BAGilligan

Well, it has been an interesting time.....I got offered a job in Garden City, which while it wasn't the first place we wanted to be has turned out better than we thought. The house we are renting is tiny and I'm getting my teaching abilities tested. The biggest challenge is learning how to effectively manage the classrooms....especially when many of my classes are over 25 and I have at least one class in each semester in which I have 35 or more. So being they are mixed classes I have to accommodate I have to have lessons planned for almost two years ahead to keep things interesting.....my second year, if they re-sign me I'll have to try and adjust things so the new kids get the basics and the second year kids get something more challenging. Of course the kids were completely shocked and dismayed that they actually had to do homework in art and learn stuff about art history, as well as the appropriate terms that are used in art. I have far fewer of the kids who think art is pud in my classes next semester, and several of the kids who I had this semester wanting to take it again. We'll see how things go, my evaluations were pretty good save for one hiccup, and I am working on improving my management style...just need to be tougher on the kids...I tend to be a softy....*sigh*. After this semester though I can apply for my 5 year license and Garden City is growing pretty quick and large...we are getting an Old Chicago's and a Hobby Lobby among others, but we have also found some gems that make living in Garden easier, like El Conquistador....best food ever...huge burritos and other Mexican plates, plus the western dishes are good as well. Working on some drawings, but not pleased with how they are shaping up....I usually do the assignments along with the kids so I can model what they need to do, but on my time off I have been practicing doing people. I did a portrait of my wife's parents for their anniversary, it turned out ok....but these new pieces just don't seem to be coming together as I would like. Stepping outside my comfort zone is important though, especially if I want to grow as an artist. Photographically, the balloons and the zoo have given me some interesting subjects, but I need to review my material and be objective.....and more importantly I need to get out and shoot more. I got one of the Weber sketchbook cases for Christmas, which is awesome, and I replaced my old Weber bag with a new one after almost 9 years of hard use...thinking about getting one of the dual pencil cases from there as well.....only issue I ever had with my old bag was the shoulder strap broke, I replaced it with an old army satchel strap and it lasted until the stitching came apart. Suppose that is all that is happening right now, it's nice to have a small break before we go back to 18 more weeks of school.

I know it has been a long time since I posted here. However, I have secured a job teaching art to grades 7 and 8 in Garden City, Kansas. I am so looking forward to being able to actually teach instead of slogging freight. Of course the transition and move has not been easy.....heaven forbid .....we finally managed to get a place to live for September, course I start in August...so that leaves us in a small situation. We're probably going to get a storage locker and with luck find someplace to stay that won't cost us a fortune until we move in to the house.

It is strange being out of school.....I am certainly not where I want to be right now, but I know I have the skills to do better, I just need to figure out how to go about doing that. I especially need to figure out how to stay motivated to draw and take pictures with the limited time available to me, last little while I have been so exhausted from working, mostly because it is physically demanding that even on my days off I don't seem to have enough energy to do much. When I do I spend it applying for teaching jobs, so I really don't have much time off....most days I just want to sleep and not wake up. So this is why motivation is difficult.....I need to find a way to not feel mired down, I'm trying some self-hypnosis stuff, but that doesn't seem to have any real lasting effect....but even extending the placebo effect would be better than nothing. Student loans are coming due and most of them don't want to grant forbearance even though I'm making squat, just enough to get by on....so I can understand the desire to just pull the covers over my head and say enough. Not much more to say at this point.....just that it feels like my creative energy has been sucked out of me.

Not much luck finding a teaching position yet, either at the college level or K-12.....it is looking like we are going to need to pay down some of the credit beasts and then save some money so we can move and then I can work on getting a better job in graphics or something similar....blogging news, etc. At least then we can start paying off my ugly student loans, though I probably have far less to pay down than some people who took medicine or engineering or law......its still significant for us. I do hope that one day I'll eventually get to teach, especially K-12, but the US system doesn't appear to really give a damn about what they have for teachers.....I saw a position in England for a junior lecturer that was making 31,000 pounds.......and the same position here in the states averages at about 26,000 dollars, talk about a huge disparity. Anyway, I also need to work on the In-laws portrait....I'm about a quarter done, figure that I'm an actual artist....I should at least do one family related portrait sometime...even if I do dislike drawing people (It's just my perfectionist streak, makes me hate everything I do when living people are involved). I haven't touched my camera in almost a month, between working myself to exhaustion throwing freight around, its been too hot to go out and my creative energies have been feeling sapped to near infinitesimal amounts....I'm not sure what to do to keep up the creative spark.

Ok, the need to make a statement after hearing one or two people at the gallery walk last night......the comment that has me irritated is "I should go take pictures of broken down machines and charge for it"....well, go for it, because what I do isn't just snapping photos of broken down machines/decaying structures etc. The actual taking of the photograph is only one element in the process and trying to find an appropriate composition, making sure the lighting is right etc., is a lot harder than some people seem to realize. Then I have to make sure that what I have taken is properly mapped, and that I don't overdo the color too much and many other post image capture elements. This can take a few hours assuming everything falls into place on the first try....and as many artists on here can tell you....it almost never comes together on the first try....I try and tell people there are differences between snapshots and photographs, and often times that rests with the training and skill of the person taking the picture. I have seen really wonderful pictures taken by people with less training, the difference the training gives you is that you increase your chances of capturing good photos, and therefore increase your chances of getting the great ones as well. It's very disconcerting when people demean your creative process, however, it also makes the praise one receives about their work mean that much more.

I didn't get the opportunity to partake in the walk itself and missed out on some interesting works I'm sure, but I had to work and only was able to attend my own show for an hour. I wanted to publicly thank Mr. Kris Kuksi for allowing me to show at his gallery until the end of this month, and I really appreciate that his family thought highly of my work. I wish them all kinds fun and excitement through the summer and into next year.