Painting A Day - Ostrich ACEO

We saw this beautifully unusual ostrich on Route 66 near the Petrified Forest. These birds are so very interesting I just had to do a painting that has been in my mind for a couple months. We stopped to see the ostrichs on our way home from Michigan in July. It was a bit intimidating to feed these guys from a plastic cup!

This is an ACEO/Artist Trading Card, size 2.5x3.5 inches, acrylic on 140 lb. watercolor paper.

-SOLD-

I see my painting a day didn't go far. I woke on October 26 with a cloud of smoke looming 8 miles away. The day unfolded into one of the saddest days our little mountain community has seen. The death of the five firefighters from Engine 57 deeply affected many people, near and far. The week was just filled with too much sadness, and busyness that my art suffered. In the midst of this tragic, unusually busy week, I turned 40. I think I'll have more time now, so I should be back again soon.

Painting A Day - "Sunset on Half Dome"

This is my "Painting A Day" - number 2. It is watercolor on 140 lb watercolor paper. 5x7 inches. I'm surprised I finished one on a Wednesday. Today is the day I go to volunteer in my son's class. Fifth year of doing that, every Wednesday. I usually don't get a lot of art done on these days. I'm usually pretty tired after helping in the class. I love the kids, but they really can be mentally draining! But I'm breaking old patterns and doing art in spite of being drained. Yay!!

I thought I would do a vacation-inspired painting on this day. I've done many Half Dome paintings in my travel journals. It's a tradition for Wesley and I to do at least one Half Dome rendering at sunset. So I used this year's journal entry and a photo we took as inspiration for this little painting. Yosemite is such an extraordinary place. I often wonder how so much beauty can be in one place.

I'm offering this painting for sale on eBay - $9.00 opening bid. See the link to the right. Thanks!

Painting A Day - "Peak-A-Boo"

This is my first "Painting A Day!" Oh, the pressure! Can I do it?! We'll see how many days I can go before I don't get a painting done in a day. I know, it's only a general committment - just to be more productive in general with my art. Knowing me, I'll have to go out of town soon, then I won't get 1 done a day. I will try to doodle for some ideas though.

This little watercolor painting is an ACEO - 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I decided to start extra small. I'm still in my ACEO phase. One reason I love ACEOs is because of the easy shipping. Wouldn't anyone?

I did a doodle of this little cat hiding in a pumpkin one Wednesday while at Wesley's school. So I decided to make it into a painting, and make it my first Painting A Day. For me the hard part of doing a painting a day will be coming up with ideas. I guess I need to get past that. The important thing is just to paint, to improve my techniques. But I always feel like my imagination needs to excercise as well. We shall see if my creative well will run dry or not!!

Oh, this is for sale now at eBay. See the link to the right>>>. And as usual, a low starting bid of only $.99!! Also, check out the link to the Daily Painters Gallery. There is some beautiful art there!

October NibbleFest

Time for NibbleFest! This is my entry in October NibbleFest - which the theme this month is "Gnarled Trees". On the 20th of each month there is a NibbleFest Art Contest on eBay. The winner is the person with the most unique bidders - meaning each bidder is counted once, no matter how many bids they put in.

I like NibbleFest. Wesley has participated more than I have though. I love the variety of work that comes out of these contests. Plus, I love anything that gets my imagination moving. The extra exposure to my auctions is also always a good thing!

This gnarled tree is an ACEO (2.5x3.5") done in watercolor. She's kind of a tree faery, I guess. I'm happy with how she came out, and at the last minute, as usual!

Art Lesson - Owl Collage

Today I got back in to the swing of things with a private lesson. I hadn't done a private lesson since June. Busy summer, busy fall! This lesson was with a second grader. I've been doing lessons with this little one for almost 2 years now. This little girl has more focus than most kids, so a lot of complicated lessons can be done with her.

This lesson is a collage of an owl with decorative papers. I saw a beautiful, detailed owl done in a 3-D collage effect on the internet. So I was inspired to make an art lesson like it - like a lot of art I see. I'm always trying to think of new art lessons. I tried to have her see the darks and lights in an owl, then use the colorful, patterned papers in the same way. We cut the paper into "feather-like" shapes. This was where I had to help her the most - because we had to be done in an hour. She glued them on to her owl that she had first drawn. I had her start at the bottom and overlap to the top. I also folded the feathers a little to add a little 3D effect. Then the round eyes, beak, and branch were added. There could've been a little more contrast below the beak to make it show up better. But that's pretty minor. I think it turned out pretty cute and whimsical! Easy for a one-on-one class, but may be too complicated, and expensive for a large class. Any bird could be made the same way. And I think an imaginative, fantasy bird would be really fun.

