Auction piece is finished.

It's finished!  I just got back from the framing shop to pick up the art auction piece that the kids and I made for the PTA auction.  It turned out wonderful, I am so happy with it. The kids are so proud of their work.  Here is a picture of them smiling so proud, I blurred the faces because I didn't ask their Parents if it was OK to publish their faces on my blog.

The auction is February 8th and I look forward to seeing how it does. I really want to bid on it myself! I have the perfect place for it in our family room!

Life Book week 3 with Christy Tomlinson

This weeks lesson was created and taught by Christy Tomlinson. We made the flower pedals out of tissue paper glued to tinfoil. It is really cool when dried. You can cut the shapes out and arrange them however you like and they keep their form.  This was a bunch of messy fun!

Dining room piece

I just finished the last piece of art for my remodeled dining room.  The top picture is the origional the colors are more muted. The second piece I was playing with the colors in Picasa.  Which one do you like better?  I like the more colorful one but the origional will go into my dining room.

The Auction Piece!

Continuing with using Resin, here are two pictures of the Auction Piece, Mrs. Norwalks 2nd grade class and I are making to be auctioned off for Maywood Elementary School PTA Auction.  While the kids were creating their butterfly pieces I would pull a few kids over to trace their hand on a piece of plywood that I stained.  Then they took an assortment of dried beans and created their hands. I have it at home right now where I have painted, stained, stamped and what not on it. Tomorrow I will be putting resin over the top. When dry I will add a black frame. It is very aboriginal looking, I wouldn't mind it for my house!
I will post a new pic when it is complete.  Hope it sells!

What do Butterflies, rice, food coloring have in common?

A DECORATIVE PLATE IS WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON:

Here is a fun project that I did with my Sons 2nd grade class. 

Every year Maywood Hills Elementary holds a Gallery Night along with the Science Fair.  As an Art Docent for Jackson's 2nd grade class I get to help them create a piece of art for Gallery Night.  In second grade they study Butterflies so I thought in keeping with the theme we would create some butterfly displays.
Below is how we did it.

What you need is a old plate (I bought 25 salad plates from a second hand store), a butterfly template and a sharpie marker. 

Trace the butterfly on the center of the plate.  This is for a second grade class, they could have traced the template on their own but I was doing two projects at the same time with them and for the sake of time I did this step before I went to school.  I let them choose the plate that they wanted to decorate. Make sure to put their name on the bottom of the plate BEFORE you start the process! I don't know how many times I forgot to have the kids put their names on the bottom of there art piece before we started.  I also pre-made the colored rice below.

 

First off let me tell you a little goes a long way! I made so much rice that I could have done this project with at least 4 other classrooms! 

 

What you need to make the rice is the following:

1. Long grain uncooked rice
2. Rubbing alcohol
3. Food coloring
4. Large freezer bags
5. Freezer paper

First you put a cup or so of the rice in the freezer bag then pour a cap full of the rubbing alcohol into the bag, close it and shake it around for a second or two.  Next, drop in 6 to 10 drops of food coloring (the more you put in the brighter more saturated the color will be) close the bag and shake around till all of the rice is colored.   Lay the freezer paper on your counter (I put mine in baking sheets) and pour the rice on it spreading it out to let it dry. It dries pretty quick.

 

This is the supplies I brought to class with me:

1. salad plates (butterflies already drawn on them)
2. colored rice
3. clear Elmer's glue
4. swabs (Q-Tip)
5. small paper plates

The kids tables were in groups of 4 so while I spoke to the kids about today lesson a print by Sekkyo called the Eagle my assistants (Mike and Devon) step up.

Here is the link to the frameworks that I used to talk about Sekkyo.

http://www.nsd.org/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=R3IyLVRoZV9FYWdsZV9ieV9TZWtreW8ucGRmOjo6L3d3dy9zY2hvb2xzL3NjL3JlbW90ZS9pbWFnZXMvZG9jbWdyLzU4NzVmaWxlMjIzNzYucGRm&sectiondetailid=34550

The kids and I talked about how Sekkyo made thing look like they had texture with just using ink and a carved block.  We talked about Visual and Tactile textures.

At each group of desk, there were small paper plates each with a different color of rice and one paper plate with clear glue.  Each kid got a swab to use for the glue.

Before they went back to their seats I explained to them how the process was going to work.

1. They would pick their plate and Devon would write their name on the bottom of it.
2. They would think of the pattern they wanted to create on their butterfly. Butterflies are symmetrical so they should be making the wings look alike.
3. Dip their swab into the glue and put it ONLY on little sections at a time. Do not put it all over the plate.
4. Sprinkle small amount of rice over the glued areas.

When they were finished, we gathered up the plates putting them in freezer bags so they would not stick to each other and I took them home for the final process.

The last process is to put clear resin on top of their butterflies so they would stay that way forever.  Resin is too toxic to use in a classroom so this is best left to complete at home.

I bought "Parks Super Glaze" from Home Depot. This is mainly used for Bar Tops etc. but it has worked for me in the past.  I have used it over artwork that I have created on paper, wood and canvas.  There are some great Art Resins out there but I didn't have time to order it.  http://www.artresin.com/  Art Resin is a great place to watch videos and to buy art resin.

