Puzzles, Piano, and Paint +

High school can already be daunting enough with all of the homework from teachers and chores from parents. Some of us even have to work after school, adding more stress to our everyday lives. How do you forget your worries and get lost in your hobby? Here is what your fellow Bobcats said (and showed) from Piano, to Puzzles, to Painting.

MHS Junior, Joshua Croasmun, really enjoys all different types of music and songs.

“Alternative, punk, indie, and metal are my favorites. Some songs I also enjoy are Dude Ranch by Blink-182, Lies for the Liars by the Used and Dookie by Green Day,” Croasmun said.

Listening to music has inspired Croasmun to actually learn to play several instruments.

“I play six instruments: clarinet, percussion, piano, acoustic guitar, ukulele and tuba (the last three I am a beginner at). I have been playing the clarinet the longest because I picked it up in a band. The clarinet is how I learned the language of music and through that I was able to learn lots of instruments,” Croasmun said.

Transitioning from Spanish 1 to Spanish 2 can be pretty smooth, but let’s say you went from Spanish 1 to a Japanese College class. Now apply that to instruments.

“The hardest part of going from a wind instrument to a string one is making sure that your fingertips land on the right notes to play the right chords,” Croasmun said.

Music isn’t just learning how to read music and play it, it can be used as a medium for expression.

“I used music to express my emotions. Music has taught me patience and self expression. That is why I think everyone should learn to play an instrument, so they can express themselves and learn patience,” Croasmun said.

We all know how music can make us feel. It can make one sad or happy. Since music and Valentines go hand in hand, Croasmun gave the perfect Valentines song to play to get a date.

“I would play Green Eyes by Coldplay on the acoustic guitar,” Croasmun said.

MHS Senior, Josh Dabell, is a natural learner and loves math. Dabell was one of the top finishers in Business Professionals of America. When Dabell isn’t crunching numbers, you can find him practicing the violin.

“I first learned how to solve one in Korea when we were visiting one of my moms friends. Once I learned to solve a 3×3, I wanted to keep learning how to solve other puzzles,” Dabell said.

Ever since the first rubik’s cube, there has been a plethora of different versions of the original design.

“I have enjoyed all kinds of twisty puzzles such as the 2×2, 4×4 etc. Up to a 7×7 and also puzzles that have strange shapes or motions like a square -1 which is hard to explain, but pretty much all sorts. A lot of it is pretty dang mathematical, so shapes that are mathematically related can make equally interesting puzzles,” Dabell said.

These puzzles attract audiences with many different uses. Some get the cubes to see how fast they can solve them, others use them as a fidget tool and even some just like to collect them.

“I kinda fall under both collecting and speed. I will fidget with them but that’s just a side effect of having them,” Dabell said.

Puzzles aren’t only for entertainment. They can bring memories and hold value to you.

“My favorite is probably my current 5×5 because it’s really fun to solve and is a really good value for how well it performs. I also am proud of a puzzle I sort of created. I put a string between two corners of a 3×3, and suddenly it became way harder,” Dabell said.

There are all sorts of videos everywhere online where you can learn how to solve a rubik’s cube. All you need is time and dedication; there are plenty of cheap but good cubes out there to buy.

Art can be very time consuming and honestly just hard in general. But for MHS Junior, Shelby Salas, it comes easy. Salas is dedicated to take that time to do special effects makeup on her friends.

“I do it whenever I get the chance to fit it into my schedule, I mostly practice it on the friends who will let me use them as a model,” Salas said.

Special effects makeup is something Salas has been interested in for a long time.

“I’ve been doing it since middle school, but I really got into learning about special effects makeup during the past two years,” Salas said.

Patience is a very important element when doing special effects makeup. The hours can be long but it is well worth the wait.

“It can take anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours. The longest I’ve spent on one piece is three and a half hours,” Salas said.

Learning special effects makeup might be hard to find good teachers for it, but it turns out friends and the internet are the best teachers.

”I watch my friend, Aleeya, and special effects makeup artists on YouTube such as Glam and Gore,” Salas said.

Salas hopes this hobby can turn into a potential career in the future.

“I’m actually hoping to become a cosmetologist at first, and then work up to do special effects makeup for movies and plays,” Salas said.

MHS Senior, Maykaylie Judd, has found her niche in the art world of spray paint art.

Judd was able to try out spray paint art a year before coming to the MHS.

“It was for genius hour at the Jr. High. I saw someone do it and I wanted to try it out. I watched a couple of YouTube videos of a guy doing some paintings and I copied a couple of them, but now I do my own thing. I’m self taught,” Judd said.

When you hear that someone paints, you may think about oil or watercolor paintings and a very neat and tidy space. Judd’s is anything but that.

“It’s different and it’s something that’s not really thought of as an artistic kind of thing. When people hear I do spray painting, they’re so confused because I’ve just been covering something in paint,” Judd said.

“I basically just do it on the spot, but anything with sunsets or water I like doing also,” Judd said.

If you were to watch Judd paint a sunset or a water scenery, you better bring some clothes you don’t mind getting dirty.

“Oh it gets pretty messy. I have jeans that are covered in paint I only use for this stuff. My hands are usually covered in paint by the end of it too,” Judd said.

Judd has even been able to share her talents with others.

“I taught one of my friends once and he ended up loving it. He showed me all of his paintings. It was awesome to see,” Judd said.

MHS Senior, Kailani DeGraw’s paintings tell a story on the surface they are painted on.

“I love painting on things that people don’t usually paint on. I paint cards, shoes, glass bottles, light switch panels, and suitcases. Really anything I can get my hands on that isn’t a canvas and paper,” DeGraw said.

Each surface can pose as its own challenge itself because different objects have different textures. The textures determine how well the final product will turn out.

“Glass is super hard to paint on. The paint just slides right off. It’s the same with playing cards. You can paint one layer on fine, but once you get to the second layer, it takes all the paint off and you have to start over. It’s the complete opposite with shoes though. I usually paint with fabric shoes and that just sucks the paint right up,” DeGraw said.

DeGraw has a lot of projects she does and a lot of them she is very proud of.

“I painted a pair of shoes that I love so much. They are painted Mickey and Minnie themed. I also love some of the cards. I’m working through the deck and some of them are pretty impressive I think,” DeGraw said.

When DeGraw isn’t painting, you can find her behind a camera capturing the world around us and our fellow bobcats.

“I mostly take photos of nature, and I’ve won a few awards for that. I also like to take pictures for the couples that go to the school dances,” DeGraw said.