Here, have a helping of Legolas and pseudo-hebephrenia.....

Ooh, lucky me, I got prettyboy....>:) Usually I wind up as Gandalf, but I guess I was a bit more into the fighting this time, eh? Flynny goodness and all that....*snerks*

You scored as Legolas. </td> Legolas 87% Aragorn 77% Galadriel 73% Samwise Gamgee 70% Frodo Baggins 70% Arwen of Rivendell 70% Gandalf the Grey 63% Saruman the White 63% Eowyn of Rohan 60% Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) 57% Boromir 57% Gimli 53% Peregrin Took (Pippin) 43% Gollum 43% Which Lord of the Rings character are you most like? created with QuizFarm.com

And despite my fluent habit of talking to myself and answering, Gollum is safely down at the very bottomses of the list, my preciousss.....and Bilbo ain't even on the list, so we don't have to worry about anything like that nasty pseudo-demonic aura-flare thingy when negative aggressions get to the fore....ah, but that's not exactly a secret for muggle ears.

Shut up, Hagrid...you're not on my top sig-chars list, even if you do quote Shakespeare incessantly....but oh fine, I won't talk about arcane phenomena in my LJ....*pouts* Buggerall....

Hah....he actually believed me....*snerks* -- but no, I won't get into it, it's too far into the distinctly weird. Stick with the Elf....yeah, that's nice and safe and wholesomely non-kinky...erm, well maybe not for long. Depends on if he meets up with a mentally-deranged pianist in an Australian pub.....we've already got Queen Elizabeth on hand, and you know how those Elves can't resist the sea...:-?

[Litha, am I being a bit...cruel at the moment...? /:)...]

Enh, at least I left out the bureaucratic zombies. Or, erm...what's his ass.....that country-music singer who ruled the Roman Empire?

Yes, I am being mean. I'm bitter because of untimely separation from my love, and that is why the driving in the Midwest is so FUCKING HORRIBLE today.......oh right, no causal relation there. Oops.

I think.....that I'll finish cutting out newspaper photos for my art class in the morning. At the moment, I think I have a few character pictures to hunt.....>:)

"Hope Your Valentine's Day is Full of Adventure!"

[Scene: Aureantes is laying out a series of printed-out photographs on the tables in the art studio, with 1 adult and 6 children (ages 7-9) in the general vicinity, paying more or less attention.]

"Who's that?"

Me: "That's a good question." (continuing to lay out photos)

"Who's /that/?"

Me: "Hmm, good question." (blithely -- devilishly, even -- laying out more pictures)

"Who's /that/?"

Me: "Well, this one goes with that one.... (matching a couple same-character shots)

"Who's /that/?"

Me: "Good question -- come and see."


And then they (the kids) gathered around and finally started to get it....ah yes, 'twas my nefarious plan, perfectly timed (as it happened) to coincide with a mini-flood of PotC-tie-in valentines and chocolates. Oh, the humanity. And oh, the running around hyped up on sugar...Mark and Danielle were at each other's throats, my kneaded-rubber erasers were being snatched at every turn from those I'd lent them to, and Mark proposed to put a lollipop in the electric pencil sharpener.

"Are you daft???" I exploded in full Scottish mode -- "Are you bloody daft?? -- don't put that thing in there!!"

Note: Scottish accents are funny enough to defuse tension, but aggressive enough not tae foockin' mess aroond with.....i.e., excellent for classroom use. >:)

Anyhow, I had all my best sketches and action drawings and proportion-diagrams pinned up on a folding screen to set a good example, in lieu of doing a demonstration drawing for them (only works if they're looking, you know...) -- and actually, I do credit some very dramatic and well-shaded shots for the kids' improved attention to shadow and modeling, plus Sharon's excellent work on her previous chosen task of rendering light/medium tones and not over-aging her middle-aged male photo model. Charlotte did some excellent work on her drawing, and is far better at observing and rendering than she thinks she is -- plus, she gets the idea of coming back to a subject later to chart one's improvement. That is worth a million hard-outline drawings posted on the refrigerator, folks -- let all aspiring parents and teachers take note.

(The lead in pencils is not lead (anymore), but I still must maintain a hard line against poking each other with pencils, as graphite-poisoning is still/also a liability. I told Mark there were to be no makeshift (let alone involuntary!) tattoos given in class..."Don't get me started there," I said. :-|)

*Is considering hanging the radio from the ceiling to avoid student tampering during class*

They had to be threatened, some of them, for running around the room and roughhousing and snatching things (and pictures -- you think I want any of my photo morgue's contents ripped?). "Do you want to be here next week?" I demanded. "Drawing is not supposed to be a chore! -- if you want to do it, then do it, focus on it!"

And similarly to Kevin's reiteration of "Modern art" (yes, the boy is home-schooled.....) to explain why his people's eyes and central features are so close together in a giant head. "Even modern artists learned how to draw people right before they went off on their own styles," I said -- "you can't just copy the way that that looks on the surface and bypass the whole thought process underneath it."

(Of course, I know that some 'modern artists' did absolutely nothing of the sort...but cut me some slack on the accuracy -- I'm tryin' to teach here. :P)

To summarize, though, I saw a lot of improvement in everyone that was trying. A lot more visible thought, visible decisions, good questions and clearly attempting to render what's there -- and they have absorbed (well enough to remind each other of it) the Very Important Concept that good drawing from a model (live or photo) involves looking at the model AND NOT THE PAGE the vast majority of the time.

It was a bit of Helen-Kellerage (the "w-a-t-e-r" gestalt-moment), gradually spread out over the activity portion of the class, as they gathered that all the pictures were of the same person -- and a real person, even though they were different roles and situations, different times and hairstyles and....well, especially the hairstyles. Thank you, People magazine, for that timely concert photo. I give Charlotte major bonus points for all the questions and concerns she posed, and her way of addressing what was really (though she doesn't yet know it) a very advanced photo-subject for her age. I'm giving them all major challenges -- but I'm trying to give them major incentives and play on their natural interests too.

Hence my own motto/quote for the day: "You gotta find a hook."

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....Oh, and I gathered up one lone valentine from the tables afterwards....yep, folks, that's my title for this little slice of life's constructive mayhem.../:)