AJ Class Complete!

I wanted to share some photos of the artwork created by the students I had in my Adult Art Journal Intro Class. These were created by the same student:

And this is a two page spread created by one student:

She kept saying how she felt like she was not creative!  I told her to use the tissue paper to play around and to considering doing a page with a fold out piece!  She used both on one spread and I really like how it turned out.  By the way, Biscuit is her dog!

My other students did these:

Popsicle stick painting that I had them do the 1st day (so they couldn't try too hard to control the outcome!)

Here she followed the "how to art journal" steps

They all did a great job.  I think they enjoyed themselves. I really enjoyed teaching and offering ideas of different things they could try!  I hope I've given them some new inspiration.

They mentioned that they wished they had a way to get together and do art and that class was not over yet.  So I asked if they would want to try out something where they bring their own supplies and a very low fee and we have "class."  I am going to talk to my supervisor about it but I am contemplating Wednesday Evenings for about $5 - it wouldn't be monetarily profitable unless I could get a bunch of students to come in, but it would be fun and it would allow me a chance to work on my own art at the same time as helping/providing inspiration to others.

AJ Pages

Hi guys.  Missed you on Wednesday because we worked late and Thursday because I was teaching my last session of art journal class.  So, just wanted to show you some art journal pages that I have been doing in the last few days:

I don't take credit for this - the "steps" came from Daisy Yellow Blog

Not as much rating as I would like to be doing but I've been scheduling all my upcoming classes and pricing the supplies and trying to figure out the logistics so I have been doing a lot of art-related activities.

Today I got home earlier than usual and while I would have liked to do some art I was completely exhausted so I knew it would be more wise to take a nap than to try and stay awake.  I had planned on getting up and mowing the yard before dinner but of course nature had other plans - big rain storm within about 10 minutes of me getting up!  I guess I will have to postpone the yard work for a bit longer. 

Anyone got anything interesting planned for this weekend?  Of course I am going to try and do some art and most likely I will be going on a day trip tomorrow as well!  Have a good night and I hope to "see" you soon!

Busch Gardens

Saturday I went to Busch Gardens with BOSS.  We met up at 630am and hopped on a bus and headed up to VA!

The park was all set up for Halloween so there was a lot of Halloween themed things.  Since the weather was not to good (we got rained on a few times), the park was pretty empty and we got to ride everything and some things we rode more than once.  Here are some photos:

 And Busch Gardens has animals:

Check out the wolf in the background

here he is up close - he was loving the cameras

We rode a lot of roller coasters.

  This one went right over the edge and then stopped for a few seconds before going down the hill:

It was really scary! 
And of course you know a group of girls had to have some silly fun:

5 of us piled into 1 tea cup

I had a blast!  We got back home a 130am!  So, I went straight to bed.

Published

Hey guys, sorry I have been missing for a few days.  I've been super busy.  Thursday evening I taught my first adult art class.  It was on art journaling.  I have one more class date with them this week and their class will be complete.  Its really quite different teaching adults when you are used to working with kids.  I think it went well though and they all seemed to like it.  I had 3 students, each of which had some art background.  Mostly I think they were just looking for something new and different to do.  I tried my best to encourage them to do whatever felt right - or to do the opposite of what they might normally do - to try not to hold themselves back and just have fun.  We did an "ugly painting" where I instructed them to make the ugliest painting they could!  Then we started working in the journals and we did several backgrounds using different techniques such as a squeegee and bubble wrap.  I asked them to bring in bits and pieces to add to their journal next week - I hope they do because as of right now I am not sure what we will do next week for class!

On Thursday I also found out that I am a published author:

I know the pictures isn't the best, but I tried numerous time and that's the best I could get!  I just wrote an article about art journaling, trying to encourage soldiers to use it to help deal with stressful situations in their lives.

Lastly, I created a tab at the top of the blog - "Birthday Bucket List" to help keep me on track for doing all the things on my list.  Also, you guys can go there from time to time and see what I have already completed!

