Baltimore Fun A Day Project...here we go!

       Being that Advance Placement, Advance Studio Art High School teacher, I tend to get a lot of "do we have to?, how much time do you expect? when am I suppose to do all of this? ", you get the idea. I think they believe me to be a secretive ax murdered of their free time and expect them to be living and breathing art. Well...they did sign up for the course, so isn't that what they should be doing? I'm just getting them ready for that real world out there that really doesn't take too kindly to the "I'll do it later, can you do it for me, sop, sop sop. " I have always had this battle between teaching art and being art. I have to have it as part of my life, not just to teach it, but to actually do it. And I like being a role model for my stundets. Yes, I do what I expect my students to do! I want them to see me as an artist as much as, if not more than, me as their teacher!
I've done the sketchbook project a number of times and have enjoyed working on an art problem that has a deadline and a theme that I could work with or even create. I like working in series and I like tuning up my art skills. This year I'm going much bigger. This is what you do when you turn 50! You go bigger. So I've joined Baltimore Fun A Day  and I've committed myself to create a self portrait everyday of January. I've purchased 31 wood panels of various sizes and I've started. Why self portraits? I wanted to be able to be more expressive than I have been. This year , teaching has been a major challenge and I need another outlet besides making sweet birdy birds in my sweatshop. Plus I wanted to work on my drawing, composition and observation skills. So here are my first three below. Any feedback is highly appreciated.

1 January 2014

2 January 2014

3 January 2014

4January 2014