Seahorse and Cat Watercolor Paintings

Above is a watercolor painting I made of a seahorse.

This one was made by my 7 year old, Daria. 

Painted Circles inspired by Kandinsky

 

This is a circle painting "study" in my art journal/sketchbook.  I was inspired by the circle paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, a favorite artist of mine.

Painting Watercolor Backgrounds

These are watercolor backgrounds which will soon be the starting point for further watercolor doodling and collages

Watercolor Bird Painting

Hello there!  What a long and cold month this has been.  I was feeling sick for about 3 1/2 weeks there.  I'm starting a new bird series with watercolors.  I painted the bird below this week.  It's fun to show my elementary students my sketchbook because it's a big ego boost.  Ha ha.  "WOW!! You should be an artist!"  they say.  Well, I guess I am an artist.. art teacher.. 

If that colorful little guy above looks familiar, that's because I painted the same type of bird a few months ago.  Here he is below.

Stay tuned for more colorful birds.  Growing up I had a couple parakeets... maybe parakeets are next?!

If you like my art, you can purchase a Happy Mail Pack at my Etsy shop or maybe you would like a 5" x 7" postcard of one of my watercolor paintings?  If money is a problem, feel free to message me for a trade of some sort (I collect zines and love stickers).  Anyways.. I'm just excited when someone else likes my art enough to want something from my shop! :)

Have a great weekend, friends!

Repainting a Journal Page

So my journal page originally started like this.  Lots of layers of paint, stencils and black paint marker on top.

After many more layers and completely changing the color scheme, I finished the pages like this.

That's a pretty drastic change, right?  It just goes to show that it can be fun to completely change directions in a painting and a journal page never has to be "done."

Dot Paintings

This school year is so, so busy.  And I am so exhausted.  Keeping up with 2 kids plus teaching full-time is really tiring. 

I have been going to sleep most nights around 8 or 8:30 pm.

I seriously have not made my own art in at least 3 weeks. 

International Dot Day was Sept. 15th and we celebrated in my art classroom.  I did make a couple dot painting examples that I really like and thought I would share with you here.

My students made a TON of dots and I have them posted on our school Artsonia gallery.  I will make a few photocollages to show you later.


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Painting Patterns with Watercolor

Playing with pattern is a simple way to create collage elements when you are stuck for what to make.  Create patterns using watercolor paints.  After they dry, tear or cut up into shapes to use as elements for your collages and journal pages.

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Fruit and Flowers, a Mouse and Me!

Fruit and Flowers:
I colored in the sketch that I showed you here.  I mostly used colored pencils, watercolor pencils and watercolor paints. 

A Mouse:
My 5th/6th graders are painting animals and my go-to demo is always a mouse or hamster.  I love cute rodents.  The kids are always astounded when I show them how to make furry texture with a fan brush!  So fun.

Me: 
Here I am at 33 weeks pregnant!  Time is ticking away.  Hopefully the sooner the better!

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Organic Shapes, Dots and Doodles

What is your definition of an art journal page?  Do you consider mixed media collages (even without words) to be art journal pages?  

My students at school saw me making this and they were so excited.  "Wow!  Can we make something like this?"

The Molotow Paint Marker in white is my new favorite marker!  It wrote over all these paint layers really well.  When I ordered it through that link above, I received a box of 6 markers (I think).  I don't know if that was a mistake and if it was only supposed to be one, but I was only expecting one marker. 

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.

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I Needed to Make This

Well, not necessarily THIS, but I needed to make SOMETHING.  I've been worn out from the day-to-day routine of teaching and from things going on in my life... not in a bad way, but just tired.   I've been falling asleep by 8 or 9 pm every night, which is fine because it is what my body needs.  Sleep is a priority for me!  Without getting a solid 8-9 hours a day I will be crabby and not able to enjoy the day. 

Some of the supplies I used are:
a variety of acrylic paints,
paper scraps,

Shiva Oil Paint Stiks

the pink Sharpie poster paint marker from this set:

Watercolor paints:

At school, we are building an addition to double the physical size of our school.  The construction is right outside my window, which has been really fun to watch. We will have another art room when the construction is done, which is super exciting.

In order to connect the buildings, they will be knocking out our wall and making a hallway through our storage and kiln room.  (A new storage area will be built between the two art rooms.)  That will happen at the end of October or November.  At that time, the kiln will be out of service for the rest of the year.  So I am doing clay with all of my classes now.  That is 11 classes doing clay all at once in our small space.  There are clay projects everywhere!  It is crazy. 

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day
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Painted Journal Pages in Progress

I don't have anything finished to show you this week, but I have a few in progress paintings and journal collages to show you.  I will probably add additional words and imagery later.

Here I combined painted papers, scans of buttons and ribbons, and scrapbooking papers.

This page contains a picture from a magazine (the two paper dolls), rub-on transfers, a sticker from printstagram and scans of colored wires and fabrics.

