Art with kids

These are some of the students at our local grade school.

I've been working once a week on an art project with the kids. They've been doing a watercolor underpainting, and this week and next they'll be adding "stuff" on top for a mixed media work.

Then, we'll have a kids art show at a local gallery in conjunction with a day that Senior Bazaar goes on and there is lots of traffic in the area.




Working with the kiddos has been great fun. I've always felt that for me to try to be a teacher would likely result with me in jail for murder, or at least mayhem. Maybe my tolerance level has increased a bit with age. Anyway, it's been super fun.

My own art has been somewhat set aside for the time though, and I'm longing to get back to it. I actually have a day "off" today (I'm not sure "off" from what since I'm retired but my schedule is full) so maybe I'll paint.

Cliff Walk

I just finished this small (9 x 11) pastel. It's on sanded paper, unframed, and priced at $65.

My brain keeps shouting at me "I don't want to be a landscape artist!" But, every time I pick up pastels that's where we seem to go.

I've learned that some media lend themselves to certain types of paintings. Can't imagine having done Lines and Circles and Squares in all pastel. I liked doing it as mixed media. By the same token, too much mixed media in this would lose something. . . . maybe the feel of the water.

So, switches from watercolor to acrylic to pastel gives me more space within my head or heart or soul to try different approaches. Hmmm. Now there's a thought. Maybe I'll settle on a single image or idea and do it separately in those three media. Could be fun.

Lines and Circles and Squares, Oh My!

Fun, really fun! I've been just playing with abstraction and with mixed media at the same time. This kinda took on a life of its own and became almost the everything but the kitchen sink painting.



It's on an 18 x 24 " sheet of watercolor paper and started with watercolor paints and a very limited pallette. I kept adding layers over layers and kinda looking at the painting and asking "ok, where do you want to go now?" When it seemed that had gone on long enough I switched to acrylics and hid some things beneath tape to keep the watercolor. Then I added in some silver gouache and some shiny gel medium. (By the way, those areas are not as shiny as the appear in the photo - that flash thing you know.)

Thought I was done. Then the painting seemed to yell at me - "you may be done, woman, but I'm not!" So, back to work with some pastels. Now we're done, both of us. Or, maybe I'm just worn out.

Mixed Media Madness

Check out the featured painting above. Flow is a combination of watercolor, acrylic and pastel on watercolor paper.
I love it when a painting takes on a mind of its own and goes somewhere I hadn't planned! This one was going to be much more realistic as a river scene. I even planned a raft of people shooting the rapids. But, when it got going, the painting Gods took over and the whole thing went a different direction.
I really like playing with layering different media together. This painting started out very "soft" with a first layer or two of watercolor. It was. . . OK. . . but not special; and I'd had mixed media in mind anyway. So, on to the acrylics, then the pastel, some fixative for safety and some more acrylic, then a final bit of pastel. None of it "planned". Yep, it's fun.

More playing with pastels

So, effort # 1 at a landscape. This is when I learned that I need loads and loads of colors. I simply don't have enough shades of orange to make the California poppies look right. I tried and tried using oranges, reds and yellows, but mixing didn't work. Darn. This one will either get re-worked when I get more pastels, or it will get tossed.



Then I moved on to # 2 in what I guess I could call the meadows series. Still wishing I had more pastels, and I'll be ordering some soon; but the purples, etc., weren't as bad as the oranges. Indian Paintbrush is one of my very favorite wildflowers. Throw in the lupine, and it's very colorful!

Working in Pastel

I'm trying to work with pastels, a totally new medium for me. I had to cancel a trip to Creede, CO the first weekend in September for a 3 day workshop with my good friend, Jan Thompson. She is an amazing pastel artist. So, I subbed in a little 3 hour session close to home. Didn't really learn a lot other than what kind of pastels and what kind of paper. OK. So, it's back to being "self taught" for the moment.

My first effort was with a subject that I've worked to death in other media - old barns. I love their character and history. I'm not wild about the result - maybe a B- on this effort - but I learned a lot. I'm debating whether to offer it for sale really inexpensively - maybe $35 - and see what happens.


My next effort was a total flop. Then I decided to play with putting other media on top in the "nothing to lose" vein. I added acrylics first. Now, that is a challenge! Adding a wet medium on top of pastel is a trick requiring lots and lots of brush rinsing as the brush picks up the pastel beneath. Charcoal went on top of that in places. Funny thing is, I rather like the effect! The paint brought a sheen to the painting, and the charcoal added some dark definition.



I have two more to put up here, maybe this afternoon. Both are meadow scenes with wildflowers. I'm not a landscape painter and don't want to be one, but it is an easy practice in learning pastels - lots of colors, lots of depth to work within.

I've never understood calling pastels "painting" - it seems like drawing to me - but it has opened a new dimension for me. I don't see myself becoming a pastel artist; however, using it as part of mixed media very much appeals to me. I told Scottie a day or so ago that we need to get the windshield on the Scion replaced - there is a big crack - and that I want the old glass. He replied something like, "of course you do," and gave me a very strange look. The thing is, there is a mixed media piece stuck in my brain that cries out for sparkly safety glass.

On that topic, am I the only one that gets stuff like that stuck in their brain? It's like having a bit of an old song that won't go away swirling around in your head. I'm guessing it happens to all creative types. It will drive me nuts until I DO IT. Keep watching this space.

Failure - Of the good kind.

Failure. My latest painting that is. And, ya know what, that's OK with me. I've been in a frame of mind to experiment with taking my art in different direction(s). That leads to some wonderful successes, and some spectacular failures; and without the failures I'd be certain I wasn't really taking any chances or achieving any growth. So, I'm pleased with my latest failure. And, I know where I want to go with it now, at least for it's next "trial".

Another piece of breaking news: I just bought a painting! Aranga Firstman's Sector 33.3_19.7. I absolutely love it and can't wait to frame it and hang it. I know exactly where it's going. You can see it at: http://arangafirstman.wordpress.com which is Aranga's blog. Aranga does the type of work that just draws me in. This piece is deceptively simple; way more complex the longer I look at it. So, thanks my friend!