Something New

I took the coolest class this week where I learned how to screen print. It was awesome and super easy!

I made a shirt last night for my husband that includes two of his favorite things (besides me of course!): The Dallas Cowboys and the TV show Lost.

The design was not our idea (kudos to you, Mr. Designer), but I printed it on the shirt myself.

He wore it to the game today. 

It was something different for sure!

A Visiting Artist

I got to use Skype in my classroom for the first time yesterday! Laurel Martin was so kind to be our visiting artist for the day (she lives in Canada, so a plane trip was not an option!). We had some trouble with the "reception" and had to call several times to get it to connect, but eventually it worked out. She did such a wonderful job giving demos about different altered book techniques and lots of cool tips & tricks my students (or I) hadn't thought of. I can't wait for them to apply the techniques so we can send her pictures of the artwork. 

Thanks again Laurel! It was awesome!

My First Art Fire Collection

ArtFire.com has a way of making groups much like Etsy's Treasuries, but they are called Collections.

In Etsy, I could only link to the treasury, but with ArtFire, I can actually post my entire collection here for you to see in all it's glory.

My sister-in-law's birthday is coming up and I was searching for something wonderful to get her. I looked through the gift guide on ArtFire, but she likes such unusual things, that I decided to put together my own collection of things she would like. Maybe this collection will help out others who have a friend or sister like her.  

Gifts My Sister Would Like

  Curated By: PaintedEaselJ...

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Ta Da!
How cool is that!?!

What do you think?
Would you like any of these items?

Drawing Glass

I was subbing a class today and they were drawing glass.

I had never attempted it myself, so I sat down and gave it a shot.

 Used Prismacolor pencils on brown paper and they are very small (3"x2").  

I'm not sure which one I like better.

What do you think?

Illustration Friday-Spooky

A cat, hat and bat all flat on a mat. 

Oooo Spooky!

Watercolor  2.5x3.5" 

Illustration Friday - Transportation

I had the day off and found the time today to make ACEO's for Illustration Friday.

Initially I thought about my feet being my number one mode of transportation and I knew I wanted to make a collage. While I was looking through a magazine, I found an awesome page of individual pieces of cereal. I instantly saw a car flash through my head.

So I decided to make them both. 

Here is my shoe transportation and my cereal car transportation.

Which is your favorite?

Collaging Technique Video

My students know how much I love Nev'r Dull. 

It's a metal polisher that I find in the auto department at Walmart.

Sounds strange, I know, but it's awesome for manipulating magazine pages. 

I look for any excuse to use it!

Here's a video I found Empty Easel on how to use it.

You can find a couple of my finished Nev'r Dull pieces in this blog post. 

I'd love to see what yours looks like!

Altered Book

I have recently been intrigued by altered books. I currently have a student observer who showed me some cool new stuff I could do with my book. 

This is a new technique she showed me. 

Here's the second attempt, which turned out much better than the first!

I used an xacto knife and cut out my rose. Then I used watered down white glue and glued tissue paper to one side. Let it dry for a couple of minutes and then fold the tissue paper over to the back. Trimmed off the excess and tad-ah!  

A wonderful silhouette!

In the last picture you can see the thinness of the tissue paper with the ruler under it. It looks even better in real life because you can see the words on the next page barely through the tissue paper. 

Try it...it's super easy! 

I've gone Pro!

I am officially set up with a Pro account at Artfire and I'm so excited! 

I now have two separate shops. One for my artwork and the other for my jewelry. 

Stop in and check out my new pieces. 

Here's a sneak peek of a couple of the new ones!