Art Club 2017 Wrap Up!

I can't tell you how crazy it is to direct these classes and try to get some good shots at the same time!  I managed to get a few here and there, mostly the second week when I was feeling a little more comfortable and in my groove.  Will try to create a larger gallery under our Art Club section, but in the meantime, here are some snippets from Art Club 2017!

A massive thank you to everyone who participated and my sincerest apologies to those I had to turn away for lack of space!  I am definitely planning to host more classes in the coming months including some for adults as well.  I am so thrilled with the amount of response I received this year and equally stoked on how all the projects turned out.  I love love love observing the unique perspectives and talents from young creatives and it is such a gift to see how proud they are of their work in the end.  Thank You to everyone!  I look forward to seeing your faces and many new ones with the warmer weather!

xo Phanie

ART CLUB | Day 4 + 5: Stamps, Patterns, Mixed-Media

Day 4 was a flop.  There had to be one flopper and it was ok because we bounced back on Day 5.  Also, the kids didn't realize anything was wrong as they still had a great time, but it was definitely good for us to discuss how things sometimes go awry and when they do, you push forward.

Day 4 we worked with a bunch of homemade DIY stamps to create fixed and organic patterns.  We moved on with our book, one of my absolute top favourites: Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and illustrator extraordinaire Jon Klassen.  It's really the most lovely marriage of story and pictures.  Our stamp exercises moved over to printmaking where we cut out shirts from burlap and printed them through a rolling press to emulate the yarn pattern that was used throughout Extra Yarn.  The kids created self-portraits with their printed shirt and made their Day 4 buttons before moving onto the next project.

The next project was inspired by Oliver Jeffers' STUCK.  We integrated stamp/printmaking with bubblewrap to create our own tree and used pastels to illustrate, cut out, and paste all the ludicrous objects ...

Dev here was super into his buttons.  He may very well have the best set of them all as well because of this.  Week 1 was great and it felt good to have that first taste of what I would be dealing with for future classes.  I have had nothing but positive feedback from the kids via their parents which is really encouraging, and requests to host classes for younger kids and adult sessions!  Much to plan ahead for the summer months!

xo

 

DIY Light Table

I've been juggling a variety of projects the last few weeks, including a commissioned illustration for my friend Saara.  They will be moving into a new home a few months from now and she wanted to have a family portrait to frame and hang in their entry way.  Long before photography and long before children, I had thought to dabble in illustration and had a collection of prints that I would sell at Craft Shows, a few which she had purchased and inspired her idea to have a family portrait done in the same style.  My illustration process includes piles of sketches that I often have to trace and retrace and retrace, so a light table is really a godsend.  Kevin made me a light table a hundred million years ago which neither of us have any idea on its whereabouts, so he put a quick one together for me the other day.  

Clean, lightweight, and portable with a long long cord and a fantastically sleek LED bulb in place of a regular incandescent bulb which would always heat, melt and warp the plastic over time.  Out of pocket, it cost $7 (Home Depot) for the bulb with everything else being scraps we had laying around the mudroom.  If I wanted to, I would "request" to have these painted in bubblegum pink… or black… or white.  And that gold ring (fixture loop) that the cord runs through I would change that to a flat black or something and obvs that brown cord would have to go… but this was for HURRY UP I NEED TO GET THIS JOB DONE! so i'm all smiles.

Here is a Before and After or rather a With and Without the light table.  I mean, really, I could make out the image enough to trace it but this speeds up the process so much more.  I actually have used my iMac screen as a light table a handful of times, but it's absolutely awkward and uncomfortable.

And another example...

Hoping to have this illustration complete by mid-week… fingers crossed!