Quick Example Painting

    Here is another quick painting (By quick I mean 2-3 hours). I'm teaching 4 hour long class and decided if  I can paint it in 3 hours, I can teach someone to paint it in 4 hours. It is just a simple up close view of flowers in a vase. Not a whole lot of detail but it looks nice from far away. I noticed too that if I do paintings to well, it seems to intimidate students. Confusing to me, but I guess that's how people are. The idea of the class is to get the basics, and do an entire painting in the time frame they pay for.
    I have really been enjoying teaching these classes. I am constantly reminding myself of "do-s" and "Don't-s" of basic painting. And when doing the example paintings, it is like I am giving myself color exercises and practice with drawing with the paint, rather than drawing out the painting in pencil before. It is also a great experience teaching students of all ages who have a strong interest in art and painting. Otherwise I guess they wouldn't be spending their money on the classes.
    I had one student who came who was 12 years old. It was so interesting watching him mix his paint so precisely and carefully. I loved seeing his face at the end of 2 hours. He was so impressed with himself, and his mother was so happy she had bought the kit and class for a birthday gift for him.
   Another student I have right now is an older lady. As I got to talking with her, I found out that she used to live 3 blocks away from my grandparents in Pittsburgh, Pa (3.5 hours from where I am now). Not only that, but her daughter used to be friends with my aunt and uncle. Such a small world! She has taken many of the classes now, and every time she is getting better, and quicker at picking up on what to work on next. She may not know it, but she is playing with different styles too. Some times she paints very heavy, other times she uses the acrylic paint like water color and waters the paint down a lot to paint in layers.
   Most of all these classes are keeping me active and motivated to keep painting, even though my main incomes are not art related at the moment. I am constantly reminded why I went to art school. Because nothing beats working on something that makes you happy while you do it. Sometimes it is even the best part of my week (other than spending time with family and Caleb). At least, if I am having a bad end to my night after work, I can draw or paint those bad thoughts into good thoughts. I only think about things that make me happy when I am creating something :)

Jeff's 1979 Suit Jacket

I found the suit jacket my father, Jeff, wore in his senior photo in 1979 (Plaid of course). Naturally I try it on. First I see the enormous size difference between us. It came down to just above my knees. And it took a while to find my hands in the sleeves where his forearms would have been. Doesn't he look handsome?

Then I find a piece of paper while digging around in all of the pockets wondering if there is anything in them.  On one side it looks to be a recite, $2.50 was paid to the class treasurer for something and the date was 3/9/79.

On the other side was a hand written note which says "Hello there Jeff, how are you doing. I sure am awful sleepy, Is that why you are writing to yourself. Yes, I figured it would keep me awake."

After laughing hysterically at this.... I realize where I get it from. ♥ Gotta love it.

Oh! And today is my grandmother's (Jeff's Mother) birthday. Happy birthday Grammy!

Day One, Pappy Chet

This is the canvas after one day. I decided on doing a painting of my step-grandfather who I call "Pappy Chet". I took this picture of him a few years ago. He's in his rocking chair holding his 3 year old dog. It's kinda funny seeing an old man holding something so young. Maybe that's why I like it.  I also really enjoy talking to Chet too. He's full of stories, sometimes he tells the same ones twice, but I don't mind. Lately I'm told he's having trouble putting names together with faces. Every time I see him I can hear my grandmother start to tell him who I am, when he interrupts her, gives me a hug and says "There's my sweetheart."

Stare Down

     I've decided that I have been doing a lot of work that has a goal in mind. I think it is time for me to do something for no reason. So I am standing in my room, listening to the audio book of "The Help" staring at this blank canvas trying to think of something to paint. So naturally I start to feel like an old western, and the canvas and I are the characters about to have a shoot out. At this point I have no idea who is going to win but I will put up a fight.
     Earlier my dad, who I call by his first name, Jeff, which probably sounds more like "Juff", was helping me find a board for me to paint on. My mom, Tina, asked what it was for. Jeff said, before I could speak, "SHHHHH! She's going to do art for once and I don't want to discourage her!"
     I laughed at this and realized that it's true. So I'm not going to work on the project intended tonight (which was a painting for someone else). Instead I will work on something more difficult that I haven't done in a while... a portrait of someone.... I just need to decide who the lucky (or not so lucky if it turns out bad) the person will be.

Night time and Fireflies

I really like how this came out. My favorite part is the sky and how I did the shading. To me it is really hard to achieve the idea of "nighttime" but I think in this illustration I did pretty well. I also enjoy the fireflies. One of my favorite things about the summer is when the fireflies come out before sunset and cover the fields. It is truly a beautiful sight.

Johnnie Green; Betsy Butterfly

Here is the little boy from my newest children's book named, Johnnie Green. You can see that he enjoys catching butterflies and does not like when he has to do chores or when it is raining. I'm getting more comfortable with the tablet. I'm slowly making my tablet drawings look similar to my real drawing, at least with similar cross hatching and things like that.

Betsy Butterfly Update

I decided to revisit Betsy and I decided that I like this one A LOT more than the first try. Sometimes it's a good idea to revisit a project after working a late night on something. A fresh mind will change things for the better.

Betsy Butterfly

Here is a character from the book I am working on now named Betsy Butterfly. She makes the lady bugs and moths jealous because she is so beautiful.

Blocks Finished

Here are all of the blocks I have done. All together I think the baby shower went very well. We had a lot of family from all over come and spend the day together at my parents farm. My mom and I stayed up plenty late the night before and made many desserts. We even made a hand out cook book! I will have to post those pictures soon.

Baby Shower Photos

Here are some pictures from the baby shower. You can see some of our decorations and the mom-to-be herself, my beautiful sister, sitting with our father Jeff. :) You can also see in the last picture that we put together a recipe book for all of the guests. All of the desserts served that day were in the recipe book. It was a popular hand out.

Baby Shower

My sister, Anja, and I at her baby shower.