Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t really feel like Thanksgiving at all.  Hot, humid, and a normal school day just like every other Thursday – 4 classes, chapel, after school duty and Bible study.  I am not gathering with my family around a table full of food.  But that’s not what it’s really about, is it?  It’s never been about the food or the football or the friends and family.  In fact, maybe those things have become the face of the holiday more than the real meaning.  Of course we are thankful for those things – but how much time during Thanksgiving do we actually spend giving thanks?  A day set aside to give thanks to God for all of his wonderful gifts, so many of which we take for granted.  Our abundance can sometimes lead to a poverty of gratitude; kind of reverse of what it should be, huh?  The more we have the less grateful we are and the less we have the more we treasure each small gift.  In our wealth we become entitled to things, or we just always have them so we don’t even think about the fact that it’s a gift.

I’ve always found it a good practice to list my gifts, list my thanks. Each small or big thing I think of is written down and given thanks for (this idea came from One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp)… the sunrise, birds chirping, hot coffee, hugs from students, etc.  It really does make you stop and think about all the gifts in your life, so many of which you look over without a second glance.  But this is a time to pause and give thanks to God for all things, big and small, that he has graciously given us.

The topic in Bible study this week is selfishness… that is where we tend to live, isn’t it?  We look to ourselves and our needs and our wants and we strive to fulfill those longings.  Our eyes are fixed on the empty places of our hearts and we strive and grasp for things to fulfill it.  If we just get this next new thing, or make this new friend, or eat that last cookie, all will be well.  But we achieve that goal and ache continues.  Have you ever noticed when you’re giving thanks that the ache stops?  That the hole feels full?  That when we take our eyes off ourselves and fix them on God and his goodness and love that we are doing what we were meant to do?  Because that is what thanksgiving is really about – glorifying God, which is what we humans were made to do from the very beginning.  Instead of trying to lift ourselves up and fill the empty hole, we lift God up and he makes us whole.

I’ve always loved the quote by John Piper, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.”  Thanksgiving – a reminder to live satisfied in God.  A time to remember God and his goodness and his lavished love on our lives.  A time to stop striving and remember the gifts, list the thanks, and in doing so lift up God in our hearts. 

Have you ever read Psalm 107?  Here is a little summary of parts of it…

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    

his love endures forever….

[The Lord rescues people from wandering in a desert]

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
    

and his wonderful deeds for mankind,

for he satisfies the thirsty
    

and fills the hungry with good things….

[The Lord rescues rebellious people from their ways]

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
   

 and his wonderful deeds for mankind. 

Let them sacrifice thank offerings
    

and tell of his works with songs of joy….

[The Lord lifts the afflicted and increases families]

The upright see and rejoice,
    

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

Let the one who is wise heed these things
    

and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord.

I pray that you would see the gifts of God and rejoice, and spend time today pondering the loving deeds

 of the Lord in your life.

A normal day... life in the art room :)

Works in Progress...

Really enjoying these works in progress...

(we are attempting impressionistic landscapes :)

Finished products to come! 

Creating: Bulletin Boards and Blank Canvases

As much as I dread taking down bulletin boards and putting up new work, there is something really wonderful about seeing all the artwork on display.  I watch my kids every day making their projects step by step, but hanging up their art gives me a chance to really look at the finished product and to see them all together.

But I think the thing I love about it the most is the fact that we are creating something where there was nothing before.  We are taking blank canvases, white paper, a few materials, and making masterpieces.  We start with a blank slate and week by week we turn that nothing into something beautiful.

I stare at the dark blue bulletin board empty, so similar to the dark empty nothingness that was before creation.  And then we create; we make art.  And I hang it on that bulletin board and where there was emptiness there is color and life and image and beauty and uniqueness and so much creativity.

I think that's what fascinates me so much about art and where I really see myself, and my students, as made in the image of God.  While God created an amazing universe out of nothing, we, on a much smaller scale, take the raw materials God has given us and continue to create.  We, like God, are creators.  We love to take nothing and make it something; we give life to emptiness.

