look a little closer blog

I am lucky enough to do some awesome volunteer projects. For those in New York, NY Cares is one of the best volunteer organizations! You can practically do anything you want–from walking dogs to knitting for homeless. I am currently actively involved with three projects:

1. Monthly music with elderly
2. Weekly art with blind
3. *coming soon* monthly recycled art/environmental education with kids! which I’ll be team leading!

Friends, if you’re interested in any of these projects let me know! Sorry for the shameless plug, but I love getting people involved!

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In any case, I really enjoy doing the art class with the blind. The class meets weekly and students get to work on projects. While they may not be able to “see” they still enjoy working on art.

Class favorites include:

• Trivets - ceramic tiles placed inside gray goo that hardens into a nice square
• Wooden Boxes - painted baskets which can be decorated with anything
• Leather impression things – a really loud project in which the students take a hammer and stamp and smash the stamp to make impressions into the leather. did i mention this is a really LOUD project? bad if you have a headache!
• Place mats - sewing, gluing, painting onto fabric to make a place setting. or a small hanging piece.

When the team leaders found out I did murals for NY Cares Day, they asked me if I could help design a tactile mural for Visions.  So this spring semester the class will continue with the craft projects, but we’ll also be working on this fine art piece.

Inspiration- Last semester I worked on a lovely place mat with one of the students and made it as tactile as possible. She wanted a scene with a tree and fruit. We went through and picked out fabric for the background of the scene, the birds, and the fruit. The whole class loved the piece and they were able to feel and imagine each different element of the piece. This was a bit of inspiration for the larger mural we’ll do this semester.

New York Tactile Mural- We asked the students what they would like to have as a mural and they asked for elements of New York. Here is an unfinished painting of the mural design, but keep in mind it will be tactile. I’m also going to add in some animals and the students will have creative control of adding in any elements they wish to.

The plan-

• Sketch the mural out on canvas with puffy paint
• Cut up sketched mural into squares (this will be a large mural, probably 3 x 5 feet)
• Number the squares, so we know how to piece it together again
• Give each student individual squares with guidelines on colors to paint
• Students can fill in the colors with various tactile objects. (beads, ceramic pieces, fabric, sand, etc)
• When the mural is completed, I will sew it together
• Final mural will be sewn onto a bar so it can be easily hung

We start tomorrow, and I’m really excited! I’ve never done something like this, so I look forward to seeing the finished piece. I’m also happy with the design and think that the students will like the challenge.  It’s my typical “scene” with trees and a cityscape, but I’ve tried to “enhance” it. (thankfully, I’m sure ht would say! )  I tried incorporating things inside overall elements. I plan on finishing the sketch tonight and will add it. I’ll also try to post pictures as we work on the mural and I’ll also add the finished piece!

Hooray! It’s FRIDAY!! Thank freaking goodness! Next week will only be a 4-day week since I’ll be taking Friday off for All Points West, which I am super stoked about! Hopefully the weather will hold up. I’m not too thrilled about the commute, but the music will be fantastic!

Last night I worked on some art for the Half Hearts, which is a band that my friend Flip is in. Awhile back I helped with the album art and my friend Calee ended up finishing the design. They asked me to help out with some poster material with a theme of “corn.” With some art direction from Calee, here’s what I came up with.

I’m excited to see what she comes up with for the actual poster design.

Hooray, the sun is out and it is almost 6:00!

I sent the pieces from yesterday to the curator and here’s what he chose.

Thank you to everyone that’s been helping me with this! Lisa for the sexy names, Julian, Chino, and Larry for helping print!

I’m excited!

I finished my photos for the Seduction Show….I think they are pretty great! Some of them are retouched, and yes..that IS my body….I’m pretty proud, all of my working out is paying off!

All photos will be printed and put on foam board using our professional Espon.

Taken on a Nikon FE using 100 speed film.

enjoy!

Exciting news! I got into a group show! Not with a painting, but with some photography. I found this gallery in Brooklyn, when I purchased my Pebeo Porcelaine paints for the wedding present. I was chatting with the guy at Lee’s Art Store and he told me to check it out. I emailed the curator of the gallery and he decided to use some photos in their upcoming show, Seduction.

Below are photos of the pieces he liked.

In addition to these, I’ll be adding more pieces. I plan on shooting more “I love you’s” over the weekend, but with a “seductive” twist. I hope to have these photos soon! In the meantime, I need to stay on top of all of my upcoming projects/goals so I’m making a list here to remember them!

1. “Seductive” prints (over weekend)
2. Diary Project (need to finish this)
3. Bras for a Cause (with Calee)- start creating this and send something to Calee so she can work on it!
4. Paintings- I have a new series I’m going to start as soon as we move into our new apartment, but I’d like to make at least one more painting before I start this new series.
5. Sell things on etsy
6. Painting project- site, forms, supplies, etc
7. Practice my instruments- totally separate from my art, but another form of art that I need to keep up!

I’ll be headed to Sag Harbor this weekend for our last choir concert of the season. It should be pretty fun and this Brahms’s piece has been challenging and beautiful to sing. Hopefully the audience will like it as much as we do! Sunday I plan on going to the park with Kristen and Anthony to try to make some extra cash. They’ll be doing their Reiki services and I’m going to do some face painting! If you’re in NYC and need some work done, you should check them out. They are very talented and are trying to get their work out there. I’ve been a personal recipient of their Reiki and love it!

Well, it’s 5:57 and time to gtfo!

I blogged about these awhile back, but I finally finished them and sent them away. They will be placed in the Atlanta airport . I just signed up for another Art House Coop project called the Sketchbook Project. I’m really excited about this one, since I have my own sketchbook/diary that I use! I’ll just have to decide what I want to write in each book.

I’m working on another project called the Diary Project and it’s forcing me to sharpen up on my non-existent photo shop skills, but I’m really having fun learning how to use it.

The Canvas Project

The project: create a visual encyclopedia using mini canvases and artists from all over the world
My words: achieve, contribution, reservoir, terroir, solemn