MeRrY ChRisTmAs!!!

Thank you so much for supporting my art school!  We are officially on our Christmas Break.  My classes will adjourn on January 7th.  Contact me for a schedule and flier.  May your Christmas and New Years be warm, happy, and memorable... full of love and friendship.  I hope you find a way to fit some art into your holiday break...weather it be through attending a play, a musical, a museum, or making your own masterpieces.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Art Class

Here are a few highlights from the Holiday Art class.  We had a very inspiring 8 weeks.  We started the session with an all time favorite...spin art.  I will try to include a spin art lesson each session because the kids go bonkers over it.  We made spin art spider webs.  Owl prints, fall landscapes, followed by a Thanksgiving turkey, a beautiful red cardinal in a snowy scene (totally appropriate for our surprise snow fall), and a winter birch tree scene.  We used many different techniques this session.  Printmaking, masking, line drawing, symmetry, perspective, and much much more.  Your little aspiring artists left with a wide range of art and skill.  

ShE'S mY sIsTeR

"She's about this high..she's taller than I...

sometimes she helps me tie my shoe,

She's my Sister!"

My sister has joined me in teaching art.  When school starts she is going to teach on Wednesday afternoons after school.  She will be teaching the same art lessons that I plan and teach to my classes and we will still only allow 8 students in each class...but now we can offer a few more classes! I will be teaching on Tuesdays.

She is a great and I know your little artists will love her...the ones who already have had her this Summer say they like her already.  I have had a few students ask me where my twin sister is...and I had one student totally confused when he came to one class and we were both there...there was two of me! I've always wanted 2 of me.  Ha ha! 

ArT sChOoL mOvIn' Up!

Yay! We got some new shirts for Rachel's Art School for Kids.  I love em'.

cIrCuS tEnTs

Sometimes I plan an art lesson and the kids totally exceed my expectations.  This was one of those projects.  On the last day of Art Camp we got crafty and we made 3D Circus tents.  They turned out so cute.  I was so impressed by the little artists.  

CoMe OnE CoMe AlL 2013 Circus Camp

 This camp was a true success!  We made art, we played games, we took funny pictures, we earned tickets for a raffle on the last day and we did more art.  The kids wound up with a pretty good file of art.  Thank you to all who participated in my first camp ever! It was so much fun.

LiGhThOuSeS

Watercolor, drawing, and shading with paint.  I love love love lighthouses.  When my husband and I first got married we drove all along the coast of NC and stopped to see every light house.  What great art we had this day.  We learned how you can let one coat of paint dry and then paint it again to make it darker.  We tried to get two different shades of blue for the sky and the sea.  

PeAcOcKs

I love peacocks! They are so beautiful and great subjects for art.  So many colors to discover.  These turned out so beautiful.

sNeAk PeAk FaRmEr's MaRkEt aRt CaMp

Anyone who knows me knows I love farmy anything.  I love farms! I love cows grazing in the green green meadow, I love beautiful wild flowers, I love fresh climbing gardens, I love sunshine, I love country music, I love chickens, I love bees, I love sunflowers, I love fresh air...and I really love going to farmers markets and seeing all that comes from farms.  The locally grown food is so beautiful and full of colors....makes for great subjects for teaching art! Lots and lots of color talk.  So for this camp we will be drawing and painting things from the scenes of a farmer's market.  This one will make you want to go home and observe some nature and make some strawberry jam. 

Although not quite finished here are some of the projects we will work on.... stay tuned for more previews and some finished looks!  I love love love making painted paper with the kids.  We will be making a fruit collage using painted paper that they make.  This camp is sure to be a hit...so moooooove on over to the Farmer's Market Art Camp!

cLoWnInG aROuNd

In the spirit of our circus art camp coming up we took some silly pics while working on some art.  

aLL iN pErSpeCtiVe

One point perspective lessons really get straight to the point.  We learn about vanishing points, angles, perspective...and much more.  The girls kinda moaned a little when I said we were going to do this...come to find out it was because they thought it was hard.  Well, for being so hard they sure did a grrrrrreat job! I think they learned and feel more confident with their art skills.  I for one am a proud art teacher!

COME ONE COME ALL

I'm so excited about my Summer Camps that I'm hosting this year in my Art School.  The first camp is going to be a circus theme.  This is some of the art we will be doing.  More examples to come...  

The second camp will be a Farmer's Market theme.  I can't decide which one will be more fun! They are almost full so sign up today!  For more info email, call or text me.

wAtEr FroNt HoUseS (AmStErdAm)

While I was in Amsterdam I was totally in love with the old houses basically built on the water.  All the tall buildings squished together and canals running through the neighborhoods were surely a source of inspiration for an art project.  We talked about drawing straight lines, water color, and we painted reflections in the water with lighter colors of the watercolors.  They turned out wonderful and so colorful!

cHeRrY bLosSomS

A little bit of color theory, a little bit of whimsy, a little bit of printmaking, a little bit of Spring and a whole lot of cherry blossom sprigs.  The kids go bonkers over printing! We used the bottoms of Coke bottles to make these cute little prints.  We looked at pictures of real and unbelievably beautiful cherry blossom trees.  So Pretty!!