supporting the arts at a local school

Last year, I helped launch an arts fair at our neighborhood elementary school, and somehow I ended up chairing the event this year.  (Note to self: avoid eye contact at next parent volunteer meeting.)  So part of my crazy fall schedule involves after school meetings, event planning, and networking.  I also managed to eek out an illustration for the poster design.



There will be about 30 local vendors (a number of Etsy sellers) participating in the Holiday Market.  For the next few weeks, I'll be working on new inventory for the show.  I'm thinking more paintings on cedar wood slices and rocks.  And I'm hoping to have a 2013 calendar ready by then.



If you're in the Portland area at the end of this month, please stop by and say hello.  The Holiday Market is a great way to shop for handmade gifts and support a local school. Twenty-five percent of all sales goes back to the arts program at Capitol Hill- yay for art in schools! With the proceeds, we are hoping to update the kiln and stock classrooms with art materials.

i heart portland

Portland has its share of nicknames.  There's City of Roses, PDX, Rip City, Stumptown, and P-Town, which is the most commonly used name by locals.  You may also hear Portland referred to as Bridgetown due to the cluster of bridges in the center of town.  There are a total of eight bridges within walking distance from downtown.



Most of the bridges are quite historical, dating before 1926.  The oldest is Hawthorne Bridge (1910), which is my favorite.  It also happens to be the oldest vertical-lift bridge in the United States that is still in use.  One of my first Habit of Art blog posts was on a simple embroidery piece I had done of the Hawthorne Bridge.

Hawthorne Bridge

Here are a few more photos I snapped over the years of Hawthorne Bridge and other Portland bridges.

Stalled on Hawthorne Bridge due to the lift.

Broadway Bridge

Burnside Bridge

St. Johns Bridge

My nine year-old daughter is currently learning about Portland bridges in her class.  For a class project, she chose to paint the Sellwood Bridge.  She worked hard on the painting, and I love how it turned out!

My week

i am in love my new hand-dyed scarf and pouch from driftwood & fossil

what a great project for kids!

i bought this dinosaur topped jar at a school fundraising event last weekend

a dear friend of mine is in Uganda for the year to help children of the AIDS epidemic 

she sent me this wonderful recycled burlap bag she found on a recent trip to Rwanda

much love and thanks, T!

glorious weather this weekend

everyone's out and about enjoying the sun, at last

this photo was taken on a walk through Tryon Creek Park 

magnolias . . . one of the reasons i love spring so much

started a new 11 x 14 painting

i'm working on six pieces for an online show coming up

more info to come in a few weeks

working with water soluble crayons

A few weekends ago, I picked up a set of water soluble crayons at an estate sale for $1.  They are the Neocolor II crayons from Caran d'Ache.  I've been a fan of Caran d'Ache's oil pastels for over 20 years now, so I was curious to see how the aquarelle crayons compared. 

When applied dry, the crayons act a lot like wax crayons, except they are denser and richer in color.  The magic happens when you add water.  Just look at the vibrancy and easy blending of color when a wet brush is applied! 

The Neocolor II crayons work beautifully on canvas panel, and I've used them on wood panel, too.  Here is a work in progress.  I used the water soluble crayons for the yellow moon.  I like that I can layer other mediums on top, which is a little trickier to do with oil pastels. 

I keep my crayons sorted in a metal slide storage box that I found at the estate sale.  I already added some new colors to my collection. 

