Animal Portraits

I work on commissions quite a bit.  In fact, when one job ends, another one seems to begin, but at a nice slow pace which is appreciated, especially during the school year, when I have little to no time to complete any outside work. In May, I was asked by the head of our Library/Media Center to paint a picture of her little dog for her daughter's birthday.  Since her daughter just graduated from high school, this painting was something she could easily bring with her to college. When Kathy saw it, she said she couldn't believe how much the watercolor portrait looked like their little dog!                                                                                                                                                             
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The principal at my school has 2 very sweet shih tzus, Tommy and Toby.  I created a pastel portrait, of Tommy, the black and white one, for her when he was a puppy, but when she adopted Toby, she sent me a photo of the 2 dogs and hinted that she would love a portrait of the 2 dogs for her birthday in June.  This time I made a watercolor of the pups and this was the result.  She loved it!

 

Although I never considered drawing animals my specialty, I do love to create pet portraits along with my drawing students when we do a lesson on pastel animal portraits.

 

Here are a few of my pet portraits.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Birthday Picnic Party

The first weekend in May we celebrated my little grandson's first birthday by having a big party at our local senior citizens' center.  My daughter decided on a picnic theme and we went to work gathering ideas from Pinterest for inspiration.  My jobs were the fishing game, the picnic quilts for all the kids to sit on, and the watermelon shaped cakes along with the smash cake. 

It was a great day, and a fun time was had by all! Cole definitely enjoyed his first birthday cake!  He had his own little slice of watermelon cake. We soon discovered that shocking pink icing might not have been the wisest choice, but nothing that a rinse off and a new outfit wouldn't fix!

 

Annie Doll and Onesie Gift

My newest grand niece was born in October, and will be baptized this month.  She is a beautiful dark haired beauty with big, beautiful eyes and a cute little button nose!
I already made her a rocking chair for the baby shower to match her room theme of little grey elephants, so I looked for some inspiration to make her something special for her christening, which, unfortunately, I will be unable to attend.
I dug through my storage bins filled with fabric and patterns accumulated over the years from fabric stores, flea markets, and rummage sales.  I love making dolls and get the strong urge every now and then to make one.  Now was one of those times. I know that this choice of gift isn't religious in nature, but it's a cute little set nonetheless, and something that comes from my heart, so I went ahead with the project.   I didn't have a photo, just a pattern, and although I thought I hadn't used the pattern before, I actually had, which I discovered, the further into the project I got. 
I love this little Annie with her striped legs and fuzzy yarn hair.  I also made a matching Annie faced onesie and matching bag for little Libby, my sweet little grand niece.  Happy Christening Day, little one!

 

 

 

 

                                          

Ironing Board Cover Facelift

Today is a school holiday.  Yesterday, my husband and I were ice-bound and unable to set foot out of our house because of terrible icing conditions.  It was a Sunday, so most people on the top of our hill had no particular place to go anyway.  Today is sort of a thawing out day, so I opted to stay put, let things outside get back to normal, and get some things done inside. 
One thing my husband had on his Christmas list this year was a new ironing board cover for our wooden ironing board that also folds up into a seat.  We keep the ironing board open in our bedroom all the time, so the seat pad is never used and is in mint condition, while our ironing board cover has been replaced several times.  We used to order our covers from a place in North Carolina which has since closed, and I have discovered that there are very few places who make these covers for what I consider a reasonable price.
I figured I had enough sewing experience to easily create my own, since it's an odd size and can't be purchased at stores which carry ironing board covers.  I searched around and found this tutorial which actually uses the casing portion of the old ironing board cover.  So I gave it a whirl this morning.  It took me a little over and hour and I used fabric and batting from my stash, so it virtually cost me nothing but my time!  I am pleased with the way it turned out and pretty proud of myself to boot!  It's only noon and there is plenty of time left in the day to accomplish lots more!

 

 

Arts Alive!

I haven't written in quite a while! Making my way through the busy first 4 months of the school year with back to school nights, open houses, parent conferences, special events and holiday activities left me little time to sit down and write about the fun things I was doing.  I did manage to do a few creative things in and amongst all the job related extras.  Lucky for me I'm an art teacher, so creativity is just part of the job!
Our latest planned creative venture at my high school will come at the end of April during our week long art show and on the Saturday before the music department presents their Spring Concert!  We are calling the event "Arts Alive" and it will feature workshops in music, both choral and instrumental, a poetry workshop, and last but not least, a mixed media art workshop!  The workshops will be offered to middle school students.
I, for one, am pretty excited about it.  After meeting with the other member of my department, we decided to offer a mixed media workshop where the participants will create a collage using a variety of media including painting, collage, and printmaking.  They will begin with a watercolor background accented with papers, puffy paints, watercolors, tempera paints and colored pencils. Then they will create a fish in paint, using a block print to make the scales, attach it to the background and add some finishing touches!
We created some examples, which both of us had great fun putting together.  Hopefully, the participants in our "Arts Alive" Workshop will enjoy creating their sea life collage just as much!

Angels in August

I was commissioned to paint some angels in an outdoor grotto at one of the Catholic churches in my town. Two weeks before I headed back to the classroom I got the go ahead to begin painting.  Even though I had to spend my days painting instead of putting up bulletin boards, which is my normal routine for the last couple of weeks in August, it was a wonderful opportunity and I knew that once I dove headfirst into the project, I would be hooked and anxious to return each day, which is exactly what happened.

