Upcoming Library Art Journaling classes for teens.

I'm extremely excited and  happy to be working with the Sachem Public Library again to offer art classes for teens in nature, themed, and steampunk.  In preparing for the classes I got together some of the journals I've done in the last five years. I can't pinpoint when I started art journaling.  I guess I started slowly, doodling in the margins of written journals, and occasionally adding color.
 I had taken classes in watercolor and collage and afterwards began to do more and more collage.  I found artists on flicker, in magazines and books like Teesha Moore, Violette Clark and Pam Carriker, as well as many others.  My first online class was with Cathy Johnson whose work I first saw years ago in Country Living magazine,  and am still in awe of.

Some of my nature journals.

Themed.   Dream, Affirmation, Junk- you name it!

Steampunk

I love carving my own stamps and I've tried sketching some steampunk characters and put them in a story.  

Paintings from Kate Thompson's Fractured Angelics e course

It wasn't long after taking Misty Mawn's class that I needed to jump into another online art class.  Fortunately I found Kate Thompson's Fractured Angelics.

I've always loved the Michaelangelo,  Raphael and DaVinci's painting of angels.  Besides in this course I'm also using the modeling paste I bought for Michael DeMeng's class to cover the wood panels. After the first coat of modeling paste (or next time I might buy the joint compound instead) dried, collage papers and stamping can be applied.  Kate's videos are well done and I watch them repeatedly.  I hadn't painted with re-inkers before!

This is the first angel, I used a painting by Abbott Henderson Thayer for a reference.  I'm just starting to use Pinterest  and found so many beautiful paintings.

This was done on a 12 x 12 panel I already had.  When I got the 16 x 16 I added more and more.

Here's the sketch for the last angel using "Psyche" by Nikolas Gyzis for reference and a cherub by Francois Boucher.
I don't know why I just didn't stay with the photo, the profile gave me enough trouble.  I'd lose the hair and flowers, and definitely I need to sketch more.   Hoping to go see the Pre-Raphaelites exhibit in NY at the Met soon.

More art projects from "Full Circle"

Twelve weeks of inspiration and bliss!  I especially miss the Monday morning videos, but Misty Mawn's class will be available for quite some time.
I finally finished my puppet!  She grew to almost 4 feet tall.  It was a rainy day.   If she were heavier cardboard I could hang a sweater on her.  With paper fasteners holding her together, she can easily be repositioned!

I always intended to make another wall hanging so here it is.   This time I used 12 inch dowels.   Easy to find in a craft store.   I had been cutting out and painting circles and piled up a few.  Some I stamped, collaged and Zentangled.   But I love the bright colors of the acrylic ink I dropped onto wet paper and let it run.

Steampunk Art Journal

Somewhere in time, or just this year,  I discovered steampunk.  From surfing the internet,  looking at paintings, art journals and handmade dolls.  Now I realize it was really far from new,  it could be traced back to Victorian writers like Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.  The other night on an episode of "Warehouse 13,  steampunk was mentioned.   I had a journal with coarse heavy paper that I wasn't using,  so I painted and collaged, building up the background.   Then I went back and started writing,  the robot girl inspired me to tell a story.  I wrote quickly, enjoying it as it became sillier as I went along.   

These are some of the pages!  

I made the man with the hat stamp.  I cut up a bird pix from a magazine, and printed out pictures of clocks and compasses.  The man on the right was from a value study of a painting by Van Gogh.  

I made more stamps, and distressed the paper.  It had a happy ending.

Becoming a Naturalist

     Spring has finally come to Long Island, New York, and we're very grateful!  It may have been a snowy winter, but I kept busy taking online art classes.  Sadly this was the end of Misty Mawn's 12 week Full Circle Class.  Wow, did she teach!   I had such a great time, looking forward to at least three videos a week of wonderfully detailed and patiently taught painting, journaling, photography, clay classes and more!

      This wall hanging is my favorite thing.

But then again, the box of inspiration is another

Next time, I have to remember not to write anything until it's finished.   The box is bottom side up.  And I haven't even done all the lessons yet!   They're still available for many months.

     I'm so happy that I have already scheduled journaling classes with a few libraries.   I'll be doing nature, themed art journals and Steampunk!

   

     For Wertheim Wildlife refuge,  I gave a nature journaling classes for children on Saturday.  I thought with Earth Day coming up,  recycled cereal boxes would be a good idea.  Happily I was right, eight preteen girls worked together to cut, punch holes, and decorate a journal before we went outside for a walk.   I explained that this class wasn't about creating beautiful artwork or journals, but about learning to observe, and really seeing nature.  From my volunteering with Audubon's For The Birds! Program,  I was able to tell them about identifying birds by their field marks and using field books.

     I thought this was the best class I'd had at the refuge,  everyone was enthusiastic making their journals.  The best part for me may have been when I pointed out the osprey on the other side of the river, and one of the students quickly turned and asked how did I know from so far away?

    Last year, while taking Quality Parks Master Naturalist Class, I learned about Dennis Puleston's work to save the osprey.  Since then,  I'm always thrilled to see the growing numbers flying over the waters.    So I excitedly told the student some of what I knew about osprey,  I felt for the first time that I was really becoming a naturalist.

 

Paperclay sculpted book cover

I made this is for Michael DeMeng's Punkfiction class.  His videos are fantastic.  It's a fun class but I didn't have a lot of the metal objects or the tools to use them, so I worked with what I had.   The book is a moleskine.

The DecoArt website suggested using the metallic paint over a dark background.

After the gold background was dry I went over it with the green paint.  It dries quickly.

I started out with the red hair and then decided to mix it with the violet oxide, giving her red highlights.  The lips are questionable.

The face was very dull next to the metallic paint so I went over it with clear mat medium.

Gouache over acrylic.

Another homage to Van Gogh.  sketching "Boy with a Sickle".  The proportions still off,  I'm not a portrait painter, just a fan.