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

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!