I have been working on a few projects in the studio and I thought I would share. Over the winter break I learned a new bookbinding technique and I have been making books for a variety of uses. (Mostly I have been making books to make books)  Up next I will be making small books (4"x 4") and then I'm going to try my hand at triangle books. TRIANGULAR BOOKS, people! I'm pretty jazzed about the whole thing.

And I have been working on lettering and flourishes in watercolor. 
In anticipation of Galentine's Day, I am making a few cards. 
You can check in later to see what I mean...(hint hint)
I'm not saying I'm the best friend, but I'm pretty good at being a good friend.

1. Focus on the similarities of the cultures before you look at what's different. Do the kids go to school? What holidays do they celebrate? (Just about every culture celebrates the New Year, even if it doesn't fall on December 31!) 

2. Take a look at the food! Food is always a nice way to introduce kids to a new place. And please don't start with the weird stuff--how would you feel if someone started their exploration of America by passing out Rocky Mountain oysters?

3. Find a real-life person who has either lived in that country or is from that country. You can look into contacting embassies, multicultural student groups at universities, or the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGS) Facebook page. 

4. Get books from the library that are written for your Scouts' grade level. Books written for elementary aged kids usually have great pictures.

5. Look at the art that comes from the country. Talk about how it was made and see if you can recreate it. 

And above all, encourage the girls to talk about what they like (rather than focus on what they dislike). The purpose here is to introduce them to the world beyond in a way that encourages curiosity and promotes exploration. 

There is more information on World Thinking Day on the Girl Scouts webpage.

The list of resources is by no means complete! I have chosen six websites that have clear instructions, a variety of projects for a variety of ages and one YouTube channel that explores why things happen. 
Up first we have PBS LearningMedia!
 This is a storehouse of video clips owned or licensed by PBS. It covers science, social studies, math, and English language arts. There is a drop-down menu at the top that allows you to sort by grade range and subject. This would be an excellent place to learn scientific concepts and spark ideas for projects.
Next is TinkerLab!
This site is for making stuff--all kinds of stuff. Science Experiments are all to be found in the drop down menu on the front page. They range from simple (rock candy experiment) to complex (Makey Makey kits), but they are all feasible and sure to spark a kid's imagination.
Museum of Science & Industry, anyone?
If you live anywhere near Chicago, you should be familiar with the Museum of Science and Industry. But did you know that the website has activities and how-tos? You can learn how to build an electric motor! 
Everybody likes a buddy, and this time of year we need a Science Buddy!
You can use the selection wizard tool to help you narrow down your options or pick a project with a kit. The projects are broken down by subject area: physical science, life science, engineering, behavioral and social science, earth and environmental science, math and computer science, and special collections. Additionally there is a section on "science careers" which lists different careers in the aforementioned fields and  gives a synopsis of the career, what education is required, and science projects related to that career. Warning: this website has the potential to suck you in for hours!
Let's not forget Education.com! 
Education.com covers a wide variety of subjects for kids grades K-12. The Science Fair section can be broken down by field of study or by grade range. You have the option to become a member (not necessary unless you are REALLY into worksheets) but the science fair section is accessible to non-members. The projects are interesting and varied--there is something there for everyone. My complaint is that there are a million ads on the site, which occasionally slow down the load time of the page.
You've heard of Make Magazine, right?
Make Magazine has brought us Maker Faires and celebrates the people who MAKE things. There are a variety of projects on the website, some are elementary-age appropriate and some are high-school level (after experience with hand tools and/or electricity).  I like Make because it showcases human ingenuity and people who want to share their ideas and discoveries with you. 
Lastly, there is Veritasium, a YouTube channel that explores the world around us through the lens of science.
Don't discount YouTube as a learning tool! There are a lot of really smart people demonstrating how amazing the world we live in can be. I may have to do a whole post on YouTube for learning--because there is some seriously amazing stuff happening over there.

Do you have a favorite online science resource? What did I forget? What should I know about? Fill me in, people!

The cast of animals should be mostly familiar to young readers: jackal, crane, fish, turtle, squirrel, cat, peacock, elephant, and a tailor bird. The text inside the story provides excellent vocabulary-enriching opportunities. 
The illustrations are large enough to make this book work for storytime. It is flexible enough to work for a variety of themes: eating, books with singing, new twists on old tales, and stories from India to name a few. With this book you could also incorporate making predictions, clapping to the song, waving scarves to the song, and readers could read the sound effects which are in white text. Extension activities can be art-based (you knew I was going to go there, right?) For older children, you can show them how the illustrations were made and then provide them black paper and white paint to create their own animals. For younger children, you could show them how the artist uses patterns to decorate the animals and have them draw and decorate animals. Both of these activities will allow them to use their pencil-holding muscles and encourage them to make text-to-self connections. 

Have you seen the quote that says "You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce"? Once I saw it I felt super-motivated to look at how I spend my time. I'm not sure how many hours a day the super-prolific star spends sleeping, but I need a solid 8 to be of any use to anyone. That gives me 16 hours in which to do something. I'm not a huge TV person (most of my watching happens on weekend nights via Netflix) so I don't really have to worry about that getting in the way. I read a lot, which I consider a worthwhile use of time--anywhere from 2-4 hours a day you will find me in a book. And then there is time spent making meals and eating...let's call that 3 hours. And lastly there is school work, Girl Scout prep, and yoga.
 Conservative estimate of my time still available to me: 3 hours a day. That's A LOT of time, yet somehow I feel like I have no time. 
Which is a shame, because I have all these great ideas that I want to share with you. 

