Boys and a straw……

Two of my nephews, Joey and Johnny, came for a little visit last week and of course we headed straight to the studio.  I taped 10" x 10" pieces of print paper to acrylic plates and adding a few drops at a time of high flow black acrylic paint, they used straws to blow the dots of paint around the paper.

This one is Joey's who is 10 yrs.

After we felt there were enough of the black lines we used a hair dryer to make sure it was nice and dry.  Next came the brushes and the watercolor to fill in areas with bright colors.
We think they are very cool!

This one is Johnny's who is 8 yrs.

This was a scrap of print paper that I used as a demo piece to show the boys how to use the straw to blow the paint as well as a demo for the watercolor.


Have to say I like the abstract quality in this one.


6" x 12"

Then in my Print class on Friday I decided to try a monotype using a variation of the straw technique.  Because my inks are water based I rolled on some color creating a background first.  I then thinned out some of the black ink with water to get a more fluid black.  It was hard to get it to flow very far but still interesting.  Of course as I was rolling on the background I thought to myself what are you thinking, "You don't even have a straw!" so looking around I found a ballpoint pen I could take apart and use the barrel as a straw.

Guess I need to add straws to my art box.


5.5" x 14"

Art Day with Sruthi

 
Today my neighbor girl, Sruthi and I played at being loose with our artwork.  First we drew some flowers with Generals water soluable pencils. Then we painted the background working around the outsides of the flowers.  I went back in with my micron 05 pen and Sruthie just added a few accents with her pen.

 
Next we played with some abstracts.  I used the Micron 05 permanent pen and Sruthie used a gel pen that moved a little when she added the watercolors.  As you can see as I drew my abstract, she was coping mine but making it her own.  Funny, she was across the table from me so her is reversed from mine.  I think I like hers better, I so struggle with abstracts.
These were done in our 3" x 5" Strathmore Bristol books.  I think they are both way cool.
Great afternoon and Great work Sruthi!

Playing with Kandinsky

A few weeks ago after looking at some of Kandinsky's work we started this project.  This is Sarah's painting which she chose to draw the circles and paint the outer square first, leaving the centers white.  Then Monday she started painting in all the circles in circles but as you can see her imagination and creativity took over.  Great job Sarah!

16" x 20" canvas board
Acrylic craft paint

This is Jessica's painting and she decided to paint solid squares the first week and then circles on top when she came back.  When she returned I told her she could go right and paint in the circles or she could turn left and just play with the squares.  Adventurer that she is she decided to go left and fill the board with collage and pearl white paint.  Wonderful work Jessica!

16" x 20" canvas board
Acrylic craft paints and collage

Monday Art Day with Sarah

On Monday Sarah came over for art day. We took a piece of watercolor paper and put two different widths of white artist tape on the paper to make windows.  In these windows Sarah experimented with watercolors, playing with wet in wet, dry brush and salt techniques. When it was dry she used a black gel pen to play with design.  Awesome job Sarah!

9" x 12" Watercolor Paper
Watercolors and Ink

Art Day with Jessica

Jessica finished this painting today in our fun art day class.  A few weeks ago I had her draw a picture from her imagination and she came up with the real world meeting her fantasy land. Nice work Jessica!

9" x 12"
Pen and Watercolor

Art Day with Jessica

Last time Jessica was here I proposed a color blocking project of sorts and had her draw this butterfly.  I enlarged it and got the images onto a pieces of white Bristol board.  Then thinking about contrast she picked her colors for each of the butterflies.  We trimmed them to 6" squares and mounted them on black Bristol board.  Not bad for a 2 hours class with a yummy cookie break.

15" x 15" finished

Days 17-19 in November

Day 17 was all about prep for the next day with Jessica.  I prepared some mandala patterns for us to explore and color.  I decided to tangle one of the patterns that had larger open spaces.  It was started on Day 18 and finished on Day 19.  It was really fun to watch it develop. I will do more of these.

9" x 9" Stonehenge Paper
01 Sukura Micron Pen

My other project for Jessica was collaging these tissue boxes for her parents for Christmas.  I found paper mache tissue box covers at Michaels.  Using gloss medium and hostess napkins which had been peeled down to just the top layer and torn in pieces, she collage the pieces to make these unique one of a kind boxes.

Days 11, 12 and 13

Day 11 was art day with Jessica.  I had her paint a background on 1/4" foam core with acrylic craft paints and while that was drying, tear and cut shapes from magazines for the tree and borders.  Lots of sticky fingers but we thought it turned out fabulous!

About 10" x 12"

Days 12 and 13 were mostly spend on the computer and phone figuring out my new medical insurance.  My little head was ready to explode!  But nothing like working on a Zentangle to settle your nerves.  It is great when your hand overtakes your mind, such a calming effect.  This ended up looking like either a fancy warrior's helmet or a cool piñata.

5.5" hand.book

Days 4-5 of Everyday

On Mondays, Jessica who just turned 9 comes over for art time after school.  This week we made some cool papers using wet into wet watercolors and then placed saran wrap over the wet paint to get the  pattern you see here.  Just let the colors dry and remove the wrap to see the jewel shapes that seem to magically appear.

Then we cut the papers into rounds of petals and constructed our flowers.  We did the colors on both sides of the paper so there was color everywhere.  They were lots of fun to create and Jessica took home the little bouquet.

Then today my ZenFriends group met so I took some of the papers and cut them into 3.5" squares and gave them to the ladies to play with while we chatted away.  We always have a good time sharing our Zentangles and our lives.  It is time well spent sitting, laughing, supporting, creating and yes, just breathing as the busy world goes by.  Thanks ladies, I needed you.