SKA Gallery

I was asked a few weeks ago to be a guest writer on a my friend Sheila Arora's blog. My task was to give my personal interpretation of one of her abstract paintings. I'm quite fond of her paintings (as you can see below) and love to write, so it was a no brainer. Please take a moment to check out my perspective of her painting.

http://skarora.com/what-you-see-part-1/

School Spirit Days - Star Shirt

"Super Star Day"

 

 

Nothing better than a homemade delightfully obnoxious shirt for the first day of Spirit Week. I picked up a cheap cotton white shirt at Target and spray dyes from Joann's. The star stencils were created from poster board. And then I just went crazy with the spray dye, spraying both the positive and negative stars. The only problem I had was with a few of the spray nozzles not spraying evenly, at all. But, all in all, it was a fun to make and fun to wear on this billionth day of gloomy winter weather.

Tomorrow is "Career Day." I have threatened to dress like a ballerina. But, will keep it simple with being a painter, that shouldn't be a stretch.

Intuitive Bird Painting

 

 

The Story of a Flower

This painting began last spring when a few friends and I decided to go to the local produce auction. The auction is held in the little Mennonite Community about 10 miles north of our little town. This was my first experience at such an auction and should probably be my last, but only spring will tell. Needless to say, it was an overwhelming rush of vegetable and floral beauty. All of the sudden, we were bidding on things really not understanding the bottom line. Did I mention... I'm not a mathematician? Side deals were being formed for butterfly bushes and black cherry tomato plants. Trading trees for rose bushes and an attempt to acquire all the perennials in the place. When the auction was over, we were sitting on the sidewalk trying to figure out how we are going to pay for all this since they don't take debit cards. And wondering how we are going to get all this home. We filled up three truck loads packed full of plants.
The flower in the painting now lives outside my chicken coop. When the flower dies and dries on the stem you are left we these beautiful pods that have these fine curls at the end. They are just as beautiful dried, as they were thriving.

Underpainting to add depth

 

almost finished

 

In the Classroom...

It's "Wellness Week" at school, so we created a healthy foods still life. Students created the fruits using oil pastels. Then, they blended the colors of the fruits using baby oil and q-tips. Kids love this part!!! Lastly, they painted the table and background with watercolors. This is a super fun project with a big visual impact. One of these days, I'm going to try an entire project with the oil pastels, baby oil and q-tips.

Relaxation Painting...

Long Monday...
this is what unwinding looks like for me.

 

 

Quick Sketch

Do you ever feel like you have to squeeze in some creativity time? No matter how long you work or what the end result looks like, you just need to spread some color onto some paper. Well, that's where I'm at tonight. For Christmas, my parents bought me some crayons. Not just any crayons, Neocolor11 watersoluble wax pastels. They are like a combination between crayons and oil pastels, that when mixed with water turn into watercolors. They are SWEET!! But I don't have any experience with them. So, I thought I would doodle with them for few. Here's my 15 minute sketch.

 

In the Classroom...

Today, the first graders finished up their Super Hero Family Portraits. After, drawing their chosen environment students were to paint in their background with watercolors. The kids imaginations soar during this project developing costumes, super powers, and background stories to go with their families. One of my favorites stories included the grandparents as villains, who were also giant aliens. As a teacher, this is a great way to build relationships with your students. I ask every student to tell me about their picture. And for students who are normally quiet and reserved, they usually perk up and want to tell you all about their project.

Angel Wings>>> Finished

 

 

Sunday Drive

 

 

Dreaming of Summer

It's freezing here in the Midwest. I am so thankful for a warm cozy home, hot tea, and daydreams of summer. This painting was created under the hot summer sun. If I get close enough to the fire I can imagine the sun on my bare skin while painting on my deck.

In the Classroom

The second graders are weaving!!! I personally love to weave. Teaching weaving is a difficult task, but so rewarding when the light bulb finally turns on.

On Day 1 of the project, I do an introduction of all the different types of weavings, weaving materials, and terms. The students then paint one piece of paper with the warm colors, and the second with the cool colors. The watercolors dry very quickly. So, when the pages are dry we trace around all the different colors and values of color with sharpie.

On Day 2, I demonstrate weaving students together. The kids love it!!! We then create our loom out of one of the papers. And the second piece of paper we cut into strips for the weft. Next, we weave them together. And lastly, glue the weaving down on a square white paper. If there are strips left students gut them up and glue around the weaving.

Next, time we will create a frame for the weavings out of brown paper, construction paper crayons, and metallic markers.



 



Heartwork

"In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."
                                                                                              - Buddha

Revisiting Brave, Intuititve YOU

Over the summer, I took Flora Bowley's online class Brave, Intuitive You. The class was rich with luscious exercises in connecting with the painting process. My main goal of taking the class was to help ignite a creative habit. The very unexpected result of the class was the spiritual practice that I've incorporated in my day to day life through painting. I adore her paintings. After a few months of processing the info from the class, I realized there are a two things I really love about her paintings that I need to practice. First, I love how her colors almost melt into each other. Even when she's using contrasting colors it's as if they all just flow together. Secondly, her edging is phenomenal, crisp with character.

Above is my attempt to figure out melting colors and work on my edging. I treated it much like any artist study, observing her work. Therefore, the imagery is very Flora. But, I did figure out the blending colors a little bit, and will be experimenting with incorporating it into my own work. Now for the edging I think it's just going to take lots of practice.

In the Classroom...

A staple in my first grade curriculum is 'Super Hero Family Portrait's!!!" The students get a kick out of developing ideas for each family members super powers. Then, they get to decorate each members costume including capes, masks, boots, and dare I say "underwear on the outside of their clothes!!!" The kids eat this project up like candy.

My objective is to have kids drawing "shape people" rather than the dreaded "stick people." I always have the students draw in sharpie rather than pencil at this age. Because if I give them pencils they erase non-stop. Eventually, tear their paper up or you have half erased figures everywhere. But, when they use sharpie they are forced to go for it. If they make a mistake, they transform it into a "happy accident." And this is what they look like in the beginning.

My Painting Playlist

My third graders are painting to music right now. I was talking to the kids about my personal experiences with painting to music. And I realized it really is a part of my creative practice. Plugging into my Pandora. Ear buds nestled securely into ears. Scrolling through my list of channels, trying a few to see if they fit my mood. Then, once I've found the one... I can begin preparing my palette, and finally paint.

I paint to music for a variety of reasons, but the top one is to quiet the voices in my head. To quiet those voices, I like it loud and typically upbeat, that's just me. But, I can't deny some days I'm feeling more zen and like something a little softer. So here is my top ten list of Pandora channels for painting in no particular order.

1. Gin Wigmore

2. The Black Keys

3. Florence and the Machine

4. Old Crow Medicine Show

5. The Rolling Stones

6. Michael Franti

7. Van Morisson

8. Bob Marley

9. One Republic

10. The 2 Cellos

Pretty funny now that I see it written down, because this is a lot like my workout playlist.

What do you listen to when creating?

What I want more of in 2014...

Lifebook 2014