Sharing more ART...

Here is my very first try with water color and I have so much to learn...but...I love the medium and how forgiving it is...can't wait to to make my own Art Journal with water color paper...when I have time :)

This piece I made some time ago...thought I would share...

Just love the colors and nice crooked lines to write on...

This is what I created this morning... had fun with some images, acrylic gel and sheer paper napkins...layers and layers...

Those paint stiks (by Shiva) that came in the mail the other day are fun but a mess to work with. You have to "peel" them each time they are used and they take hours to dry... but... once your work is dry it is wonderful.

Never enough time....

Do you ever find that there are not enough hours in the day? By the time I am home from work (teaching ART in elementary school to grades 1,2,4,5 and K/1 special needs) it is time for homework help with my 5Th grade daughter, grocery shopping, dropping off at soccer, picking up at soccer, cooking, cleaning and laundry.... checking email, cleaning cat litter, vacuum and do the dishes. As much as I envy the ladies living in the huge mansions in my neighborhood I sure don't envy the time it must take to keep it running.

I want to sit here in my studio and paint, look at all your blogs, sipping morning coffee and reading art magazines.... By the time I am done with work and chores I am just exhausted and the creative part of my brain on stand by.

Don't get me wrong!!! I love my family and job.... and in 3 weeks I am off for the entire summer to paint and enjoy early mornings in my studio. So why am I complaining? who knows.... guess I was just kind of whiny today :)

I made this piece a few years ago and just found it looking for something else :) I think I like it.

Fun Art challenge...

I just love the art challenges by Awfully Big Art Adventure

This time around the ones of us taking on the challenge were given a nice image to work with... this is what I made out of it... using everything I could find in my studio. I did a gel transfer to the image and added paint stiks, melted wax and melted crayons since the iron was already hot.

I think I do better work when my desk looks like this... so everything is at hand... or is that just and excuse to not clean up.

Here are some pictures from my studio this morning...just some things that make me smile while I sip my Saturday morning coffee alone in my favorite place...

Wet carpets, strep throat and toothache...

It is funny (not really) when you have one of "those" days...when it rains if pours... Today my daughter wakes up with a fever and sore throat, my son has been up since 3 am with a really bad toothache and I know that the carpet cleaners are arriving at 9am. The husband is off to work and I guess I am supposed to be glad I am not working on Fridays (my official ME day).

Today was NOT a ME day.

Later and the strep has been tested positive, the toothache is due to teeth grinding at night and a mouth guard is needed (NO it is not covered by insurance). The carpet is dry in some areas and dinner is planned but not cooked... it is 6 pm and I forgot to eat breakfast this morning.

So instead of eating I took some pictures of my brand NEW birds. I painted these guys on wood that has been sanded, painted with gesso, oil pastels, pain stiks, gel stransfer.... a true MIXED MEDIA piece. I am not done just yet (I think) perhaps some melted wax would be nice...

The bottom has some vintage buttons from my Grandmothers "stash".

Art lesson for Elementary school

This week is teacher appreciation week at our school...some of my students gave me flowers that made me smile all day :)


PROJECT SNAIL WITH SLIME TRAIL

This turned out to be a wonderful project for my 1st grade classes...

I started off by showing the kids how to draw a snail without lifting the pen (only to make the eyes and mouth).... We drew our snails with some funny expressions.... cut out small pieces of decorated paper that we glued to the snail...

I brought with me a bottle of "snail slime" (glitter paint) that we painted under the snails belly and the trail he left behind him...

How can you just not adore these little guys...I want them all on my living room wall... The project was fun, successful for all students and not messy. At the end of the class we put all art on the floor so we could look at all the snails together... the kids love to share their art and I could have stayed in the class sharing art for hours...

SUPPLIES:

• Black sharpies
• Decorated paper
• Snail slime (glitter paint)
• Heavy manila paper
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Your sample
  

After work the heat finally gave in... it has been in the 90s here the last few days and with no A/C that can be a bit nasty. Imagine a classroom filled with 20 kids, 85 degrees and not A/C and you know what I mean. Tomorrow will be loads better with only highs in the 70s.

