituted so long as the lighting, angle and the time of day are consistent. Great skies to use might be altocumulus, anvil clouds or frontal cirrus. Further drama can be added if clouds are obliquely lit by a low sun, bringing bizarre colours and textures.
An ordinary landscape can be transformed by different weather conditions. Castlerigg Stone Circle in Cumbria, for instance has twice the drama when snow-caps festoon the surrounding mountains. Consider returning to the same setting another day or time of year.


Tips for Landscape Art click to buy from Amazon

A landscape even when empty adheres to the rules of perspective which can be used to add depth to a painting. Imagine for instance, that the landscape is the floor and the sky is the ceiling to a huge room. If both exhibited a grid, the squares would appear to flatten and get smaller with distance until the grid converges to a vanishing point. Clouds and grass echo this pattern, in that each formation would appear to flatten and get smaller.

Painting Techniques for Dramatic Art

Stand back from the painting to prevent working too close up. Working on a toned ground as opposed to a white surface will help the artist judge tones more accurately. I endeavour to use all tonal values from pale to very dark within my landscapes. Don’t be afraid to use paint neat from the tube and to contrast art techniques, from impasto skies to blending mists. Palette knives, old combs or sponges are great for creating a diversity of marks for a dramatic landscape. Lastly, don’t fret over every imperfection. Allow streaks of colour and brush marks to remain. Doing so will retain freshness, vibrancy and energy to the painting.

Links on Landscape Painting

• Books on landscape painting
• Art materials
• How to paint lightning
• How to paint deserts
• How to paint sunsets
• How to paint Kilimanjaro
• Painting mist and fog