A painted journal page, with paint and marker only.  I will be going back into this picture to add more and refine some areas.

A collage of scans, watercolor paintings, ink doodles.  This page is the perfect start for journaling and adding photos.

 A collaborative page with my 3 year old daughter!

On this page, I was sketching in my journal and while I was sketching, my daughter said she wanted to color it.  Pink is her favorite color so everything has to be pink.

Linking to Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day.

Happy Weekend!

Happy New Year!

Hello all my blogging friends!  I have lots of fun plans for 2012 related to art.  For a Christmas present to myself I bought some new Rheotech paints.  I love them...  I had been trying out random types of paints throughout the past couple of years and usually bought the cheaper ones.  It makes such a difference to have quality paints.  Mixing and blending are smoother, the colors are richer and they layer on top of each other better.  Since the pigments are stronger, the paints will last longer than the cheap ones. 

I signed up for Mindy Lacefield's True Free Spirit year-long class because I've always admired her artwork.  So far, it has been very fun.  She walked through the steps she took to create the picture you see on her class description.  The video aspect of this class is especially helpful to get new inspiration for approaches to mixed media art. 

I made these two paintings.  They are both a kangaroo and baby, but the backgrounds are slightly different.  I was focused on playing with the backgrounds and blending colors.  I like the kangaroo imagery with a mom protecting her baby. It's kind of fitting for my life now.  Next time I will play with the poses and expressions more!

Postcard Prints in My Etsy Shop

I just added 5"x7" art prints in my Etsy shop.  I tried out Overnight Prints to test out their quality and I was quite pleased.  (I would definitely order from them again, although they weren't especially speedy)  The cards are thick and glossy, like a postcard. 

I was really just super excited to see my artwork in a glossy postcard format.  So fun!

You can order a set of 5 in my Etsy shop or individual cards.  They would be nice to give to a friend as an inspirational "pick me up" or you could frame them. 

Live in the Sunshine

It's been blizzardy here.  We had about 15 inches of snow.

We had school cancelled today and tomorrow because of the snow.  Before that I was at home sick for the 2 days prior.  I'm starting to get stir crazy!  I'm actually a bit bummed about having school cancelled the day before winter break (I know, that sounds crazy).  Usually the last day before school gets out, everyone is in a super cheery mood, lots of treats and excitement, handwritten Christmas cards from kids, and we were going to have our Market Day (where the kids sell their handmade crafts and sweets for each other.)   I have a pile of gifts and cards to give to some of the school staff and my student helpers.

So today I stayed home with my darling daughter and we played outside a little bit and made some chocolate pretzels.  Isn't she sweet in her kitty hat?  And catching snowflakes with her tongue, so precious.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this quote from Emerson.  I had been working on this collage painting for awhile and it seemed fitting to finish it today on a very dreary blizzard day.  

This is a hybrid art journal page.  The collage elements were physically cut and pasted in my journal. Then I scanned the page and added letters using Photoshop.

This is a collaborative art journal page made with my daughter.  She and I drew on the page with water soluble colored pencils, added water and spread the colors around.  Then, I collaged scrapbook papers and a sticker around the border.  Finally, I added acrylic paints to tone down some of the colors.  I'm in the process of adding words and other imagery to this page.

I signed up to do Reverb, but I haven't really done too many.  I did one or two as a journal page, but then sent that off somewhere and didn't take a picture of it.  Reverb gives you questions to reflect on from the year, to close out the year and start the next anew.

Reverb #6:   Compare the “you” from the beginning of 2012 to the “you” that you are now. What new skills or talents have you learned or discovered this year?  I have learned a few things about writing articles and interviewing artists for Featuring magazine.  It has been a great learning experience and a thrill to see my articles in print!  I learned the basics of Adobe Illustrator to create a design for my school.  I dabbled in glass fusing at a local shop and tried it with my elementary students.  I have learned to recognize my limits.  I have discovered that I have an abundance of ideas that I want to do someday, but I need to just pick one and go with it.  I've learned that when submitting your artwork to publications or competitions, rejection is a part of the process and that process shouldn't define my artwork or minimize my enjoyment.

Reverb #9:  What was the best book you read in 2012, and why? (And by "Why?" I mean: Why did you read it? And why was it your favourite? Although these answers could be one and the same...!)

The best book I have read this year was The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  Charming story, amazing cross-hatched drawings!  I love everything about it.  The movie was good too.  If you have not read it, take a look at it if only for the beautiful pictures.


Reverb #13:  Please post your favourite picture of yourself from 2012, self-portrait or otherwise!
This is one of my favorites because it reminds me of my trip to New York for the National Art Education Association conference.  What a blast!  This night I think was the night I walked about 50 blocks across New York city.  The lights.. the people.. so much going on.

More Reverb coming later!!

Linking to some of my favorite places:
Art Journal Every Day
The Answer is Chocolate
It's a Hodgepodge Life
Paint Party Friday