Winter Resist

Inwha & Shira a creative mother and daughter duo study art with me. They worked on these delightful oil pastel resists in response to the snowy winter we're experiencing.

First they drew heavily with oil pastels on watercolor paper, and then applied watercolor over the colored lines. The watercolors find their way to any uncolored patches of paper, and allow the oil pastels to pop through the paint.

We added salt to areas of wet paint to achieve the effect of random "snowy" patterns. Another technique we experimented with was spraying clear water into wet paint for additional beautiful patterns.

Outside the Box

Some of my students are working on box sculptures, one of my (& their) favorite open-ended art projects. First, kids decide what they're going to make and then they join boxes sturdily with masking tape and glue, making sure to tape over any gaps or holes. Choice of subject matter is vast. Consider animals, people, vehicles, fantasy creatures or inanimate objects. One of my students made a garden gnome with a birdbath, and another made an awesome sky diver with a parachute! Some of my students have kept their box sculptures for years, and have even used them as coffee tables!

The next step is to brush artist's gesso onto all surfaces of the sculpture & allow to dry. Then paint the sculpture with tempera or acrylics, using realistic or fantasy colors. When the paint is dry, any collage materials, such as buttons, feathers, fabric or pipe cleaners can be glued on for decoration and detail. The more color and detail, the merrier, so even paint markers can be used to add lines or dots.

Try to save clean, dry boxes and cardboard tubes at home to have available for this project. It's a great way to recycle boxes, and box sculpture is a wonderful creative project for kids to make independently.

Art Party

I was invited to present an art lesson at the home of former school students. Since everyone was getting a little tired of all the snow we've been having, we began by creating summery beach scenes, using oil pastel & watercolor resist techniques. The fact that there was a variety of ages in the participants made for more variety in the paintings.

Watercolor resist is one of my favorite techniques to introduce to both children and adults. When wax crayon or oil pastel lines are applied heavily to paper, watercolor washes painted on top of the drawing allow those lines to pop through the paint. It's a dramatic and magical process which fascinates young and older artists alike!

Recent Art Exhibit

I recently had the privilege of planning and executing a first-time art exhibit for Amy, a young woman who is struggling with serious medical issues. She amazingly uses art as a means of coping with multiple surgeries following a blood clot and a coma. Her solo exhibition of mixed media paintings provided a vehicle for her to reach out to friends, family and other guests, and was an inspiring event for all who participated. The three months I spent working on the exhibit was time well spent.

Teaching private art lessons to Amy and others continues to be one of the most satisfying moments in my career as a painter and teacher. I also enjoy teaching art to small groups of children in my studio. I love using the skills I developed as a teacher in a school classroom in my own studio.