a merry little steampunk Christmas

After having a blast mixing Halloween and Steampunk together, I thought I would challenge myself by doing the same with Steampunk and Christmas. 
Here are a few of my "stamples" created using Artful Illusion stamps. 
Above, Santa with a full load of gears (Tim Holtz Die Cuts) and snowflakes...

...a Steampunk Christmas tree made of gears and clocks and swirls and rickrack, oh my...

...a steamy angel in vintage browns and glittery reds...

...a snowman made of clocks, gears, and snowflakes...
...embossed in sparkly whites...



...a golden and copper hued steampunk girl with grungeboard swirl accents...



...and an old fashioned Santa all steampunked up...love his new hat!

Value Tools



These are the Value Tool assignments created by 6th and 7th grades.  First we trace art tools and supplies so they are overlapping and interlocking into each other on a nine by twelve inch paper.  Then we review and practice hatching, crosshatching, and stippling values.  The sections are then filled with the different values including a few solid spaces and a few spaces kept white.  I love the clean graphic effect of this project.

Texture Animals



These are some samples of the Texture Animal assignment the 6th and 7th grades have completed.  They practiced creating textures with shape, line, color, and value, then filled in a Scream color sheet with textures (any color sheet with sections would work).  Students then sketched an animal, insect, or fictional creature and their environment. They chose their best drawing, then enlarged their idea onto a 12 by 18 paper.  The animal and the background were then divided into sections, and textures were added with markers.  These always turnout awesome.  It is great to see the variety of ideas students come up with!

My Mural Masterpiece!

This summer, I had the pleasurable challenge of creating a mural to go outside my favorite art store Mrs. O'Leary's in downtown Wichita, Kansas.  It has just been installed, and I am thrilled with how amazingly awesome it looks!  It hangs just beside the store's west entrance at 126 N. Mead in Old Town. 

The painting was created on gessoed plywood with Patio Acrylic Paints.  I knew the two pieces would be separated, but I wanted to plan the composition so that even as a diptych, they would look like one continuous piece.

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Astonishingly, the composition was left up to my artistic discretion. I decided I wanted to incorporate an homage to different art historical perspectives, so it would stay relevant, while also adding a bit of artful significance to the art store, itself.

Seeing this assignment as somewhat of a daunting task at times, I just knew The Scream by Edvard Munch had to be incorporated. I thought he would be perfect standing on Van Gogh's moon from Starry Night. (I took the artistic liberty of reversing the orientation of the moon, to draw the viewer into the panel.

I also knew I had to include my own version of  Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.  She just speaks volumes with her quite gaze and art historical reference.  She wears the Gothic window charm around her neck from Grant Wood's American Gothic.   And, just to add a bit more whimsy to her, I decided she had to wear a set of monarch wings!

Due to the significance of the store name, I felt I needed to incorporate Mrs. O'Leary's cow. Salvador Dali's melting clock from the Persistence of Memory drapes over her back. She stands in a field of sunflowers to represent her new home state of Kansas (as opposed to Illinois!).

And of course, you will recognize the sky as that from Van Gogh's Starry Night. It just sets the perfect mood to the piece, and ties the two panels together. I also tied the two together with the addition of the banner at the top left and bottom right. I decided "CREATE DREAMS" represented the art store's mission as many amazing dreams are created there daily! Many humbled thanks go out to Joni and Mark, the owners of the store for allowing my work to grace their building...I had a blast and learned a lot while creating my masterpiece! Thanks for the opportunity!

Adventures in jewelry making...

Recently, I have had a few adventures in jewelry making. This crown was created this weekend at a class taught by artist Donna Goss. It was my first major piece with lots of soldering. I wouldn't say I am a professional solderer yet, but I did learn a lot! Not to mention all the fun I had hangin' with the ladies from Texas!

I made this necklace in a class taught by Joni Russell from Mrs. O'Leary's. She was inspired by a class she took at Art and Soul by Jean Vanbroderode. We used a lenticular image so that when you look at the picture one way you see a seemingly normal looking gentlemen, then in another look you see a ghastly ghoul! I had fun choosing the image, then creating the perfect tombstone shape and adding all the charming accessories. 

I created this necklace just for fun this summer.  I had been wanting to create some necklaces made out of different kinds of chains, charms, and a few beads.  I like the idea of an asymmetrical look, also.  I have tons more supplies... better get to work creating a few more!

This is a gift from my new friend Texas Mary! She is so sweet to have made this just for lil' ol' me! She used fragments charm pieces from Tim Holtz with paper from Cavallini & Co. I love, love, love my new necklace, thanks Mary!

Marvellous Masks

This time of the year, I like to work in some mask assignments
into my curriculum.  Here are a few construction paper and
value study masks the 6th and 7th grades created.