An Overdue Art of the Week- Illustrations

Really, it is December already?  Where on earth did this fall go?  It seems like they were just bringing out the Halloween costumes.   Since the stores do that in the middle of August these days, you really know time has flown by.  There's been lots of art happening, whether I like it or not.  This semester, I only took two studio classes, but one is mostly computer work. The other class is Illustration.  I guess you could say illustration is a pretty broad term, but the basis of it is that the image portrays a specific idea, action, or has a specific purpose.  In other words, there shouldn't be a group of scholars squinting at it, reading meaning into every brush stroke 200 years later...

Used in advertising, editorials, children's books, they are supposed to be concise depictions of what the client wants.  Lots of planning, brainstorming, and revisions goes into a finished illustration.  My professor said you should never go with your first idea. So, shhhh...don't tell him I always went back to my first thought.  I personally have to find a balance between planning and just doing when it comes to my artwork.  If I over-think it, it doesn't turn out as perfect as I imagined and I get frustrated.  But if I don't hunt down some reference material, which is often the hardest part, then my work ends up looking unresolved.

Here are some of my better illustrations I've done this fall.  For the first piece, we had to make our own scratch board out with crayons.  It was really easy, just time consuming.  First, your had to lightly lay down the base color on smooth illustration board.  Then you went over that color with the black crayon, building it layer by layer and rubbing it with your finger so it had almost a varnish look to it.  To create this image, we were to take an everyday kitchen utensils and a fruit and depict it as something else.  I had measuring spoons and an apple.  Don't ask me what specific meaning it has, because even I don't know...

For the next set of illustrations, we had to turn ourselves into caricatures.  We had to complete four different drawings that included one that showed an emotion, a close-up, one that put us into a fantastical place, and put ourselves into a famous image.  So, first I want to say that there is absolutely no copyright infringement intended what so ever...

So yes, I'm a bit of a Lord of the Rings fan...this is pen.

Ink wash (basically watercolor)

Black Colored pencil on coquille board.
If you don't know, this is a play on Norman Rockwell's Triple Self-Portrait.

 

India Ink 

Art of the Week: Burt the Owl

Well, I guess this is more like, Art of the last three weeks.  To be quite honest, I just plain forgot about posting anything.  It has been incredibly busy the past month between school and the farm.  We've got all our crops out except for a little bit of corn and despite this summer's drought, it looks like we will have enough feed without having to purchase anything.  Oh, and if you are interested in learning more about my family's farm, go to our Facebook page, Nels-Vale Farms.  There's lots of pictures and especially of the gorgeous fall we've had.

"Burt"  Kaitlyn R. Nelson  2012 ceramic

Since I'm always posting art work that I'm good at, I thought I put something that I'm not as accomplished at as I'd like to be.  Last year was the first time since seventh grade that I worked with clay and I discovered it is something that takes a lot of patience and planning.  Unfortunately, neither of those things can be used to describe my artwork.  Let's just say, there are a lot of ash tray-like ceramic pieces sitting under my bed that not even a mother would want.  Nonetheless, I did have a have a few things that looked alright.  This piece is Burt.  I watched an animated owl movie with my nephew one weekend and this was the result.  I had some glazing issues, like the big, old fingerprint on his belly.  But hey, it's all about learning.

Art of the Week - "View Down the Valley"

Kaitlyn R. Nelson "View Down the Valley" 11x14in oil pastel

"View Down the Valley" is a pastel drawing I completed, again, a few days before the county fair.  I really had no idea what the heck I was going to draw when I sat down with my oil pastels and paper, but then I looked over and found my inspiration.

My sister took this picture on New Year's Day.  I realized while drawing it that the grass was actually greener in January than it was in July, thank you drought.  This is my favorite view of the farm and I have drawn and taken my own pictures of it many times, but my sister truly captured the beauty of the valley with this photo and people are always in awe of the unique colors.  Everyone thinks that it is a print of a painting, so I took off our wall and got to work.  The contours of the hills and valley is always a challenge for me because you lose the depth of those hills in a photo.  Luckily, I just had to look out the window for the real reference.  As I said before, my drawing was considered for the top prize at the fair and I will certainly work with more oil pastels after this success.  However, the more exciting news is about the original picture.  My sister entered it in a photo contest through Associated Milk Producers, Inc (AMPI), the company we sell our milk to, and won!  It will be featured in the Sept/Oct issue of their magazine.  Congrats Kirsten!

Portfolio Alignments

All future teachers in Wisconsin must create a portfolio.  In that portfolio, we have to demonstrate that we've met the criteria and understand the teaching standards put forth by the state and the university.  We demonstrate that knowledge by providing artifacts.  Artifacts can include papers, lesson plans, experiences, or test scores that we have achieved throughout our education.  We must provide one artifact per state standard with accompanying reflections describing why said artifacts exhibit comprehension and proper application of those standards.  There are ten state standards: content, development, diversity, instructional strategies, environment, communication, instructional planning, assessment, reflection, and collaboration.  The University of Wisconsin- Platteville has sixteen Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition standards we must also demonstrate.

