Weekend Fun

I just got back from a weekend conference put on by the Art Educators of Nevada.  It was held in Boulder City, a wonderful small town about a half hour drive from my house.  It really felt like a vacation.  Boulder City is so different from Las Vegas; it reminds me of small towns in Ohio, where I grew up.  I spent the weekend with other art teachers from around the state.  We made beautiful things, talked about how to advocate for the arts, and went on a walking tour to see the sculptures on display around the town.  It was very difficult to choose what classes to take because they were all interesting.

These little cuties are made from pumpkin and sesame seeds.  One is a pin, the other a magnet.  My second graders are going to love making these.

 This is a wine bottle that's been fingerpainted with acrylics.  After it dried, the silhouettes were painted on with a brush (fingers just don't do details that well :).

It took two hours to learn to do copper tooling, and because I can't do anything simple, I didn't finish the other copper dangles that I'd cut out.  I brought them home and will finish later.

I think this is my favorite.  We learned about Tiffany and his stained glass.  This is embossed on very thin black foil paper.  We used metallic colored pencils and Gelly Roll pens.  Then we covered a square of cardboard with it (we were supposed to make two, but again, I can't do anything simple, so I brought home my other square to do later).  After the squares were covered, we used them as covers for this folded paper book:

I'm really tired and not looking forward to getting up early tomorrow to go to work (I need another weekend to recover!), but it was well worth it.

When I got home, I found that my scarlet runner beans have started to bloom!

My garden is really happy that the nights are cooler and the days are warm.  Actually, we all are!