Front Door

Front Door

Here is a gouache and colored pencil piece, inspired by my 4 year old.  I love the way she makes houses. I just love them, so much, that I steal them and color them in myself.  She doesn't mind.  I wanted to go at this with the same way she does or how I would have drawn my house as a kid.  My house I grew up in is on the left, with my Mom opening the door for me.  The other house, is the house I might of lived in if I wasn't adopted.  As it turns out, my birth family was only two towns over from mine.

Gidget's Happy House

Quiddity revisited

"California"
My birth mother died just miles from where I live now in California.   I'm here now, but she's not.
Yesterday was her birthday. 

Well, so...I guess it goes on.  My constant search for identity, through my paintings.  I'm so happy to be back here.  I was inspired by the Wonderland show at LACMA,
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/in-wonderland 

My girlfriend posted a "challenge" to make art over Spring Break.   So, I'm bringing my sketches about finding my birth family to life. As an artist I have many different styles, projects and passions.  But this style and subject (me) is where I started and where I think I will always land, if I have the confidence.  There are so many things that get in the way of  "voice".

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

This project was gifted to me at the last minute by my awesome fun, and creative guru Rachel Weaver at Imagine Art Studio.  Thanks Rachel!  I just showed them Lots of Dr. Seuss drawing, and we talked about how they all looked like Dr. Seuss drew them!  Even a wave, a fish, a thing, a lamp all had the same "style".  The 3rd graders loved talking about it and were so excited to create their own "Seuss" character.  Cut them out bubble style and pasted them onto a big parade going to a Birthday Party for Dr. Seuss.  

zebras

zebras, a set on Flickr.

I've been teaching at pre-school on Fridays. Today's lessong. Zebras!

A Mom

I was up early frustrated about not making enough of my own artwork, rushed off to school to teach, running back and forth, busy, busy, busy, when this made me STOP. Now every time I am wondering what the heck I am doing in this world,  I stop and look at this beautiful picture my little daughter Gidget made.  

2 Possibilities

Goals for 2012.  Bring my sketches to a higher and more finished level.  That means spending more time, revising and drawing and trying to perspectives.

Possibilities

Happy New Murals at Sunnyside

Happy Holidays!

The Artist's Wave

Ups and downs of rejection and hope

BWAAAKKKK!!!!

School Play

Not sure whose smile is bigger hers or mine,
but watching Sunny have so much fun in the school play was awesome!

Moon face embrace

Look what landed on my drawing table this morning...

Mike Benign Compulsion


Click on it to get a preview of the cool new LP.  I did the cover, and I love the close up!

Fun with pastels

Pastels are such a fun medium for me.  They are like drawing and painting at the same time.  They are very expressive and sometimes I need to just make anything, with no agenda.  So in between dropping off and picking up the girls from school Iturned the computer off and made a fun mess with chalk.

My dog Ginger

storm cloud

ummm.....eyebrow nest?

So not crafty

Turtle

Okay, I am so NOT crafty.  I can paint, I can draw but when it comes to crafts, or neatness, or projects I am the worst.  It has taken me over 2 hours to print out 9 pictures for my daughters pre-school scrapbook projects, along with $$ of wasted paper just now.  Whenever the girls want to do a project we look at all these amazing craft blogs, and even simple stuff like national geographic kids.  We were going to make a CD disco ball.  I didn't really have all the stuff...kinda, so spread it all out and almost put their eyes out, so we put on sunglasses, and blah blah blah, directions, directions directions.  Finally I gave up and said" let's just make stuff out of this junk".  AND we did!  Actually turned out to be kinda fun, and cute, and just a little sharp.  So I hung them on the bathroom wall with some of that ticky tacky gummy poster hanging stuff.  In the middle of the night, I heard them all crash into the bathtub, lucky the kids weren't in it. 

 Toucan

Star Fish

fish or maybe owl?

peacock

Here's another one for my Anti-Craft record book.  Kinda cute, except for the dog ate all the lentil beans, threw up and I lost the other button eye before I could finish it.  But the kids learned how to sew, just like their mother.

Third Grade

Interesting News....