ATC: Cubism wrap up and next theme

 Our first week of ATC (Artist Trading Cards) was super fun! Here are the boys' cards:

Ethan's cubism (untitled)
Medium: colored pencils

Gabe's cubism: titled, Dottol Man / Mr. Meter: Awesome
Medium: colored pencils

My cubism: Alley Cat
Medium: Pastels, Crayons, Pencil

Next week we chose a broader subject: Autumn. So consider the smells, tastes, scenes, feelings of Autumn and find your inspiration! Email me with scans of your trading cards and I'll post them up here next week!

Bootcamp Week 8

Day one: This is the last week of bootcamp!!!! I can't believe it! Its just flown by so quickly! Today's strength training was the same from last week, but instead of 4 sets, it was 5! Last week I didn't think I could get through 3 sets but surprised myself and did all 4. So this week I told myself, "Self, you did 4 last week do four this week. And then do at least half the reps for set 5." So I thought about all the days I skipped a workout because of motivation or because I was sick and dug deeper. I did all 5! And I focused on my form so they would be GOOD sets and not sloppy sets. Oh my word. I can't believe I'm so close to the finish line.

Day two: Its a cardio day. I daydreamed about strength workouts all day. Its so weird. I was such a running / aerobics / dancing girl before and now all I ever want to do is play with weights. Maybe its my age or my season of life but at the end of a weight workout I feel like a million bucks! At the end of a cardio workout I feel tired.

Day three: Migraine city. No fun at all. 

Day four: Tennis and walking with my gal pal. I wish I had time to squeeze in some of those weight routines. I feel kind of bad, like I cheated myself, for all the days I missed but just because this is the last week of bootcamp doesn't mean its my last week of doing Tina Reale's workouts. I will do BBB3 and I'll fill in the gap with the workouts from BBB2. Its all good.

Day five: I can't wait to share my results! If I had done the program to a T these results would be phenomenal. Since I didn't, these results are just plain awesome!!!!

Check it out!

I don't know what' happening with my hair in 9/2012

	Before	After
Height	5’3”	5’3”
Weight	137.5	128.0
Waist	34.5	28
Hips	38	35.75
Chest	33.5	33
Bicep	12.5	12
Thigh	24.5	21

Those are my physical results. I'm more confident, my posture has improved, my attitude has improved, my outlook is more positive, my daily routine is more structured and my energy level went up a notch. 

Woot! I'm so excited! The plan: I'm going to really stay at the same level of exercise and nutrition that I'm at now until BB3 starts - then I'm going to step up my game.

Bootcamp Week 7

Day one: I don't know if I have stressed just HOW much I love this program! Take today for example, today I am on a road trip and will not be able to work out - but I can't get my mind off of how excited I am to get back to it. Thank you Tina Reale!

Day two: My allergies are AWFUL. And just getting back home from our brief excursion, I need to channel my energy towards catching up on all things housework.

Day three: Ok - for as much I said I wanted to get back to it, I'm not acting like it. I just couldn't get into it today and the next thing I knew it was 10pm. Argh. I hate days like this.

Day four: Woot! This is it! This morning, I got in some tennis. Our first game in a few months. The heat and humidity sapped a lot of energy out of us so we spent the rest of our time together on a brisk walk. Sadly, it was too much time outside and a bad bad headache followed up. Darn allergies. But I did the strength training anyway. If I wait for a day that I feel good with no ailments, I could be waiting a long long long time. At one point, I thought my brain was going to explode through my eye sockets. At the end of it, I was glad to have finished it - I love weight lifting! And even though I endured some discomfort, I didn't cause an injury so its worth it.

Day five: I ignored Tina's cardio recommendation and jogged 2 miles. Her workouts are so awesome for many reasons and one of them is the flexibility. You can almost pick and choose what you can work into your schedule. But be careful: you don't want to take too many licenses or you might sabotage your results. She has this thing down to a science. Have I complained about the allergies yet today? No? Then let me begin. I'm regretting being outside for more than 5 minutes - but I'm not regretting running. My body - no, my MUSCLES feel amazing. My nose and ears and head feel like poo.

Picture of the day: rock climbing. Oh boy - its been far too long since we last went climbing. Love this stuff!

Adventures in Art

The G boys are about to explore the wonderful world of art!

It all started when my friend Jaime, a gifted artist, came over to give me an art lesson for my birthday. Ethan asked if he could join us and she generously agreed. They were so cute, I almost didn't get any of my own painting done. She sat with him and talked to him about color, mixing colors, blending colors. He was such a natural! 

Ethan's painting and the original photo he worked from. 

Then Gabriel wanted to paint and we spent a Friday night painting a portrait of Duncan. They really enjoyed it.

Since before I can remember, my mom took me to the St. Louis art museum. We would usually tour the visiting exhibit but often go spend an afternoon in primitive art, or modern art, or the classics. She taught me how to look at it critically, to see more than the strokes on canvas. She went so far as to drive me to Chicago and Memphis to visit their exhibits that didn't have St. Louis tour dates. As I got older and experienced the turbulence of young love, trials of an entry level career and the uncertainties of independence, visiting the art museum was something that brought me a lot of joy.

Now its my kids turn!

In the early 90's there was an artist movement in Zurich called Artist Trading Cards. These progressive, avant garde artists were creating their work on baseball card sized cards and trading them, sharing them. This movement has gone global and now it has arrived in my world.

This is a great opportunity to teach my kids about different styles of art, techniques, mediums, artists. We are going to pick a different theme each week, along with some of our adventurous friends and create our cards.

If you would like to join our artist's movement in the Grigg household, please do! I'd love to post what yall create too.  Here is a quote I found in an article about the trading cards:"There are just two rules in ATC," announced West Hartford, Connecticut, artist and teacher Erika Davis-Pitre at the beginning of the first ATC workshop Quinn and I attended. "Every card must be 2 1/2- by 3 1/2-inches in size, and they can be traded but never sold. Otherwise, no rules: your card is waiting for whatever you can dream up." ....   Erika laid out a few guidelines. "Write your name and the year on the back of every card," she said. "And think about giving it a title when you're done." As we worked, she passed along more valuable advice: take your time, do your best work, use the whole card, and remember, there's no such thing as "wrong" in art.

Our first theme is cubism. Some famous cubists are Picasso, Georges Braque, and Juan Gris. I think my living room rug is inspired by cubism. If you've never visited my blog before, I'm obsessed with my rug. Its one of my favorite things ever. So go to town. Google it.  Google image it.

I'll post next Sunday from the fruits of our labor!