summer is here....

Yeah!! school's out- too bad I am such a such a sucker, I signed up to teach summer school! JP and I have been spending a lot of time cleaning out stuff. We tackled my over-grown and neglected art studio this weekend. As the end of the school year draws near each year- I start piling and piling and losing control of my already tight studio space. Here are the before and after pictures for you.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


YEAH!!! NOW I BETTER GET BUSY MAKING LOTS OF ART!

New ATC's

So I joined a new art group recently ATCards.com and I have been having so much fun making ATC's. For anyone who reads my blog and does not know what these are, it stands artist trading cards. They are baseball card size works of art that are traded through the mail. I am so addicted!

Here are a few new cards I just completed and sent out!

Striped Legs ATC's

Continuous Line Drawing ATC's

Collaged House ATC's

Cloth ATC's

weekend at the lake...

We went to my parents lake house this weekend and had a nice relaxing time. Jeremy did lots of fishing, and I spent time drawing, riding in the boat, and hiking the trails with my mom and the dogs! Here is a few great snapshots of the beauty of Wisconsin. I fell completely in love with the turtles that were everywhere this weekend!
Jeremy's big catch!

Recent ATC's

Worst Ways to Die ATC's ... starting with the top one is "20,ooo Leagues Under the Sea", "The Birds", "Attack of the Killer Bees", and the last one is, "Towering Inferno".

Mixed media Collage ATC's .... for EC swap. Pictures from my wedding which I cannot believe will be two years ago this June!!


Sock Monkey ATC's for the EC watercolor swap. I love my monkeys!


Rachel Davis ATC's ( a wonderful singer) I think I should email her these and let her know she has her own trading cards- hee hee!

Shades of Brown....

Three shades of Brown paper were given to me to create a work of art. Why, you may ask? In order to pass National Board Certification ( to be certified as a teacher in all 50 states) I must pass a portfolio of work and a long exam testing my knowledge of art and art history. This lovely brown paper assignment is part of the test.
In less than 35 minutes create a work of art using all three shades of 9x12 brown paper. Use only a glue stick and scissors to create the work. Nothing else. So..... here it is!!!Happy Mother's Day! Here is my array of mother's day cards I created for all the moms in my family. I will be hanging out with my mom next weekend in the Amana Colonies for a yummy breakfast and shopping!
I was inspired by Kirsten's cute button flowers she made at my house last art night!

check out my awesome friends' blogs....

Dona (who rocks my world) posted some most excellent photos ....
and the absolutely wonderful Kirsten ( who truly knocks my socks off)
also posted great photos.
By the way, I am still sore from the weekend.

Chalk the Walk

Rain or Shine..... we are chalkin' the walk!!
well, almost. The weather for the Chalk the Walk street festival in the little town of Mount Vernon, where I live, was windy but beautiful yesterday, but today the rain could not stay away. Kirsten and I were almost finished with our parody of Van Gogh's bedroom, which we jokingly called "Van Gogh's girlfriend's bedroom," when the rain began to pour. It was sad but beautiful to see the stream of colored chalk run down the street this afternoon. It was a wonderful weekend, full of good art, family, and friends!
My niece Marissa (who is very artistic) helped us for a while today!

Here's the best of Show: a portrait of this young man's niece.


Here is the large community collaborative piece: Seurat's Sunday Afternoon in the Park or "La Grande Jatte". Sadly, it was not comlpleted before the rain began to wash it away....
More Pictures to come!!!!

Art Show Judge!

I was asked to judge an art show this weekend at the University of Iowa. Congressman Dave Loebsack hosted an art contest for high school students. This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Congressional Arts Competition, sponsored by the Congressional Arts Caucus. The 2007 exhibition, entitled “An Artistic Discovery,” will feature exceptional artwork from all 435 congressional districts. “An Artistic Discovery” was created in an effort to recognize the creative talents of young Americans. It was great to see art from so many different schools. I must say the photography was most impressive! Here is the link to the article in the press citizen newspaper where they quoted me- let's just say I do not like how reporters always make you sound ridiculous!

Dave Loebsack giving a great speech about the importance of art!

Children and Art

I love children's art! I find their work to be fresh, full of energy, and their ideas are always new and exciting! Check out this young man's work after a printing lesson. We were pretending to be scientists and we labeled our bug's parts.


Our students performed a music program all about Colors and we helped make the backdrop in class. It turned out great!

