Happy New Year! …18 days later…

LIFE UPDATE

I’m already enjoying these new beginnings of 2019. I finished my teaching credential (preliminary) at the end of December, and officially filed my paperwork at SJSU this week! (Yay!) Now I’m starting to look for art teaching jobs around California – San José greater area, Sacramento…maybe even LA.

Last year, I seized the opportunity to add on an MA through the Interdisciplinary Studies major at San José State University. I will finish that this spring semester, focusing on metacognition (or thinking about your own thinking) within art education. More to come on that topic…

While finishing my Master’s degree, I will continue to substitute teach around San José and helping out at Drawn 2 Art’s studio in Los Altos. I’m “shopping” around at this moment (within the public & charter school systems) and getting a sense for how different schools function. I’m both excited and nervous about the new opportunities coming my way; however, I am most grateful for the experiences I’ve had so far in my student teaching and relationships I’ve made through SJSU’s teaching credential program. My student teaching experience last semester was particularly amazing, and I’m a little sad I can’t finish the semester with those students.

ART UPDATE

I had some time off to work on art once I returned from a 5-day trip to Florida for Christmas. I did a few other things, but for now here are some of my favorites to share with y’all:

This painting was made for my sister, Jenn; she wanted something for her office wall. Acrylic on loose canvas – about 46″ x 22″.

Ode to the hills of California….

These cat portraits are for my boyfriend’s sister, Hanna; they are basically her children. I was going for that retro 70s/80s portrait feel with two angles of the cats. Conté crayon on black paper, 8.5″ x 11″.

Works/San José Gallery had an open call for artists to enter portraits in the form of a square. I had 4 mini canvases (4″ x 4″) and used them to create an autobiographical portrait of me and Christian to celebrate our love, squared. This painting was particularly challenging, but I think I more or less captured our gazes and expressions. It will be on display in the SJ downtown gallery from Jan. 25 – mid-February.