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Hello and welcome to Blue House Studio's blog. Keep up to date on the goings on in my world of art and teaching! Also check out my art and photography that will be posted often!


Wednesday, February 29, 2012

365- Day 59

We its really crappy out........rain, ice, snow you name it we are getting it!  Of course they got 17 inches of snow in the state over.....although I would rather have snow than ice!  The students had a 3 hour early out and us teachers we get inservice!  YEAH, we do get to leave at 3 because of the weather!  I was going to have Digital Camera take Bokeh Pictures today, but I didn't have enough time to get test photos and things set up to do it today so tomorrow will have to do!  I had a lot of fun taking them today in different areas of the classroom with different lights etc.  So today's art is a photo, 2 actually!!!

Enjoy!!!  (The first one isn't really bokeh, but oh well!)


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

365 Days 57 and 58

I have realized I have an addiction......to art!  There are worse addictions!  I have to do it, I have to find time to create a piece of art........even when I have been sick the past 5 days, I have still created art!  Which is great!  I hope by doing my 365 that I show my classes that passion in what you do! Follow you passion and your dreams! As Nike would say...........Just do it!!!!

Here are is my art from the past 2 days!

Enjoy!!!

Example for our Jim Dine bottles!

Paster, Paint and wax

Monday, February 27, 2012

365 Day 55 and 56

First of all....I need a snow day.......this cold is kicking my art butt!  If I walk around the classroom too much my nose flows like a leaky showerhead and my legs feel like I walked 10 miles!  My bed is calling me! 

So, you can call me the hot glue queen!  I hot glued my heart out this weekend.  I needed a project I could just sit and relax while it made it....so I completed my Spanish teacher's flower and created a collage with washers and alcohol inks!  Fun fun!  My English teacher friend is now jealous of the wonderful flowers I made!

Enjoy!


Friday, February 24, 2012

365- Day 54

I am sick, sitting here teaching and I am sick.  This isn't fun.  But its zentangle Friday....thank heavens to Betsy! So I  created a word cloud using art terms.

Enjoy!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

365- Day 53

Day 53 Adventures in Marbling!  A while ago my brother sent me a video on a man "painting" on water.....he was marbling....however it was pretty awesome!  So I decided to do a liquid starch/alum mixture and marble.  I want to do it with my painting class.  However, my acrylic paint is a bit too heavy bodied, even with water added.  My red just ran, it didn't "stick" so I will have to try craft paint...not so heavy bodied and easier to water down!

I also did a painting and some photos today!

So here is the best of the 5 sheets I did!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

365- Day 52

So I have had this idea stuck in my head since v-day!  And I got it out on paper!  First of all I want to say I HATE HEARTS!  Its very junior high to me.....I try to keep my students clear of hearts, so I don't know if it the pregnancy or what, but I did hearts.....I think I wanted to challenge myself to not to do the cliche!  2nd of all I want to say I LOVE my Smashbook!!  It rocks!  You can get them on Amazon and they are all different!

So here is my zentangle like ode to hearts!

Enjoy!!!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

365- Day 51

I was inspired  by something I found on pinterest yesterday!  How fun is pinterest!  I am going to have one of my classes do something similar to this.  Its technically the top of a box, but it works great as a standout!

Enjoy!


PS- Here's a bit of silly!!!!!


365-Day 46

So I completely forgot I scanned in the outline of the bottle that it did before I started painting it!  It turned out ok, just a quick outline for my final painting, which I will finish later, maybe today, maybe tomorrow.  I already have my art done for today so we will see!!!

Enjoy!

Monday, February 20, 2012

A four Day Weekend of 365 days of Art

So we had a 4 day weekend!  How fun!  I spent most of it cleaning- Friday the house and Saturday and Sunday my studio.  I can actually work in it now!

So here is the down low on the art Day 46 is still at school on the drying rack.  My painting students took 2 45 minute class periods to draw a 9x12 bottle so I had to show them they could so the whole thing in a class period!  So that is at school I will post that tomorrow.

The rest of the art is a mixed bag.  I made a bird's nest necklace again and ring.  I am going to sell them for Easter.  I also made a little domino altered art piece.  A hand piece to hang in my studio of Dennis, Mine and Monkey's hands! 

And last but not least a photo.....

