I think they turned out nicely! (minus the fact that they are all slightly crooked! I can’t cut in a straight line, but it gives them character.)

Pardon the grainy photos, I took these on my phone a few minutes before meeting her to hand them over.

Good luck at the conference friend!

xoxo

So as soon as I walked into the room last night, I felt comfortable. I was at ease.

But feeling challenged is also good and I want to grow as an artist.

What does this mean? That for the next few weeks I draw.

I’m very nervous about drawing. 

I admit that I hide in my blurry color swirls, but I think  (know) that brushing up on these fundamentals will ultimately help me create even better paintings.

As one guy put it, “it’s like taking two sticks and making a fire. Once you do that, you can do anything.”

So here’s to trying new things.

These are some snaps of my new painting. Let’s see what happens after a few weeks of drawing and when I return to painting. It will be an interesting experiment!

I found this project online. It was super easy, super messy, but super fun!

The best part about that day? Having one of the kids who just wanted to play on the computer actually participate in our project. He was not interested in making art with us AT ALL and was very adamant about not coming to class. Three volunteers tried getting him to come, but I managed to talk him into it. Seeing him excited about the project and promising to participate in future projects made my week. If you are in New York, come volunteer with us! Giving back is so, so rewarding. Thanks to everyone that participated and my great co-team leaders!

Hooray for volunteering! NY Cares Day 2011 is coming up! I’ll be posting information about my mural soon! 

What you need:

• Food coloring
• Vegetable oil
• Paper
• Baking pan
• Water

1. Take the food coloring and cooking oil and put it in a glass or cup to stir. I used these glasses at home, but at the class we used little craft containers.

2. Mix the oil and food coloring to make the colors you want. Stir it quickly like a salad dressing.

3. This part looks super cool…

4. Put enough water in the pan so it’s a thin layer at the bottom (my sample has too much). Add the food coloring/oil mixture to the pan. It should float to the top of the surface.

5. Take the paper and place it on top of the water. When you pull it off, you’ll have different swirls and patterns. To make more patterns, just take the mixture and drop it on the paper directly. Move the paper around to make shapes and things you like!

** Have a kind roommate help you out when you realize it was stupid to wear a nice camera while playing with oil and food coloring… have him document the rest of the photos **

The result? Fun paper! 

Caesar (the black kitty) loves sitting on lumps. He never likes to sit on soft things, he prefers piles of books; shoes or anything that looks like it would be uncomfortable. His sister just likes to get into everything and runs around like a mini tornado. 

Aren’t they adorable?

The new project is something in the works, more to come.

oh and he also likes to wear shoes.

a little reminder from the lovely words of sark and something i’ve been trying to live by lately.

and flowers…

lonely swamp birds…

and mountains and forests of color…
**

these are some new paintings for a small gallery in my hometown Dysart, Iowa!

**

My new painting class is wonderful. I can’t wait to share some of the things I’ve been working on!

our last class is today. i have loved every minute of it. while i was consistently late (job), i only missed a class once and stayed until the end most nights. i think my style is evolving (which is exciting!) and i can’t wait for my next summer class!

here are the paintings i produced in this class – note that some of them may get some final touches, but for now, they are complete.

btw, these pink chairs are a lovely street find from my first year in new york. aren’t they fabulous?

**

To be perfectly honest, I don’t love this piece right now. I think I ruined it with the horse addition – but I think/hope it can be fixed! It was challenging because I’ve been trying to push my “style” of paintings and wanted to make this a whimsical piece, but it may have been better left abstract. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned in this class – when to stop and just LOOK at a piece.

Oh well! Either way, I love painting and am just so happy to be making art.

would love your thoughts/feedback!