DCSD Faculty Art Show

For the first time DCSD is having a Faculty Art Show.  The show was at Highlands Ranch Library from October 2nd through the 24th with a closing reception on the 24th. Below are pictures of myself and one of my artist friends hanging our artwork at the show.

Daniel Gonzales

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending an art show at The Outnumbered Gallery that featured my friend Daniel Gonzales.  His work is amazing. If you get a chance to visit the Gallery and check out his work...you will not be disappointed.  Below are some pictures I took at the show, as well as a link to his website.

http://www.danielsartwork.com/

Daniel Gonzales - in front of my favorite of his paintings "Stargazers" 

Daniel and I at the show

Stargazers

 (detail from above painting)

Nocturne 

Zentangle Car

I am always inspired by what other artists are doing. This article came across my Facebook feed via a friend of mine who works for the Smithsonian.  Doodles and Zentangles are super fun...but I never thought of doing them on a CAR!!! Brilliant.  Check out what this artist did to her husbands car! It will never "get lost" in the parking lot again, plus it will be the coolest car on the road!  Click the link below to see the entire article and start-to-finish photos.

http://www.boredpanda.com/car-art-sharpie-pen-drawing/

Painting In My Garage

During the late summer and early fall months I tend to paint in the garage with the door open. This affords me the opportunity to continue working in oils without having to stop and clean up when the afternoon rains come. It also offers me the opportunity to chit-chat with my neighbors who happen by and want to see what I am working on in a given day.  Due to the slow drying properties of oil, I tend to juggle two or three paintings at a time. Soon the chill in the air will force me inside, where I will paint in acrylic and watercolor in the upstairs studio during the winter months. Below is a photo of me working in my "garage studio" on a couple of flower paintings.

I have been absent from posting for the past month...and that is because I have been in Italy!! Yea!!  What an inspirational place to spend the summer! I had so much fun taking in all of the great works of some of the most inspirational and innovative artists.  Below are some pictures from my trip.

This is the view I had as I emerged from the metro underground, the massiveness of the Milan Duomo took my breath away. 

 For a fee you can climb the tower to the top of the Milan Duomo and so this picture is from the top. 

Donatello's David 

Ne holding Michelangelo's David 

Venice, what w beautiful city. 

Painting a mask in a Venice workshop

My finished mask.

"Leaning" on the Leaning Tower o Pisa.  ;)

 Loved the quaint picturesque town of Gimingnano. 

 View of Tuscany from the top of the Gimingnano Tower.

 I LOVED the unique beauty of the Siena Duomo 

Siena was such a nice place to relax. 

 My favorite dome was in the Pantheon in Rome. That whole in the top is open to the sky.

The Colosseum in Rome was amazing for so many reasons. I wasn't sure weather to smile for a photo in a place where so many people were slaughtered for sport. 

Mom and I in front of the Colosseum in Rome. It's had to believe that it was built in 70-80 a.d!

 This is just one of the amazing ceilings in Vatican City. 

One of the most beautiful and pristine floor mosaics. It's located in Vatican City.

Another amazing ceiling from Vatican City. 

Very old mosaic. My finger is there to show size. Below is detail so that you can see how small the individual tiles are. 

Detail to show how tiny the tiles that comprised this mosaic were. My finger is there for scale. 

I saw magnificent works of art and amazing buildings that were built ages ago.  It made me realize just how much of  a baby my country is....we are so young compared to most of the world. I was unable to take photos of Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" or Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel due to regulations prohibiting the photographic  reproduction of those masterpieces, however I was able to enter the rooms where they they were both created in their respective cities of Milan and Rome. I was able to view "The Last Supper" from only feet away and I was able to spend a good deal of time in the Sistine Chapel looking at all of the fantastic fresco's. It was a fabulous trip! I learned so much about the history and culture of Italy as well as about the various artists and their work. If you have a chance to go, it is well worth the trip.

Sharing Artistic Talents

There are many ways artists share their talents with each other....here is a way I, a painter and my friend John, a musician shared ours with each other. Below are a painting and a song. The song was written for me by John, a much loved co-worker, when I had to leave my last position. In turn, I painted the below painting for him. It is of his guitar with the sheet music from the song he wrote for  me in the background. Below the painting is the song.

John's Guitar

Acrylic on Canvas

Shoes! Shoes! Shoes!

Look at this fantastic pile of shoes! Art teachers across Douglas County decorated canvas shoes in the style of various artists throughout history. When we arrived to set up the annual student show, this is where we dropped off out shoes...to later be assembled into the "A Walk Through Art History" art installation.

 Below is my shoe, decorated in the style of Georges Seurat...painted with a Q-Tip crating little dots of color. The display box was also created using a Q-tip. The images are replicas of some of Seurat's most famous paintings.

