Kitchen

When we replaced the microwave over the oven with a hood vent, it left a big hole where the tile was. So I put up some wood to protect the wall, then painted it to protect the wood. And THEN I got a little carried away, especially since this was just a temporary thing until we could get a real backsplash.

But, y'know, I just couldn't help myself once I got started.

My Name

My daughter asked me what good modern books I'd read recently (she had to specify, because I'm likely to say something from the 15th century or something), and I said one I really loved was "Gods of Jade and Shadow" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. And I DO recommend it - well written, fast-paced, and with Mesoamerican mythology as well.

And THAT book reminded me that I've been wanting to do more Mayan and Aztec art. So I looked up how to phonetically spell my name in a Mayan dictionary (as one does) and came up with this.

It's technically the phonetic sounds for "sa ma," which sounded close enough for me. Although I 'm hoping I read that right, and I didn't spell out something awful in Mayan.

And speaking of Mayan names, we saw a Mayan exhibit at the Museum of Science in Boston. They had a name generator, and I got a print-out not of my name, but a name I COULD have were I Mayan. I got "Radiant Crocodile," which I may just have to use from now on.

#godsofjadeandshadow

My little cellist

Three things I love in one: painting, cello music, and my daughter.

Bok Choy

More painting!

Cupid: Target Practice

Gotta keep his aim sharp.

Happy Valentine's Day!

And yes, every time I try to type "Valentine's," muscle memory always makes me type "Valentino's" and I have to correct it.

Work in Progress - Dragonfruit

A work in progress - a dragonfruit for Chinese New Year. Needs a lot more work on the end details, and more shadows, but it's a start!

Paintings

I'm up to the Impressionists in my art class, so I painted this to show them the assignment. And then, my younger class saw that the older class was painting. They asked if they could paint as well, but could it be something easier? So I painted this for them:

A total win-win for me, the kids are engaged in painting and I had an excuse to paint again!

Halloween House

My painting students asked if I ever did anything creative, since I teach them still lifes. I told them I prefer it, and said we should do one next week. They all shuddered in horror at the thought of doing something creative with paint. So I decided to compromise. This is my house, but not my house. They have to bring pictures of their own house, and get all Halloween with it. They have a model, so it shouldn't be too overwhelmingly creative... or at least that's what I'll tell them (I feel like I should cackle gleefully).

Preteen Pirate

This came about during a semi-private painting class I was teaching. One of the kids had two bits of news - one, that she got braces, and two, that she and her family were going on a cruise to the Caribbean. I commented that she was going to go sailing like a pirate, when her friend said "Pirates don't wear braces." I called Nonsense! and said that all you'd have to do is add braces to the skull on the Jolly Roger.

So while they painted their assignment, I painted this.

In part, it was just because I loved the idea. But also, I finished this in a half an hour, while walking around and critiquing their work. I made it part of the lesson - all the kids in the class were getting too particular, and trying to make just one spot perfect. I wanted to show them that they needed to loosen up and paint more freely. Always time to clean things up later, just get paint on canvas. Besides, it was an acrylic paint class, the more you mess up early, the more layers you have, and the final result looks richer in the end.

And here is the pre-teen pirate herself, posing with the painting:

My Next Painting (in progress)

Got a Red Riding Hood theme going on here, but I'm enjoying it.

Just like the last painting, this one will be in full color. But to start, I wanted to unify it by painting in all the shadow color as an underpainting. And I liked it so much, I decided to take a picture of it.

If I hadn't done the first one in full color I'd have been tempted to just leave this as is. So glad it wasn't the first one!

My First Painting of This Year

Not too long ago I finally got to see the movie Frida. Aside from being a really good movie, it also reminded me that I actually like to paint. Digital's fun and all, but it's nice to get all up in there with actual paint. I liked painting in the sketchbook too - I'll move to canvas sooner or later, but it was good to just paint something for the fun of it. The paper even held up well too, surprisingly.

Art Class - Color Mixing

It looks like this should be called "Art Class - Leaves," but the leaves were just the excuse to follow up on my color mixing class. I limited the colors they could use to yellow, magenta, cyan, and white. They did really well on it - in fact, I taught this before the pumpkin painting class, which is probably how they were able to get a whole painting done in an hour! This class took two sessions to complete (these posts are slightly out of order, but I wanted to put up my Jack O'Lantern pic before it got too far from Hallowe'en).

Since it was color theory, I had initially planned to have them paint the same leaf in complementary colors, like I did as well. But after two classes on just one leaf, they were ready to move on, and the pumpkin paintings were a lot more fun. But I like my purple leaf for it's own sake, so I'm glad I painted it as well.

Art Class - Prepping and Teaching

Some pics from preparing for art class, and the art class itself!

Halloween banner for the younger class: The object of the class is not to have them copy everything I do - I try to give examples so they can be inspired to do it themselves. On the board you can see how I'm giving them examples of other expressions they could give their figures. Kind of an emoji class for the younger group!

Here's the older class:

Color theory: I wanted them to learn that red, yellow, and blue aren't primary colors, at least not in painting. Rather, yellow, cyan, and magenta are (my time spent in print was not wasted! Translates well to the canvas). Above were my examples - below are the kids finding it out for themselves.

They got into it! Especially if they knew the color wheel before, it was interesting to see how it actually worked with real paint, instead of a theoretical color wheel.

The Battle of the Five Armies - take 2

Here's another version of this one - some comments from people were that it was too bright and cheery for an epic battle. So I grimmed it up a bit, and added some details to the main figures' shield and axe.

As you can see, I've got all The Hobbit trailers on my mind, I keep going back to this book! Can't wait for December.