Senior Day at the Fair

Friday I volunteered with BOSS at Senior Day at the Fair.  Our Country Agricultural Fair has a day that is open for the seniors in the area.  They get in free, get a free lunch, and a lot of age appropriate vendors come to give our information about their services.  As volunteers at this event we do lots of things.  We help vendors get to the right location to set up their tables, we help direct the seniors to the right location (the building it is held in is large and confusing), we give rides from the parking lot on golf carts, we assemble and hand out lunch, and basically anything else the coordinators need us to do!  Here are some photos from the day:

We worked really hard but we had a lot of fun.

29/30 Things to do Before I'm 30/31 (WOYWW 21 SEP)

Hello!  Happy WOYWW!  So, today I am going to show you my 30 Things to do Before I'm 31 art journal page - but first I wanted to share my list from last year and how I did.  So, last years art journal page was simple:

29 Things to do Before I'm 30  (Things in Bold are things I didn't do!)
1. Yoga Workshop
2. Yoga Retreat
3. Finish application for FSU
4. Go visit mom and dad
5. go visit FSU
6. zip line
7. take an art class
8. learn a new art technique
9. run/walk a 5K or other charity race
10. go to an art show
11. finish an art journal
12. finish my art portfolio
13. read 2 books about art therapy (I only read 1 and didn't quite finish the other)
14. read 2 books about yoga
15. make Army scrapbook (I finished up until I got to Fort Bragg)
16. take a real vacation
17. give homemade gifts as presents
18. visit a new city
19. teach an art class
20. save $ for grad school  (I did save $ but not as much as I would have liked)
21. open an Etsy shop
22. take a cooking class
23. volunteer at an event
24. try a new food
25. go to the farmers market at least 5 times
26. go salsa dancing
27. go to the beach
28. see a movie at the cameo theater
29. honor my body (I think I did this pretty well, but I could have been better)

So, here is my new piece:

30 Things to do before I'm 31
1. Go to a new country (Most likely Costa Rica, but if you guys have suggestions of affordable but super awesome vacations, please share!)
2. take a cooking class
3. go to an art show
4. attend a yoga workshop
5. take a swimming class
6. visit a new city
7. get the military tattoo that I want
8. dye my hair pink (all of it!)
9. learn a new art technique
10. take a sign language class
11. float down the Guadalupe Rive (This is a Texas Thing and I can't believe I've gone 30 years without doing it yet!)
12. go to McKinney Trade Days
13. Read and art therapy/art education book
14. take an art class
15. go to a festival
16. read a yoga book
17. visit Kevin
18. visit Lynn
19. go to the beach
20. participate in a 5K race
21. take a dance or sports class
22. participate in a craft show as a seller
23. learn a new skill
24. finish an entire art journal
25. learn at least 3 lettering styles
26. go to a concert (Hopefully a music festival... oh..just realized I have never been to SXSW which is also a TX thing!)
27. Develop a daily yoga practice (although that is what I wrote, I mean that I want to increase my yoga practice - if I miss some days its ok!)
28. Become a vegetarian (this shouldn't be hard for me because I've done it before and I have issues going days at a time not eating meat - it just means you have to have a well stocked kitchen/pantry - and I'm doing this for health reasons as well as not wanting to kill animals)
29. Work or Volunteer at a place or in a position that is related to my career goals (I'm thinking at the VA Hospital, or VA Clinic, or maybe a hospital - or even a Special Needs Summer Camp!)
30.  ??

I still don't know what to put for 30!  But I'm sure I will think of something soon. 

I am thinking about putting up another tab at the top of the blog to track this birthday list and my progress over the next year, by linking to blog posts that have to do with items on the list! 

Anyways, thanks for visiting!  If you want to see some more desks, go on over to Stamping Ground!

Art Journal Pages

Nothing new to talk about really, so I will just keep today's post short!  Here are some art journal pages that I have done over the past week or so, but never showed to you:

 And here is a picture of one that I started today...