Aquarelle crayons are a wonderful material for kids, too.  My daughter used them to make her valentine's card design. 

my week

new painting // lost lake

found these sweet and tiny vessels by elycia camille at tender loving empire

just a few dollars apiece!

i gave them to the girls as earring holders

i was happy to drop off more of my art prints at tilde this week

so that I could take another look at the beautiful paper creations of

katie kulper [friend and fellow portlander]

i've mentioned her work before here

her latest paper sculptures are part of curves + lines: a papercraft show at tilde

utter and complete guilty pleasure

my favorite >> monkey muffin, top left

my eight year-old made this for valentine's day

and we turned it into cards for her classmates

xoxo

Young Picassos all around us

Marla Olmstead.  Painting on the right: Dory, 36 x 48 inches, painted at age 5 (2005).  [image sources: map, marlaolmstead.com]

Kids love art.  Walk into any preschool class, and you'll find children coloring, making a collage, or fingerpainting.  When I was an elementary art specialist for a year in the public school district, I had the privilege of teaching the fundamentals of art to primary students.  Even when there was only copy paper and #2 yellow pencils available at a school, children were excited to learn something new with art.



The younger kids, in particular, were much more uninhibited about diving into an art project. They didn't worry about making "mistakes," so their works were more spontaneous.  It's this innocent, child-like approach that many famous artists have strived for in their professional career.

Akiane Kramarik, Planted Eyes, 36 x 48 in., painted at age 8 (2003). [image source: artakiane.com]

Art is a learned skill, but some children have artistic abilities that come naturally. The three young artists whose works are showcased here are undoubtedly all very gifted children.  Akiane Kramarik was only eight years-old when she painted this large portrait of an African woman.  It was her first oil painting, and she finished it within 15 hours, which includes the preliminary drawing.



In the past couple of weeks, 4 year-old Aelita Andre from Australia has been spotlighted in the media. Her large scale works are currently showing in a Manhattan gallery and selling for tens of thousands of dollars.   

Aelita Andre, age 4, Autumn, 30 x 36 in. [image source: aelitaandreart.com

These three talented girls come from different backgrounds and places, yet there is one common denominator that plays a significant role in the girls' artistic pursuits and success.  They all have parents who support and foster their aptitude for painting.  Four year-old Aelita even has her own art studio (bigger than mine!).



Below is a short documentary of Aelita painting in her studio.  It is quite fascinating to watch the creative process of such a young girl, especially when she is given so much freedom with art supplies. In the ten years that I taught art,  I've worked with a number of truly gifted kids.   And it makes me wonder how many more young Picassos we would run across if every young child who has a propensity for the arts was given ample supplies, time, space, and parental support.  

Tom Tierney's fashionable paper dolls

My girls think I'm famous because I have a blog.  I told them that I'll be famous once I'm a Tom Tierney paper doll.  Tom Tierney is a well-known name in our household, as the girls have been collecting his paper doll books for years.  For her birthday a couple of weeks ago, my youngest got the latest paper doll collection of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

A handsome couple indeed.  Here they are dressed for a "ball."  The much talked about wedding dress is actually not in the book, but you can request it online at Dover Publications.  It should be on its way to our home.



I love Tom Tierney's paper dolls for so many reasons.  For one, the books are very affordable and provide countless hours of fun.  Cutting out the dolls and clothes alone keep the girls busy for a good day or two!  The collections also showcase period fashion and memorable outfits worn by celebrated figures.  The girls particularly favor the Hollywood glamour dresses of the 1930s - 40s.

I'm not sure if my uniform of leggings and oversized sweaters will ever make a desirable paper doll wardrobe.  Good thing I can be "famous" blogging in the comfort of my home (and clothes) and still be adored by my two greatest fans.

My chalkboard wall

It's been over a year since I mentioned [here] painting one of our walls with chalkboard paint, and I'm happy to report that I finally did it!  I'm not sure why I waited so long, because it was a relatively painless task.  I was able to paint two coats in one afternoon, and it only took one quart of paint.  The girls had a blast drawing on it for the first time, covering as much surface with chalk as possible.  I contributed some doodles myself, and I have to say that I found it quite liberating to draw on a wall in our home.  I can understand why kids prefer walls over paper.  The whole arm is involved in the drawing process and there's a lot more space to be creative. 