Let me explain!  I love science, I am a bit of a science geek, I always find myself going into my neighbor's science room to see what they are doing next!  I found this "lava" lamp science experiment on pinterest and thought it would make a great oil and water photo!  I wasn't wrong!!!  It was tons of fun!!!!  I will have to post all of the photos I took, but for now just the one!

Enjoy!!!!!




Thursday, February 16, 2012

365-Day 45

Creating art is addicting.  I have to do it!  Its all I think about until I figure out what I am doing for the day!  Lately I have been creating more than one small piece of art.  Yesterday, I created a paper bowl that I had wanted to create for awhile.  I had let it dry so today I took it off the plastic wrap and it turned out great!  We will have to do something like it in class. 

Enjoy!


 PS If you want to check out my boredom from the other night check out Coffee with Chloe's latest post!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

365- Day 44

Sometimes I wish I was an elementary teacher, but then I remember I don't like wiping runny noses and I don't like hugs from little kids a barely know........We have had parent teacher conferences the past 2 nights.  I have had 7 parents stop in and talk about their son/daughter.  7......with 1 left to go at 7:20.  Do I love having a 4 day weekend; yes, do I love sitting here very tired.....no.  Having conferences back to back nights is a bit much, I like it much better when it is a Tuesday/Thursday.  I do love talking to parents and showing them how well their son/daughter is doing in class, I just wished more showed up!  We rely alot on email and JMC these days!

Anyhow.....I resorted to making paper flowers for the English teacher down the hall who had pinned some on pinterest.......they were fun and since it is Valentines Day it seem appropriate!  I finished my art earlier today so I had time on my hands.  Of course I could have graded sketchbooks or bottle drawings, but where's the fun in that????

I call this piece Ode to Julie....it reminds me of her!

Enjoy!

Monday, February 13, 2012

365 Day 43

Day 43- Crazy, I have made 43 different pieces of art.  Call me the next Pablo Picasso!  So today we started a 2 part sketchbook assignment in my art classes.  Day 1- making a background out of book pages and tinted gesso.  Day 2- Adding a geometric drawing using oil pastels or pastels.  A while ago I posted the oil pastel one, today will be the pastel one.  Its very bright for me, more bright than anything else I have done!

Enjoy!

365 Days 41 and 42

I love the weekends, I can lock myself in my studio or on my mac, well when Monkey is sleeping!  This weekend I spent Monkey's 3 hour nap cutting stencils for Dennis's latest church and editing photos Monkey's 2 year photos round 1.  The grandmas were getting a bit upset that I haven't gotten them done yet!  So Saturday's 365 is her 2 year pics.

Sunday I spent 95% of the day in a car traveling to Cherokee Iowa for a church dedication.  It is a beautiful church, very decorated!  I took photos there, tested out a new flash for my camera.  I will post a slide show of the church later this week when I pick out the best photos.  So there is a story behind the photo I chose for Sunday.....one of my favorite paintings in one of my many art history classes is Lamentation of Christ by Mantegna.  Great example of the ever so tricky foreshortening.  This photo was taken because it reminds me of that painting.

Enjoy!


Friday, February 10, 2012

365-Day 40

Day 40- that is soooooooooooo crazy!  So today I created a necklace.  I ran across a bird's nest necklace tutorial on pinterest a while back and wanted to make one.   While looking for a book this morning I ran across my chain and decided to make it quick, and it was quick and easy!  I only had my colored wired, I would have used silver if I had it.  So I guess I will have to make more!!! 

Enjoy!






My silly worksheet:

Thursday, February 9, 2012

365- Day 39

Today I was inspired by a website I ran across where you can create your own fabric and have it made!  How great- 5000 things went through my mind when I read about it!  I also ran across an article about my Great Grandma Amy- I have blogged about her before, she is someone I literally idolize!  So I decided to create a quilt block with a piece of my art work....the block Grandmother's Flower Garden, the quilt she has on her lap in the photo taken for the article I have about her.

Enjoy!






PS Here is my silly worksheet for the day:

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

365- Day 38

Today I joined an online workshop.  Today was day number 1 or Sillyness 5.  Here is Carla's blog!  So I had to draw this really ugly fish for 2 minutes with my left hand ( I am left handed), than I had to draw it with my right hand for 5 minutes!  I'm not sure you can tell which is which......my left hand wasn't much better than my right.  We than added color- sorry students I didn't add solid value!!!

Last, we made up words.....how fun.......just to have fun with art, not take it seriously, just to have fun!  I loved it!!!!

