Finally!!

Finally getting my creative juices flowing and creating artwork again. Feels good being in the moment....find when I work on art everything else fades which doesn't happen very often. Meeting with a store owner tomorrow to see if she will hang some of my artwork in her shop...hoping!!

A New Way of Letting Go

Okay. First, it's not finished. Second, it's a totally new direction for me. Third, I am exhausted.

So. The ymca is having a gallery show for local artists and I can put two pieces in. When I filled out the form, I had a piece I knew I wanted in and a piece in my head which I had to include a size for, a price and a name. I chose home as the name. Tried to create something and it just wasn't working. Started this piece with just squares of color. My son says "Huh, more squares?" I proceeded to drip paint from each side of the painting which looked like roads. Kept taking advice from my son and we started talking about how I know the art I make is usually made with the hope for a sale and I realized that my art is for the general public I know in my life and not for myself. So this is my first venture into freeing myself from what I think I should make to what I feel/need to make for myself. Yikes! Will post pics of the finished piece soon.

Painting Again

Finally sat down to paint. This piece I started sometime ago with cut paper squares from decorative paper. Painted the background and added shading with markers.

This week I added the muted letter stencil and the bird.

 

Started to lay out some of the things I want to add for interest and depth.

Is it really May?

This year is flying by! Anyone else feel that way? I can't believe it's May. Saw a former student today who is in college and he is home for the summer-ahhhh!

I always have a list in my head of what I want to accomplish for the school year and now it's countdown time.

Had an email from my principal and we are supposed to set up our pdp meeting with him before the end of the month. Oh, was that on my list? 

What did I promise?---Hmmmmm.....

It has been a long time since I've posted but something major happened in my life that made it impossible for me to keep up with everything.  My mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January.  It has been a scary journey.  My mom was blessed to have the tumor in an operable place with hope of some years left.  Surgery was very complicated but my mom came thru super well and has fully recovered from it.  She is now in her second month of chemo and has a hard time keeping weight on.  I don't know why this has happened in our family but am trusting God to see us thru.  The hardest part for me is seeing my son have to be in the middle of this, as we live with my mom.  

While this has been going on, things at work have been super stressful because of budget issues.  I have a new contract for next year but I will no longer be 100%, instead I will be 80%.  I don't know how I will make up the loss as of yet.  There have been a few teachers who haven't gotten a contract next year and a few with bigger cuts then me.  It will be a completely different environment next year.  Praying that our school can recover from this and grow in the coming years.

While this has been going on, I am so thankful for my family and friends who have helped out in so many ways.  

Thank you to all of you!!  

Check it out!

Have just opened my etsy shop for the holidays.  Will be adding new artwork daily.  

http://www.etsy.com/shop/enjoyjourney

Getting ready!

This week is my open house so I am finishing up some projects and thinking about displays and packaging.  So many details!  A few of the goodies that will be available.

It is the beginning of a new quarter at school.  At the middle school my classes switch from 5th and 6th to 7th and 8th.  A bit more challenging in projects and personalities.  Working on lesson plans.  7th grade starts with making their art journals and going thru different stations to learn about critiquing artwork.  

8th graders will also make their art journals and start a still life drawing.

My "New" Laptop Bag

Sorry it has been over a week since I have posted.  Have started to post my students artwork on artsonia and it has taken a lot of time to get things off and running.  Here is the link if you want to check our galleries out.  www.artsonia.com/schools/Eastern33  Had also decided we had to have a garage sale this weekend to get rid of stuff.  So time consuming but have a little more room in the garage and basement now.
So I have been looking for a laptop bag that wasn't office black(boring) and couldn't find one.  I finally took matters into my own hands and painted a black one.  Here are the results but I need to know what I can seal it with.  I use gel medium or spray varnish on my canvases but am unsure of an item that is touched all the time.  Can anyone help me out?

Hallway Bulletin Boards

 I made this canvas over the summer to hang outside of the middle school art room.  Just wanted something more personal than the usual "Welcome" sign.

At the middle school I am in charge of the general bulletin boards.  These are the ones that are up for September.  I now will have a bulletin board team of students to help me out.  Can't wait to meet with them and see what ideas they have!

By front office

Middle hallway...these are our core values which students will be adding to.

Sorry these are not the best pics!  The lighting in our hallways is flourescent and the sun wasn't shining.

Art Journal, continuing

The cover with it's first layer.  I dry brushed black and white and than watered down blue and magenta to drip down.

The inside cover is painted with shades of purple and stenciled in black.  This alphabet book is all words to describe God.  More to come.

Art Journal

I am going to be teaching an art journaling class and this is going to be one of my examples.  It is an abc book.  The cover is made from cardboard.

The binding is made from a paper bag, folded in a zig zag.  The pages are large tags that I made from cardstock.

The pages are painted with acrylics and than stenciled with the letters.

Working on this today and will show you my progress.

Color

I love color.  I think I have said it before.  This is a piece that I created using the metal top from a watercolor set.  Have been cleaning up my studio space and re-organizing.  Putting all my finished work in one area.  Trying to price everything and put all the items that are on etsy together.  My brother was visiting yesterday and took a look at my artwork.  Was nice to have some positive feedback from him.  He is very visual and artistic.  The picture below is his business and he designed every part of it.  His mind never stops.  We are so different and yet so the same.  He is an extrovert and I am an introvert, but when it comes to design we totally relate.

http://www.thecastlefuncenter.com/

New Items

Wanted to share with you some of the items I will be putting up on etsy this week.  The notecards are from artwork I have made and the journal is original artwork with ribbon and metal details.

Open the Door

  

This piece developed in stages.  It is close to my heart.  I think because following my dream took quite a while for me to figure out.  Like peeling an onion, layer by layer.  This piece will be available in my etsy shop.

Flying

Starting to fly....taking a class right now with Kelly Rae Roberts called Flying Lessons.  This class has gotten me back on track with my own art.  My fingers are itching to create and I am starting to realize the possibilities for growing my business.  Thank you to all my fellow classmates for stopping by and commenting.

It's just around the corner.

A couple of my "love" pieces.

Check out my Etsy shop

Finally have some of my pieces on Etsy. Visit my shop at enjoyjourney.etsy.com. A few pics here to see what I have been working on.