I am working multiple jobs now and I will have things to post for all of them they are:

1. I am working on a grant and community mural project.
2. Working in the AM as a lead teacher for a before school program.
3. Teaching two different Saturday art classes in drawing and painting at the art gallery.
4. Working on an Etsy shop.
5. Working as the coordinator and a teacher for school breaks at the art gallery.

In addition to this i am taking tribal belly dance class, taking a painting class, working on art shows and trying to keep the house clean... Whoa I am tired already!
Oh yeah and having a social life!!!

Still lifes for younger crowd

Started with a new class last week and some of the kids were the same ones had taken my class last time so. I came up with new projects. We went into the art gallery and looked at still life paintings.We then went back to the classroom were I had several still life objects laid out. I let the students help me choose what objects to put in the arrangement with a simple thumbs up or thumbs down.From the fake food assortment they were not huge on fruits or vegetables. No eggplant and no onions. I took put some dress shoes to and they were not into those either.We ended up with two glass bottles an apple, a banana and a ukulele

I demoed drawing the objects and how we look at how they overlap. Many of the students did well only one got upset. I talked with her again and how to look at the objects and overlap them. I worked with several students about how it is okay to make mistakes and how to not be to hard on yourself. These were 1st through 3rd graders. It was a tough assignment.

I told them to take a moment and walk around and look at other peoples drawings. To notice how they were all different.

Oldie but Goodie

I was called in for a last minute sub job. The teacher calls and says. "They have been drawing a lot.They are bored with it, I don't want them using clay today....."I mention. I have drawing challenge cards, with items on them like draw a neighbors shoe. This brings me back to projects I did in middle school.

1. Using pencil,Draw a shoe outline first use contour and draw only the outside, use pencil
then move to details.
2.Next outline in fine point sharpie.Erase remaining pencil
3.Then add pen and ink techniques.
4.Fill in areas with watercolor. One color per section.

Things I found helpful to demonstrate to students.
Simple contour outline beginning. to count number of details that fit into the space they are drawing. ie:grommets, holes for lacing.

How much water to have on your paint brush and how much is too much.Explaining that without the correct amount of water the paint is hard to control.

The plight of the unfinshed project.

Often I will begin examples of lessons to teach to students. You start these examples then get busy helping students complete theirs. You show this unfinished example to the students and then tell them what else you would like them to do in order to complete theirs.

After several years of teaching art you end up with this pile of unfinished projects. I also make another example that is posted in stages on a poster.
I was talking with another art teacher about this and we thought....Why don't they create and art teachers art show of all the unfinished projects.....

the gift of giving

For me the most exciting thing about the holidays are not the gifts I get but the ones I give.I love to see peoples reactions to their personalized and often hand crafted gifts.Each one of my friends have these unique hobbies and interests.


My mother collects school buses. I by the ones that I can find afford ably and then often make them.This year I gave her four. I found this plain wooden bus at Micheal's and painted and decorated it.Then while sitting at the crafting table among my wood burning projects I saw the left over pieces for my painting canvas and got a good idea/saw out a notch and you get a bus. At first ti thought earrings but they are a little large for that. So I mounted them on wood scraps and made small standing versions instead.












My friends mom who is also a dear friend to me collects angels. I found this one at the Dollar tree(my favorite store) and gave it a wood burn treatment and a acrylic paint job.





My friend Sue and Reyna collect wolfs. I drew this one(actually on Christmas day) at my aunts.



My boyfriend Ed got personalized t- shirts. I will have to have him model those and post pics.

I have this group of girlfriends that I often see in a group and that I met out at the nightclub. I have all these pictures of us having fun so I gave them collages printed on magnetic sheets with all their pictures from my myspace page.I also made some feathered hair clips.

Solstice gifts

I received a bunch of mail yesterday. Christmas cards, Ed's mom sent some cookies. Then I got this envelope from Arts And cultural council....I guessed what was in it: event invitation, a request for donations, My member ship should be fine, a grant rejections letter... I opened it up. It was a grant acceptance letter!

I also contacted someone from the Flying Squirrel community center
about hanging up an art show last week. I was surprised by the response I got. Why don't you hang it up for Solstice? So I prepped work on Sunday and hung it up Monday. The show is up and will run through Jan.

This is one of the images in the show. The show is all based on images from a Tarot deck. This is "4 of Pents". They are currently 13 works present and others will follow soon.

This is also the building that we will be painting the mural on starting in March. Meetings of the mural comittee will start on Thursday nights. Here's the link for their Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=100000140036866

holiday crafting

So I now have a new kitchen to cook in and realized that I like frosting cookies. I treat each one like an miniature edible art work.

To the left are the cupcakes I made for my friend "The cupcake queen." She loves gourmet cupcakes and makes them for everyones birthdays.





I made ginger bread men and personalized them to give to certain friends. I made several "belly dancer" cookies with my ginger bread girl cutter.I had fun trying to put coins of the belts with white frosting...that was a challenge.



I also made, brownies, candy can mint cookies,and sugar cookies with ornament shaped cookie cutters and solstice suns cookies as well.

I have posted pictures with people holding their cookies below.