Just make sure whatever resin you use it is 1:1.  It's much easier to mix up that way. The most important part of using resin is, make sure you mix it correctly!  Also, take precautions by using gloves and a mask. I didn't think it was a big deal till I watched some video's from artresin.

For the bubbles I got to use a fun new tool that will be added to my art supply belt!  A "Hand Held Blow Torch!"  Very inexpensive and fun! It's amazing how it works out all the bubbles. After pouring you run the torch over the top of the resin and you can watch it blow the bubbles away! Fun stuff!

Here are some finished plates. They are still in the curing process but you can see how they look.





These plates will be decorative only. They will be fun to display at Gallery Night.  Gallery Night is held in March I will take some pictures and post them.  Until then Have an Artful Evening!



A final Post for 2012

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve! This year went by so quickly. As I sit here and write this post I think back to what progress I have made with my art and it brings a little smile to my face.
I had big plans for 2012 and my art, the problem was life gets in the darn way! So many things I wanted to do but didn't get done. If only if!  I am going to be nice to myself and not focus on what I didn't do but what I did do.

• Joined Life Book 2012 willowing.ning.com

This was an amazing year long class with amazing teachers and a great group of people to share your art and life with.  I have signed up for 2013 and I highly recommend it to anyone who would like to learn from some great teachers and have some fun.

• Entered into my first juried art show @ Evergreen State Fair

So this was a scary one for me but I did it. I entered three pieces and all three received first place! I was even asked to do a demo at the fair.  That was so much fun, people walking up watching me paint and asking me questions. I loved it.

• Said goodbye to heading up the Art Docent program for my Son's elementary school.

After chairing the Art Docent position for over 4 years it was time to let it go and focus on making art myself and working towards my goals that I set.  I am still an art docent in Jackson's class and I am getting ready to work with the kiddo's on their projects for Gallery Night and the school auction.  I will be posting pictures of the art pieces we will be working on and how we did it. They are a second grade class but the project can be done by any age. Say tuned for the lesson and plan.

• Started my Blog

This is new to me and not as easy as I thought it would be to keep posting. Again life gets in the way and I didn't post as much as I wanted to but I did post some. Goal for 2013 a weekly post.

• Finished the dining room remodel

Started in August and are almost finished at the end of December!  Mike and I put in new floors, painted it a sunny yellow, added new window treatments and a new chandelier.  I am putting the finishing touches up and putting away the china. Oh, and the new dining room remodel is all because Mike's Grandma gave me her china. It's amazing! It didn't go well with what I had before so I had to change everything to make them work! ha.

• I worked very hard on giving up "Perfection"

My Perfectionist rears her ugly head in almost everything I do.  This year I worked so hard on letting go of everything has to be perfect.  The thing that got me was watching my boys with their homework, art, music, sports and most everything they were doing they would be struggling with not being perfect!  It broke my heart to see the boys stress so hard with making things just right that it honestly freaked me out! I knew I had to make a change or my boys were going to end up as an Adult like me never happy with what she gets or does because she is always striving for perfection. 
Have you ever read any books by Dr. Kevin Leman?  http://www.drleman.com/store/The Birth Order book was the first one I read.  It was such an enlighting book on how our birth order in our family can effect how we act and view life.  Being a first born, from an unhealthy family has caused me to be a perfectionist and many other little quirks in life.
Watching my boys and older daughters struggle with perfection and other things really made me want to set a good example for them and the first thing I needed to get over was having to be PERFECT!
I will say just letting that go has been amazing! Now it's not like the perfectionist wakes up but when she does I can recognize it and I put her right back to sleep.
Jackson's teacher has a great saying that we use in our house and that is, " Practice makes Permanent"  Another one by Tony Horton, " Do your best and forget the rest" These are words that my family and I are doing our best to live by.

• Taught my first after school art class at Maywood Elementary. I had over 60 kids in two classes and boy I learned what worked and what didn't.  I am looking forward to doing this again this year and I am hoping to do a mini summer workshop out back in my studio. 

These are just some highlights of 2012.  After putting together tons of goals for 2012 I realized thanks to my Husband that I am a baby step kind of girl. I can't and won't jump in head first into anything in life and that is OK as long as I am progressed towards my goals. 

So what am I putting on my bucket list for 2013?  MORE BABY STEPS!

• Continue making art
• teach a few art classes for kids
• write in my blog every Friday night
• open up an Esty shop.
• working on my skills by taking online classes like Life Book.
• Exercising! That has been something I have been lacking in and I really need to take care of myself.  3 days a week to start. Not too hard to do right?
• Writing up and posting the art lessons I do in the classroom.
• Continue working on not being a perfectionist.
• Enter another juried art show
• send in some art to Somerset Studio in hopes to be published! Even a little spot would make my year!
• spending more quality time with my family.  Less working on the house and more time spent hiking, exploring and creating with my family.

So with baby steps I will strive to do my best to accomplish some if not all of my goals for 2013.
What are you goals? I would love to hear from you about what you wish to accomplish this coming new year!

Take care and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cotton Candy Girl

Something I was working on in LB 2012.  Cotton Candy Girl was created with Ady Alamanza's lesson The Little Witch.  She isn't a witch but she does look like she has a little attitude!
I am also working on a piece from Ady's class, "Dreaming of Klimt" http://dolldreams.ning.com/
Have the drawing done now I have to work on the color. If I can ever find time to clean my studio I might be able to work on it again. I am such a messy artist!