Recently I've been doing landscape paintings with my middle and high school students and it is so amazing to see how lots of colored brushstrokes can take a blank canvas and give it form and life and beauty - like the picture is coming to life before our very eyes - that we have created a mini world on this canvas, a world that didn't exist before and would never exist unless we created it.  And I can see each student's art as their own, each unique and different.  Each one reflecting the artist who made it, just as creation reflects the master Creator.

Color Family Hot Air Balloons

These Color Family Hot Air Balloons were done by my 2nd - 4th graders.  We learned all about the color wheel and the different color families (warm, cool, primary, secondary, and opposite colors).  They learned how to draw a hot air balloon and how to show distance and depth (having the hot air balloons different sizes and some overlapping).  Finally, they painted their balloons and background.  Each picture should have 5 balloons, each one painted using a different color family.

Still Life Collages

These are collages made by my middle and high school students.  I have come to realize that a lot of my students are really good at realism (see Crushed Cans project) so I wanted to do a project that would challenge them creatively.  We talked about how to make a good still life composition and then they used magazines, tissue paper, and colored paper to turn that still life into a collage.  Some of them may have gone a little too crazy and weird but there are some really creative and well done ones too!

Reflections on a Foggy Sunrise

The humidity hung heavy in the air this morning – so thick it was hard to see the big condominium building down the street.  The sun lay low, just barely over the horizon line, perfectly circular and beautiful.  As it rose the fog dissipated – the air lightened and became more clear.  And soon the mist was gone all together, the sun shining clear and bright, high in the sky.

That’s how it is when darkness comes, isn’t it?  It is shrouded with mist and fog.  It makes it hard to see clearly.  Things seem confusing, the truth seems hard to discern.  But then the light comes.  The light comes and brings clarity. 

Sometimes the lies of Satan close in around us and we become confused, wandering around in the mist trying to find our way.  We lose sight of the truths we have always known.  But God is faithful.  Like the sun, he always comes.  He always shows up to shine his light of life and truth and love.  And when that happens the darkness flees and we feel the warmth and goodness of God on our faces.  Our souls are lightened and lifted in his presence, the darkness and depression replaced with joy. 

Starry Night

I did this project last year and decided to do it again.  I just love this one and love all the results!  The project is based off of Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night.  

We started off by talking about the painting - what objects do we see, what colors did he use, etc.  Then we outlined the main objects - the stars, moon and swirls.  We used oil pastels to fill in the sky, making short strokes that move with the swirls.  Then we painted the sky with watercolor to fill in all the extra white spaces.  Finally, we cut a little town out of black paper and glued it to the bottom.  Tada!  Beautiful Starry Nights, done by Grade 3.  I love how all of them are so unique :)

Alphabet Soup

This project was done with my second graders.  Their task was to take the letters of the alphabet and turn, twist, rotate, stretch, shrink, enlarge, etc. all the letters.  However, all the letters had to be connected.  Then they had to fill in all the different spaces with different colors.  Some of the students got the concept, some struggled a bit with it.  But some of them came out good and they are nice splash of color in the art room :)  This can also be a good plan for a sub!

Keith Haring and Color Families

This project was done by Grade 5 and 6.  We learned about artist Keith Haring and how he used the basic symbol of a person to show emotions and communicate messages.  We drew figures like him in four different squares.  The students then colored in each square using different color families - warm, cool, opposite, and primary.  They filled in the background with lines to make it look like the figures are moving.

Monochromatic Landscapes

This year my 5th and 6th grades students learned about monochromatic painting.  They learned the words hue, tint, and shade and painted their own monochromatic scale.  Then we talked about landscapes and how things further away look lighter because of all the things in the air.  The things closest to us look the darkest.  They then drew their own landscapes of mountains, hills, trees, and cities and painted them using their new found knowledge!

Monochromatic scale:

My student's monochromatic landscape paintings!