Did you get all that? That's my fancy, smart-sounding technical writing, which I've been known to get carried away with. I know you've all had teachers whom you thought, who the heck gave them a license to teach?  Well, nowadays schools do their best to weed out those said teachers.  It take an incredible amount of work to become a teacher (which is why I am working on the super-senior college plan), and hopefully, the students will reap the benefits.   Today, having vast knowledge of a subject area doesn't mean you can teach.  You have to know how to create an environment that is most conducive to the students needs so that learning can occur. Basically, you teach students first, subject second.

Here is just a sample of an artifact alignment.  I have to complete eight more of these and get them approved by the School of Education before I can get my license.  Reflection plays a very important role in teaching.  We always have to look back at our experiences as teachers so we can improve our lessons and presentations for the next student.  The artifact is about a nine page paper I wrote two years ago in my Human Growth and Development class.  Unfortunately, my scanner and I are having differing opinions about proper functions at the moment, so I can't show you the actual paper with my professor's notes.  I will brag though and tell you that he gave me an A on it.  That wasn't really big news to me at first because I have never gotten anything lower than a B- and any of my college papers.  However, I later learned that he rarely gives those out...so, yes I am pretty darn proud of it...

Title of Artifact/Experience:  Human Growth and Development Paper

Date of Experience: September 2010 – December 2010

Description:

            This nine page case study paper was written as an assignment for the course Human Growth and Development which I completed in the fall semester of 2010.  The objective of the assignment was to observe and reflect on a group of students’ physical, intellectual, emotional, and social development.  I observed a Biology, Drawing, and Literature class in a medium sized high school in Spring Green, Wisconsin.  The number of students in each class ranged from about fifteen to twenty-five sophomores and juniors.  This artifact consists of the original copy of the case study paper with the instructor’s comments and my final grade.

Alignment:

            Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment:

            This experience best aligns with Standard 2: The teacher understands how children with broad ranges of ability learn and provides instruction that supports their intellectual, social, and personal development.

            I believe this experience best aligns with Standard 2 because the course and the act of reflecting as I wrote the paper helped me understand the developmental stages that students of certain ages go through and how those situations affect their education.  Writing this paper as well as taking the course had a profound effect on the way I look at teaching as well as assessing a student’s achievement.  As an educator, I must always be aware of these development stages that can be poignant as well as challenging times for a student.  An example of an important aspect of emotional and social development that had been discussed in class was Erick Erikson’s concept of identity.  It wasn’t until I observed and then reflected on what I had seen that I came to fully understand the impact the ‘identiry verses role confusion,’ the fifth stage of Erickson’s pursuit of identity achievement, has on not only a student’s education, but how a teacher handles the classroom. 

Adolescents are very concerned about how they are being perceived by their peers.  This became evident to me while observing the Literature class.  Students were asked to participate in a class discussion about a piece of literature and demonstrate the use of formal operational thought.  The students were very wary to voice their own opinions in front their fellow classmates because they are still unsure of their identity and it is hard to be confident in voicing you own opinions when you yourself are still unsure of who you are and where you fit in amongst your peers.  As a future teacher, I must be aware of this personal dilemma and adapt my instruction accordingly to create a comfortable, accepting atmosphere that will encourage the students’ confidence and help boost their self-esteem

.

           

            Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition Statement Alignment:

            I believe this experience best aligns with KSD1.b.-  :the candidate displays knowledge of the typical developmental characteristics, learning styles, skills, interests, developmental background, and cultural heritages of students and is always aware of the broad ranges and variety present for each of these student characteristic and lifestyles.

            The experience of learning about human development best aligns with this statement because I learned an incredible amount of variables and factors influence and shape the personality and lifestyle of an individual.  I also learned that no one individual develops the same way or comes away from the same experiences with the same interpretation as another person would.  Factors such as socioeconomic status, heredity, environment, and cultural background play a huge role in the application of a student’s education.  No one child learns the same way, and I believe that is the most important challenge a teacher will face throughout his or her career.  Not only must a teacher keep up with evolving information and education standards, he or she must also keep up with changing times and adapting mind-sets of students who are experiencing different situations and events than those of their grandparents and the same teaching methods may no longer be as effective. 

When new information is introduced to a student’s schema, the structure in which a person mentally categorizes and cognitively assesses information, he or she will categorize it differently than another student if the factors in their life are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  An only child from an upper-middle class household with both parents actively involved in their education will assimilate information differently and perhaps perform better academically than a student living below the poverty line with five other siblings and a single parent who works the night shift.  Because of this, a teacher must take the time to learn about his or her students and their unique and differing learning styles.  This experience allowed me to understand the complexity of these factors.

This experience also aligns with:

            KSD3.e: Demonstrates flexibility and responsiveness

Personal Reflection

What I learned from this teaching/learning experience:

            I learned an invaluable amount of information from this experience that I will refer to frequently during my career.  Not only did it teach me about what my future students will be experiencing, it taught me about myself and helped me understand some of my own personal experiences in my own physical, emotional, intellectual, and social development.  The course and the act of writing this paper taught me about the vast amount of factors that play into these important and natural developments that all humans go through.

What I learned about myself as a prospective educator:

            As a future educator, I learned that I must be flexible, understanding, authoritative, patient, and willing to learn new things myself from the world around me as well as my students.  Since I myself was once as student going through the same developmental process, I realized from this experience that I must always be aware of the stages of development.  I learned that students are at times challenging beings that adults don’t always take the time to see things from their perspective.  When I was a student, there was nothing I feared more than being embarrassed in front of my peers because I myself was struggling to find my identity amongst them.  As a teacher, I will encourage my students to grow and develop together in a comfortable environment.  

