Ex-tempore Piran

Last Saturday morning I took my bike to our Slovenian coast and cycled

from Koper via Izola, Strunjan and Portorož to Piran.

There I went to see the ex-tempore exhibition. Here you can see my favourite works:
- paintings:

(isn't it gorgeous?!)

(and here is the colourful world of author David Ličen)

- ceramics:

On my way back I enjoyed the beautiful scenery with olive trees and vineyards, and in Koper, I was welcomed by a beautiful, warm sunset-light.

I'll tell you how was it in Koper this Sunday, on the ex-tempore 'Sweet Istria', some day soon.

Keep your creative spirit running!

Autumn colours

Autumn is here

and autumn colours are on my creative desk.

What will be created - who knows?

A question about authors

What to do when you find art works that look almost the same (not so good ,of course) as the original works of the other, real author that you know?
These are the original works of the author - Ella Svilan Svalina:

And these are the works by the 'author' (?) Mitch (I found these 'works' in Austria):

Is he/she an author if he/she makes copies like that?
Do you inform the real author about this?
????
I would like to hear your comments, ideas, advice...
Thanks!

Your taste

If you don't really like your (boring) reflector on the ceiling/wall...
and you have acrylic colours left from your last project...
and the day is perfect for creative work...
the solution shows itself.

The result can look like this:

How about your taste?

Art teachers, eh?!

Art teachers don't have much to do. It's a piece of cake to be an art teacher.

But then:
there's a school event and scenography, costumes, posters, invitations are needed…
and there's a school project and a design for it is needed…
and there's a field trip and working-sheets are needed…
and there's a holiday and beautiful (cheap) greeting cards are needed…
and there's a birthday and a beautiful (cheap) BD gift is needed…
and there are boring classrooms and halls and exhibitions are needed…
etc., etc.

Who will do all that work?
Art teachers, of course, as they don't really have much to do!

My memories (illustrating and designing a workbook for a field project) of my life as an art teacher – the workbook was not made over the night (I still remember that!).

Yes, dear art teachers, I know very well how it is to 'not have' any work!

Creative Piran

We were creative on Saturday. Piran is a beautiful coastal town and just perfect for 'Painting marathon' and invasion of artists ; ).

But you'll have to come to Piran to see what came out of this sketch…

Magnetic board

For all of us who love to write 'don't forget' notes all the time (and usually can't find them within a few minutes), and for the school-notes, phone numbers, shopping lists etc., I have a tiny mini creative solution for you. It is called 'magnetic board'.

We can create one all by ourselves and with our own taste (here's a very short and simple tutorial):

We need:

Then we paint on whatever we choose (a wooden board for example):

And hang the result on the wall: (ta-da!)

Easy, eh??
I hope to see your creations soon!

Don't mess with school!!

I could write a book or two about my teaching career, but let's leave the long stories for some other time… That's in the past; some memories are good, some not so good, but here I am - alive!!

Instead, let's travel further into the past and explore how it was in school back then. I have some 'fresh' pictures from my Austrian trip to share with you, and first day of school (in Slovenia) is a perfect day to show you pictures of an old Austrian school (pictures taken in ethno museum) and doing some research what has changed over the years…
In what kind of school would you rather be/learn/teach: this one on the pictures or the one we have today? Eh??

A nice welcome to the school...:

...and a teacher, little blackboards, a tired classroom and the walls, full of interesting learning materials, waiting for you:

...you hang your stuff here:

...and the lesson begins:

(isn't this a practical math 'helper', eh?!)

...it's very easy to learn about numbers, because you learn from the every-day life and nature:

...and that's the answer to our big problem of our times - how to use your pen correctly.

(that's a really big problem in our schools lately. Children don't learn it and hold their pens the wrong way a lot!)

...and now, the best part! Rules, discipline, order! Something to think about! It's not about 'just anything', it's about respect, ethics, relationships. Isn't this the biggest problem of our time?? For example: what are hyperactive kids? They are the kids without limits, they don't know/feel the border lines, they go over them. So, who will teach them how to create their own limits, if not we, the adults?? Ok, ok, this is not a topic for today. We'll talk about that some other time in the future, some day, on a nice school-day, ok?

So, what do you say - is this a school of your dreams? ; )