Art at the Library: Print Making 101

Kimberly-Little Chute Library has started to do Thursday Arts and Crafts Night at the Little Chute Library. It's cool because the library is closed and you still get to hang out among the stacks of books. This month, Stephanie was demonstrating print making. She has done several events/classes in the area and I've never been able to go. This time I was like I'm going to be there.

This is just like the print making I did back in middle school with the linoleum pieces and the same sharp tools. We could do any print we wanted. At first I was like Mickey mouse.. then I was like the "W" for the Badgers, well I ended up with the Brewers logo. Stephanie actually printed it out for me and it saved me the step of drawing it.

After rubbing the back of the design with charcoal, I traced the logo onto my linoleum square. Then I got to dig out what I didn't want to print. This was harder than it sounded. In order to get the logo to show, I just cut away the outline of the ball and glove and then trimmed my square around the logo so I didn't have to dig out a lot of empty space.

Since we had such a small group, we got to experiment a bit more with colors and techniques. Stephanie showed me how to use two colors and blend them together when I printed. It gave the logo a new twist.

She also showed me how to make "ghost" prints, which are essentially just a second print without adding more paint. The ghost prints came out awesome.

I can't remember the last time I had fun with print making. I dreaded this unit in school since it seemed complicated and dangerous. I could never seem to get a print the way I wanted. However, print making at the library was a blast. Maybe I will just make my own Brewer Christmas paper this year.

I can't wait to see what future art nights at the library will bring. Even though I'm not very crafty or artistic, it's always fun (and challenging) to get out of my comfort zone.

#734 Crash a Party

I always thought it would be fun to crash a party. I figured I would probably never get around to do it though because it would require me to actually pretend to know people and socialize with strangers. Not my idea of a fun time.

However when your parents' neighbors are throwing a graduation party and your parents declined to attend because of a party at their house, crashing the neighbors' party only seemed like the "neighborly" thing to do. Besides Bob never crashed a party either and he was up for coming with me. Since I wasn't technically invited, if I were to go to the party it would have been considered crashing. This was all worked out ahead time via some quick texts to Stacy and Danielle.

The main reason I wanted to crash the party, besides to cross it off the bucket list, was to play cornhole or bean bag. The party at my parents was over and since the kids all moved out there were no fun lawn games to play to kill time which is another reason why we decided to crash the party -- there was nothing else to do.

Bob, Tanya, and I headed across the street and was immediately greeted by our neighbor, Dave, who insisted on us having something to eat and drink. We tried to get away with a cookie but he insisted on us having a sandwich or some mac and cheese. Oh and help yourself to the beer. Tanya just wanted cake. I told him I wanted to play cornhole and he said he'd play against me.

After a few more texts, my cousins plus Ryan and Tracy meandered across the street. Dave also insisted on everyone eating and having a beer or two. There was no shortage of food or drink at this party. We even managed to take a few beers home for later.

Finally the cornhole became available. Bob beat me in my warm up game which Dave insist I do. Not knowing the rules, I said we'd play to 3.... after explaining the rules to me I quickly realized that was going to be a quick game. We ended up playing to 21 and let's just say my 2 measly points didn't really help my cause. However it was still a blast.

We were probably only over there for like 30 minutes but it was still a blast. We probably could have stayed the entire night and they wouldn't have cared. I figured Dave wouldn't care if we crashed his son's graduation party. He has always been a 'more the merrier" kind of guy.

However if I were ever to crash another party in my future, it would have to be one of those I don't care who shows up kind of parties since I am not good at making up pretend relatives or friends and really don't want to get arrested (or shot) by a crazy party host.

#674 Catch butterflies

Every fall while at Pop Warner football, I wish I had a butterfly net so I could catch butterflies. Running through a field trying snag a monarch butterfly always seemed like fun. Sure I probably caught butterflies and moths as a kid but I don't remember. I had butterflies land on me in various butterfly gardens but that kind of defeats the purpose of trying to catch them.

Since I could never remember to buy a butterfly net to bring with me to football, I used the next best thing.... Jayden's butterfly net and my parents backyard. All I had to do is ask Jayden if we could catch butterflies and he was game... what boy isn't it???

There were a few butterflies flitting about the weeds at the edge of the farmer's field. Because I didn't have shoes on, we couldn't venture into the weeds to try to snag one of the butterflies. Every time we got close to being able to catch one, it would take off again and Jayden and I would be running to catch up.

I did manage to snag one white butterfly in the field but that is all we managed.

It was a fun 10-15 minutes of chasing butterflies. Next time I will be sure to wear shoes and maybe have a bigger space to try to catch butterflies. I'm sure Jayden will be more than happy to catch butterflies with me again.

For the One that Finds Me Painting Adventure

Because Kimberly-Little Chute has an artsy program person, they have a lot of art events. Partnering with Richeson School of Art and Gallery and local florists, they hosted flower painting nights at both the Little Chute and Kimberly libraries. The idea was to paint a small painting of flowers and leave the paintings and flowers around the community for someone was to find as part of the "For the One Who Finds Me" project.

Despite being a lackluster artist, I wanted to do this. It was not one of my better ideas. This was the one time my lack of art ability really hindered me. I had to paint a still life of a flower and the ones at my table were roses. It was impossible. I know I was afraid of it doing a bad job but it was still tough to paint realistic roses especially since I can't draw one to save my life.

We had an instructor from Richeson who demonstrated a few techniques but really left us up to our own devices. I wanted a lot of help but didn't get much. She got my started but then made me to do the bulk of the work on my own. I was so lost.   I think I should have just left the outlines of the flowers on the background.

We then had to go "hide" our projects in a public place in Kimberly. If we knew our painting was going to be found that night, we could have take the flowers too. I wasn't sure if it was going to be found so I left the flowers at the library, took my dismal painting and headed home. I thought of leaving it at the breakfast joint but decided Sunset Park would be fun. Initially, I wanted to leave it at the bandshell but the couple making out deterred that idea and I left it propped up on a picnic table in one of the pavilions. Hopefully who ever found it, the painting made them smile.

It was a great project.... and if I wasn't so afraid of failing, I would have just painted any flower and not those dang red roses on my table. I can do daisies pretty well. There's always next painting adventure. Knowing Stephanie, there will be plenty of time to get this flower painting thing right.