Art of the Week- " 'Til the Cows Come Home" and "Summer Preserved"

"Til the Cows Come Home" oil on canvas Kaitlyn R. Nelson

Hello, hello...no I didn't fall down a hole or give up on blogging.  I just had a very busy summer with very little internet access.  I'm currently working on writing up a longer explanation for my absence, but for now, here's a little of what I was up to this summer.  I'm even throwing in an extra!  This first oil painting is one that I've been meaning to do for quite awhile.  My sister took a picture of the cows returning from pasture one evening when she was home on leave from the Air Force.  It was somewhat of a grainy photo, but it looked neat with all the layers of color.  It already looked like a painting, and of course I thought 'easy!'.  Was I wrong.  I started it towards the end of June with hopes of finishing it before the county fair.  I decided that I was going to paint it the way I wanted to, and not how the voices of my professors in my head were telling me to paint.  I got about two good days of work, and then I didn't touch it until the end of August when I suddenly realized the fair was less than a week away.  I've always been better under pressure, I just wish that translated into my studio work as well.  Still, I agonized over it, totally reworked areas, took things out, but stuff in, and so on.  Several times, I threw down my brushes and called it quits.  I didn't want to send it to the fair because I didn't like it, it was bad, not at all how I wanted it.  Then I'd step back from it and think, hmmm, maybe if I just did this quick...  Before I knew it, I had a tag on it and it was set very carefully into the car with the jars of tomatoes, bags of hay samples and 3x3 inch brownie squares...

"Summer Preserved" acrylic on canvas Kaitlyn R. Nelson

This second painting in an acrylic still-life.  You see, fair entries are usually due at the beginning of August and   sitting down with the book is a lot like going shopping without a list.  You see all these wonderful things and think, I could get that done by fair.  Well, sometimes the entry list get a little carried away. Every year, I thumb through my stack of entry tags, I asked myself, why the heck did I enter that?  This painting was one of those.  I started this around two in the afternoon on the Tuesday before the fair, and finished it the next day before I left for the evening milking at four.  I don't know how it turned out so well, but it did all things considered.

As I said, I almost didn't take this cow painting.  Thankfully, my mother convinced me otherwise because I am now the only person so far to have won the Dorothy McNeill Art Award three times.  I was up against some professional, established artists and both these paintings, as well as my oil pastel drawing, were all considered for the top award.  So, just goes to show that you can never count something out...

The world is one bright smile dimmer...

As you may have noticed, it’s been a quite awhile since my last post.  Since my car turned off of the pavement of Platteville and onto the beaten down gravel of our driveway, I haven’t even sat down at my computer.  Between graduations, field work, family visits, milking cows, job searching, nephews to babysit, and Memorial Days services to attend, I haven’t found the time to write, paint, or get enough sleep.  I’m writing now, but I’m not writing because I’ve found the time, I’m writing because I had to find it.  I just wish the reason I am making time was completely different.

Wednesday morning, an avoidable car accident took the life of a wonderful, young woman I was privileged to know and call a peer.  Katie Binning was not only an incredible artist, but one the most intelligent, motivated, and enthusiastic college students I’ve ever encountered.  I first came to know Katie in a Fiber Arts class during my second semester at Platteville.  She was unapologetic in her individuality and proved that you could not judge a book by its cover.  The first time I saw her I thought ‘Great, another moody, gloomy, Goth-Emo person with a mohawk who is self-absorbed and writes a 10 page artist statement about the deep, depressing meaning behind the three scribbles of black paint…’ 

Did I ever learn my lesson.  Her infectious smile and happy-go-lucky personality instantly brightened even the sleepiest, caffeine deprived 8am classroom.  Her bubbly laughter and giddy excitement while she told a story that would sound boring coming from anyone else was often the highlight of the class period. Plus, she wouldn’t write a ten page art statement full of BS, she’d write thirty pages and write it so well, those scribbles would become the most powerful piece of artwork you’d ever set eyes on. 

She was proudly quirky, but enduringly pleasant to be around.  It was impossible not to like Katie.  Even if you only met her once, you’d always remember her.  Whether it be because of her tattoos of her own design, her constant smile, or her unique sense of style.  You would think she came of some urban Mecca of cultural progression, but she grew up in a small, rural town in central Wisconsin, a couple miles from the birthplace of Colby cheese.  Her grandmother started teaching her to draw when she was very young and ignited her passion and talent for art.  My oldest sister actually worked for her hometown’s local newspaper and took many pictures of Katie for her achievements in high school. Katie liked to read my sister’s column and articles and we often discussed and joked about the quirks of the North Woods towns we were familiar with.

Her boundless energy was the envy and awe of everyone who knew her.  This was a girl who woke up at 6am just so she could drive half an hour to volunteer, attend class from 8am to 5pm and pre-student teach sometime between, run ten miles in track practice, and then stay up until two in the morning to finish a project that wasn’t even due for another two weeks.  Needless to say, she was quite the coffee and tea expert and the only way you could tell she was tired was by how many times she refilled her travel mug.

