Atlanta.

My aunt commissioned me to paint this piece for my cousin who is collecting illustrations from all of the cities she has lived in! I finished it in December but had not shared it yet.  The original piece was done in gouche and pen.  I spent several weeks planning out this piece and trying to figure out the most prominent buildings to include and their placement was surprisingly difficult! After doing this piece, I have yet to look at the city the same way! 

Out with the old, and spray in the new!

I was about to buy new knobs for this old piece and then decided to just revamp the old ones with some neon spray paint. I primed them with a spray paint primer to help cover the pattern and then  sprayed with the pink!

 

 

teach art: relief printmaking

Relief Printmaking is one of my favorite mediums to work with, and I think I have convinced some of my students that they really like it too:) I do printmaking projects with my drawing and painting classes and my AP studio art class.  Each year I change up the assignment a bit. This year each class had a different objective. My AP students worked on the idea of a landscape, and my drawing and painting students created prints based on patterns. They had to create 6 prints total, and one had to be printed on an unusual surface, or texture.Each class used reduction printing methods meaning that in order to create different colors, they carved out more of the printing block for each print of a new color, working from lightest to darkest ink colors.  Although relief prints can be made using lots of different materials, we used linoleum and water- based speedball printing inks. My students learn so much about the art making process during this project!

 

 

changes.

 It's been a long time since I blogged last! I'm still here, but my creative energies are being stretched way beyond this little blog lately! I will have updates on some of my winter projects soon! But for now, here's a preview of some of the changes happening around our home!

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

red velvet cheesecake.

 

For my sister's birthday, I made her a red velvet cheesecake this! She made the cheesecake part (she's been on a serious cheesecake kick) and then I made my favorite red velvet cake using my grandmother's recipe and stacked it on top and then iced the entire cake in cream cheese frosting.  Since her birthday is the day after Valentines Day, I made these cute heart cake toppers using cookie sticks & scrapbook paper.  CLICK HERE to see her cake from last year!

snow days.

We have now had 5 snow days in just two weeks! I've been busy catching up on photo editing, working on some paintings, and just enjoying some much needed relaxing time!

teach art: jim dine + cubism

I found the idea for this project while attending an AP studio art teacher workshop earlier this year.  We did this project as teachers and had so much fun! I then went back to school and did a variation of this project with my AP students.  We discussed synthetic cubism and  how it progressed from cubism, invented by Picasso & Braque.  More mediums and textures arose in synthetic cubism with  repetition of objects and symbols, and brighter colors! We then talked about the familiar work of Jim Dine and his incredible tool drawings.  The students were challenged to incorporate the styles of these artists in their pieces.

The day before we did the project I told them to each bring a tool to class with them. I gave them 2 days to complete it, a table of materials, they had to draw the object on at least 5 different papers, and incorporate the elements and principles of design to create a successful composition. I loved watching how each student reacted to this project.  It required a more spontaneous work flow and less planning than most were comfortable with, which was awesome! It required that they work outside of their comfort zones and try things that they normally wouldn't take the risk on.  Some students even suggested we do every project like this! If you feel like you have been stuck in a project routine, or the students just need some change in their work flow this is a great project to try!

At your service.

Remember when I revived this old tray? Well, I did it again, but a new tray! I primed the cork part of the tray, but decided to leave a little still showing and then I used an awesome stencil made by Heidi Swapp  to create this cool beehive pattern! I then created my own flower design on top! I sealed the final design using Krylon Clear Coat, acrylic sealer and also a brush on varnish.