Where The Art Teacher Starts Listening to Her Own Lessons

So, I have been working on this rock project for about a week now. I have gotten quite a bit of it done. I still have about 3 grocery cart loads of rocks to varnish and then install. On a positive note, I must be getting into some sort of shape because I no longer feel like I am going to die at the end of each day.

As of Monday I had about 1/2 of one wall done. I was getting good feedback from the kids. I was getting good feedback from the adults. Things were going well. And then we had the storm of the century. There were hurricane force winds. The storm was so strong that even as a rational adult, I still wondered if the house was going to hold. Our neighbors woke up the next morning to find patio furniture blown into pools, holiday decorations blown blocks away and several trees completely broken in half.

And the rain. The rain was like nothing I had ever seen before. It wasn't that it was just a lot of water coming down, it was that it was a lot of water coming down with unbelievable force.

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I am always telling my students that a huge part of art is embracing "Plan B". There will be countless times as an artist where for whatever reason, what you had planned simply won't work. But, I also tell them that "Plan B" leads to some pretty amazing work, and it can often be better than "Plan A" ever would have been.

This particular lesson/lecture comes in handy on a daily basis. Call me mean, but 99% of the time, I only let my students have one piece of paper. I have to beg, borrow and steal the supplies I do have. There is no way I can give out 2 pieces of paper to every student just because they have made a stray line.

For the most part, the kids are pretty well trained at this point. And they have seen the truth of my words. And now so have I.

I got to work the day after the storm to see that the force of the rain coming off of the eaves had simply power-washed the paint right off the middle section of rocks. I was mad. I was frustrated. I was distraught. I was in tears most of the morning. I had tested the varnish. I knew it was waterproof. I had run the rocks under streams of water, no paint had come off. It was simply the force of this one freak storm that had caused all this damage.

I have to admit, the whole thing put me out of commission for about a day. All that work, down the literal drain. And then the teacher in me fought it out with the designer in me and the teacher won. I realized that this was a spectacular teaching opportunity. So, I came up with my own "Plan B".

I will be taking some of the leftover plain rock and scattering them (hopefully in a somewhat of an artistic fashion) along the middle of the river. I am hoping that this will divert future torrents of rain and dissipate the water that runs off from the eaves.

So keep your fingers crossed for me. I really hope this works. Because frankly, I don't have a "Plan C". And if the designer in me and the teacher in me fight it out again, the designer may win next time. And she is not nearly so rational.