What’s been going on with ART camp

Its been so much fun these past few weeks teaching these kids about something that can make such a difference in their “art journey”. Growing up, sketching was something that I just did. I would watch my mom doodle on phone books while she talked on the phone, my dad was always sketching the next project or a new piece of stained glass, even my brother would sketch epic battles between stick figure armies that would sometimes take up pages and pages of a notebook (or the back of a church bulletin ). Sketching is something that is universally important no matter what career these kids decide on.

I’ve introduced sketching to these guys as “taking visual notes and being able to present ideas in a visual way”, and who wouldn’t want to be better at doing that! The first week we talked a lot about sketching, looking at famous “sketches” including the works of Da Vinci, Walter Anderson, Van Gogh, and (the kids favorite I think) all the background artists for every Disney movie ever made (including my favorite Eyvind Earle).

Then we went to Pinehurst Park to practice a little sketching from life.

We talked about all the different ways to sketch, we drew maps, we sketched buildings, we drew light poles. All in all we documented the park.

The next week we took a field trip to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art to check out their exhibition in the lower gallery, American Regionalism: Works on Paper, where we saw lots of drawings and watercolors that could easily have begun as sketches. 

We finished up the class by brushing up on our drawing basics, reviewing simple 3 dimensional shapes and how to use them all together to make complicated things.

And that brings us to this week! This week, we reviewed  all that we learned last week and practiced by designing a city using cylinders, cones, cubes, and pyramids. 

Once we finished our cities, we went out and had a scavenger hunt throughout Downtown Laurel, searching for our simple shapes, and drawing them whenever we found them.

I have had such a great time with these guys so far this summer, and I’m looking forward to the rest of my time teaching them! I always say that I’m going to have to keep teaching kids, because they keep me creative… and this group is no exception!

Brushing off the Oils

This week I broke out a little box that I haven’t opened in YEARS. Every time I’ve moved since 2009 I’ve always made sure that I knew where this box was, but I knew that there was no chance of me getting to use the precious things that were inside of it. Inside that box was everything I needed to paint with oils.

Anne and Liam

So if you know me at all, you know I’m kind of obsessed with my niece Anne (why does niece always sound like it should be ei instead of ie?). Now my brother and SIL have graciously given Lily and me a new nephew named Liam, and we have become equally obsessed. Just decided that I should make my blog today about some of my favorite pictures of these two, so that tomorrow I can show you guys the new painting of them I finished today.

We are so thankful to have these two around to help us get ready for our little one!

Getting Spring Fever

This week I was really excited to receive a request for a painting from an old family friend of mine. As a seventh grader, I was asked by this family to be the “featured artist” at their daughters 5th birthday party. My job was a simple one. Draw a portrait of EVERY kid at the party, and my setup was similar to that of a street artist drawing portraits in Jackson Square. I was sitting in the front lawn of the family’s BEAUTIFUL historic home on Fifth Avenue (still one of my absolute favorite homes in the Historic District) surrounded by beautiful oak trees, trailing ivy everywhere, drawing my little heart out.  Looking back, I should have been MORTIFIED. The thought of doing that today scares the daylights out of me, but I guess at the time I was too young to understand what an undertaking it was and I guess I was also to young to be nervous. As far as I can remember, the party went off without a hitch, because here we are fourteen years later, and the little girl’s mother still talks about the day fondly. 

She contacted me earlier in the week asking if I had any work available to purchase, because a painting from the “featured artist” at her daughter’s 5th birthday party (who had actually become a real artist… though I guess I was a real artist then too… that fact could be debated I guess) would make the perfect present. Unfortunately I didn’t have anything laying around, but FORTUNATELY I knew that I had plenty of time to put a little painting together for her.

I think that this kind of project is my absolute favorite. I was able to sit down on the phone and find out all of the things the (now 19 year old) birthday girl loved, and I was able to come up with a composition of zinnias with a well placed lady bug, and a very subtle script featuring a line from a fitting nursery rhyme.

I couldn’t have been happier with the finished product. Get your Limited Edition Print of this piece in my Etsy Shop today!!!

Historic Downtown Churches

Walking Oliver through the Historic District

One of my favorite things about where we live would have to be the great walks that I get to go on with our dog Oliver. I know I’ve talked about this before, and if i’m getting annoying, just tell me, or bear with me, because on these walks I get to discover a little more about my town. Lately, my favorite discoveries have had to do with the absolutely beautiful churches that are within a 4 block radius of our house. These beautiful buildings have been added onto, rebuilt after disasters, and maintained for roughly one hundred years, and I thought what better way to pay tribute to them then to paint my favorite angle of each of them.

I placed them in the order we get to them on our daily walks, and I incorporated a line from a hymn in each of the panels. I’ve been working on this piece for a few months now (off and on), and its been so much fun to watch each panel take place. I actually started with First Baptist on the far right and worked my way left. My plan is to offer prints of the whole painting, as well as prints of each individual church (you can check out what they look like alone below in the gallery). So stay tuned for info on how to purchase one of these for your home!

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail