Creative Endeavors in Art

Morgan the Fox

As the years move away from the last time I saw Morgan, Parker and Wiley, it is harder to imagine what they would look like now if they were alive.  What I can do is be aware of their presence in other objects and paint what I feel.  Happy Birthday, Morgan.  I love you so much.  His birthday is March 5th.  I finished this painting a week afterwards and just now getting around to posting.

What Kind Of Line Am I?

In a Misty Mawn workshop I'm taking, we're asked to describe ourselves in terms of "lines".  Along with the poem I created, I also painted this self portrait:

I AM A FLOURISH

I start out as a frail, and uncertain line.

But want to explore being bold!

So I vacilate between comfortable meek lines

and daring, loud ones.

Oh the possibilities!

Who knows where my flourishing line takes me.

Valentine's Project for Veterans

At the beginning of February, I planned to design our family's Valentines cards to send out to family and friends.  That got me thinking (dangerous, I know).  I love to do art projects involving kids.  So, why not have kids at Gierma's elementary school make them to give to a group of people who would love them.  I felt a very strong pull to "just do it."

I knew I had to act fast to coordinate with Asbury elementary's principal and art teacher to get my project ok'd.  I didn't want to intrude on actual learning time in the classrooms, so I decided to hold the Valentine card-making session during the kids' lunch recess. That way they could choose to do the project only if they wanted to.  I figured out a quick art project that didn't get too messy, each grade level only has 15 minutes for recess.  This is what I came up with:

I was thinking not too many kids would want to participate-boy was I wrong! That day was an indoor recess day due to weather, so I was in for LOTS of kids wanting to make cards!  Yay me, right? !!  People who know me well knew at this point I was freaking out!   Luckily, Jenny Werner, the art teacher recommended ahead of time to ask for fifth graders to help out with the project.  Mrs. Hoeffer and Mrs. Waring were SO generous in loaning me seven great kids(mine being one of them!).  Let me tell you, those kids were rock stars and I wouldn't have been able to survive the whirlwind art project.  I was also lucky to snag two moms, Molly Withers and Kristen Dorighi, that morning.  They were a godsend too!

 

Again, the fifth grade teachers were life savers because they had the kids cut out most of the hearts for me.  My friend, Kristen Carlson, also helped cut out some of the hearts as well.  Steve and Gierma were my envelope stuffers.  :0)

During this time, I was researching what group we should take all of these amazing pieces of love to.  My husband, Steve, is a teacher for Third Way and mentioned a fellow teacher had a contact for the VA hospital.  How perfect!!  Steve's father and mine as well served in the Army.

I was hoping to get at least 100 cards made.  We ended up with a total of 200 made in 1 1/2 hours!!!

This is what the cards looked like once assembled.  Aren't each and every one of them beautiful?

The after school daycare program, Kaleidoscope, heard about our project and added to our collection!!  

This morning, Steve met me at the Denver VA hospital to hand out Valentine's cards.  When I told the veterans that students from Asbury Elementary made the cards for them, their faces lit up.  The kids made a BIG difference in many veterans' lives today.  I believe these people who deserve so much more than they have been given felt appreciated and loved.  

Mission accomplished.  :0)

Steve and I got to talk to these gentlemen for quite some time.  Veterans have a lot to say and I wish there was a way to listen to them all.  Perhaps another art project?  :0)

 

S

Again, thanks to all that helped with this Valentine's project I threw together. Its amazing what can be accomplished with people's generous donations of time and love.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  Make someone smile with your love.

 

 

Portraiture: A Humble Process

Our good friend, Reggie, asked me to paint a portrait of his son for his wife's birthday.  I was thrilled for the opportunity!  The past year, I've been working on my portrait rendering skills and I've been happy with my progress so far.  So, I felt confident going into this project.  

Let me tell you, it was a humbling challenge for me!  For some reason, I could not get the portrait to where it was looking like Malik!!!  I spent a lot of time trying tweak the painting.  

I encountered many emotions painting this piece!  At first, I was excited to start a new project.  Then frustrated as to why it wasn't turning out the way I wanted it to.  Next, my confidence started to waiver, worried that I had lost my touch.  At one point, I almost tore up the painting to start anew.  A part of me didn't want to give up, so I trudged on.  