Just like her wardrobe, Katie’s had a drawing style all her own.  It was beautiful, interesting, and Gothic-like. She was by far the best draftsperson in the art program, but she never set herself above any of the other art students.  She encouraged and praised everyone around her.  She loved all forms of art and was always willing to learn something new.

Because of the ability, she was already an incredible teacher.  I was lucky enough to have both of my required teaching methods class with her.  During the second class, our final project was to do a practice teach.  We had to plan a lesson and teach it to our other classmates as if they were elementary or middle schools.  Katie played the misbehaving, chatty student brilliantly because of her child-like energy and eagerness.  All of us cracked up at least once because of something Katie said or did while playing a first grader. 

Where Katie truly shined and thrived was in front of a classroom.  Her enthusiasm and ability to convey her vast amount of knowledge in an understandable manner was incredible to watch.  She made learning truly an enjoyable experience.  Art History was her forte and could rattle off names and dates from any period.  Because of her own acceptance and appreciation of individuality, she encouraged creativity and originality from all her students.  She was born to be a teacher.  She even planned on teaching at a college level one day.  She was one of those determined people that worked hard at everything she did, and did it well.  If she didn’t do something right, she learned from her mistakes and tried again until she succeeded.

This last semester, Katie had been student teaching at a rural school that neighbors my hometown.  She took more than the maximum amount of credits so she could graduate in four years, something unheard of in the Art Ed program, and she did all this while coaching track.   It seems as though she made quite an impact in the short time she was there.  The small school is located on one of the busiest two-lane highways in southern Wisconsin as it is a major commuter route into Madison.  Katie was waiting to make a left hand turn into the school parking lot when a semi rear-ended her car and sent it into oncoming traffic.  This all happened right as students filtered in for the morning. 

I always knew I’d end up seeing Katie’s smiling face in the news.  However, it should have been there because of her achievements over the next 50 years, not because how all that potential was tragically taken away.  More than ever right now, Wisconsin desperately needs good teachers, especially in the arts.  We were robbed of our brightest prospect the other morning.  Katie was handed her diploma less than three weeks ago and was just starting to pave her way in this world.  I not only mourn for Katie and her family, but for her students and colleagues.  Both who knew her and had to privilege to call her their teacher and friend, but also for those who will never get that chance.

Art of the Week- Band of Brothers

 
Whew...it has certainly been a busy, slow week. One more class this afternoon, and I'm done for the semester. All I have to do is finish a few papers and sit through a few art critiques next week and I can call it a summer. I came close to completely forgetting, but here is my art of the week.

The HBO series, Band of Brothers, is one of my all time favorite movies, or TV show, whatever it is considered. Even though it came out in 2001, I had never seen it until I happened to catch it on TV a few years ago. Once I got over the initial draw of the handsome, dapper soldiers in uniform, I became fascinated with these men’s true story and the history of World War II. We've all know at least enough about the subject to get through a high school history test, but I believe the personal stories of people who actually lived through the devastation is where the true history and facts lie. The series was based on Stephen E. Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and I highly recommend everyone read it. I also recommend Dick Winters', who was portrayed in the series by Damian Lewis, autobiography about his time as an officer in Easy Company. Anybody who is in any type of leadership position will learn so much from him and his keen perspective on the subject. Oh, another good, and incredibly entertaining, read is June Wandry's Bedpan Commando. In the last few years, women comedians, such as Kristen Wiig and Tina Fey, are being celebrated for proving they can dish it out just as good as their male counterparts. However, after reading this petite Army Lieutenant's journals and letters home, you'll see that there have always been hilarious women, even in the darkest of times.

Alrighty, now that I've plugged all my favorite books, back to the art. I guess you can classify these as fan art, well, since I am a fan and I won’t do anything else with these beside hang them on my wall and go “hey, look what I did.”    It’s funny how the things I do ‘just because’ turn out much better than the things I have to draw for class. 


The graphite drawing is of my favorite scene from the first episode.  I could probably do a bit more work on it.  Tortillions, or blending sticks, were my best friend in this drawing because they gave me the soft lines and shadows needed, especially in the faces. 

The pen drawing was one of my first successful experiments with non-erasable media.  I cheated a little bit and worked some of the contour lines out with a light pencil, but all of the shading was done with a ballpoint pen. 

Art of the Week- Start of a Draft Horse Drawing

Here's a new graphite drawing I just started this evening.  I took a picture of a family friend's Suffolk team in the Homecoming parade last fall.  I'm a bit of a sucker for drawing horses since it was what I was absolutely obsessed with when I first started learning to draw.  Even though I like cows better, I'm much better at drawing horses.  It's maybe about 45 minutes worth of drawing, and 45 minutes I didn't spend researching for my art history paper...

Art of the Week-"Reflections"

This is the final painting we had to complete for Painting I nearly two years ago, and it is also my one of my favorites.  Maybe because I was already familar with the skeletal structure of a cow... 