Day 1....
I figured out the logistics, materials, the right height stepladder, realized I needed another few colors of paint, discovered that Walmart opened at 7:00 AM which I also discovered is the best time to shop there, and I began early in the morning with the sketch.  I made a drawing ahead of time and turned it into a stencil of sorts so I could mark off the lines within the shapes.  I would be making 2 facing angels holding a swag of flowers above a white stone statue of the Blessed Mother, so I needed the angels to be as similar as possible. I sketched out the angels and the swag, and painted the skin of the angels. I cleaned up around noon to have my weekly lunch with Mom.

       

Day 2...
Other than the sound of passing cars, the train whistle and the occasional visitor passing in front of the parish center near the grotto, I was alone with my thoughts and a paintbrush.  Although the grotto itself offered me automatic shade, the weather has been absolutely beautiful for August, or even September for that matter! It has been sunny, but breezy and mild, perfect weather to be outdoors.

 


Climbing up and down the step ladder and switching from one side of the statue to the other is sort of a hassle, but all in all, the experience so far has been good. I worked on the angels' dresses today, complete with shading. I worked for 5 hours and packed up around 2:00 PM.  I am very happy in my own company, so I think that's one of the reasons I love to paint.  Being surrounded by my own thoughts, planning, shading, comparing, evaluating.  My favorite time is time spent creating.

Day 3...
Today I spent doing faces and flowers, but I have to admit, I wasn't really in the mood for detail today, so I tried to block out where the flowers would go on the ribbon swag held by the 2 angels. I knew it was a day I should only attempt broad areas, so  I packed up around noontime and headed home.

                

Day 4...
I was definitely in the painting groove today.  I was in the mood for detail, so I added some depth to the flowers, modified the shade of green I used for the leaves to tone it down a bit and added the feathers to the angel wings.

Day 5...
I think I'm done!  I made a stencil that read Ave Maria to be added above the swag the day before,so after tracing the letters, I painted them, touched up a few things and added my initials.  I feel happy with the painting and hope the parishioners feel the same way! The past few days, people passing on their way to the parish office offered some very positive comments which made me feel good.
It was a big undertaking for me, but a job well worth all the planning, painting and climbing up and down the ladder.  I got the opportunity to work outdoors, in a beautiful friendly atmosphere on some lovely August days.  What a perfect way to end the summer- with some angels in August!

Day 6...
Just when I thought I was done, I was asked to darken the lettering so it would be visible from the street.
So I painted the letters a shade of violet.  I also added some clouds.  Now I am finished.

I feel very good about the results and I'm actually glad I changed the color of the lettering and added the clouds which finished it off.  Now it's time to head back to the classroom with a sense of accomplishment.  It's been a very busy and productive summer!

See You in September!

I made my annual August trip to the art room last Friday to unpack and check in our art supplies for the year. The school offices are closed on Fridays during the summer, so other than the tech staff and a few random workmen, the campus was essentially deserted.  The sun was streaming in the classroom and the fact that I could open the window wide on this unusually comfortable late summer day and work in my casual clothes and flip flops, just made the trip that much better.
The covers I drape over the bookcases to keep the dust off the books and knick knacks were half hanging and although some of my trash cans and furniture have made their way into other classrooms during summer cleaning,  the room is sparkling  and I am very happy to see a new work table and 2 new computers.
I quickly opened the boxes with the energy of a child opening her Christmas gifts. There is something intoxicating about the look and smell of brand new art supplies! There is so much promise of the many ways they will be used during the course of the year. The thought of all the magical images those supplies will produce, never ceases to excite even a veteran teacher like me.  The day I hang up my teacher's smock for the last time, is going to be a very sad day indeed, but that won't be for quite a few years, hopefully, so for now, I will enjoy checking in the dozens of pencils, tubes of paint, and stacks of paper.

The 2 weeks I spent at my daughter's babysitting my grandson this summer, allowed lots of time to work on my curriculum, sprucing up the courses I have been teaching, and developing one I haven't taught in a while.

Teaching art is sometimes a hit or miss proposition.  Sometimes things just don't work as well as they are supposed to, and sometimes the projects that seem questionable come out much better than expected.  Then there are the somewhat happy accidents.  Those are my favorites.  The projects that somehow undergo a metamorphosis along the way often come out the best. But that's what art is all about.  You have to let it take its own direction, and let the artist just enjoy the journey.

Some of my favorite projects from last year were some I tried for the first time, like branch

weaving, 

 mixed media composition with a black construction paper overly, 

    a "zentangle- esque" collage composition

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and digital composition in thirds.

I had taught Drawing every one of my many years as an art teacher, until about 5 years ago when we started our Graphic Art program.  Because of its popularity, I had to give up my Painting and Drawing classes to the other member of the art department, so I could concentrate on the Graphic Art classes.  But this year, I have the opportunity to pick up 2 Drawing classes, so I had to develop a new curriculum, sifting through projects I had done previously deciding which ones to keep, and adding some new ideas.

Great idea I found here

I found a great idea to try with my Mixed Media class which uses a children's puzzle as a base to create individual mixed media images.  I have lots of fun projects on tap for my students this year. I never tire of the planning process, and always look forward to putting those plans into action.  It's hard to believe the summer is almost over and pretty soon August will be in the the rear view mirror,with the promise of a brand new school year on the horizon! See you in September!