I am back, #365daysofart and other things

I have not posted on this little blog of mine for a very long time!  A lot has changed!  I have two darling daughters now!  I am still teaching high school art and I am attempting to lead a creative life along with being a momma, a wife and full time teacher.  I have started the #365daysofart challenge on my instagram which has been an amazing source of creativity for me lately.  I paint my sketch during my 25 minute lunch break at school which ends up being only like 15-20 minutes after getting set up and clean up time.  Here are some of my sketches!  I will be posting on here more frequently  ( I promise!) Have a lovely Saturday !  Xoxo  

High School Bulletin Board: Art Connects

Here is a new board I just created for my classroom. I call it the Art Connects board because it shows how all of the elements and principles of art and design connect in art.

Art Room Tour

Welcome to my high school art room! This is where I spend my days!

Little Bird on a Rock

Literally this bird is on a rock!  Hello!  I hope everything is going well with you!  I have actually been able to post more on this blog because my school district keeps getting two hour delays which is very amazing!  Today we have one because of fog.  Unusual for January in Ohio, usually delays are for snow!

Anyways, I am soooo excited for warm, sunny weather.  I get like this every year about this time, completely obsessed with spring and summer!  When it gets warm I am also able to go to my parents cottage on Lake Erie.  There is a ferry service that runs from March until November so I am not able to go to the cottage until the end of March!  So sad!

 I have posted numerous posts about my "island life" if you would like to check them out.  One thing about being on Lake Erie is that the beaches are not made of sand, they are for the most part made of perfectly rounded stones.  I have found these stones to be  amazing for painting on!  When I was a little girl I have many fond memories of painting on these stones.  This usually consisted of writing my name, making the stones look like ladybugs, etc.  As an adult I find these stones to be perfect little canvases for paintings of birds, frogs and dragonflies.  I  adore painting on these and also love giving them as gifts!  They make great little  paperweights and truly brighten any work space.

So here is my shameless plug.....this little bird is actually in my etsy store.  I painted him recently after joyously discovering I had brought this stone home from the island.  It was sitting in my drawer of my art desk just waiting to be painted!  If you would like to give him a new home check him out here.  I would also like to know any other suggestions for my future island stone paintings....I am a bit partial to birds but would LOVE any other suggestions.  I need to get out of my comfort zone!


Well I hope you have a wonderful day, I am off to make another cup of coffee and wait for Little I to get up (which should be very soon now!)  Have a great day:)

Weekend away!

This weekend my husband and I went out of town to a conference for his work . We went to Indianapolis and had an amazing time! So nice to get away and learn more about his business and hang out with the wonderful and caring people of his company! A change of scenery is always nice don't you think? What did you do this weekend?

New Painting! French Cafe Love

Here is my latest painting!  I really like the look of using a stencil to create text within the painting.  I created these stencils by printing out text from Openoffice (basically like Microsoft word) and then used an xacto blade to cut out the letters.  It gives it kind of a vintage feel I think.

This painting was inspired by my absolute love of coffee, outdoor cafes, flowers and anything French!  There is a 1950's National Geographic French map collaged into the background.

I haven't been able to do as many paintings as I have wanted to do but I think it is a start to at least have one finished!  Most of the artwork I have to work on is for my classes that I teach.  So it is actually an incredible feat that this painting was finished!

So here it is:

 I hope you are having a great Friday!  The husband and I are going to a conference in Indianapolis tomorrow for the Husband's work.  Little I is staying with my in-laws this weekend so the husband and I were actually able to watch a movie tonight!  We watched Pitch Perfect and I thought it was very cute and made me wish I could sing. 

What are your plans for this weekend?

Painting with a Two-year Old

 

Yes it can be done!  Little I loves to paint right now and I love to do it with her!  Our new favorite paints are Crayola Washable paints which I find to be thick, have a great selection of colors and are indeed washable (very important!)  We often use her shape sorter set that she received as a little baby to create many different shaped prints.  My favorite is just watching her mix colors and apply the paint on to the paper.  Sometimes she just throws paint on the paper, other times she really thinks about what she is painting and I am very surprised by some of her results!