Kaitlyn R. Nelson  "Reflections" 2010 Oil on canvas

Weekend Warrior



Yet again, I'm please to say another productive weekend occurred on the farm. Although my paint brushes unfortunately never left the jar, I did in fact do some painting. Since I've moved into a tiny, second floor apartment, the only contact I get with green grass is when I jump out of the way of a wayward skateboarder on campus. So when I go home, I'm usually outside either working in the yard, garden, or barn. In fact, I sometimes even wonder why I bother to take my backpack home with me because most times I don’t even open it. I guess you can blame my sister for my 'weekend warrior' status. A year ago right now, my family and I were scrambling around to prepare the farm for a wedding, that of which we learned about in January and took place that June and so Extreme Make-Over: Farm Edition happened. While some maids of honor plan bridal showers and go dress shopping, I was pouring concrete and building retaining walls. My sister's wedding is another good story, but I'll post about that around their first anniversary. Anyway, I guess never really recovered from all those projects. You'd think I'd never want to see a weed whacker or paint brush ever again, yet every weekend that I make it home, I'm itching to do something constructive. This weekend was no different, except for the fact that we actually got more done than we even planned on.

It all started with a stop at a local thrift shop and some cheap ugly shelves. I've become somewhat of a DIY and repurposing junkie since my aunt gave me a stack of Country Living magazines. I've also been on a mission to make my late 80's apartment a bit more home-y, while keeping on a meager budget. Anyway, I liked the brackets, but they had a horrible stain job. I picked up some cans of primer and spray paint on my way home and started working on them that night.  However, I couldn't find a single scrap of sand paper on the entire farm and so the project was put on hold.


In the mean time, and after a trip to the Jung's store, my mom and I got to work on the garden. Because of the wedding, our garden wasn't exactly up there on the priority list. In fact, it was left off completely and the only work it saw was an occasional mow to keep the weeds down. That year off was a bit like hitting a reset button for my mom and I. For years, we've not only battled the weeds in the hard clay-soil that turns into sticky muck when wet, but we've all battled each other with different gardening styles. My mom has a tendency to go a little overboard when buying bedding plants. We try not to let her to go into a garden center unsupervised anymore. She also makes sure that every square foot of garden space is used up. Therefore we end up with a garden packed with multiples of eight different varieties of tomatoes, fifty plus potato mounds and way more zucchini than anybody should be allowed to grow. I, on the other hand, am a quality verses quantity gardener. I'd rather have a small area that I can easily get around in and keep a head of weeds. Since the garden got a bit taken over by quack grass during last summer's neglect, and because our trusty rotor tiller may have finally bit the dust, mom and I worked out a compromise that will not only be more manageable, but pleasing to look at. We decided on making several raised garden beds.

We've talked about making them for years, but we just never got around to it. But we finally found some time to do a lot more working and a little less talking. Our neighbor gave us several loads of oak beams a few years ago because my dad, being the way he is, couldn't turn down the potential usefulness. After about eight years of stumbling over them, we realized they were prefect for our project.

First, we built a narrow bed for the peas. We put down a sheet of weed block paper and a few layers of newspapers to prevent the existing weeds from sprouting up. Then we put down some composted manure and topped it with a mixture of peat moss and soil. The other two beds we completed will be the home of our new raspberry plants and strawberries. We used to have a beautiful patch of raspberries, but for some reason they didn't make it through the winter before last. For those we put a thicker layer of compost down and will cover the plants with straw mulch.

 Something I didn't plan on getting done was the new compost bin. I believe mom found the idea in a gardening magazine and it literally only took ten minutes to build. All it consist of are five wooden pallets held together with fencing wire. There’s one pallet set on the ground for air flow and covered in old hay. Simple as that...

We also did some work around the yard. We built a new house about ten years ago and we've slowly, but surely, been completing the landscaping ourselves. There are some things that I wish we could have afforded to have done professionally, but nonetheless, I think it looks pretty good, despite the few bumps here and there. On the east side of the house, my mom created a raised bed with a two ponds and a waterfall. She would like to extend the water feature into a small stream and a third pond in the small yard next to the garage, but we are still working out the logistics of that. Nonetheless, we did a little contour work on that part of the yard. It certainly doesn't look pretty, but it looks a hundred times better than before.

After a quick run to Farm and Fleet on Sunday morning, I finally got my sandpaper and returned to original project. I sanded off the globby stain and smoothed out a few rough edges. After seeing what the stripped wood looked like, I almost called it done there, but I decided to stick with my original plan and paint them a creamy beige color. I took them to the shop and painted them with primer, and started over after the wind knocked them into some mud a tractor had dragged in (grrrr!). I had originally picked a khaki color since all the walls in my apartment are white and I wanted them to stand out, but I began to think the color was too dark. Because of that, I found something lighter on my sandpaper run and sprayed it on.

Meanwhile, I also took the floor vents from the bathroom and kitchen out with me and gave them a little make-over. The flat, white, vents weren't installed in the wisest places because everyone always steps on them and the powder coat paint job hasn't held up. I painted them that khaki color because a.) I wanted to use the paint for something and b.) I thought maybe the dirt wouldn't show up as bad. After priming them, I went to spray on the top coat and I got an idea for my shelves after the first pass of paint. It made a speckled pattern over the white primer and so I did the same thing to the shelves and...whola! Take that Nate Berkus! Now I just need to decide on a place to put them and what the heck to put 'em...

All in all, it was probably the most productive weekend I've had all spring. On Sunday night while I'll was feeding the calves, I started making a list of everything we accomplished.

