Bright Colors

I'm not sure what gave me away, but one of the first discoveries my husband made about me was that bright colors (Sunday Postcard Art) make me happy. Not rocket science, but true. That's why January and February are the hardest months for me; the dim muddled light of these two months makes me a little prone to the blues. I just seem to want to eat and hibernate, Maybe I have a touch of Affective Light Disorder, I don't know, but I have found out that I can fight off tho blues with art. I used to spend the long cold winter days sewing or making scrapbooks for my sons, and, this year I plan to paint. I've actually been dying to work on the three ideas that I have swirling around my brain, but December has been devoted to Christmas decorating and to finally making curtains for my keeping room.

This postcard was originally the title page for the new art/poetry journal I started with my writing class, but my students really like it, so I've converted it into a Christmas card that I plan to give each of them. For the final semester project in Writing, I assigned a compilation of original poems and illustrations. My students have written enough 5 paragraph essays, as far as I'm concerned, and I think they'll do just fine on the Georgia High School Writing Test, so I decided to wrap up the year with some creative writing for their souls. We've spent the last week eating cake, burning cider-scented candles, and listening to holiday music (I told them, "I love Christmas music. I love to sing, and I don't do it particularly well, so deal with it.") When my Harry Connick Jr. c.d. cycles on we've even danced a little bit. Good times. Don't get me wrong; we're not just partying. They actually have to include specific criteria in their poems. You know: the ubiquitous metaphor, simile, personification, visual imagery, yada, yada, yada, but we are having fun. Somewhere in the midst of all this merriment, each student has managed to write 8 poems, and some of the journals are beautifully illustrated. One of my girls, Jazmyne, loves journaling so much that she spends an extra class period (her lunch and advisement time) with me every day, painting. When the journals are turned in next week, I'll share some of their pages with you. Until then, though, "may your days be merry and bright!"