Friday, January 25, 2013

GRATITUDE IS AN ATTUTUDE

Granddaughters!
It is funny how all those annoying and petty irritations suddenly disappear when the REAL IMPORTANT things in your life are turned upside down.
This year there has been a rash of car accidents- Jeanne, Terese, Michelle, Janet and (Sylvie/Brock) (Lisa/ Chris) and a few more. The good news is all are ok and Brock and Chris are recuperating, not fast, but getting better everyday.
Cancer has made an appearance this year, (students, friends and loved ones as well). Quality time takes on a whole new meaning and gets priority. The idea that we are fragile is hard to face, but it makes the bonds between us stronger. Health is everything! Focus is important! Family and friends are our strength! Gratitude is acknowledging we are only human and are thankful for the many blessing in our lives.
Now let's go and live our 'best life' in 2013!



Wednesday, January 23, 2013

St. Albert Gazette Article

Local artist takes teaching to the television airwaves

Laura Watmough's one-minute lessons coming soon to CTV2

By: Scott Hayes   |  Posted: Wednesday, Dec 19, 2012 06:00 am
UNDER THE LIGHTS – St. Albert artist Laura Watmough tapes an educational art segment for an upcoming series that will be broadcast on CTV2.
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Laura Watmough has taught many, many students the painting techniques of the old masters through Hidden Talent, her Campbell Business Park art school.
Her classroom is about to expand electronically into the living rooms of thousands of Albertans.
Watmough spent a day last week with a CTV2 film crew shooting several one-minute connectors, educational commercials that run between longer programs. There are several categories of connectors, according to former St. Albertan Dean Hooke, the writer-producer in charge of the project.
“We do a whole bunch of different styles of connectors. We do career connectors, campus connectors, learning connectors, which is what Laura’s doing,” Hooke said.
Watmough was approached to offer the art lessons after the provincial cable-only educational channel started inquiring about people who could offer brief tutorials about painting. The channel used to be known as Access before it was bought out by the national network. Much of its original purpose, however, remains the same.
“They have a mandate to do educational segments. They approached the Alberta Society of Artists, who approached me,” she said. “They asked if I would be willing to do that. Because I teach on an ongoing basis, I said sure. Teaching is what I do.”
Watmough wrote her own scripts, which were then vetted by well-known arts-focused elementary teacher Andrea Daly. Watmough hosted Hooke and cameraman Bruce Wiggins from the network. They filmed the segments on various aspects of learning to paint, including temperatures of light, negative space, creating depth and seeing in black and white.
“For every one of the five segments I had props or examples and I had to demonstrate some of the different concepts through art. The whole thing was to try and have a broad audience for this, so not just elementary school and not just retirees but to give a general education to as many people as we could.”
She was impressed by the production team’s smooth work ethic.
“They ran like a well-oiled machine and they included me as part of their team. It is amazing how many times you have to say the same thing over and over again.”
All of this should be old hat since it wasn’t her first time on television.
“I think I had one little segment way, way back,” she said, referring to a newscast that interviewed some local painters who had moved their studio space into Grandin Park Plaza.
“That was exciting back then but this was pretty intense,” Watmough said.
“The setup was quite elaborate. They had lots of equipment there. It was terrifying!”
Watmough’s connectors will likely start being broadcast in the first few weeks of the new year, Hooke said. They will also be available for viewing online at http://connectedtoeducation.ca/connectors.
“It’s wonderful to get art out to the community and just show them that anyone can be an artist. It’s all about learning to see through an artist’s eyes,” Watmough said, ending with what she called her tagline.
“Learning to see like an artist is the first step to becoming an artist. Start your artistic journey today.”