Let's see, I repainted my shelves, went to Madison and picked up the art supplies I've been meaning to get for a month, picked up mineral and starter from the feed mill, make the beds, bought seeds and plants at Jungs, mowed the lawn, weeded flower beds, made a compost bin, repotted my house plants, burned the brush pile, smoothed out the yard, started work on the patio, and I even found time to color my hair during all that! We weren’t just weekend warriors…we were weekend conquers.
However, starting a farmer's tan was not one of the things I'd hope to accomplish this weekend...lovely.

Philosophy of Education

So far I've posted about two of the three C's of my blog's namesake, but I haven't really discussed anything about my future profession, teaching.  For those who don't know, becoming a teacher isn't exactly a cake walk.  Not that I'm complaining (well, maybe a little bit), but becoming a teacher takes a lot of work and about ten times as much writing.  There's philosophies, standards alignments, lesson plans, classroom management papers, observation reflections, child development studies, Praxis tests, and Knowledge, Skill, and Disposition statements, all of which must be completed before you can student teach and put everything you've written about into practice.  Then throw all that work on top of your chosen Major coursework.  The good new about all that work is it does weed out people who are in the wrong program.  You've got to be either really dedicated and/or incredibly stubborn to keep going sometimes.

So for your reading pleasure, here is just a small portion of my teaching portfolio.  This was the easy part to write.  I will post a standard alignment to show the torture we must endure to endure more torture as a first year teacher in a middle school...just kidding! 

I wrote this my first semester at Platteville for Intro to Education.  There are some parts that I will probably rewrite before my second level interview, but you'll get the gist.

Philosophy of Education

The Role of Education

If humans were born with every possible skill they would ever need to prosper in life, then there would be no such thing as education.  But, because that is not the case, I believe education is the most important process in humanity.  The world is an ever-changing and constantly evolving place, and sometimes the changes are so rapid that it is hard to keep up.  Both the cause and solution of that constant dilemma is education.  As new ideas and methods are discovered, we have to learn what they mean and how to apply them to our everyday lives.  Thus, one is never finished learning.  The role of education is not just what students learn, but how they learn it, and how they apply that knowledge to future situations they will encounter in their walks of life.  There is no better teacher in the world than real life experience and I believe students must be educated to think critically and how to learn from those experiences to become contributing members of society.

The Role of the Student in Education

            I believe a student must be willing to take charge of his or her own education.  Students must have an open mind and be willing to explore different ideas, subjects and cultures because they’ll never know what they will find interesting if they don’t explore their options.  The most important role of a student is to ask questions and not be afraid to use all the resources available in his or her pursuit of knowledge.  They must also show respect for their teachers and fellow students by being positive participants in the classroom.  Students must have a sense of pride in their work and put forth their best efforts in everything they do, even if they think they are bad at or are not fond of a certain subject.

The Role of the Teacher in Education

            I believe the role of an educator is to teach students important life skills and to help guide them in their pursuit of education by exposing their students to as many things as possible.  A teacher’s biggest challenge is to teach in such a way that makes the students enjoy and be passionate about their education.  Teachers cannot make students learn; they have to make the students want to learn.  I also believe it is a teacher’s mission to challenge his or her students, because nobody knows what they are capable of until they try.  Teachers must always be willing to continue their own education and be flexible.  No two people learn the exact same way and a teacher must be able to adapt to their students learning styles.  Teachers must also be the leader in the classroom.  They must be authoritative and hold their students to the highest standards, but not be an authoritarian who is unreasonably demanding.  Teacher must also keep up with their own education to ensure they are teaching their students the most up to date information and methods.

The Role of the Teacher in the Community

            The role of a teacher in the community is to be a productive, proactive, and positive role model.  I believe that when one decides to be a teacher, that person has to dedicate themselves and answer to higher moral standards than one would in any other profession.  It is their job to be an influence to those who will dictate the future and if an educator wants his or her students to go on tog be productive members of society, then that teacher must lead by example.  If students see their teachers being active members of the community, then they will take the initiative to be one as well. 

Why I Want to be a Teacher

            Being a teacher wasn’t my first career choice, but looking back, I realized it was the right career choice for me.  I believe that knowledge is an incredible gift.  I decided to be a teacher after reading and writing a paper for a Freshman Composition course on a book by Lewis Hyde.  In that book was a chapter about the ‘labor of gratitude’.  That chapter explained how one cannot fully appreciate the meaning or reap all the benefits of a gift given to them until they pass it on to someone else.   I love learning, and more than I love learning, I love passing my knowledge on to others.  I want my students to have as much fun as I do when learning and I want to help guide them down the never-ending and winding path of education. 

Just Pictures!

In an attempt at shameless self-promotion and because I seem incapable at writing a 'quick' post, I've decided to post a few images every week or so of my work.  I'll think of a better, snappy title sooner or later. I will post everything from quick sketches to class assignments.  I'll still write full-fledged posts, but I just want to get more pictures on here since I am a visual artist after all...

                     Kaitlyn R. Nelson 2011 Still life of Pumpkins and Squash Ink on Paper 18x22in

Just one of the many in-class drawings from last semester's drawing class using different values of ink wash like watercolor.  Did you know that using watercolor is actually considered drawing?  Learn something new everyday...