Walk in My Shoes - BOX

We decided to display our shoes on shoe boxes around the perimeter of the space where the art will be taking place in chronicle order...hence "A Walk Through Art History," the title of the installation.   I decided to decorate my box in the style of Seurat by reproducing parts of his paintings on the sides of my box, using a Q-tip to create the dot/dab effect. After a couple of glasses of wine, some great tunes and many, many Q-tips....below you will find the results of my efforts.

Side 1

Side 2

Both Ends 

How the shoe will be displayed

Walk in My Shoes

For the school districts annual student art show all of the teachers were given a canvas shoe and an famous artist.  The assignment - to decorate that shoe in the assigned artists style. The shoes would be part of a larger installation entitled "A Walk Through Art History."  My shoe is decorated in the unique style of the French Post-impressionist Georges Seurat. I chose his 1889 painting "Eiffel Tower" as my inspiration, using a Q-tip to apply the acrylic paint in tiny dabs and dots. I chose cool colors and added some bling as my artists touch.

My intentions were good....

I had hoped to post more than I have in the past, but life has yet again become my obstacle. To be honest, I have been a little burned out on writing, after writing what is the equivalent of a thesis to prove that I am a good art teacher. It is just one of the many hoops that we have to jump through in the school district where I work.  

I have been busily drawing and painting, however. Art is always my refuge when I am under the gun, so to speak. I am working on finishing some long abandoned paintings. It is fun to see them with fresh eyes. Hopefully I will be posting some of those soon.  

Eskobar - Someone New (feat. Heather Nova) (+playlist)

Song of the Day: Eskobar (feat. Heather Nova) - Someone New                                                               This song is from about 10 years ago, but it is till awesome. I LOVE Heather Nova's voice. If I could have anyone's voice for my own, it would be hers.

It's been a while, since my last post. Lately I've been slaving away at my day job, but I'm back now!! Yea!

Below is a cool link that a friend shared with me about Creativity Blockers. I found it very interesting. Hope you do as well. Enjoy!

Creativity Blockers

The Sweetest Note...

This is a note from one of my fifth grade students.  Warms my heart!!  

Truth

Ever have one of those days?

Have you ever had one of those days where you just can't seem to do anything right? No matter what you choose to do, it is the wrong decision? Well that was today...and now I just want to escape into my own creativity and get it all out of me. I have a couple of commissions and other paying projects that I really should be working on, but the way today has gone...I just don't trust myself to not mess them all up...so I will work on something rather dark and aggressive...just for myself.

I have added the above sketch from my personal sketchbook....the result of this afternoons artistic detour. Since I mostly works in paint, sometimes it is good to get back to the basics....pencil and paper. The primal way of sketching out a picture that isn't intended to be covered over in paint is very satisfying after such a stressful day. 

This is my "Scream."  

Duran Duran - The Chauffeur (Live 1984)

This is my all time favorite song. It is viewed here via concert footage from Duran Duran's 1984 tour. I chose this over the original video because of the interesting visual elements combined with the concert footage. I especially love the very Dali-esque beginning. Their songs have often inspired some of my drawings and paintings.  Enjoy.

Observation

As an artist, one of the things I do constantly is notice interesting things about the world around me and those in it. Some of these things are similarities and some are differences and some are just beauty. Below is a fun observation in similarities. Have you ever noticed how much John Oats (from the 80's band "Hall and Oats") looks like Super Mario? Tee Hee Hee!

I just received an email on social media from an influential grown-up from my childhood days in Holland. It sent me back to that wonderful time when I was little growing up in such a beautiful country. The above picture of my sister and I when we were little is how I remember that time....not just from the photo, but from my memory of the colors and fragrance of such a beautiful place. What a lucky little girl to have the chance to grow up in such an amazing place. I should paint more from my childhood memories.

Being a Kinesthetic Learner, I doodle all of the time. This doesn't mean that I am not paying attention or that my mind is somewhere else. In fact it means just the opposite. Tactile learners actually remember more content when they are allowed to doodle while listening to lectures. The above sketch is one that I did on the bottom part of the bulletin during a recent church service. Each part of the drawing reminds me of what the pastor was saying when I drew it. The fact that it is a dragon has nothing to do with what he was talking about during his sermon, it just served as a vehicle for the doodle. My undergrad and grad school notebooks are full of doodles in all of the margins. Now years later I can thumb through those notebooks and recall what the professor was saying through the doodles.  

It is also transferred to my paintings. Whatever I am listening to is etched in my memory according to what I am creating. I have some paintings that remind me of the movies I was listening to when I painted them. Some have their own music playlists according to what I was listening to while creating that are private and only effect me, as the artists and creator. 

The above dragon is only a simple example of how the kenesthetic learners mind works.  The image and it's title are representative of a specific person, but I won't tell. Maybe it will end up in a future painting - who knows. So if you happen to see me (or anyone else) doodling away while in church or at a lecture...please don't judge, it's a special way of learning.