A favorite project through the week was making these very cool journals -- painted fabric over cardboard ... and bound with rubber bands and a stick! All the kids loved this process, especially these fine young gentlemen!
This week, I am hosting 11 kids in my studio for Art Camp! We are doing a bunch of projects including mixed-media self portraits, creating Art & Writing Journals, collage ... and making jewelry. Just finished the second day -- and wanted to share the self portraits with you!
I was given a precious gift this Mother's Day: time alone. My dear husband took our four children camping — along with 130 other dads/kids. What does a mom do with nearly 48 hours of me-time? It's a question that almost paralyzes a women used to doing, doing, doing. So ... on Friday afternoon, after they left, I cleaned my desk at work. I know, still cleaning, right? But this was for me, a tiny move toward a more organized work space! Invited some girlfriends over for movie night and Chinese Food. Stayed up way too late reading People Magazine but guess what? I didn't have to wake up at any certain time! So Saturday morning found me in my robe 'til noon. Figured I should get some fresh air ...so I did a few errands - had my 15% off at Kohl's. Bought myself a pretty new something. And new piece of luggage! Figured this working girl needs a piece of luggage made in this decade. Had about 12 hours of me time left at this point (sleep excluded). I went to my neighbor's house (whose husband was also camping) and we painted! Not walls but canvases! I have been working on a painting for, oh, about 3 years. I completed it. Done. Finished. Ready to hang. Sunday morning came, along with 4 campfire-smelling kids ... a very messy van and about 8 loads of laundry. Just to remind me that it was, indeed, their existence that qualifies me to claim this holiday.
Hello - I mentioned in a post or so ago that I was preparing for an upcoming Early Childhood Conference at The University of Wisconsin at Whitewater. I am doing two sessions. One on art projects inspired by my books -- and the other is art project ideas for the special occasions like Mother's Day, Father's Day and Holidays. This endeavor has had me knee-deep is paint, glue, cardboard and fabric for the past couple weeks — making up various project and gift ideas. I was feeling a bit under the gun as my handouts were due back on March 10th ... and I had barely started thinking by then!! So, the very lovely people in charge of the conference game me a grace period and let me slide in my handouts a bit late. So -- here's a peek at a couple of the project ideas I came up with.
You have all the supplies in your home, I'm sure. a little cardboard, a paper towel or two ... some watercolors and some glue. E-mail me if you want the specifics.
Enjoy the weekend, MR
Cardboard Scrap Heart -- nice idea for Mother's Day gift
And this here is the "Spoken Treasures" journal in which mom and/or dad can write down all the cute things their children say!
My last post spoke of an upcoming television appearance to talk about my "I Have a Masterpiece in Me!" class. I am happy to report it went off well! Felt a bit nervous to create on-air and my job was to guide the host, in this case Eric Perkins, through the creation process. Lucky for me, he is Mr. Personality and gladly accepted the challenge. He put paint to canvas with the certainty of a master. To watch the video of the segment, go to Kare11.com. You ready for the creative challenge yourself? E-mail me at mr@mariannerichmond.com and let me know!
On the Set
Eric's Masterpiece-in-the-making ...
Hi all. Last night, I completed the second night of a 2-night class called "I Have a Masterpiece in Me!" The class, which I offered through the St. Anthony Village community education program, offered participants the chance to create their own artistic masterpiece and I would supply all the paints and supplies! I was a bit nervous going into the class as I never instructed nine people, with varying levels of creativity ability, to create something they would feel proud to display! They were a wee bit doubtful at first - looking at my finished sample while wondering, "how the heck am I going to do that?" Well, I can assure you by the 2nd night's end ... they were an enthusiastic, pleased, proud group! I can say with all honesty they created AMAZING masterpieces. And I have included a bunch of them below! This Saturday, I will appear on our local news channel, Kare 11, to demonstrate just how one goes about creating this masterpiece! If you're in Minneapolis and wish to be contacted about future classes, please e-mail me above! -MR
As I watch the leaves quickly turning color and falling... I brought a few inside to play around with, in an art kind of way.
Experiment #1: A Clay Wall Hanging
For this one, I bought some clay at the art store and rolled it into the flattened circle you see. Then I pressed the real leaf into it while it dried. My hope is that it stays intact while I bake it in the oven, and then I'll be able to paint it while dry. Stay tuned for the "after..."
Experiment #2: Painted Leaves
This, I think has possibilities. I pressed some leaves from my yard and coated them with Gel Medium, which is available at Art Stores. It is a milky liquid that puts a light coat of "plastic" transparency over the object onto which it is applied. After that, I poured a few piles of paint on a newspaper, turned the leaf over into it, and rubbed the back of the leaf to get the paint on the front. Then, I added some additional paint by dropping paint blobs from a brush. How's that for a creative explanation? From here -- I'm thinking one could frame this against a background, incorporate this into another piece of art, etc. Stay tuned here, too as I will be completing both of these ... just for kicks.
Was invited to appear on Twin Cities Live, a show that airs in the Twin Cities M-F from 3pm-4pm. It's a variety show format in that they offer stories about everything from cooking to dog training to landscaping to local music stuff! My segment: Crafts for the Non-Crafty. While I don't consider myself "crafty, " and much prefer the term "artistic," I did have lots of fun instructing the co-hosts on how to make a homemade windchime that is now hanging in my office. To watch the video segment, click on www.twincitieslive.com and look for the September 22 offerings. The click on Crafts for the Non-Crafty ... and there I will be!
Hello! I am here to dispel the illusion that we artists don't rely on a little inspiration at times. I took art classes from a great teacher a bunch of years back. My only official lessons, really. When it was project time, she would pull out a huge file folder of "inspiration," as she called it. Photographs, magazine pictures, etc. We were to pick one and use it to jump start our own creations. I remember back then, several of the ladies asking, "is it okay to use a photograph as inspiration? Or is that copying?" How else does one paint a realistic hand or finger or hairline or horse without staring at a really good picture of one? I know some amazing artists can do this -- but not I. Which brings me to a book I am working on called Farm Kisses. It's a follow-on to the Fish Kisses board book, but this one features, you guessed it, Farm Animals! I'll let you in on something: I can't paint horses or cows or chickens from my imagination. They have complicated faces!! So I went looking for two willing models and this is what I found ...
These cutie pies helped me do this ...
Where in your life do you need a little inspiration? Creating a room? Choosing a paint color? Filling a window box? There are examples all around that can help you jump start your own process. Sometimes you just need a little push in the right direction...
A friend of mine came into the store on Friday with her daughter, Sienna. Sienna was adopted from South America when she was a wee little one and she is now 7 years old! They were in shopping, buying some books for friends, and needed some "wall decor" for Sienna's room. The little girl's eyes rested on the Artsy Girl print, telling me that she, too, is an artist!
I know it's a small image above, but you can clearly see this artist is a blonde, blue-eyed girl from perhaps the West Coast or Midwest -- not Guatemala! I just couldn't let her walk out with a print that looked nothing like her! So, I invited Sienna back to my painting desk, got out my dark brown paint, and gave her Artsy Girl print a makeover! Sienna coached me on her exact color of hair ... dark brown but not quite black! She was okay with leaving the face as is.
Much better! You go Artsy Girl from South America!! —MR
