The Goal

I love this quote. Most of my art is approached this way. Yes, I have a general idea of what I'm going to work on, but it mostly all comes together on it's own! I think the freedom of experimentation and having no expectation is so important!!! And that's what this weeks Gallery 116 class was like.

Thank you, Susan, for having your camera there, and for sending me these pictures of your finished projects! Susan, and her sister Colette, came to class together. We had a great time, but neither of them left with a completely finished project. But, creation took it's course! Here is Susan's finished piece! It's a little hard to read, but it says "Nothing Great is created without enthusiasm."
One of the girls in our class was in high school. I was so thrilled that she came! She told me, "I knew I would be coming by myself, but I wasn't going to miss it! I'm bringing friends back next time!" What a joy! Since she is somewhat familiar with these processes through her art classes at school, her idea came to her quickly, and she left home with this finished product.
Here is Colette with her canvas! Susan sent me this picture, and said that Colette's husband wrote "help, my wife can't stop working on this project :)" So exciting!
Susan also told me about her daughter's Girl Scout group that she would love to introduce this to. She tried it out with them this week, and her daughter, Claire, loved it! She had so much fun that she had to make another one after the group left!!!
Thank you, ladies, for sharing your art with us! I had a great time, and look forward to creating with you again soon! ...Possibly making ornaments on Dec. 8?! :)

Sketchbook Pages and such

Whew! Things have been crazy! I will definitely try to to update a little more frequently with my projects! Big A and I had a busy weekend last week, and I spent most of the week trying to recover!

The mixed media class at Gallery 116 this week was amazing! We had so much fun working, talking, and hanging out! We even decided that we should do an ornament class in December for the holidays! They've got a new blog up and going as well, so go take a look here.

Here's a few sketchbook pages that I worked on at school with the kids.
This is The Old Man and the Strawberry! The Alfred Einstein face is on the back of a silver strawberry. I covered both of the strawberries with braille paper from school, so they even feel like strawberries!
I've also been working on a few scarves. This is a weird picture, but I really like the jewel tones! They're very in right now, and I can't get enough.
And, here's another name painting. I LOVE this one! The giraffe pattern matches her bedding :)
Big A made 2 stools yesterday while I was at my sister's wedding shower. They are super cute, and I'm painting them for the clients this week.
Well, my Etsy is almost ready. I'm not sending you there yet because I only have 1 thing posted :) Hopefully soon though!

Growth Chart

Today was my friend Megan's little girl's 1st Birthday party!!! It was cupcake themed, and super cute! Avery looked adorable in her princess cupcake dress, and really got into her presents and her first taste of cake!!! We had a great time celebrating this occasion! I can't believe it's been a year since we first met Avery Kate at the hospital!!!

I made them a growth chart so they can document all of the big steps they'll have as she grows up!!!
Happy Birthday, Miss Avery!!!

splatter paint!!!

I teach 7th and 8th graders. I never thought that I would, it just happened that way, but these little people are far more entertaining than I ever could have imagined! They just make me laugh! (Yes, sometimes they make me want to go home early, but I think that happens with any job :).

I was approached by a student a few weeks ago asking if I would participate in the "What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar" segment that they were doing on their CTV show. I said yes, and I agreed to being splatter painted after school.

Now, when I agreed to this, my idea of splatter paint was the "confetti" version that I use in class. It is a very mild version of splatter paint.

That is not what went down.

We recorded our begining segment of the show, I changed and we headed outside. On the count of three, they splattered.

One.

Two.

Three...

And this is what happened!!! They had a BLAST!!!! I finally had to yell, "OK, we're done!" And as I'm talking, paint is entering my mouth :p

Here are the crazy kids who did it!!! These are also the same kids who helped me get my paint soaked clothes into trash bags, cleaned up the mess, and even helped me into my car, putting trash bags down first so I didn't ruin the seats!!! I teach fabulous kids.

In other news, here is some of what I accomplished over fall break. You can see a current project in the background :)
My friend Rhonda asked me to make a name painting for her adorable 3 year old daughter. Big A and I LOVE Ashlyn, and love talking and playing with her at church. She is extremely articulate, and just super cute!!!
Ashlyn was very pleased with her painting, and when asked what it said, she replied, "I love Shelb." (who is her older sister!)
Tonight I'm teaching another class at Gallery 116. I might have to go down to just 1 class per month because class sizes have been so small, so if you're close, PLEASE come to the class!!!!