Friday, September 14, 2007

An Afernoon visit by my bro, Mike


Gas leak?!!?
wwwwhhhhhhaaaaatttttt gggggaaaaaasssssss llllleeeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkkkkk..........


The Exorcisim of Julian Mahoney

What is the name of this instrument??? First I was having fun playing it, and then, when Mike came over, being the former first chair trumpet player of Fountain Valley High School circa 1970(???) he was enlisted into the playing of this slide wwhistle or ....whatever it is called!!!

then Julian was playing close my eyes during a show and tell moment- My bro, Mike is holding an old paperback of B.C.

A game that Julian likes to play- feed the guest plastic food out of miniture pots and pans...he is also fond of sharing whatever he eats with whomever he is connecting with...if you end up with a meal you know that he likes you!!!

I love the distorted feel of the perspective appearing on either side of Julians extreme close up of his long rock star preschool hair ; the folded piles of colored underwear to the left ; the haphazard stacking of refridgerator magnets to the upper right...this camera rules!!!!

Protector To The Access of Ideas



I am trying to recall which meeting that this doodle occurred in...but there is this observed or imagined continuum in the practice of library science in the public library arena.....on one end is one absolute: Access; on the other end is the other : steward of materials and information. In a perfect world, all materials would be cared for inpeccably, on time or earlier, and those who used the libraries would exhibit the uttmost of respect to other users to staff and volunteers at all times. Because we do not live in a vaccuum of perfection because we are all human and make mistakes is okay but, for those who dare to take advantage of the openness and generosity of our system there is "The Protector To the Access of Ideas"

He kinda looks like Don Quixote...does he not???



"Your choice of clothing offends me!" says the man who is wearing multiple layers of every piece of clothing that can be worn
including multiple hats and multiple scarves obscuring our view of his/her face and as a resultt making him appear suspect.

"Hey I'm not wearing any clothing!" and then the partially printed "intell freedom" on the censor box coveringg his buttocks...a rather good doodle, i think but what does it mean? I am open to folks suggestions/commments/opinions, etc...

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Julians first day at Sunnyside Montessori Mennonite pre-School


What the...?!!? no, not me, I'm not gonna go to school!!! But he did and he has been liking it so far as well as being very happy to see Mama when his 3.5 hour day of school is done!
Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the Southeast section of Portland, spanning between SE Stark St. and SE Hawthorne Blvd. (north to south) and from SE 28th Ave. to SE 49th Ave. (west to east). Sunnyside is sometimes referred to as Hawthorne/Belmont, for its two main commercial streets, although technically the unofficial geographical area known colloquially as Hawthorne borders both Sunnyside and Richmond neighborhoods.
Sunnyside is bordered by Laurelhurst on the north, Richmond on the south, Buckman on the west, and Mount Tabor on the east. Because of its Victorian architecture and bohemian culture, Hawthorne/Belmont is often compared to San Francisco's Haight Ashbury district.
Mennonites started out as Anabaptists that is against baptism of infants on account of their not being able to conscouisly choose their faith and belief; this was a radical idea back in their beginnings and they experienced much persecution.
The first permanent settlement of Mennonites in the American Colonies consisted of one Mennonite family and twelve Mennonite-Quaker families of Dutch extraction who arrived from Krefeld, Germany in 1683 and settled in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Among these early settlers was William Rittenhouse, a lay minister and owner of the first American paper mill. This early group of Mennonites and Mennonite-Quakers wrote the first formal protest against slavery in America. The treatise was addressed to slave-holding Quakers in an effort to persuade them to change their ways.
Today they are amoung other things big on pacifism and disaster relief. As of 2003 there were about 1.2 million Mennonites with about 444,000 living in the United States.
Montessori-
Introduction to the Methodology in Practice
The Montessori Method is a teaching methodology developed in Italy by Dr. Maria Montessori. With the opening of her first school in 1907 in Rome, the term Montessori became associated with schools that use Dr. Montessori’s educational approach to children as well as her precise educational materials tailored for children’s developmental needs.
Dr. Montessori’s original school was for the preschool aged child, but she later extended the methodology for children through high school and a number of schools around the world implement her approach to education for a wide range of ages.
“From the moment the child enters the classroom, each step in his education is seen as a progressive building block, ultimately forming the whole person, in the emergence from childhood to adult. All focus is on the needs of the child.”
One distinguishing feature of Montessori at the preschool age is that children direct their own learning, choosing among the sections of a well-structured and stocked classroom including Practical Life (fine and gross motor skill development), Sensorial (sensory and brain development), Language, Math, Geography, Science and Art. The role of a teacher is to introduce children to materials and then remain a “silent presence” in the classroom.
Concepts
The Montessori philosophy is built upon the idea that children develop and think differently than adults; that they are not merely "adults in small bodies". Dr. Montessori advocated children's rights, children working to develop themselves into adults, and that these developments would lead to world peace.
The Montessori method discourages traditional measurements of achievement (grades, tests) under the premise that it is damaging to the inner growth of children (and adults). Feedback and qualitative analysis of a child's performance does exist but is usually provided in the form of a list of skills, activities and critical points, and sometimes a narrative of the child's achievements, strengths and weaknesses, with emphasis on the improvement of those weaknesses.
(all information copyright wikipedia 9/12/07)

On his second try he got the righht hook for his backpack and coat!

the school settting child-focused or not is a HUGE deal for Julian- he is excited but also overwhelmed....glad it is only 3 days a week and 3.5 hours a day for the first year!!!

singing some traditional folk songs during circle time that I started listening to with Julian from the Pete Seeger Compilation CD I made for him!

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Monday, September 03, 2007

evolution of a corel drawing



maybe it would be a fun experiment to document each and every stretch of time that I work on something and through this I and those who are following the progress can see for themselves what changed because the change would be small enough that it can be spotted but enough of a change that it would present itself as a fresh subject matter....
well enough talk.......here it is!!!!

this drawing was first done........well I dunno when, but I just happened to whip it out a quick rendering of a goofy looking boyish man posted it along with other things on August 21st....and now the evening of Speteember 3rd......did some playing arround with color shaping refinement of shapes, etc.........but underneath all that it is thhe first quick sketch.....except that it isnt.

Saturday, September 01, 2007

forest parks wildwood trail from mile 7.5 to mile 9.75- part 2!!!!

so here we are again
with more images from my little jaunt....
my little excursion...
getting away from it all...but still in the city!!



forest parks wildwood trail from mile 7.5 to mile 9.75


shot these with Laurels poor kodak easyshare cx4200 with the manuel battery compartment lock....in other words it does not lock.....first shot seemed bright so I played with the exposure adjustment first at -2 then I settled for -0.5, but I think -0.5 to -1.0 would be good since you do not know how the light is going to turn out.....being outdoors effect how we see the image in the monitor....and thats as technical as I will get!!!!

so mile 7.5 of the wildwood trail is where the birch trail crosses into the wildwood and I walked from there to just past the alder trail , and back without very much standing still- save the stopping to take pictures!!!!




having fun with corel painter. trying to be bold cartoony sloppy using big curvy bold strokes not caring if it ends up looking like anything yet having a cartoony biomorphic exaggerated.......something......like a bullwinkle taking acid and painting a selff portrait as a totem......or something!

but now I wish I could shape the painting area, or I wish I knew how to do this