Painting in Reverse

This summer I attended an "Art Party" at my friend Andi's house taught by mixed media artist Kayann Ausherman. We played Reverse Painting on a 11" by 14" canvas panel. The bird painting above is the one I completed during the party. It was so much fun, I had to go home and make 5 more!

There are many steps to create a Reverse Painting including collage, stenciling, drawing, painting the negative space, and more stenciling.

You can find more information about Reverse Painting and hosting an Art Party on Kayann's blog: 

fromvictoryroad.com 

Stencil Fun

This summer, I had fun playing "stamples" with a new stock of stencils that just arrived at Mrs. O'Leary's Art Store in Wichita.  These include stencil designs by Donna Downey, Deco Art, and Crafter's Workshop, among others.  I created 5 canvases using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint which the store also carries.  It was fun figuring out layers of images and colors, working with positive and negative space to create the dream-like compositions.

Art Unplugged 2015

Art Unplugged is held every June at Mrs. O'Leary's Art Store in Wichita.  It is a week of awesome art, friends, and fun.  I made a Prince Albert Art Doll, above, and a Copper Heart Locket, below. The art doll was an all day project and involved several different techniques. These included transfers onto medal (thanks Joni!), stamping onto medal, cutting medal with shears, cutting wood using a jewelry saw, creating hinges and lots of different attachments. Needless to say, after the 9 hour day, Albert and I were not on speaking terms for quite a while.  The picture of the Prince on the can opens up to reveal a polymer clay heart made a few years back as part of charm class.

I love how the heart locket turned out.  It was made by using a heart mold in a hydraulic press to create the locket shape. Then we cut, annealed, hammered, crimped, riveted and soldered a hinge. I am still pondering what I want to place inside.  Right now it is safely keeping a treasured fossil.

You can visit other Art Unplugged adventures here.

what i did on my summer vacation - 2015

"At times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning"
This is a quote from a courtyard instillation by Jenny Holzer at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.  I traveled there again this summer with some art teacher besties. We had fun exploring the new exhibits and I just love this quote...perfect for my full on summer-izing!

This is Mika. She is my new kitty bestie who lives at Mrs. O'Leary's Art Store in Wichita.  She kept me company several evenings this summer while I was playing and making stamples.  She is loving on my copper heart locket I made at Art Unplugged at Mrs. O's in June.

I did think about school a bit when I made a few stamples using the new papers and stencils for Mrs. O's.

I had a fun and art filled 40th (yikes!) b-day party at Mrs. O'Leary's.  All of my awesome guests made ATC's for a little birthday book and 6 by 12 canvases with fun stencils and chalk paints to take home as party favors. A great time was had by all!!! Thanks Joni, Faron, and Elaine for all the greatness! Above is one of my favorite ATC's by my friend Andi using an Artful Illusion crow stamp.

I was also persuaded to design and paint this guy for our hallways at school...here he is in progress. 

I was able to get in a photo session of my dad with his awesome backyard bloomin' summer sunflowers...

I took a lil' road trip with one of my besties, JK, who also turned the big 4-0.  We saw lots of fun Kansas points of interest and had a blast getting our Thelma and Louise on!

But mostly I did a lot of this...taking lots of moments to just recoup, refresh, and rejuvenate for the new year!

I will be blogging more about some of these adventures soon, so be sure to check this page again for links to all the fun!