Drawing on the right side of the brain

I have been doing art lessons in my home for quite a few years now and one project which I have done with a few of the kids has been a favorite of mine.  I love the book, "Drawing on the right side of the brain" and in that book it talks about drawing using the right side of your brain and drawing something upside down to train your brain to draw something as you see it instead of drawing things the way we think they should look. There is a picture of JFK in the book which I have used to have the kids draw from.  They draw it upside down and I coach them all along the way as they draw.  Here is a brother and sister that just finished them last week.  They took about 4 hours to complete them.  I had them draw a picture of a face before they started so we could see the progress.  I think they did an amazing job!

I just ran out of fabric...

I gave one of my friends a pair of the baby shoes I made and she used them in a maternity photograph!  They look so sweet held in her husband's hands!  What a great idea! 

So on another note, I have been up to so many different art endeavors lately.  I feel like I am here, there, and everywhere!  I have soooo many unfinished projects surrounding me and it is very overwhelming.  I'm pretty sure I have ADD but was never diagnosed as a kid because back then not many people knew what it was.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with my issues with finishing things.... I always get so obsessed over my newest idea or endeavor and then get distracted with another awesome project that comes my way and takes its place.  I will be posting some of those projects soon.  With a 9 month old and 3 other boys my time is so limited to do the things I want to do, and during that little bit of time I want to do so much that I end up not finishing things, just starting them!  My kids probably think I'm crazy.  Just yesterday my son, Sully, said, "hey mom, are you ever going to finish those curtains?"  (I was making these funky amazing curtains which I never finished).  I responded in a defensive tone with "I am going to!  I just ran out of fabric!"  Kids always know how to reaffirm just what we are already thinking and what we already know about ourselves to be true.  Maybe I should listen to them and get to those curtains!

Fiber Show

I decided to enter one of my fiber pieces that I had previously posted on my blog entitled, "Blister".  There was a fiber show in the town of Peninsula which is put on every year.  I got 3rd place in the non-functional category and I was excited to meet some other fiber artists in the area!  I may start attending their group which meets once a month.  I think that will help me get inspired by other artists and I will enjoy learning some new techniques with Fiber!  I was thrilled to be a part of this show and will definitely enter a piece again next year!

Annual Fiber Show

Past Fiber Shows
2011 Show

2010 Show

2009 Show

2008 Show

2007 Show

The Ninth Annual Fiber Show at the Peninsula Library is now open through August 24th, 2012. The library is located at 6105 Riverview Road, Peninsula, Ohio, 44264. The library is open Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 8pm and Friday - Saturday, 9am - 5 pm.

Congratulations to our winners this year, and our sincere thanks to all the talented fiber artists who participated. We very much appreciate the expertise of Rosanna Ludwig and Carol Adams in jurying the show.

The winners are :

Functional:
1st - Sandy Heller
2nd - Kristi Ann Lavell
3rd - Katie Schutte
Honorable Mention - Jan Nash

Non-Functional:
1st - Carol Lynn Stratton
2nd - Ann Herip
3rd - Tara Deetscreek
Honorable Mention - Marcia Mazak

We'll have pictures of all of the winning pieces up soon!

2012 Show Winners

Functional
1st

Sandra Heller - "Teal Vest"

2nd

Picture Pending
Kristi Ann Lavell

3rd

Katie Schutte - "Sabellida Motif Collar"

Honorable Mention

Jan Nash - "Fishing Around"
Non-Functional

1st

Carol Lynn Stratton - "Waiting"

2nd

Ann Herip - "Pomegranets"

3rd

Tara Deetscreek - "Blister"

Honorable Mention
Picture Pending Marcia Mazak - "My New Mexico #1"

 

Nesting energy put to good use

A few weeks ago I gave my friend a pair of baby shoes that I made because she is expecting a child.  Her crafty sisters were there when I gave the shoes to her and said I should make more and sell them with them at a craft show where they were going to be selling their wares.  I thought I would take up the challenge and sew up as many baby shoes as I could in a week before the craft show.  I was sewing the shoes every chance I got and made 19 pairs!  I wanted to make it to 20, but ran out of time.  Here are pictures of the shoes I made.  Some of the pictures are a little blurry so excuse them :) 

I forgot to mention that I am 7 months pregnant, so this was a great way to pass the time away and put my nesting energy to good use!  I really enjoyed making them... they are really addicting to make.  Anything that tiny is cute and fun to make!

Hurray for a new buffet!!

I have been working on making our dining room a space that I enjoy, and a piece of furniture I thought it needed was a buffet.  We made our farmhouse table back in February, I think, which I have yet to post pics of and it is awesome!  I love the table, but the room needed another piece of furniture in it... something to use as storage and to set food on when there is company, etc.  I was on the hunt for one on craigslist for the last several months and I finally found one the price I wanted to purchase one for... $20!  It was my goal not to spend more than $20 on a piece I was just going to upcycle and make my own.  It was an old buffet from the 70's with an ugly stain and nasty knobs.  I thought to myself that that was the perfect piece!  I liked the simple lines of it because I wanted to find one that wasn't too fancy in it's shape so that it would work well with the simplicity of the farmhouse table.  I did like the curve of the little legs though which adds a softer feel to the piece.  I thought the big solid doors would be perfect canvasses to paint on as well! 

 First thing I did was take the nasty knobs off of the buffet and fill in the holes.  The buffet is actually really heavy and is made of mahogony wood, believe it or not, which is great!  I was glad it was a solid piece.  I decided to paint the buffet the same color as the base of the farmhouse table and chairs.  It is painted white and covered with a stain that I used ontop to antique it with.  I replaced the knobs with new ones I found at Anthropologie (my favorite store in the universe) that I love very much!  They were on sale... I only paid $15 for all of them!!  I chose to get a few different kinds to add interest to the piece.  I wanted the knobs to be more of the focal point than the actual color of the buffet.  

 Next came the fun part of doing the decorative painting on the front.  I seem to have birds that sneak into many projects I do in my house, so I let them out once again and let them fly all over the buffet.  I finished the buffet by sanding the edges just as I did with the farmhouse table and I love the way the piece turned out!  I can't wait to finish my dining room.  Now it is on it's way to being completed thanks to my new buffet! 

The Fireflies

I had the opportunity to paint a mural in a music school in our area.  It is called Firefly Music School (http://www.fireflymusicschool.com/ ).  I collaborated with a graphic designer that came up with the images of these fireflies playing musical instruments.  I changed some of the colors that he had originally had incorporated in the image of the band.  I also made the fireflies' faces flesh tone instead of green or another color which didn't suit them.   

I added a band name for the group on the front of the drum and mimicked the typography of the letters that are used in Fireflies' logo.  I thought it would also be fun to make the dot for the I a pair of firefly wings.

 I also made a lot of changes to the girl playing the violin.  The owner of the music school wanted me to make her look more young and "cool", so I gave her a fun school girl outfit with an anime flare to her.  I gave her a rockin' side braid too!  She is much larger than the rest of the band of fireflies, and she stands alone on an opposite facing wall from the band. 

 I finished the mural yesterday and it feels good to be done. I really enjoyed working on it despite one paint mishap I had one day while I was there!  I think the mural adds alot to the waiting room.  It gives it more life and will give children something to look at while they are waiting for their lesson and hopefully make them smile!  Two of my boys have taken lessons there an it is a great place with very talented teachers.  I was glad to be a part of making Firefly Music School a better place!