Monday, February 24, 2014

Squirrel Loves You


This was originally made for my husband for Valentine's Day, with the added message "I Like You Like You Love You Love You!" It was inspired by this silly little video on Youtube which makes me laugh every time I watch it.  Go watch it right now, you won't regret it. We saw it earlier in February and have been joking about it ever since, so it felt appropriate to use it as the inspiration for my annual little piece of art that I make for him.  One, two, three, four, and five are a few examples of what I've made for him in previous years.

I used ink with a brush for the outlines, watercolor for most of the rest, and a bit of colored pencil at the end for some details.  

The little squirrel is also available right here in my Society6 shop on a variety of products.


Sunday, February 23, 2014

Wall Clocks - new in the shop!



Wall clocks are now available in my Society6 shop! The battery powered clocks are 10" in diameter and you can mix and match the frame and hands to fit your decor.  The clock frames are available in white, black, or natural wood, and the hands can be either black or white.

Also, free shipping is available worldwide from my shop through the end of today, 2/23!


Saturday, February 22, 2014

What I've been up to lately...

Hello everyone! I realize it's been a while since I last posted.  During the school year, my blogging can become less frequent while I am involved in teaching.  The school year has been busy, but wonderful.  My students have completed several great assignments this year.

Just to give you a little glimpse into some of what I do during the day, here's a look into a recent assignment from my classroom.  Studio Art students, which is mostly (but not all) 9th graders, and Advanced Studio students, which is the next level after Studio Art, recently completed artwork inspired by the pop art movement.  Classes looked at artwork by Andy Warhol, especially his Campbell's Soup Cans.  They also were introduced to Wayne Thiebaud's paintings of food.

Students in both class levels were asked to bring in non-perishable food items to paint pictures of, so that they could work from observation instead of photographs.  In today's digital age, students are all too familiar with just turning to Google for pictures, so it is always good to practice drawing and painting from observation.

Studio Art students painted on approximately 8"x10" pieces of scrap mat board, while Advanced Studio students worked much larger, with the option of painting on canvas if they brought one in.  The result was a variety of very colorful paintings of cans, boxes and tins of food.  Below you can see a few photos by some of my Advanced Studio students.  In total, between all of the classes, my students created 71 paintings of food items.


At the completion of the assignment, the classes then donated all of the food items that we collected to the local food pantry.  Not only did the students get to practice valuable art skills, but they were also able to contribute to their community.