Wesley's New Skull ACEO

Wesley is getting busy with his art again. This is yet another of his terrifically creepy skulls. This is "Voodoo Skull". He really enjoys making ACEOs. And I think he's very good at thinking of new, crazy ideas. Wesley really does have a prolific imagination. I wish I could tap into it! This card is for sale now on ebay - find the link on the right and it should bring you to it. Half of his profits go to his college fund. He's such an intelligent person that he must go to college. I hope I can afford it when the time comes. I'll just have to make it happen somehow.

Another new thing in Wesley's life is that he's now playing the trumpet. A good thing about fourth grade is you get to learn an instrument at school. Luckily, that wonderful thing hasn't been cut from our school - yet! American schools are so skrewed up now. We have to have an art program completely funded and run by volunteers. And we are one of the lucky schools that has the ability to do this. Most kids don't get any art. It is so sad. I could have an entire blog on the subject of education in our country, but I think I'll stop here for now!

Frankenstein on LP

I finished this last night. It's another painting on a record. I guess I'm thinking a lot about Halloween lately. One of the coolest monsters is Frankenstein. I once did a drawing of Frankenstein's Bride way back when I was in high school. I think I still have it. I'll have to find it to show Wesley that I have done some monster art myself. I think when I did it I was just liking the fact that she was an old movie character. Although I had an interest in fantasy back then too.

I've put a gloss varnish on one of my records, but this time I used matte finish. I guess it's a personal preference of which to like more. It seemed to me that Frankenstein should be matte, not all shiny-like. The glossy one does look good to me. But the record with gloss is a pop girl blowing stars, or snowflakes. So she definately needed a glossy finish.

-SOLD-

Pattern Cats Art Lesson

I had a pretty successful art lesson today with 20 second and third graders. We did pattern cats. In an earlier post you may have seen the "pattern turtles" that I've done with younger kids. This is basically the same lesson except with cats. I needed to change it a bit since 2 years ago I had already done the cats with 2 or 3 of the kids. So we used oil pastels and watercolor instead of the usual markers. I really like the outcome with the paint instead of markers. It also shows them how resists work since you can paint right over the oil pastels and keep the colors intact.

I started doing these cats 2 years ago and it is a pretty big hit so I'm continuing to do them. This group of kids seemed to want to put scars on their cat's faces. When Wesley's group did this 2 years ago, flames were all the rage. Of course, it's the boys that go off on these crazy ideas. There were also "Terminator Cats". And the girls always want to put hearts all over theirs.

First, I do the simple directed cat drawing with them - they are to use pencil. There's always a few who aren't happy with theirs and need to erase. Then they outline in black oil pastel. I then showed them how to section off the cat a bit, and talked about the patterns. You have to make sure to say "designs" more than patterns, because the math curriculum talks a lot about patterns and the kids think about "AB" patterns, etc. Then they fill with some designs - stripes, dots, swirls, etc. They should be told not to color in completely with the pastels since there is always at least one that will do this. Finally, they were to paint with watercolor. I tried to emphasize using different colors because we wanted to make very imaginative, colorful cats. There is usually at least one who wants to do a realistic cat. They don't want to do these cats you might see in a dream. I think it's good for them to stretch the imagination. And they can also see that not all art is just like real life.

So this was a successful day... no tears, no frustrations, little help from me. And I was playfully called "King Kong" by one little energetic, wild, second grade boy. Is that a compliment?!

Aggie's ready for Halloween

Wow, I can't believe I finished Aggie in less than a week! That's good for me since I usually let dolls that I'm making sit around a while before they are finished. I must've enjoyed making this cute witch.

The most time consuming part of sewing something is the picking of the fabric. I have a large collection of assorted fabrics. Recycled, vintage, new. I just love fabric! So once I've got an idea of which I'm going to use it goes much faster. I didn't use a pattern. That's how I usually make a doll. Just figure it out as it comes. I dyed the muslin body in tea. Sewed some wool yarn into her head. Stuffed her, drew and painted her face. Then the next hard part is making her clothes. Aggie has a blouse that is a lot like a corset, some bloomers, a mini skirt, and of course a hat. All are removable so she can change her clothes if wanted.

Aggie really would like to be a creeepy, scarey kind of witch but she doesn't have it in her. She's just too darn cute!

Tissue Paper Collage Lesson

Last friday I did an art lesson with a class of 28 fourth graders. The lesson was using tissue paper in a collage. I had done this lesson before a couple of times with one or two kids. It was a lot harder with the large class.