I finally came to a point where I was "satisfied" with the portrait and gave it to Reggie.  He was thrilled and so was his wife when he presented it to her.  They posted it on Facebook and I couldn't believe I gave them the portrait looking the way it did!!!  I gave into to mediocrity and I wasn't finished with that portrait.  I embarrassingly asked them if I could have it back to tweak.  

It had been almost a month since I last saw the painting and when it was posted on Facebook.  So, that time away from it really helped me hone in on corrections I wanted to make.  The face is an amazing thing.  A slight change in angle or line can alter the expression you are wishing to capture.  Now, I am VERY pleased with Malik's portrait.  I feel it's my best one yet.  It was a journey that was challenging, really challenging.  I'm glad I stuck with it as I feel it was so worth it.  Humble lessons were learned:

#1 - The process is worth it, even if it becomes uncomfortable at times.

#2 - Some artwork flows as amazingly as you want it to.  Other times, it might be a real challenge.  It doesn't make you less of an artist if it happens that way.

#3 - Completely walk away from a project for a while to give you new perspective.

#4 - Don't give up, you'll know when it is "complete".  It could be your very best work yet!

Happy 2015!!

Snow's Clarity

Happy New Year, everyone!  I can't believe it's been over two months since I last posted!   I will have to put that on my goal list for this year - blog at least once a month.  One of my other goals is to shoot for completing four paintings a month.  Over the holidays, I have a hard time coming up with inspiration for an art piece.  I guess I'm kinda wrapped up in the season.  

After all the holiday celebrations, I took a moment to just sit outside in the sun.  My doctor recommened I get more vitamin D, so that's just what I did!  I took a moment to really enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful snow on the ground.  I contemplated why I love snow so much.  This is what I found;  I love how calming snow is to me.  When things get overwhelming for me, I can rest in the comfort of snow.  Snow simplifies and purifies everything.  It grounds me to reveal in it's beauty.  That is how I came with this painting.  This painting is for sale in my ETSY shop.  Just click on the link to the right that says "ETSY Shop".

 

 

 

Uno Mas Frida!

A couple years ago, I painted a Frida Dias Des Los Muertos mask.  It was sold right away!  Missing Frida, I painted another one.  Only, this one is more elaborate!

She is now for sale in my Etsy shop - just click on my Etsy shop badge off the right of this blog.  I did have to make a disclaimer the cute puppy, Tommy, was not included.  ☺

 

Buna

Buna is the amharic word for COFFEE!  I just finished this painting for Ethiopia Reads' "Ethiopian Odyssey" coming up October 22, here in Denver.  Along with other paintings by differents artists, it will be auctioned off to raise money for Ethiopia Reads.  

The word "jebena" written on the background, is the word for this tradistional ethiopian coffee pot.  The amharic word written to the left of the jebena in red is "buna".  On the jebena, I've painting the amharic word "selam" which means peace.

The ethiopian coffee ceremony is a beautiful thing.  I feel the coffee ceremony respresents Ethiopia well.  It is a time of fellowship.  It is a time to share.  It is a time to take in the moment.  What a fantastic way to celebrate life with friends and the best tasting coffee!

Portraits of Loved Ones

As we all know, the holidays creep up on us rather quickly once school starts.  So, I wanted to put it out there I'm offering people a very personal and special gift to give-a portrait of a loved one.  I love painting in this monochromatic way and it is my hope the portraits reflect the loved one's personality.  Please contact me at [email protected] if you are interested.  One out of the first three orders has already been filled!  As I mentioned in this flyer, the first three orders will receive the framing free. 

Tommy Portrait

It feels so good to get back into painting!  If I haven't been painting for a while, I feel a bit rusty starting out again.  Luckily, it is like riding a bike and I'm back to peddling on my artful journey!

I really enjoy painting with just a water soluable pencil and white acrylic paint.  I can get so many values with just those two things, it's amazing.  I painted a portrait of Gierma in this similar style.

 

 

Summer Sketching

This past summer, I unintentionally took a break from painting.  Perhaps I wanted to be on summer vacation with my boys!  I did take an online sketch course, called Sketchbook School.  It is headed by a well known sketchbook artist, Danny Gregory.  The concept is cool-there are six different artist that are presented one a week.  You get to see video on how they sketch and listen to their helpful tips. 

My intentions of sketching more often is to hone in on my rendering skills.  It would be great if I could dedicate myself to sketching once a day!  It's a good challenge to do someday.

Here are some of my sketchbook entries I did over the summer: