Owls...New Mizzle Friends part 2

At the beginning of the school year, students were watching me work on the "Rock Concert."

 They really loved how I was taking the scrapbook paper and creating layers.  Since they were showing such a huge interest in my technique, I thought it might be fun to create a lesson where they worked in the same style.  My students are illustrating a Greek or Roman myth.  They seem to like the assignment, but are having a little bit of trouble understanding the layering concept.  So, I decided to make another version of the owl painting, but to work in the steps that my students will be working in.  This meant working in a planed approach, which is not my usual habit.  Also, I knew I was going to be doing a live demo painting at the Orange County Creatives Gallery, so this piece worked as a great sample for my students and a great in progress piece to finish at the gallery.

Normally, I collage the background and scenery first.  Then add the characters.

Here I began by drawing the entire scene onto tracing paper.  Then I traced my lines with marker (I used orange, but it doesn't matter.) 

Then I used graphite to cover the marker lines on the back of the tracing paper.  I did this so I could transfer parts of my drawing to the scrapbooking papers.

I began by working from the background to the foreground, which is my sky and ground. The scrapbooking paper comes in 12x12, so when working on larger paper you need to be careful about where you place the line created by two pieces of paper.  I tell my students not to put it in the center, but to put it off towards the side and to try to place it where other parts of your art work will cover it.  In this case, I will have a tree and Larry mizzle covering most of the line.

Then I added the road.  Even though my characters are covering parts of the road in my drawing, I cut it out of the paper whole.  This adds to creating depth with the natural layering of the paper.

When collaging, you have to be careful about the colors and textures you choose.  I had a few choices that I liked for the bark of the trees.

option 1: a wood textured paper
with a light and dark green

Option 2: a lighter version of the ground

Option 4: a greenish brown

Option 3: cream colored texture



I really liked option 3 because later I will be adding shadows and details with watercolor.  I felt if I went with a darker paper, the trees might be too dark for the painting.

I traced the drawing over the chosen papers and began cutting them out. Here are photos of the trees and characters drawn and then cut out.

The squirrel is drawn behind the tree, so I drew it whole and cut it out.  I cut slits on the sides of the arm and tail so it could snuggly wrap around the tree.

Normally when I glue the pieces together I use a heavy book to apply pressure and bond the papers together.

But at my painting demo, I used a brayer to flatten and apply pressure to each individual piece.

Once all of the pieces are glued down, then I begin painting with watercolor.

I didn't get to finish the painting at the painting demo, but I've been working on it this week.  It's almost done.

Here are some photos Orange County Creatives took of my painting demo at the gallery last Sunday.  Life-size Larry came with me.  My best friend, Lydia, made him his wonderful bathing suit! 

Sunday Agglomeration- Mother's Day

This is a painting I began.  I was feeling inspired and am letting the canvas speak to me.  I have no plan or idea of where this will go.

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  Make sure to hug and kiss your mother for giving you life!  My mom is pretty amazing.  She is my best friend and we always manage to have lots of laughs.   My younger sister and I are cooking her a wonderful lunch!  In addition to that, I made her this painting.  It is a mixed media collage of my grandma.  It will go with her collection of family drawings I've done over the years for her.

Mixed Media collage I made for my mom. There are photos of my grandma.  The two flowers are ones we saved from her memorial service.

I decided to frame this piece and give it to my aunt.  She is an amazing single mother, who was a big influence in my life.  She is a very strong woman and this kind of reminded me of her.

Also, I had a student ask if I could make a Mizzle for his mom for Mother's day.  I named her Rufaro. 

Rufaro means exuberance and joy. 
She is like the Energizer Bunny, who never seems to stop.
She is from Africa, but likes to tell people she is from Narnia.
Always on the go, she loves to finish any incomplete job.
She spends a lot of time as a conflict mediator
 on most elementary school play grounds,
where her Ph.D. in pig latin comes in handy.
 In her free time, she enjoys typing with her eyes closed
 and tap dancing in bathrooms.

This week we suffered the passing of Maurice Sendak, who is a major influence on the children's book world.  I don't think any person can say they haven't experienced Where the Wild Things Are.  As I contemplated what to draw this week, I began to think "what if the Wild Things and the Mizzles were friends?"  And this is what happened:

Wild Things and Mizzle sleeping

Wild Thing and Mizzle sharing ice cream

Here the Wild Thing is teaching a Mizzle how to flap its arms

 There must be something in the water! Or it is just that time of the year when students begin to act out.  It has been an upsetting week.  I had students who decided they were not going to work, or decided to walk out of class early.  Again, there must be something in the water because it wasn't just my group of "lovelies" who were acting out.  There is an epidemic going on.  Let the count down begin: 25 more school days before finals!