First, I talked with them about sillouettes. I don't think they all understood just what a sillouette is. I gave a quick run through of just how the whole project was done, while also showing some examples. I only had an hour to have them do this project from start to finish and I knew this project took some time. I felt I really had to get my lecture finished quick so they would have time to finish. I don't like that stress and I felt rushed. Because of that I feel I really didn't explain as good as I could've.

First I had them draw what I wanted to be a simple silouette on black tissue paper. There were some that did just that. There were also some that didn't get it and drew quite detailed little drawings. Much too detailed to cut out. Flaw number 1 on my part. You really need to emphasize to do a SIMPLE outline, and make it pretty large. Not something the size of a quarter! Some needed me to help with their drawing mainly to draw a dolphin or spider which were both ideas I had shown them. If I drew the thing for them I tried to have them draw a little something to go with it. So that it wasn't ALL my drawing.

Then I had them paint a watered down glue mixture onto the paper, and place the black design onto the glue. I had them paint gently on top of the black design. When they were done with that I had them choose 3 colors of tissue. At first I thought it would be best to use only 3 colors, each like eachother. In otherwords no contrasting colors. But many didn't listen to that, and in the end it didn't matter. I guess I was thinking it would make the whole piece too chaotic, and the sillouette might get lost. That wasn't a prob since we only used lighter shades of tissue to put over the black. Next time I will strike the mention of what colors for them to choose. Just keep it to 2 or 3 colors plus black.

Then they were to start making these into strips and gluing. Again having them glue onto the background first - not directly onto the tissue. I think most are used to putting glue on to the small paper, not the background, and they forgot that sometimes. It's also a good idea to mention to try to keep one hand clean of glue. I don't know if many can do this though! Most kids I don't think care about the sticky stuff, but some can get a little frustrated.

Some kids were really able to do the whole thing with no help. Some needed my help from the beginning. I had 5 different sillouette ideas, but some wanted to do there own design. I want to encourage their own ideas always, but it seems the kids that had the hardest time were the ones that had their own ideas. Because the silouette can be hard to make look like you want it, without all the details. This project would probably work better with a little older children - maybe 5th, 6th or 7th grade would be best. I was a very busy helping draw, cut, strip, and sometimes helping glue strips at the end because of the time restraints. It was just so mucher harder because of the amount of kids this time too. Oh well you live and learn.

Kindergarten Art Lesson

I did an art lesson with a class of tiny kindergarteners today. Now keep in mind that these children have been in school for only four weeks now. They are so little, and just attending school is a big feat for them. Many are still learning about the proper way to sit on the rug. Sometimes I forget that they may not fully understand all the lingo and descriptions I give. It can be a challenge but there is much joy in being around these little guys and gals. One little boy gave me a lit up smile because he had drawn his own zig-zag line without my help. Another little girl cried because she didn't get to finish her picture. It's so sad when they cry during art! But I am glad she enjoyed doing art that much and I hope she gets a chance to finish it somehow.

The lesson was a simple directed drawing of a turtle. I first had a little talk and demo about different designs -- stripes, polka dots, shapes, etc. Then they went to their seats and I attempted to have them draw the turtle. I had them draw in pencil, then outline in black marker. They later filled in the turtle with the colorful designs that we had talked about earlier. I tried to fill in my turtle with at least a few of the patterns, but at this age I was needed to help them with their drawings. I emphasized making the turtle large because so many tend to draw these tiny little things. From start to finish it was about 40 minutes. That is pretty long for kindergarteners. And of course there is always the 1 or 2 that could go longer.

One lesson done, and at least 3 more for me until the end of our first session of smARTS. Now I must think about a lesson for 4th graders. This is my son's class so I have to think of a brand new lesson. This is the 5th year I've done art with his class so I always have to have a fresh project for this group. Well I've got a week to think about it. Any great creative suggestions?

Halloween ACEO - on eBay

This is a brand new ACEO that I finished today. I'm part of an ebay group called ATC & ACEO Enthusiasts. I participated in a dare where I was dared by huckleberryarts ...to create a card with a cat enjoying Halloween goodies and it shows all over his face. This is what I came up with. When I think of Halloween cats, I think of these quirky kind of cats, with grins. I almost tried to do a more realistic cat, but it just wasn't happening that way. I quickly changed to my pop-style of cat for this card. As seen in an earlier post, I like these kind of cats!