A Productive Weekend

So yet another weekend has come and gone and I’m excited to say that it was actually quite productive.  As I said before, living and working on a farm is incredibly inspiring for an artist.  I’m surrounded by picture perfect moments that I wish I could capture on canvass all the time.  Except for when I have to change to fly tape, that’s just disgusting…  Anyway, the down side of all that inspiration is all the work it takes to keep it all there in the first place.  I drive home nearly every weekend just so I can put on my work boots and feel like I’ve accomplished something besides staying awake through my entire Art History class.  It’s sometimes really hard to justify sitting in a comfy chair with a cup of coffee and make art when the heifer yards need to be scraped and the milk inspector is due. 

But somehow the stars aligned and I finally sat down and painted for a substantial amount of time this weekend!  I’m a bit ashamed to admit this, but I haven’t worked on anything since I had to vacate my previous painting premises in favor of Christmas cookies and cheese platters.  However, it’s not to say I haven’t touched my painting supplies since then.  I’ve had to move them out of the way a few times…

Anyway, I set up shop out on the porch, got my iTunes going, and finally got to work on a painting that I really, really want to do right.  I took this picture a year ago at my hometown’s Memorial Day service and I really hope to complete it before this year’s.  When I finish it, I will write more about why this is such an important painting to me. 

 For now, we can just talk pure aesthetics.  This has got to be the most challenging piece I’ve worked on to date.  The lighting in the picture is extremely hard to work with.  Those wonderful florescent lights that all elementary school gyms seem to come standard with aren’t exactly ideal, far from it actually.  I really enjoy playing with light and contrast in my work, and I’m struggling to quell the flatness going on at the moment.  There are no shadows to ground the subjects to anything.  I think I just might designate a light source and get a better range of value going.  Painting the ACU pattern is proving to be equally challenging, especially because of the horrible lighting.   After several, aggravating hours and nearly stabbing a brush through the canvass, I realized I needed to first figure out the areas of light and dark. As of now, I thinking ambiguity may be the ticket instead of thinking I’m going to get every, single pixel in there.

I’m also on the fence about the chairs in the foreground.  They take up so much space and are just kind of…there.  However, I’m afraid that if I take them out then I will have to improvise what they’re hiding and it won’t look right.  Lots of perspective to guess at and dink around with behind those chairs…

 Nonetheless, I still have a long ways to go, but it has certainly come a long way.  More to come!

Spring!

When I was younger, summer was my favorite season of the year. Obliviously, the lack of school played a significant role in that conclusion.  I’m sure I wasn’t the only kid who dreamed of an endless summer vacation.  However, the wisdom I’ve collected in my advancing years have allowed me to appreciate more than just being able to sleep in on a week day.  My revelation is that I love spring and at the risk of sounding sappy, I love it because it’s all about new beginnings.  Think about it, we end the year with cold and snow and we begin the New Year with more snow and even lower temps.  When the sun starts shining a little warmer and the days get longer, it is the first time you get the sense that there is actually something new about the year.  Plus, it usually takes me a few months before I stop writing the wrong date. 

Spring on the farm is probably the reason I love the season the most.  After being buried under snow and stuck doing the same old chores day after day, sometimes the only thing that keeps us from going crazy is the prospect of warmer weather and new projects.  As most know, spring this year has been a bit unusual.  A few years ago, it hit 80 degrees on April 1^st and we all thought that was crazy.  Around St. Patrick’s, I wore shorts and t-shirts during evening chores.  As nice as the June-like temperatures were, it is also a bit disconcerting.  All the plants went and shot up nearly a month ahead of schedule and now threats of frost and lost crops are causing a lot of sleepless nights for crop growers in the Midwest. 

Nonetheless, the mild winter and early spring have certainly been good for the cows.  I can’t remember the last time our cattle have looked so good this early in the year.  Usually, it takes a good three months of pasture and green grass for them to shed out and replace lost winter weight.  I am most excited about our young stock.  They truly are some of the best looking heifer we’ve ever raised and the source of that success is easily identifiable: my mother. 

My mom truly is quintessential farm wife.  Beyond being an excellent cook and wonderfully supportive mother who somehow raised five children who are well-adjusted, well-behaved, good-looking (okay, I’ll stop now), my mom can really do it all on the farm.  She can run everything from the combine to the weed whacker and is also our resident plumber, electrician, and mechanic.  Mom grew up on a large vegetable farm in central Wisconsin.  Being the oldest of three kids, Mom was helping my grandpa fix irrigation systems and driving tractors as soon as her feet could reach the pedals.  It’s fun to go to the implement dealership with her because more often than not, she knows more about the parts we need than the guy behind the counter. 

About two years ago, Mom made the decision to give up her job and return to being a full time farmer.  It seemed a silly thing to do with the economy being as it is, but she’s never looked back.  With the last kid leaving for college this fall, my dad needed the extra help and things have really turned around.  One of the biggest downfalls of our dairy operation has been the management of our young stock.  The first six months of life is the most critical growing period for cattle.  Not only will it determine the height and weight of the animal, but proper development of the rumen will determine how efficiently a cow will process its feed not only making the cow more productive, but healthier in general.  After returning to the farm, Mom caught up all our registrations, got us back on monthly DHIA testing, and put our cows on a mating program that matches them to the best sires according to their genetics and traits.  She also keeps my dad on schedule, despite his whining he knows he couldn’t do it without her.  Let’s just say the results have certainly been worth the investments.  For as long as I can remember, ‘if only she were taller’ was the line that ended nearly every conversation about the quality of our animals.  We’ve always had the genetics to back up a good herd, but since we’ve revamped our feeding program, our animals actually look the part.