This semester I am taking a class that is going to Bologna, Italy for the Children's International Book Fair (where rights to books get bought and sold.) The Fair at Bologna is kind of a big deal--it's where Scholastic bought the rights to print and distribute Harry Potter.  As prep for the trip we are reading books that were originally published outside of the United States. I am a lover of picture books and can spot an international picture book from 50 paces--the art and narrative sensibility are different than American published books (and, confession: I love the slightly off-kilter feeling of reading a book from elsewhere). So far I am halfway through the reading list, and I cannot pick a favorite. The trouble with being a bibliophile is that the books I dislike are few and far between. 

Here are is what I have read so far and how I think you could use them in your classroom or in the library!

The Bathing Costume: Or the Worst Vacation of My Life by Charlotte Moundlic, illustrated by Oliver Tallec, Enchanted Lion, 2013. France. 
 

This is an excellent example of narrative to be used with middle grades. It could be used to start a memoir project, or to talk about the interaction between text and illustration. In the library it would work as a display book for summer, or for conquering fear, or for family. You could also use it as an example for a teen or tween creative writing group.  

This summer has been CRAZY BUSY. But not so terribly busy that I haven't found time to try some new things.
Top three new things I have done this summer:

1. TRAVEL TO NEW PLACES 
I went far away to Sicily, but I also went to the BlackRock Medieval Festival in Augusta, Michigan which is not too far away. When I can't go somewhere far, I go somewhere close by but new-to-me. I love to explore new towns and see what makes them unique. Get in the car and go 30 minutes in a new direction, or get on your public transit and get off at an unfamiliar stop. Ask your friends for their favorite underrated places. You are never too old for a field trip!

2. MAKE NEW FRIENDS
This gets harder as we get older, I know. But reaching out to someone new and making a connection is still exciting as an adult. With the benefit of the internet, you can make friends with people who don't even live in your town. I have discovered that my kids gravitate towards other kids who have interesting parents--which makes it easier for me to make new friends, for sure. I'm also currently attending grad school and making friends there. I love meeting new people and hearing their stories, and if we meet in person you will discover that I do a lot more listening than talking.

3.LISTEN TO NEW THINGS (in my case this is both music and podcasts)
 I'm currently enjoying a podcast by SeanWes, which focuses on business and creativity. Last week I was combing through the back catalog of his podcasts and came across one that suggested rising earlier than usual to devote time to writing. I've been doing that for a few days now and I plan to continue on--there's something about those quiet early morning hours that seem so much more productive than the end-of-the-day hours. 
If your life is super hectic, and you are wondering when you will have time to listen to a podcast I urge you to get creative with your time. I listen to podcasts when I clean the house--it takes an otherwise mundane task and turns it into a somewhat enjoyable task. I also listen to podcasts when I'm in the later stage of artwork (once all the design choices have been resolved and I am on auto-pilot).
As far as music goes, you can ask for recommendations from friends or you can rely on the algorithms of Pandora--whatever fits your style. 

Those are my top three new things this summer. Tomorrow is the first day of August and summer will be winding down. I will be buried under a pile of books as I try to get a jump on assigned reading for the fall semester. 

Before I lay paint to canvas, I have a rough sketch to work from. Before the sketch, there is an idea. As I live in the world, I am bombarded with information and inspiration on a daily basis. There is no way I could take all of  these ideas and turn them into art as they happen--unless I give up on doing all the things that allow me to function. I tried that once in college. I stayed up for three days working on projects for my painting class and my scene design class. When I finally crashed I slept for 15 hours and woke up hungry enough to eat six hamburgers. While it was interesting enough to go through the process, I knew it wasn't a pace I could keep up. Enter the sketchbook. 
I have been keeping sketchbooks since 1995, and for a while I was at the pace of one to two books a year. Then I had children, and sleep deprivation and a full-up schedule of being a caregiver slowed me waaaay down. 
When I first started keeping sketchbooks, my high school art teacher told me that the books should be more than a place to record your ideas. He called sketchbooks "a reflection of you"--over time my sketchbooks have been both intensely personal and a place to record that bit of inspiration before it evaporates into the ether. I always kept one book at a time, but now I am starting to branch out. The explosion of art journaling has definitely increased the variety of pre-made books available which is great. I love being able to get my hands on a book with heavier weight paper. I like to have a sturdy substrate to build on. 
The most interesting thing to me, as an artist, is how many ideas go into the sketchbook and just stay there. If I never had another idea, I would have enough fodder to work for the rest of my life in my sketchbook collection. There are plenty of concepts that seem really promising at first, but wind up being too meh* to ever get to the point of becoming a stand-alone work. It's the ideas that follow you around all day, tapping you on the shoulder begging you to consider how to resolve their issues that even get to the point of serious consideration. I suspect this is much the same for anyone who creates--the world is full of ideas, inspiration is everywhere! But you only have 24 hours in a day. The work that you choose to shackle yourself  to and carry out to the end of it's creation has to be worthy of those precious hours. 
Which isn't to say that I haven't ever painted over a canvas, because I have. I have been moving around with the same 3 large canvases that I used for a final project in 1999--and every few years they get a facelift. If you have a piece from me I promise that I won't come to your house and paint over it. Unless you want me to--in which case, let me grab my paint and I'll be right over.

I've included a slide show of random pages out of the various books I have worked on for the past two decades.

*meh--bland, boring, mundane.