Enjoy!!!

365-Day 37

Day 37- a bit of a road block......an art block that is.   I really didn't know what to do for day 37.  So I was on the Cloth Paper Scissors website and I ran across this article about a woman who did 365 days of purse books.  They we great!  She gave a tutorial on how to make two of them, so that is what I did!  A cute purse book, which I made for the one and only Rachel Steffen.  She is a budding art teacher hopefully she doesn't change her mind, she is only in 4th grade!

Rachel almost didn't get the book, Monkey loved it, she carried it around, opened it up and wouldn't let me have it!

So her it is.............Enjoy!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Bonus! Love or LEAP!

MCP Actions Project 12's theme is Love or Leap, I talked about it in my Saturday post.  I finished my edits on the photos.  Digital Camera classes are doing Coffeshop Blog's ColorBars so I decided to do that as well!

My Love- little feet and of course, and my daughter!
My Leap- To leap or not to leap- on the bed, off the bed, you can see it in her eyes every time she claims onto anything.....should I or shouldn't I.....will mommy get mad.........will I fall (I really don't think she thinks about this, but I do)............to leap or not to leap that is the question!!!




Monday, February 6, 2012

365- Day 36

Today I decided to look through my book Mixed Emulsions.  Great book, however it works better with real photos not a laser print out, but I did the best I could with what I had.  Actually I really liked it!  It also inspired my next assignment in Painting class, they really like to see me work on my 365 and they ask great questions!

So I created this with modeling paste, acyrlic paint, plastic wrap for texture and the definition of dandlelion (gel medium transparency.

Enjoy!

365- Day 35

So, I started writing this blog yesterday........however I really didn't know how to write it!  And I ended up babbling!  So, I will start off by simply saying:

Not all art is meant for everyone to see.
Some art is private.
Art helps heal.

Sunday's piece is a photo, one that only I will see.  Why?  Because art heals.  Do you know how many photos I have of myself showing off my belly bump from Monkey?  4, two where taken right before I went to the hospital to have her, one is with my sisters at my shower and the other is at wedding with Dennis.  None of them are the actual belly shot that some do, white shirt belly there for you to see, not me, more power to those of you that did those shots. 

Why am I so belly shy?  A scar- one that is both visible and internal.  Close friends and family know the story......art helps heal.......so the heart around my scar is the reminder that its ok not to forget, its ok to still be healing because some scars never heal.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

365- Days 33 and 34

So here are Friday and Saturday's art plus one of my Project 12 photos!  Let's talk about Friday......I love to take photos of Monkey's feet and hands and I love to make art with them too.  I put her foot prints on her birth announcement and I loved it.  So I had her get into my ink and ink up her hand to do a little art........she loved that a little too much, had to hide the ink from her!  So here is that piece.  I am going to do another using my cutting machine to get a better cut.  PS My scanner is weird and the print looks blurry in the photo but that is because the paper layers are elevated and my scanner doesn't like that!

Enjoy Friday's:
As for Saturday's Monkey and I went to take photos for my Project 12's theme LOVE OR LEAP.  First of all I LOVE taking photos of her feet second she always plays this should I or shouldn't I mom game with me.  I thought it would be fun to take a should I leap or not photo on the edge of the bed.  I also have some more I will post tomorrow my love.....feet!

Enjoy Saturday's:

Thursday, February 2, 2012

365-Day 32 Fog Day!

5:36 I hear my phone......I expected it......the fog rolled in about 4 yesterday afternoon and when I got up to go to the bathroom at 4:30 it was still there!  2 Hour late start....please Monkey sleep until 7, 6:50, close.  We eat waffles and smoothies for breakfast and I looked out to see the sun trying to break the fog up....no luck at 7:30, but it made a great photo!  And guess what ..... 8 am or so another text....NO SCHOOL FOG DAY!!!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

365 Days 30 and 31

So I have had a migraine for 2 days- yesterday I went home early and today I survived the day because it was a 1/2 day with students and 1/2 work day....curriculum manager!  Yeah!!!  I did however do my art yesterday morning because it was supposed to be an example for my sketchbook assignment, which I had to switch due to a dr's appt!

I am also very obsessed with the negative letters- so I did one in photoshop today!  Yesterday I just had to get these shapes onto paper, they keep repeating in my head like a bad song......hmmmmmmmm.....

Enjoy!

Day 31

Day 30