I Have Art Students!

On Tuesday I had my first Experiencing Art class. I only have three students, two of which are my own boys, but it is a start. It was a lot of fun teaching the kids (two boys 9 & 15 and a girl age 10) how to draw. The plan for the class is to do a different type of art each month so that the children get to experience other art mediums. Our first month is to learn basic drawing and keeping art journals. Next month will be composition and design. March will probably be altered books. In April or May it will be photography.

My boys who have been around me and my art never really wanted to learn to draw or anything. Now that I have another student they are game for the fun. Even if I did not have a paying student I told them that I was going to have the classes anyway. They were game for some artistic fun! I am extremely happy that I am an artist and their teacher (we home school) of course my favorite job (not really a job more of a pleasure) is being their mom.

These are the two drawings I managed to do this week. Drawing a remote is crazy because of all the buttons. As I was working on the drawing it made me realize how little patience I have for completing complicated drawings. I want the pictures to be done quickly, however at the same time I want them to look perfect. Perfection or speed? one of them has to go. I think it shall be perfection. It would be nice to be able to draw using only brief lines to indicate an object or what have you. Watercolors have always been difficult for me because I want my paintings to be perfect and yet I like the watercolor paintings that are not perfect. It may be because of my photography that causes me to want perfect watercolor paintings. It is something I wish to work on because I like working with watercolors.

Practice at non-perfection!!!

A Very Busy Friday!

My shell is not the typical seashell. It is the tastiest shell, M&Ms. It was a good day to draw, not too much shaking going on in my head and hands. I believe that if I am able to draw each day or at least every other day my abilities will get better. It is a little scary drawing and then sharing it with others, but that is how one learns to get over that fear.

Practice! Practice! Practice! then Share! Share! Share!

Hi all,

I did not draw today, but I did play with my camera and computer. This is a picture of my Blue Fronted Amazon bird, Chickie. I was taking pictures of various things and she saw the camera pointing at her and came towards me. She is a camera hog, Silly girl! I uploaded the photo to my computer and then played around with the filters in Photoshop. This was the sharpen filter adjusted way to one side.

This is the same shot of Chickie using the kaleidoscope filter on it. It is just left of her eye. It was fun playing on the computer today because I got to do art. This week has been hard for me when it comes to drawing because of my shaky head. The shaky head cause my hands not to work quite right. I did draw some and will place that on here as soon as I scan it in. I also want to draw my 'shell' EDM challenge and scan that at the same time. It will all be up to my hands. I will do it even if the hands shake! Art is therapy for me, therefore I must do. It is a joy to create! I hope you all have a very creative day, now go create!!!

Some drawings are not so good but at least I tried. I must. . .
Practice, Practice, Practice!!!

I started a new art journal for the EDM group challenges. It is a fun and encouraging group of artist. Each artist is talented in his/her own right. Some are new to drawing and others are veterans. No one has ever shown any air of being better, only encouraging words. Inspiring words. They have given me the drive to go beyond the pain and jerky head and hand and just draw. Draw because it is fun! Draw because it is in me and wants to come out. Thank you!

Chickie

I finally got my scanner hooked back up and now I can scan away.
After I got the scanner done it was time to play. First, I made a couple of book marks and then it was time to bring out the markers. I got a piece of green card stock about 5" x 2" and then looked for something to draw. Well my Blue Fronted Amazon parrot was sitting on her little

box which rests on my art desk. We like to sing together while I work. She is one of my art buddies.

I drew a pencil outline and then used a white scrapbooking marker to fill it in. I was just going to leave it white but I pulled out my other markers, yes scrapbooking ones (Le Plume) and some colored Sharpies. The drawing is layers of the different markers and blended them with a blending marker. After it was done I cut it out and placed it on aged red paper which is the same size as the green. The effect was strange. It looks a bit like I painted it. After awhile the markers were roughing up the paper. I glued it in my new drawing book but before I did that I had scanned it in. Art book was upstairs so I will have to scan that some other time.

I finally got my art studio clean. It seems that my darling little grandson rampaged it the last time he came to visit. He had fun getting into all my things. Oh well, I still love the little fellow.


My desk is only clean after a project. Next time I do a project I will have to take a picture of just how messy the desk can get. ;-) (ok, it is not perfectly white, too many glue and paint remnants.)

This is my little helper, Liam. He wanted me to take his photo and then put it online.

The words by the painting express: Clean up your Mess. I thought this would work with my kiddos when they used the studio, well it didn't. I guess it is hard to enforce this law when I have a mess too. I do clean it up after each project, that is a good thing, right?

The tv area is home to my boys most of the time so enjoy it now while it is clean.

At one time my art desk was closer to the tv where I could see it, but it was up against a wall and that was bad on the creative spirit. My hubby fixed the drywall and then painted the walls two shades of purple (the darker shade is on the post wall on the other side, cannot see it from this angle.)

It felt good to get out and take pictures even though I only went out the front door;-)

One of the photographic tools I need is a new tripod. My old one broke and those that I have left are too small for my camera. I asked Santa for a new one but he brought me new flannel sheets. I guess he thought that I needed to be warm instead. Maybe my hubby will get me a new tripod for our anniversary, one can dream!

One of my favorite things about winter is how the snow makes the trees seem surreal. Absolutely beautiful.

My Bad!
I did not do so well at keeping up with my blog. This year I hope to be better at it and get some of my art uploaded to the blog. Creating art makes me feel good when my body is hurting. If I can manage to do more art perhaps I will be able to overcome the pain or at least work through it.

In December I managed to complete several projects which I will share asap. I will also try and take photos of my art studio and share those here.

Happy New Year!!!