Art Journaling....

I do love my ART Journal...and not because I love what I create inside (sometimes it is just a scribble and doodle of nothing) but because it is how I feel. Really inexpensive therapy. Ido love this pink colored layout though with some fabric with trees and birds...love those... and just a few words in my awful handwriting...a migraine FREE day... I will be able to go back to that layout years from now and remember how wonderful it is when you have chronic migraines to have a migraine FREE day :)

I also love to draw and paint little girls with their pets or friends... never knowing when I start what they will look like or what friend will accompany them on the page. Mixing water color pencils with pastels and crayons, ripped paper and glue, sharpie or stamps... how can you go wrong. This little girl has just some light water color pencils for medium.

It is for some reason 90 degrees here today... and way to hot in mys studio so this is it for today. Now I know what if feels like to go from 45 degrees the other night to 90... 45 degree difference. Where did spring go? Feels like mid summer to me.

HAVE A HAPPY ARTSY DAY

More Art Journal pages

More Art Journal pages today....once I open these I just can't seem to stop.

Art Journal Page and NEW "stuff"

Another page in my Art Journal (sorry the picture is out of focus) that I completed yesterday...and that is about it when it comes to completed art. I have been so busy with Easter, work and the student art exhibition that my own art has had to take the backseat.

I did find a reason to go to Michaels yesterday though since I was in desperate need :) for another one of my favorite pens....

Some fat quarters I just had to have.....And the cutest stamp and 1$ ribbon....the colored pencils I can't wait to use.

Youth Art Exhibition

This week I have to get ready for the annual Youth Art Exhibition for my students. I teach ART to over 300 children at one of the Elementary Schools where I live, grades 1,2,4 and 5 plus a special needs class gr. K-1.
The school district is putting on this huge Art Exhibition for all Elementary schools in our district and each teacher can show 22 pieces of art out of about 300 students. It is hard to pick....

By Thursday all the art has to be matted and labeled...ready to hang...

I just today picked the last piece and have not even started the matting...me in a nutshell :)

I will take pictures of the Art I have chosen once it is matted and pretty.

Happy Easter from My Art Gallery

Happy Easter to all of you

I am having my ME day today as I do every Friday. Working as an Art teacher gives me the privilege to schedule my classes as I see fit and I work hard all week to give myself Friday off and my own precious ME day.
Today is a pretty crappy ME day... had to clean the bathrooms, vacuum and soon head off to Costco... all this with a brewing migraine, medicated to the point of falling asleep....scrubbing toilets and wondering how to get ready for company this evening and Easter brunch at my house on Sunday at noon.
I have been migraine FREE for a couple of weeks now after starting a seizure medication to prevent them. This is the 3rd migraine in 4 weeks so I am doing better but not awesome. Before the medication I suffered migraines every week and sometimes more than that.
My 11 yr old daughter is off school toady and helping out making the COSTCO list that we never follow :) and will come with to do the shopping. Too bad that Michaels is on the way there.
I will be back for more in a few days....

Brand NEW "things"

Finally found one of these...had one in red when I was a little girl and used to pack it carefully when visiting Grandma's house...

This one is brand new and has to be distressed somehow. I do love the lion but think he has to go... he is to modern looking. Any ideas on how I could make this little trunk look vintage? I am open to suggestions.

Found this adorable pin in the same store (75% off)... I think it is made from polymer clay and it makes me want to make some of my own. I also want to have a go at these adorable handmade buttons. You can find the directions on A Year of Color.
I can't wait to finally use all that polymer clay I have laying around.

I'm back....

I am back from Laguna Beach, CA... almost 4 days of pure bliss.

If you love the sun, art and cute little shops this is the place for you and the beach is lovely with white sand and turquoise water.

I am so full I could explode...and not with all the good food we ate but with ideas for ART. My husband was a trooper and followed me around some amazing little Art Galleries... I loved the art by William De Bilzan
that we saw at the De Bilzan Art Gallery in Laguna Beach.