I'm super tired so I'm going to go to bed early tonight!  I am 2 things to do away from finishing my "30 things to do before I'm 31" art journal page.  I really hope I think of some things tonight so that I can post about the list tomorrow.  Have a great night!!

Sunday Artday

We had yucky weather again today!  So, this morning after getting up and dressed and eating all I wanted to do was go back to sleep.  Instead of doing that, however, I went to yoga.  I was glad that I did.  My first teacher was subbing for my normal Sunday teacher.  So, class was completely different than it normally is, but that was good.  It was more about how we were doing each pose than getting a good workout.  We did headstand using props (3 yoga blocks) and it was completely different than going it without - I actually got into the pose so good that my head came off the ground about an inch!  Really neat to do things different and have a revelation about the pose. 

After yoga I did some grocery shopping and then came home.  I did art for about 4 hours after coming home.  I played with my Halloween stamps which I purchased like a month ago but had not yet opened.  Then I made some Halloween cards:

Similar cards - difference is words in slightly different orange color

skeleton on an envelope

pumpkin on an envelope

trick or treat vampire card

Happy Halloween Artist Trading Card

Happy Halloween Spider Web Card

Boo! Card

It was nice to be absorbed in my art again!  I'm sure you guys probably understand because most of you are artists too, but you have to be in the right mood to make art.  You have to have time, energy, motivation and inspiration.  Often I have one or two but am missing the others.  Its so nice when it all comes together. 

Since I made my Halloween cards today, my next card making session will be on "fall" cards.  And of course I need to do some art journaling too!  I'm really hoping to finish my birthday list of things to do soon.  Right now I have 27 things - so I need 3 more things to do this year and I will be finished with my list and can finish up my art journal piece and then blog it!  Anyone have any attainable goals/fun things to do that I can add to my list?

Well friends, time for me to do a few other things before its bed time.  Hope to "see" you soon!! 

Renaissance Faire Pictures

Hey guys, just wanted to show you some pictures from the Renaissance Faire that I worked at yesterday.  So, this will be a short post!!  I was at the Arts and Crafts area and we made flower halos and coat of arms shields:

It was hard work, but a lot of fun because the kids were so proud of their art work!  After these first few pictures we were so busy the rest of the day I didn't get a chance to take any more pictures.  Next up - my weekend art post!

Struggles

I have not forgotten about you guys.  Thursday's workout with the trainer left me barely able to move on Friday and it just kept getting worse.  By Friday night I was doing the least amount of movement as possible!  Today I am still sore, can you believe it? 

This morning I got up and dressed only to discovered that, like yesterday, it was only going to be in the 60s today.  I was going to be outside for a good portion of the day so I had to change my outfit.  This is where the trouble came in.  Despite the fact that I work out and eat healthy enough to lose weight, I am steadily gaining weight.  I personally believe that my medication is behind this phenomenon.  So, I've convinced my doctor to let me lower my dosages of indocin and gabapentin.  I am down from 75mg/day of indocin to 25mg.  I am down from 1500mg of gabapentin a day to 1300.  I will keep lowering that one about 100mg a week until I don't think I can go any lower.  Anyways - back to my story!  Since I've gained weight I don't fit into any of my cold weather clothing, so it was heartbreak after heartbreak this morning as I tried to find something that would keep me warm.  I finally settled on some jeans I got a few weeks ago - they fit but every time I move they shimmy their way down my backside - even when I wear a belt.  It was last resort though so I had to wear them!

I worked HARD today at the Fort Bragg Renaissance Faire.  I was at the arts & crafts area of course!  We made flower halos for the girls and shields for the boys - well that was the idea but whoever wanted to make whatever was welcome!  We sold all 50 of each - what we thought would last a whole day.  I was not getting paid for this - I just volunteered.  It was a lot of standing, walking, leaning, bending and I spent the whole day talking to/dealing with kids.  Even though it was extremely exhausting I did have fun.

