Farewell 2011 School Year, Hello Summer Vacation!!!!

Just want to let you all know that I won't be blogging for a couple of days, gonna be sleeping in and hanging with the family.  But stay tuned cuz I won't be gone for that long :)  I've still got so much art work to put up from 2011, plus road trips, highlighting professional artists like Morna Crites-Moore and Jude Hill, and best of all my annual senior tribute to all my favorites from this past school year. 

A Father's Day Tribute to the Dad's in My Life

To James Vincent Sposa I, better known as Vinny, my handsome new father-in-law.  I'll see you in Florida in 6 days to give you your big Father's Day hug and kisses :)

To my sexy, gorgeous new husband, James Vincent Sposa II, Jim, who makes me laugh and brings me so much joy and happiness each and every day, and who I rush home to at the end of each workday cuz I can barely wait to see you and wrap my arms around you.  And who picks flowers for my hair.  You have my heart.

To my new stepson, James Vincent Sposa III, who goes by James, my physical therapist for my back, whom I've known longer then your dad, what a small world, huh?  You are an amazing father like your daddy, and a wonderful husband, and I'm so proud to have you for a son.

Jim with James' children, his grand babies, James Vincent Sposa IV, known as J.V. and Makenzie Anne Sposa, known as Kenzie.  Such beautiful babies!

To Jimmy for blending our families so effortlessly, and for having faith that is would be so.  

To Jim for bringing a whole new fabulous fun-loving dimension to my children's lives, and for treating them as your own, unconditionally.  Thank you baby. 

And for always being willing to play Scrabble with them., and also willing to loose, big time!  LOL

And for including their significant others.

And from the puppies for being the most loving and gentle dog owner ever, and for spoiling them rotten.  They especially love the music! 

And to my ex, Inars Agrums, for helping to make our divorce such a smooth transition for our children, for remaining good friends, for opening yourself up to accepting Jim so we can all hang together, but mostly for being the most terrific parent to our children.  Thank You.  And Happy Father's Day to you all!!

Happy Graduation Class of 2011

Just want to wish you all the very best.  I'm so very proud of you all for hanging in there with me as I forced you to come to my class EVERYDAY  :)  It has been a pleasure to teach all of you and I will miss most of you very much LOL.  This summer, probably mid July, I'll be doing a tribute to all my favorite seniors, so stay tuned.  Love you all so much, and have a wonderful Graduation evening.

Fractured Pastel Portraits

These were done a while ago by my 2nd year 2-D kids.  We were studying the frontal head and the students were able to bring in their own resources to work from.  They were also able to choose between oil or water based pastel to build their fractures with.  And at the end they needed to mount all their fractures into one finished work.  Both of these pieces were made by sophomores.  Hanna Park did the one above and Samantha Arias did the work below.

What's really cool is the way Sam mounted her fractures on different angles as you can see below.

Great job you two!

7th Grade Soap Scrubs - A Huge Success

After my 3rd quarter 7th graders got a little out of control sculpturally with their felting (click on 7th grade soap scrubs on the right), I really made sure this time during my demo. that I stressed how to felt correctly to get a nice smooth functional scrub.  And it paid off, the soaps turned out beautifully.  We had many heart designs this quarter by Tina Zao, Lauren Oh, and Hazel Cruz.

And look at these beauties above by Dustin Enomoto and Alejandra Perez.  Way to pay attention and follow directions young ones!!

Meet Jane Davies - Professional Artist

Jane Davies is a full time artist working in collage, painting, mixed media, and encaustics.  She offers workshops at her studio and nationwide, focusing on helping people to find a personal and playful approach to creating.  See her LINK on the right under Artists I Follow, or go to her website at http://www.janedaviesstudio.com/, her blog at http://www.janedavies-collagejourneys.blogspot.com/.  Also see her Books page on her website along with Links to her favorite resources   She has many wonderful video tutorials you can watch and try on her blog.

Beginning as a potter in the early nineties, selling her colorful hand-painted ceramics at craft shows, Davies gradually transitioned into freelance art, designing tableware, quilting fabric, paper goods, stationery, and other products, using painting and collage as her medium.  For the past several years, though maintaining a freelance business, Davies has put most of her efforts towards teaching, writing, and having fun making art.  She is the author of four books, and is working on a fifth.

I call myself a collage and mixed media artist because I’ve always worked in various formats with diverse materials.  Though it may sound cliché, for me, art is definitely a journey. It has taken me from being a potter to free lance artist to artist-author-teacher, with interwoven avenues of bookbinding, print-making, beading, painting, textile art, design, and other means of creating.

