Don't worry Internet, I didn't leave you!

Wow! Well, it's been about a month since I posted last. I'm the worst! In an effort to never do that again I've made a resolution: I'm going to post every Wednesday and Sunday. Hopefully. Maybe. Fingers crossed. So far I'm off to a good start because - lo' and behold! - today is Wednesday!

Lately I've been setting up for a county-wide art show. It requires 15 - 30 pieces of student art work that are lovingly matted, labeled, and velcro'd. It's time consuming, to say the least, but this year I'm pretty pleased with my display! It boasts all 1st grade artwork because, I have to say, my 1st graders this year are awesome. Just a genuinely nice batch of kids and fearlessly creative. As such, we've been experimenting with all sorts of materials ranging from salt to melted crayons! We've have an absolute blast doing it to! It's always great when you have a group of kids that are enthusiastic, respectful, and creative all at once. It makes a lesson go smoothly with awesome results. Below are the panels of the kiddies work:

What great art! First, we have visual texture trees with a watercolor and salt background. The students used masking tape, ripping it into pieces, to create the trees. Then they painted over the trees using a wet-on-wet watercolor technique and salt. FInally, they added visual textures using pen. 

There are some amazingly expressive self-portraits (ie: the one on the far bottom left), but I'm very proud of our melted crayon artwork. The artwork was inspired by the contemporary artists Eli Halpin's Summer Lightning (see below).

After discussing line quality, color, and texture we created our own compositions using tempera paint, watercolor, and melted crayon! It was a blast.

If you want to learn more about Eli Halpin and her artwork you can visit: http://elihalpin.com/home.html

Her artwork is wonderful and, obviously, I do not own the rights to any of her work. I was only using her as inspiration for what turned out to be an awesome lesson that the students loved!

Anyway, that's all for now internet! Until Sunday! Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Boozy Floozies

Long time, no post, internet!

I've had these two pieces done for about a month but because they were gifts I didn't post them (the recipients know of this blog, after all!). Both were done with Copic markers and watercolor and I'm quite fond of these boozy ladies. Of course, they're classy boozy ladies. Naturally.

I did the three panel one first, and because it got such a good response from my friend I made her the single wine lady! I had some Art Nouveau influence (my favorite art movement!) and I created all the text by hand. Enjoy, internet!

<3 Kate

Draw This Again

For while now I've been meaning to try this 'Draw This Again' meme. The premise is that you take a piece of art you did months or years ago and re-draw it in your style today. I hummed and hawed over a piece that I could re-do and I finally settled for a sketchy piece that took me 20ish minutes. Observe:

I drew the 'before' piece in 2009. I really liked the image! It was quick, I tried different line qualities, and I enjoyed the overall 'mood' of the piece. So, I drew it again. Admittedly, I didn't expect to see a difference, and the 'after' piece was drawn, oh,  few days ago (so 2014) and WOW there is a difference! Part of it was the medium I used, while the other part is just my style. Otherwise, I kept to the time limit of the original piece. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the differences!

I feel this type of exercise is worthwhile to try for any artist. It's a lesson in growth and development, and it can also apply to writing, textiles, ceramics, or any creative outlet. If you want to give it a go, the template for this meme can be found at:

http://bampire.deviantart.com/art/Meme-Before-and-After-177759508

Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Epic Expressive Face Mugs

Hey Everyone!

So, as the title states, this post is going to be about expressive face mugs. What are expressive face mugs, you ask? Great question! Expressive mugs are a clay project that I do with my fifth graders. It happens to be one of my favorite projects that I do all year. The project incorporates all three clay hand-building methods that the students have learned throughout elementary school; pinch, coil, and slab. 

I can't take full credit for this project, however, because I was inspired by an artist I always purchase from at craft festivals. He makes amazing face mugs and some nice pottery thrown on the wheel. I have a hutch filled with his work! 

http://www.potterystuff.com/
https://www.facebook.com/tomphelpsstudio

Check him, and his pottery, out because it's just awesome and it made for great inspiration for my students! Below is just a few examples of student work.

 

Another aspect of this project is exaggeration. Whatever expression the students choose to create, the features need to be exaggerated appropriately for that expression.