Melvin is a work of Art

For a mere 30 dollars, our lovely fluff-ball of a cat, has been sculpted into a beautiful work of art. Check out my sweetie with his new spring look- the Lion Cut.

We held a district wide art show, with portraits as our theme. It was wonderful to see such a variety of media and wonderful work by all the students.

birds

I am putting a bit of work in a small shop in Iowa City called Decorum. The owner is showing all kinds of hand made work ( with a bird theme.) There will be jewelry, bags, cards, and my little collages and boxes. I am not sure how I finagled my way into this little birdie boutique, but what fun! Here is a sneak preview of some of my recent pieces.

Cousin Lisa's wedding

My cousin Lisa got married this weekend in Rockford, IL. She rented a photo booth and everyone was welcome to take pictures all night long! What a fantastic idea, it was a blast! Here is a sample of how I did not waste this opportunity!

Catching up.....

Spring break was two weeks ago, but we were sooo busy I haven't had time to post. My hubbie and I went to Chicago to see the Body Worlds 2 Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry.... it was pretty grotesque but in a fascinating way. We also found time to shop and go to the art museums. It was a great getaway!!

Ice Storm 2007

ICE, RAIN, and SNOW!

That's the caption all over the news this week! We had a terrible ice storm that knocked out a lot of power lines, including mine. Jeremy and I and the animals ( 2 dogs and a cat) were without power from Saturday around 2pm til Monday morning. YIKES!!! It was fun at first- playing board games by candlelight and watching a movie on my laptop under 6 blankets... BUT it got old! Sunday we went to get a hot breakfast to find nothing was open anywhere around us. We ended up 20 miles away in line for 20 minutes at McDonalds. As a vegetarian. McDonald's is the last place you want to end up! Let's just say it is over and I am so thankful! No school since we have no power- that's one good thing!!!!

I found out you can still make 1 inch squares by candlelight- here is a sneak preview of some of mine for an upcoming mail swap, I made over the cold icy weeeknd!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Ok- I am a day late, but I really want to share all the crafty things I made for Valentines day!
Here is my Valentine gift to my hubbie, Jeremy. I made wind-up toys that look like us. I put an accordion in his hands, and paint and a brush in mine. the BEST part is- they really wind up and work!


These pictures are of Sophie and Marissa (my nieces). I made them papier mache puppets for Valentines Day. I made Marissa "sleeping Beauty in the burgundy gown and Sophie received Cinderella in the blue velvet. We had soooo much fun playing with them!

digitally altered ATC's!

I wish I had more time to work with the hundreds of photos I take every month. I enjoyed this swap because it was a chance to use photoshop again and received some really great altered ATC's from Kirsten. The top two are hers and the bottom two I sent out! Happy altering everyone!

Lisa's Bridal Shower

I helped host a bridal shower for my cousin Lisa who is getting married in March. She and I are both art teachers and I just adore her. Here are some photos of the great table we set for it. My cousin Laurie is a florist and artist in Tacoma and she made some beautiful party favors for everyone.

Here are all the cousins!

Beautifully wrapped chocolate bars by cousin Laurie.

ATC Crazy!

Happy Artmaking!

I have been finishing up swaps for January and have made a bunch of ATC's I would like to share.

CAUTION: this will be a spoiler alert for those of you who are receiving them!

Bare trees and Silhouettes for Zhenia and Metal ATCs for Linda , Chair ATC's for Kirsten!

New Art for the New Year!

I have been really bad about updating my work. Here is a few things from December... more to come!
These are the three ATC's I made for the Raw ATC's swap Zhenia held! Thanks Z - I loved the ATC's I received!

As for Holiday gifts..... paper bead earrings were my favorite gift to give this year. Thanks to Kirsten who kindly got me addicted to another craft this year.
I also made my sister this cute little accordian book about my neices.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Starry Night

My neice is such a great little artist. Check out this painting she made at home after learning about Starry Night in her kindergarten art class that week. I was so honored when she gave it to me! Maybe I am extra impressed since I am an art teacher as well!


Starry Night by Marisssa age 5

Mail In!

Check out these great ATC's I received from Kelli and Carol! I just love them!

Here are some ATC's I made for the hand sewn swap in October. The picture is from vacation this summer. My neice and I rode this roller coaster called the "Spinning Dragon" in Kansas City,MO.