My Week

Apparently, I'm digging reds and greens right now . . .

my latest work, Cherry Blossoms // it just got snatched up as a swapathon trade

a favorite on sunday afternoons- tomatoes and basil on baguette

value drawing lesson for 10 year-olds in my dining room

bouquet of flowers we've enjoyed all week

a dear family friend (and former art student of mine) recently got engaged, on our front porch! 

i snapped some photos of the sweet couple this weekend

Felt gift bags for any occasion

Christmas is a few days away, and the wrapping frenzy has just begun at our house.  I normally use kraft paper and twine when wrapping gifts, but odd-shaped items seem to go best in bags.  I decided to make some gift bags this year out of felt scraps leftover from my Christmas tree skirt project.   The felt is made from recycled plastic bottles, and, best of all, the handmade bags are reusable. 

To make your own felt gift bags, you need the following items:



felt

fabric scissors

pinking shears

sewing machine (or you can handstitch)

buttons

embroidery floss and needle

bias tape or yarn (optional)



Instructions:

1. Cut out two identical rectangles (the size depends on your gift).  The proportion of length to width should be similar to a brown lunch sack.



2.  With right sides together, sew along all the edges except the top. 



3.  To create a base for the bag, pinch the corners so that the bottom seam touches each side seam. Then run the two corners through the sewing machine, creating new seams perpendicular to the bottom seam.

4.  Turn the bag right side out and trim the top edge with pinking shears.  The basic bag design is now done!

5.  For the button detail, flip down the top edge and cut a slit in the middle of the flap.  The slit should go through both layers of the flap. 

6.  Sew the button(s) onto the bag with embroidery floss.  

7.  Just add embroidered designs to the front of the flap, and the bag is ready to gift!

Another option, especially if you're running short on time, is to skip steps 5 - 7 and tie the felt bag with yarn or bias tape. 

I can see the felt bags being a great project for young crafters.  They will most likely need a little help with the sewing (especially the corners).  And, instead of embroidery, kids could glue felt shapes onto the bag, like hearts for Valentine's Day. 

Helping kids draw animals

As a child, I loved Ed Emberley's drawing books.  His easy-to-follow drawings of chipper animals have made millions of kids feel like artists.  Our girls have one of his classic books called Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals.  My 7 year-old daughter was going through the book the other day and drew some characters, including this lion. 

Emberley's approach to drawing is quite simple.  If you know how to draw different lines and basic shapes, then you can learn how to draw all sorts of things.  This is the foundation of any beginning drawing class, really.



Emberley's drawing books are wonderful for young learners (and parents!), but having been an art teacher for many years, I also know that students as young as 5 and 6 years of age can be challenged with more advanced drawing techniques.  Once my daughter finished some sketches from the first book, I handed her Illustrating Nature: How to Paint and Draw Plants and Animals. 

I found this book last year, and I was so excited to find another great drawing book.  If you have ever shopped for books on drawing, then you are fully aware of the lack of good instructional drawing books out there.  When I taught high school art, I used to have an in-class library of art books for students to check out, and I was always looking for more drawing books.  I wish that I had found this book by Dorothea and Sy Barlowe when I was teaching. The 100+ page book is chock full of drawing tips and information on plant and animal life. 

Here are a couple of pages from the book.  On the left are some illustrations showing animals in action, which is a wonderful resource for beginning and advanced artists.  The page on the right walks through some techniques on how to render fur textures. 



When I handed the book to my daughter, I told her to flip through the pages and find an animal drawing that she would want to replicate.  When using a picture as a drawing resource, many kids make the mistake of choosing a subject that lacks detail.  They figure that the lack of details would make their drawing experience easier, when in actuality, it makes it a lot more difficult.  My daughter came upon a peacock picture, and I told her that that would be perfect to draw- so much texture, contrast, and interesting lines.  About 20 minutes later, this is what she drew. . .

It actually helps when a child isn't as familiar with the subject she is drawing because it forces her to look at the details of the subject.   If the subject had been a cat, for example, the drawing would not have been as detailed. 



Again, I'm always on the lookout for great drawing books, for my kids and myself.  Do you have any favorites?