This project is always a hit with the students and their projects always turn out amazing! Enjoy!

<3 Kate

A Crazy Lil' Thing Called Heat.

I can't get warm

Literally.

Everyone in my county has been whipped into a panic about the temperatures today (it was a balmy 7 degrees at best - not including wind chill) and when everyone is in a frenzy things tend to get nasty. The nastiness has been displaced towards my county's school system because we, GASP, went to school! Now, ideally, this would be no big deal! Schools have heat, buses have heat, and my county announced school would run as per usual far enough in advance for parents to prepare any walkers or car rider students.

Except my school had no heat. Zero. And no electricity. Now, a lot of parents boycotted school to begin with and didn't send their kids because of the chilling temperatures so numbers weren't high...but we had zero heat. Yet somehow we were forced to remain in school until 12:15; wearing coats, hats, scarves, and mittens and completely disrupting the instructional day. Irritating? Very. Needless to say, the day was interesting, but because my faculty and staff are awesome we got through without a hitch, and mostly smiling!

All is said and done now, even though my fingers and toes can't seem to get warm, so here are some cheerful finger puppets! These finger puppets went along with the second grade curriculum on folk tales and were made using Crayola's model magic. That material is malleable enough for little second grade hands, and doesn't have the potential to break like clay does.

 

The students painted their puppets with craft paint then I sealed them with a gloss medium for durability and a finished, polished look. They turned out so cute!

Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Ocarina of Time

My first commission is done! I'm quite pleased it, so I hope the person who requested it is equally pleased!

Enjoy!

<3 Kate

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope the holidays treated everyone marvelously. I don't know about you all, but I need a vacation from my vacation! This break was long, and thoroughly enjoyable, but it was difficult to relax with so much going on-whew!

New Year's Selfie. Classy.

I don't have any resolutions because, frankly, I don't believe in them. Sure, it's great to give yourself goals-nice, manageable goals-but there is no point in lying to myself every time the ball drops because, no, I will not go to the gym every day of the week just to fit in a pant size I've never fit in before in my life! My train of thought: Do I work out? Yep. Am I a nice person? Generally speaking. Should I eat better? Absolutely. Am I happy? Always. So, I've got my resolution bases covered. 

The new year has brought with it some commissions for me though! This is personally exciting because I've never really opened myself up to commissions before. I'm starting small, just one or two pieces here and there, because I want to continue to enjoy art. My biggest worry is that if I teach art, then work on commissions all the time, I'll no long find personal meaning or enjoyment in my work. So we'll see. A challenge for me though is pricing. I've never had to consider it! Do I charge hourly? By size? By details? Materials? There are so many things to consider that I've not really...had to consider before. So that is a work in progress.

My first commission is for someone I know so he's got the honor of being my guinea pig (shh). His request? A piece of art about Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Outside of that requirement I had the freedom to design it how I want. The piece is 11x14" and so far I'm really pleased with it!

I'd say I'm at about the half-way point. The vast majority of blank space will be filled with watercolor illustrations that wont be so tight and controlled as the figures are and therefore not take as much time. So far, I've used Prismacolor colored pencils, Prismacolor illustration markers, and COPIC MARKERS! Santa was good to me this year and gifted me with about 36 Copic markers and boy howdy am I in love. Copics don't bleed out like Prismacolor tends to. It's refreshing not to have to worry about that bleed out. I've also incorporated acrylic paint for highlights and such.

Philadelphia Skyline

Equally exciting, my husband and I went to Philadelphia just before New Year's Eve. We live two hours away and I had never been before/ Shame on me! So we did some typical touristy things; Constitution Hall, South Street, and Philly cheese steaks. Those activities aside we also toured the macabre Mutter Museum and the AMAZING Barnes Collection.

http://www.collegeofphysicians.org/mutter-museum/

http://www.barnesfoundation.org/

The Barnes Collection is a staggering personal collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early modern artwork including, but not limited to, Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, and Picasso. The collection was breathtaking. I highly, highly recommend it.

Anyway, look forward to some more student artwork in the new few days and weeks - it's back to the grindstone! Happy New Year, Everyone!

<3 Kate