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! 

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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!

Quit Group Friday for February

I always come away from our quilt group meetings wishing I had more time to sew!!!

First up is a baby quilt by Denise...

And next up is a colorful one by Claudia!

 Love Claudia's green, black and white one- my favorite colors.

Grey, Yellow and White is up next...love it!

We're always impressed by our resident paper-piecer, Denise...

This month, Helen proved to us that she "can do sweet!!" The Dresden plate will go with the quilt she's making for someone special...

And with the scraps, she's making a baby quilt too.  Love the touch of black and white...

Terry brought her appliqued wool blocks that she's planning to mix in with the other Christmas blocks she had us make for her, along with the gift blocks we exchanged. We tried to talk her out of mixing them, but once we laid them out, we could see how it will work- and once she's added lots of "crazy quilt" details, I know it's going to be fun!! 

Marsha's working on a quilt that started as a panel. She cut it up and added the fabric borders to each block...

Nan shared the cute owls she made for the girls she works with at church...
 

It wouldn't be a meeting of our group without a circle quilt or two! This one's by Lori...

 And here's another by Ardith.

She used some beautiful French fabric on the back...

We also made blocks for Kareena- Here is the layout...but it will have white sashing between the blocks...

   

...but the color is more accurate in this shot... (Indoor lighting on our SUNLESS days is sure a photographer's challenge!!)

 I haven't had much time to sew, but I did make a receiving blanket for a grandson who's on the way!! Our daughter and her husband are expecting a boy in June!! Yeah!!

 

 A few of us owed Nan and Lori blocks for our block exchanges, so I did get Lori's block done- FINALLY!! But I forgot to take a picture of it. Here is one someone made for Nan's red and white quilt...

 

And there was lots of interest in this red/pink white fabric that Marsha used from her stash. Anyone recognize it? Anyone?

Lori showed us a photo of the Scotty Dog quilt that was already gifted...you'll have to trust me, it was cute!
Barbara was our hostess with the mostess!  Her table was very festive with favors she made from calendar pages...

 Loved the flowers and table runner, and the yummy lunch too!

Make it a Wonderful Day!!