The Arts & Culture Fest was uplifting, inspiring, and motivating. I worked on these two portraits, chatted with complete strangers about my art, and enjoyed showing friends and family around my booth. It was an amazing experience to be in a public space, working alongside other artists. It's a little intimidating to let other people watch me work, but so refreshing to share my art and myself with others, instead of being isolated inside my kitchen studio all the time. I can hardly wait for next year!

Arts & Culture Fest - Oct 15, 2011

Looking for something to do on October 15th? Come check out the 6th Annual Arts & Culture Fest at Market Creek Plaza. I will be doing a live painting demo from 12-6pm, adding to my series of female backs. The festival is free, and there will be music, dancing, food, and plenty of art. It's a great event for the whole family. Here is the link for more info: http://www.artsandculturefestival.com/

Matisse Room Collages

These are the collages my students did while studying Matisse today. I am so impressed with their creativity and their desire to make something beautiful. We never even got to the second project. They worked on these for almost three hours, and it shows!

Upside-Down Jelly

Meet the Masters

I took a break today to do some sample projects for art camp. Basically I spent all day in an elementary/middle school art class...so fun! I can't wait to explore the works of O'Keeffe, Picasso, the Renaissance, Matisse, and Klee with the kids.

More Color

I think these two are done...time for some more sketches. I picked up some kids' books from the library with great reference photos, so hopefully that will help my process.

Color

When I was younger, I hated water colors. They take a good deal of planning, precision, and patience. Since I saw all three of these disciplines as cramping my style, I buried my watercolors in the back of a drawer somewhere. Then a friend introduced me to watercolor pencils and they were the perfect compromise between my beloved drawing tools and the tedious paints. With the jellyfish, I am trying on a technique called glazing where one color is painted on and allowed to dry and then another color is painted lightly over the top. I'm having a lot of fun exploring and I even dug out my old set of "grown-up" watercolors this afternoon.

Jellies 3 and 4

These pieces are requiring more work than the other two. I think it might be because my reference photos weren't as good. Tomorrow I'll probably put them aside and start adding color to the first ones. I plan to do some smaller test runs first since I always find the line work comes more naturally to me than the color.

Jelly 2

Jellies

I could really get used to spending my days in the studio. After a much needed vacation in Monterey, I feel completely recharged physically, emotionally, and creatively. The art camp I'm teaching isn't until August, so I plan to divide my time between creating new pieces, administrative tasks, and hunting for a part-time job. I'm not sure exactly where the new pieces will take me but I'm enjoying working on a larger scale, drawing inspiration from the lines and textures of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's jellyfish.

Summer Art Camps!

It's official! After almost four years of nannying and tutoring, I am saying goodbye to the wonderful family I've been working for and attempting to work for myself. My friend Julia DeShong and I will be offering summer art camps during June, July, and August. Wish us luck and let us know if you think of anyone who might be interested! Here is all the info:

Price: $180/week when you register before June 1st ($200 after, supplies included).

Themes: Meet the Masters, Art from Around the World, Modern Art and Crafting.

Location: The Wonder Warehouse in Mission Bay or your private residence.

Times: Mon - Fri. 10am to 1pm OR 2pm to 5pm.

Teachers: Julia (ages 4-8 yrs.), Sarah (ages 9-13 yrs.)

Dates: Julia's camps begin June 1st, Sarah's camps begin July 11th.