This is how I felt...or possibly what I looked like

Mixed Media

I know it may sound a bit odd that during my breaks I'm excited to spend a few days making art.  You are probably asking, "Don't you do that already?" The answer is yes, I do.  But there is a big difference from being an Art Teacher during the day and making time during my prep, or at home to work on my personal illustrations to being able to stay home and be an artist all day.  I love being an Art Teacher, but sometimes I wish I could just be an artist all day.  Note: I said "sometimes."  I know myself and I would get bored being home all of the time, or in a studio all day.  I, also, know that a lot of my inspiration comes from being around my students. So, time away from work and the projects I take on there is appreciated.  Here is what I did:

This is my latest watercolor pencil piece.
  I have fallen in love with some of my daily ink drawings and have decided they would be better in color.  I'm thinking of using this on my business card.

I really love look and feel of mixed media pieces and I never thought I could be very successful with it.  But I have decided it is important for me to play with because of the nature of how they are created.  You start out with your materials.  Sometimes you start with a plan of where to begin and where it might end.  But when you actually begin piecing it together, it morphs on its own; choices are constantly being made; and if you completely give in to the experience, your mind becomes quiet. Then you come back to reality and there is a piece of artwork before you.  With the collage, sometime the work looks bad; sometimes it is alright; and many times it surprises you with its perfect balance and harmony. For me, it is not about the end result when I create them.  For me, it is about quieting my mind and allowing it to escape from the to-do lists, dreams, wants and worries.

I'll end today with a few of my favorite quotes, which are posted next to my computer:

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." 
-Scott Adams

"Creativity is not rearranging; it is transformation."
-Viola Spolin



Discovering new mediums and techniques

 This past weekend, I had friends over for creative fun.  I really enjoy getting together with creative minds, or people who are open to playing with art materials.  I am finding a new love for paper collage, or mixed media.  I am also discovering a fondness for gouache paint.  It is really expanding my boundaries as an artist.  I love pen and ink and colored pencil.  I have, also, developed a love for watercolor pencils over the past few months.  I have never been a fan of watercolor.  It is one of the few mediums that I don't have the patience for.  But the watercolor pencils allow me to have a little more control and I feel like I don't have to wait as long for it to dry.  I could be using them completely wrong, but then again, as an artist we use materials in ways that work best for us.

a textured piece created with white glue and acrylic

Yesterday and today, I have been thinking about my story for February and my PB dummy challenge.  I have the story in my head and I can see it like a movie, but that seems to change once I begin writing.  I have yet discovered a writing technique or ritual that is successful for my writing, other than procrastination.  I have always written my best papers when under pressure.  The problem is that I don't have any real deadlines for my personal writing and if I give myself a deadline, I know there are no real consequences for not finishing on time.  But I did come up with a few drawings to illustrate parts of my story that I have been thinking about.  Maybe this is my writing technique?

I might try taking index cards and roughly illustrating my story onto them.  This might help me with the writing a bit.  I know storyboarding helps a lot of writers, but I find that I begin jumping scenes or I can clearly visualize a part of the story I haven't come to yet.  It becomes quite confusing. 

But, as always, I continue to push forward; learning from the process of what works and what doesn't; and finding joy in the world I have created for myself.

Weekend full of art

Yesterday, I met with my illustrators group for an artist's play date.  We brought various materials and began being creative.  It was so much fun to just play with materials.  I decided to use a piece of cardboard and collaged various torn pieces of paper.  For the girl, I used white gouache to create her silhouette and then used watercolor pencils on top.  I love the textures the paper created.  I have always been attracted to the edges of torn paper.  Something about it draws me to it. 

Today was busy with various chores, but I had another experience with the squirrel in my parent's back yard.  Her name is Striker and I went to feed her nuts.  I had set some on the tree and I held one in my hand for her to take.  But she came at it from a weird angle and knocked the nut out of my hand, so she kept taking the nuts I had set on the tree.  She would pretend to come get the nut from my hand, and then she would end up grabbing one on the tree.  I stood there in awe of how close she stayed near me.  She was the inspiration for today's drawing.

I even had time to do a quick watercolor version of one of my daily drawings.