After the Renaissance Faire, I went to Target to see about getting some pants since I don't think I can lose weight soon enough to fit into my jeans by winter.  I was there for 2 hours - I tried on 33 items.  I left with a pair of denim trousers (dressy jeans?), regular jeans (a few shades darker than the other pair), a jean skirt, and a clearance workout tank top.  So, I now have clothing to wear which is nice - I just wish I didn't have to spend $!

I'm going to keep my head up though.  Keep on eating right, and keep on working out.  Also keep on trying to lower my medication dosage.  Hopefully soon something will help and I can start to lose some of this extra 30 lbs I've gained since surgery. 

I hope you guys had a great Saturday, and I hope I have time tomorrow to show you some art!  Have a great night.

WOYWW 14 SEP

Hey!  I missed last week (because I turned 30 and took the day off!) but here I am this week!  So, as a fun change I thought I would show you something other than my desk...

My art room is also the place where I store my Army Gear.  Since I am getting out of the Army soon it is time for me to start going through all of it (its a lot!) and figuring out what has to be turned in and what I will be left with.  So... that is how I ended up with the mess you see!  I am going to work on it a bit at a time, so it will probably be messy for a month or so, but I don't care.

Back to the desk art table:

I just dug through my paper stash to get some papers for Halloween Crafts! I'm excited about them!

And the desk that is in my "office:"

I am working on an art journal page "30 things to do before I'm 31."  I'm only to number 23 on my list, so I have some more thinking to do over the next few days.  Once I am done I will post the results of last years list and then my new list for you to check out too!

If you want to look at other desks go to Stamping Ground!

Have a great night friends, see you soon!

Art of the Carolinas 2011

Its almost that time again and I can't believe it!  Last year I went to Art of the Carolinas 2010 and had an awesome time.  Here are some of my posts:

Losen Up and Start Abstract Painting Today
Art of the Carolinas Expo

I just made up my mind about how many classes I wanted to take and signed up for them this evening!  I am taking: Block Printing with Mixed media (w/o toxic chemicals), Zentangle Art Journals, Expressive Figure Drawing with New Methods: Wet Media, Visual Journals: Personal Mythologies; and Visual Journals: Compulsions and Obsessions.  It took a big chunk out of my wallet, but I think in the end it will be worth it.

So, if you are thinking about signing up, you should go do it right now!  I need a partner in crime while I am there - any takers?


Check out this year's website.

Friday - Saturday - Sunday

Once again I've been out of the loop for several days.  I swear the closer I get to getting out of the Army, the more they make me work.  Friday afternoon, however, I did get to volunteer with BOSS at a welcome home events for a unit on our post that just got back from deployment.  Here is a picture of the volunteers at the event:

Friday night I got a phone call that I had "buddy watch" on Saturday 930am-3pm.  Essentially my whole day!  All I had to do was follow a Soldier around and watch him and make sure he didn't hurt himself or anyone else.  He didn't do much - we basically sat around the whole time - but by the time I left I didn't feel good and I was super tired.  So, I didn't get anything done after that except for buying groceries for the upcoming week.

Today, so far, I have been SUPER productive.  I am learning to be less judgmental of myself - if I don't accomplish much I am typically ok with it, but sometimes it feels really good to get a lot done!  So, what did I do you ask?  Washed & dried my sheets and comforter; went to yoga class; mowed the side of the front yard and all of the back yard; emptied all of my plant pots and washed out the larger ones; did a load of dishes; cleaned the kitchen to include sweeping and moping; vacuumed the living room, hall and bedroom; and did some art!  See, a lot!

Here are some art journal pictures for you:

AJ Page about my trip to Washington, D.C.

Experimental Page - Idea for AJ Class I'm going to teach

Playing with neocolors

Randomly done at work one day several weeks ago

Oh, yea... I finally sold a painting on Etsy.  It was this one:

Its gone - so if you were eying it - too late!  But, I still have a lot more for sale so go check them out!!

I hope you all are having a good weekend.  Also please remember to pay respects to those that have given their lives in order to fight for our freedom!