Pencil Portraits

 I brought in a stack of magazine photos, and a few students brought photos from home. We did a couple step-by step practice drawings for those who needed a bit more instruction, but most students worked directly from the photos. We also made value scales, noting where the darks and lights were in our source material.

The portrait below is special. I have a student who was born with a cleft palette. She brought in a picture of herself when she was a baby, before her surgery, to use as her source photo. I thought it was unintentionally symbolic that her mouth was the only part of the drawing to be shaded so darkly.

Such talented artists! I'm so happy I get to be their teacher. I'll sure miss those who will be moving on to middle school next year.


Make it a Wonderful Day!

It Must Be Spring

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Playing with Hot Wax

I attended an encaustic workshop at the Tacoma Art Museum on Saturday. While the class had a few problems including but not limited to blown fuses and a very late start to actually working with the wax, we had a good time playing with the medium.  It was great to enjoy the company of fellow art explorers!

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Just One...

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Everybody Paints!

(Art Club Painting, grades 1-6)

So what do you do with leftover paint?

We were already working on two paintings- our Impressionist-inspired Farmer's Market Paintings and our We Heart Art Hearts...

...but there was still paint on our palettes!

So.... we had a great time free painting on a couple of thrifted (Value Village) canvases. The 16x20-inch canvases had a pattern that someone had painted in green craft paint, but we just ignored that and went to work...

The rule was that we weren't making a painting of anything, just having fun with color and moving paint around. (But  in the photo of the whole paintings,do you see the Christmas tree one of my artists slipped in?)

Oh, and the other rule was no new paint, only paint left on palettes. I had the canvas on a round table, so several artists worked on it at one time from all directions. I loved the fun we had with these, and I love the results! 

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Flowers of Celebration

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Chocolate Dragon and Flower Children

Yes, he's made of chocolate...

...And so are the lanterns, blossoms, and pearls. 

This was the featured chocolate artwork at a hotel in Las Vegas, celebrating Chinese New Year.

The Year of the Dragon began last month. (Yes, should have posted these sooner!)The photos below are not of chocolate dragons, but cool anyway!

Make it a Wonderful Day!