Every day of this journey offers new possibilities; I go to the studio to see what will happen rather than to make something specific happen.  I may start with an idea, but once I engage with the materials and become absorbed in the process, the muses take over.  On a good day, that is.  Some days I just show up, do all the same things, and nothing surprising or interesting happens.  Still, I believe that the act of showing up and engaging is the most important activity I can do as an artist.

I believe that making art is a journey with very few hand-holds and only a general road map.  Each participant has to find his or her own way, while at the same time remain open to learning from others.  While I may teach a multitude of techniques, my focus is on the back-and-forth play of spontaneity and intention that characterizes the creative process.  I try to pave the way into that precarious I-don’t-know-what-to-do-next zone, where you are challenged to forge a personal path, with guidance, to discover the satisfaction of making art that is truly your own. Cultivating a degree of comfort, or at least willingness, with that awkward territory of not-knowing, is one of the keys to finding your creative edge.

Preliminary Scratchboard - Student Work

In reality these sweet little practice pieces measure only about 11/2" by 3" at the largest, but they are big enough that my 2nd year 2-d kids were able to learn how to work on this special board.  For their first attempt I feel they did a remarkable job.  From top to bottom:  sophomore Hanna Park, senior Elise Engly and sophomore Cindy Kim.  To view the real pieces, see post below from yesterday.

Scratchboard - Student Work

 My Intermediate 2-d students love this assignment.  I buy them all a piece of scratchboard (white poster paper covered with a black ink), and give them two different headed nibs and off they go to scratch away the black to get to the white.I encourage them to use pointillism and crosshatching to create their value ranges with.  This top piece was done by sophomore Cindy Kim.

After their drawing is done I require them to go back into the piece and put down at least 50% watercolor. The art pieces above and below were created by seniors Kevin Aquilo and Elise Engly. 

The end results are gorgeous.

The sweet bird above was done by sophomore Samantha Arias.

My Girl's Junior Prom

The Bathroom after the 3 hour marathon to get ready

The Happy Couple at Dani's House

The Close-up

The crazy, amazing Shoes

The Kiss

His Parent's Car

Leaving to take more pictures at school

More Pictures at the Park

Another Close-up

Good Friends

The Boys

The Girls

The Group Shot before they left for the Prom

Relief Printmaking

Junior Jaimee Chirico, my only third year 2-d student, just completed a portion of her printmaking unit.  This first part was called linoleum printing, but these days instead of being carved into a piece of linoleum, you can buy these large pieces of rubber stamping material to carve into.  So much easier!  Jaimee chose an image of Bob Marley and pulled an edition of 25 prints.  These are a few of her better ones. 

I especially like the bag she made and printed her design onto.  Very clever girl!

A Peek at My Late Spring Garden

Last month I did a bit of fertilizing with bat guano and look at the results! Gorgeous blossoms and vibrant foliage. This is the first time in 2 years since I purchased this amaryllis that it's bloomed. Yes!! And below I stuck some begonia stems to take root into Jim's star jasmine and now the two are thriving together. Wow, just like me and Jimmy :)

My first tomatoes of the season, and a struggling bougainvillea that's come back to life.

Zach's avocado tree that he grafted at Cal Poly in one of his plant classes, and a random succulent that Jim planted and it's crazy bloom that's almost bigger then the plant. I love it!!

Some variegated canna bulb's that I brought over from the ex's house along with another begonia that I rooted above.

And Zachary's boysenberry vine that I'm caring for until he has his own place. I've got it and his black raspberry twined along our balcony and they are going to town as you can see. Yesterday I picked and gobbled 5 boysenberries.

My little succulent garden (above) and below, this spectacular hydrangea that Jim bought me for Mother's Day.

At my home/studio I replanted this wall hanging garden with a combination of succulents and shade plants, and it's just starting to fill in. And below is a sweet wire basket that I planted last summer that almost completely died during our Santa Ana winds this year. It's finally coming back to life with impatients and ivy.

And this delicate little fuchsia I just planted and put in the shadiest spot I could find. And my primroses and lobelia are going crazy below. The lobelia is dropping it's seeds and I'm getting little starts in other pots on the patio.

I also wanted to show off what a beautiful job our gardeners are doing in our complex. The roses are lovely and very patriotic looking for July, and they tried zinnia's this year which have really taken off. And right now the alyssum is full and puffy, it hasn't gone to seed yet. I love being surrounded by all this beauty, it reminds me so much of my mother's garden when I was growing up in La Mirada, Ca.