Painting with Little I has to be one of my favorite things to do with her.  In a society when children too often like to just sit and watch television, play video games or play on the ipad (this is a huge new trend for kids...don't know how I feel about it!) painting is such a creative, fun and relaxing outlet for kids!

2 hour Delay

As a teacher, the words "2-hour" delay make a person very happy. Today was one of those happy days. We had a dense fog advisory for my area so therefore I got to spend some extra time with Little I. So much fun to play with play doh and listen to Sufjan Stevens Holiday music. Later this evening the husband, Little I and myself are off to see some lights at our zoo! Fun Mondays are the best:)

New Artwork: Cafe Love

Chalkboard Artsy Quotes

I painted one of my cabinets in my classroom with chalkboard paint this year and have been writing weekly (sometimes biweekly!) artsy motivation quotes for my students. Here are some of my favorites:

The Most Adorable Color Wheels Ever

Be prepared for some incredible cuteness.....



My Intro to Art students recently finished their creative color wheels.  This is a project I do every year with my Intro kids and every year I am impressed by how creative these students take this basic assignment of creating the color wheel with using only the primary colors (red, blue and yellow.)


So here are some of my favorites from this year:

Each bug has a different expression!

She hole-punched sprinkles!  LOVE

Just your classic robots and anchors....?  Love the randomness!

Here are some other examples from previous years that you might want to peruse.

This is seriously the easiest, yet incredibly fun lesson to do with students of ALL ages!  I teach high school and students were totally into mixing colors and creating a unique color wheel!

Fall in a Small Town

Hello!  How is everyone doing?  I am fine, just getting ready for Halloween!  Today the Art Club I advise helped out with a Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza where 250 pumpkins were carved by the adorable kids in my town.  It was a lovely fall day, chilly but not too cold.  It turned out to be a great success!


I love fall, it just makes me very happy!  I love taking Little I to our downtown and walking around with her, sometimes grabbing some hummus and chips from my little favorite restaurant and grabbing a latte from the adorable locally owned coffee shop.  Our downtown is soooo quaint and amazing with incredible historic architecture, big trees and great local businesses such as coffee shops, art and children stores.

What is your favorite thing to do in the fall?

My Vegan Life

Hello!  What is new with you?  Things have been pretty busy right now at school and with Little I.  I am still trying to get the hang of working full time and being a full time mom.  Little I will be 2 in December, you would have thought I would have figured it out by now right?!

Anyways, one new thing with me is that I have been a vegan for a month officially!  I  am so excited about being a vegan that I wanted to share it with you!  It has changed my life for the better and I feel so much healthier for eating "clean."  I know this is mainly an art blog but this blog is also a blog about my life.  Turning vegan is a huge part of my life now so I thought I would share with you my experience.  I am a newbie vegan (person who eats NO animal products including dairy and eggs) and I have even given up processed foods (huge deal for me!)  I literally went from being  a microwave dinner freak (think lean cuisines for every meal) to actually cooking from scratch all of my meals!

One of the main reasons I wanted to try the vegan lifestyle was that I read some articles about the China Study and also my best friend has been a vegan for many years and she always seems to have this amazing healthy glow to her!  I am a huge animal fan and have always loved veggies and fruits so I thought "Why not?"  Luckily there is a WEALTH of information out there for new vegans like myself that helped ease me into eating animal-product free!

So be prepared in future posts to see some fun vegan recipes as I attempt to create easy, quick vegan meals!

Vegetables rule my life now!

Great fall veggies from the farmer's market!

Tofu French fries...yep...these are actually awesome!

Quinoa, spinach, mushrooms and zucchini

Sweet potato and white bean patties with mushrooms and avocado.  That is actually salt on top of my sweet potatoes!