I like to do dares, they are fun and truly stretch my imagination. The problem is you are suppose to have your dare done in a week. I was 3 or 4 days late on this one. Oh well, I felt it was ok to be a flake on this!

I'm happy with this little card. It is 2.5x3.5 inches. That's the standard size for ACEOs. I painted it in acrylic. Even if I sell it, I think it will be around as a print of some kind for a long time to come.

-SOLD-

Record Painting

This is my first painting that I did on an LP record. I've always loved records. I like to make boxes out of old record covers. I always have these left over records-all of which have a pretty bad sound. So I thought of this idea of recycling the records and painting on them. First, I gesso the record. Then I paint it in acrylic. It is then coated in acrylic matte varnish. I've done 2 now. They are kind of rock and roll. I want to make some more like these, but also with a more retro-pop feel. Probably martini influenced. They look pretty groovy hanging on the wall. Records naturally look good on a wall, it's the circular shape.

Greetings from Rebecca Flowers

I've been busy this week getting back into the old school routine. I'm happy I was able to do some art and post some items up for sale. I listed this catdoll a couple of days ago. It's about time! This cat has taken forever to make. That's what happens when first of all - I papier mached the head what?? 2 years ago?! Then I finally painted the head about 9 months ago. Shortly after that I sewed the body and decorated her with the heart. Then she sat around for more months until I finally dressed her earlier this week. And yay she's finished! Then I named her Rebecca Flowers. No, she is not related to Jennifer Flowers! I do adore these dolls, as all dolls. But I guess they are so time consuming that I loose interest. I have another boy catdoll that I will finish hopefully very soon. They really do look better, and are happier, with a friend near by!

Roses, Roses, Roses

Wow, check out these roses! I received them from Brad and aren't they gorgeous? They are screaming to be made into a painting. But I wasn't able to do it. I went out of town for my sister's wedding. Now I'm finally back home. And no plans for leaving again. I can sit back and do lots of art. I've had lots of inspiration this summer, and now it's time to put those ideas onto canvas! It's sad for school to start, but I'm looking forward to my time at home now. What's really a bummer is the roses were left at my mom's and are probably gonners by now anyway. Oh well, I do have this beautiful picture of the roses that were brought home in a bucket!

Hot Sauce for Hot Sauce

This is a pepper that we've been nursing all summer. It's Wesley's prize possession. We were across country and the first thing he'd ask Brad on the phone was, "How's my pepper?" I'm grateful the thing wasn't ate by a bird or mole. I'm able to grow a lot of things and my garden is flourishing, but I'm not the best at growing vegetables. That is ironic since I want to move and have some acres just so that I can grow some of my food. Maybe it's the soil here on the mountain that is stunting my veggies growth. Well this pepper is quite a prize to behold. What will we make with it? Any ideas out there?

"Hot Sauce" is Wesley's nick name. As of this summer he was christened with that name by a cousin out in Michigan. Hot Sauce had a lot of fun with those teenage people. He was one of the stars out on the badminton court, thus the name. Will the pepper turn out to be as hot as the grower of the pepper? We shall see. It is a beauty though!

Made My Day!

I got an email today from someone who bought my painting this weekend on Etsy. She said,

"It was really my 2 1/2 year old daughter who picked this out - I was browsing Etsy and she shrieked out "The cat! Ha-woah-ween cat! Yay!" and I was sold. Originally I was thinking of this for my little crafty corner but I get a feeling it will end up in her room."

I thought that was the cutest thing, and it really made my day. I had just gotten back from an awkward meeting, and I was happy to come home to that email. And yes, it made my day!

I always get a kick out of it when a kid likes my art. They are very honest. My art ususally does appeal to children. Maybe more than adults, I don't know! I guess I think like a kid. They can also get so amazed with the simplest thing. It can boost your ego, sometimes when it's really needed!

saffron's new blog

Well, I've finally decided to make a blog. Why? Not sure. Just in case there's someone out there wanting to see what's up with me!

So today is Sunday. I've been home what 5 days? But I've got to leave town again in a couple of days. My sister's getting married and I must attend, of course. Haven't been home much this summer. But did go to 20 states. I experienced the country a bit instead of the quiet life in the mountains. I will share some photos from that soon.

Yay, I sold my second item on etsy today. Two items sold in less than a week. That's pretty good traffic. It beats ebay. Well at least so far. Sold a cute little bracelet with a little print encased in resin. The print is of a painting I did way back when I was a wee 20 year old. It is "1930s Lovers". Wow it sold so fast, in about 10 minutes after posting it. That was pretty cool!

Gotta go now. This is a little start to my blog.