With the showing season soon approaching, trying to narrow down our show string is a welcome problem.  On the left is Nels-Vale Fulton Besty.  She was born December 5th and goes back to an a September Storm and one of our foundation dams.  Her great-granddam, Beebee, was a bit of a pet to us kids.  I won both my heifer and showmanship class with her.  My brother showed her granddam as a spring calf his first year in 4-H.  One of the benefits of having a smaller herd is the fact that we can remember all this about every animal.  I swear, my dad can look at a cow and tell what the weather was like and what he ate for lunch the day he bought her great-great-grandma twenty years ago, but he can’t keep his own kids names and birthdays strait.

The 10 legged-two butted-one headed cow...

Okay, so that's really not the title of this piece.  It's what my sister called it the first time she saw a picture of it on Facebook, and I have to say I kinda agree with her.  This painting was I guess you could call a 'spur of the moment' idea.  I'd taken a photo of a group of our cows chilling under a grove of trees on a particularly hot October afternoon about two years ago. Last spring, I found myself sick of school work and art assignments (imagine that).  I just needed to do something for myself (or I was avoiding doing some project that I really should have been working on instead). 

This picture was taken maybe an hour or two after I started working on it.  My first painting instructor in college beat it into us that we should completely cover the canvass with paint within the first class period.  I'm not sure I agree with that because I find myself working too fast.  I don't stop and think about where stuff really should be.  Yes, it's good to get things blocked out and situated, but don't rush.  I catch myself painting something, not liking it, and then painting over it only to realize I painted the exact same thing again.  I'll do that at least twenty times and it drives me nuts.  It's like when you're learning a dance step or a soccer move and you just keep doing the same motions over and over again.  It is imprinted in your mind and in your muscles and you just cannot stop repeating it. 

So this picture was taken sometime in late summer.  I don't think I touched the painting again for another few months after I initially started it.  That's kinda the down side of going home to a farm for the summer.  If there isn't something that should have already been done an hour ago, you can certainly find something to do.   But I did have a due date.  I was trying to get it done before the Iowa County Fair.  I'm pretty sure I've been to the fair every year since I was born.  I bet between my dad and my four other sibling we've entered something in every category.  Except for goats, goats aren't allowed on our farm...according to my father.  That story to come another time.

 But, I did end up getting it done in time for the fair and I won a special merit ribbon.  Two years in a row, I won the Dorothy McNeil Best of Show Award, something I'm really proud of.  My painting that I posted before won in the Junior Show my last year.  However, I was actually relieved that I didn't get it this year.  A very beautiful painting in the folk art category won it and really deserved it.  A fellow Pioneer and Drawing III classmate won in the Junior Division.  Actually, I think all my entries received blues...but that's because they were the only ones in there class...

Any who, I'm not entirely happy with how this one turned out.  It got a little too much on the cool side for me and that cow face could use a bit more work.  But, that's how you learn.  I need to slow down and work out the composition, but I also need to not over think and over work my work...if that makes any sense.

Hello and Welcome!

Well, here it finally is...I think I've only been meaning to write something since October.  If you don't already know it (face it, only my family and really bored friends are readying this), my name is Kaitlyn.  I grew up on a small dairy farm in southern Wisconsin that my parents have owned and operated for over thirty years when they purchased it from my grandparents. Even though I've chosen a different career path, the dairy industry remains an enormous part of my life.  In this blog I will tell you about the going-on's of Nels-Vale Farm, since there is always something going on and funny stories to tell and history to share.

As for that different career path, I'm sure you've figured it out from my title, but if not (and again, if you don't actually know me) I am currently attending UW-Platteville and majoring in Art Education.  My path to this career has certainly been interesting, and still on going.  Who (of those who know me) would have ever thought I'd want to be a teacher, certainly not me.  I was far from a stellar student before college and becoming a teacher was not exactly on my long list of possible careers.  Well, maybe it was.  Right between 'Crime Scene Technician' and 'Special Effects Make-up Artist'.  But alas, I caught the teaching bug, rather I think I've always had it.  When you think about it, being a teacher is kind of like having a virus, but how you handle it is what makes there difference.  Either you suffer through it and let yourself get grouchy, or you make the most of it.  To achieve the latter, you need to make a plan, find resources that will help you, and take a lot, I mean a lot of Vitamin C.  Either way, you will go through a lot of Kleenex...

Art, the final variable, is something that has always been a part of my life, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I actually considered pursuing it as a profession.  That will be a story for another day, so for now let’s just say I've never been more excited about what I'm doing. Not only am I going to be in a profession that I can practice my own craft, I will be helping kid discover their own talents.

Below is the painting that changed everything for me.  I did it in my dorm room back in UW-River Falls where I was majoring in Dairy Science with intentions of going to become a large animal vet.  See, I told you it was an interesting path...