Eden Original - Ornithophobia

Just completed my birdhouse for the next show at Cactus Gallery, "These Birdly Delights". On display, there will be many birdhouses and paintings inspired by our feathered friends.

My contribution is an homage to the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds. My favorite scene was the birds slowly collecting until they weighed dow the power lines. The pupil in the large eye is actually the door of the birdhouse. I am a huge fan of Hitchcock movies, so this was especially fun for me. 

Please come to the opening reception at Cactus Gallery on June 13 6-9pm.

3001 North Coolidge Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039 

Art Lesson - Frida Kahlo

Often my students create work that is better than I imagine (and I can image some pretty great stuff). I'm so proud of their interpretations of the portraits of Frida Kahlo. Just beautiful. 

Oil pastels on grey paper.

Art Lesson - Claes Oldenberg

We really were hungry by the end of this lesson! Making paper sculptures based on the whimsical work of Claes Oldenberg. We cut, stapled, glued, and stuffed giant pizza slices out of construction paper. We put them all together to make one GIANT pizza! Really cute project, but they wanted real pizza when it was over! Ha!

Art Lesson - Kenny Scharf

Today we made some fantastic colorful drawings based on the wonderful Kenny Scharf. 

Kenny is an amazing guy and the kids loved hearing that he actually went to the same school when he was a little boy. Fun facts! We worked on black cardstock with oil pastels for these awesome versions of his fun pop art donuts and his "red scary guy". 

   

Mural at Riverside Drive Charter School

I was asked to create a mural to cover some existing wall art at Riverside Drive Charter School.

 This is a photo of the wall and my first sketch planning my floral design.

On another part of the wall, there was a cute painting of a panda bear with a balloon. I was asked to change the panda into the school mascot, Rocky the Raccoon. To make the animal fit with the rest of the floral wall, I also changed the balloon into a large red flower.

Gallery Show - Mark Ryden

The Gay 90s West… was a lovely vision in pink. I absolutely loved the Mark Ryden show at Kohn Gallery. When I arrived at the gallery Mark's daughter gave me some daisies!

Catching up with Mark's brother, artist KRK Ryden.

Mark signed my show book. Love his pale pink suit!

Art Lesson - Owls in Charcoal

Today the children in my class worked on owls using chalk pastels and charcoal. We started with the huge eyes and then added the feathers, trying to use a variety of strokes to create the soft texture. We used fingers and cotton swabs to blend the colors together. Whooooo is ready for art?

Art Lesson - Sea Turtle Watercolor

Inspired by the lovely painting "Go For a Swim" by Jennifer Mercede.

Today I spoke with my class about the parts of a sea turtle and how the front flippers are different from the back. We looked at photos of turtles and noticed the different sizes of circles that make up the segments on the body (large for the shell, medium for legs, small for head). 

We used purple-toned oil pastels to outline the body and shell segments, then colored in scribbles of yellow, orange, and pink tones inside the circles. We also used yellow oil pastels to make a "wiggly grid" in the ocean water to give the water movement. I spoke about the sunlight filtering through the water makes colorful reflections on the turtle.

We used green and teal watercolors for the turtle's body and blue for the ocean water. 

I just love how colorful they are!

Art Lesson - Bird on a Wire

I spoke to the class today about warm and cool colors to create our colorful "Bird on a Wire" paintings.

First, we divided colors into warm (red, orange, yellow) and cool (green, blue, purple). Then, I told the children we were going to move the GREEN to the warm side.

We took one piece of water color paper and painted it with our warm colors + green. Abstract shapes filled the paper to the edges. I told the children to try not to overlap colors, but to cover all of the white on the paper. Using thick watercolor is important because I wanted the paper to dry quickly.

We set aside the warm colored pages to dry. Then, we used a second page of water color paper and painted it with blues and purples in horizontal areas. When this was finished, we used black to create some "wires" across the page. We put this page aside to dry.

Taking the warm paper again which was now dry, we flipped it over to draw on the back. I showed the class how to create simple bird shapes. Circle head, pear-shaped body (with heavy bottom), triangles for beach and tail. They drew the birds with sharpie markers on the back of the warm colored papers and then cut them out.

When the background was dry, I showed the class how to place the birds so that they looked like they are sitting on the wire. We used glue sticks to stick the birds down, making sure the bottom of the pear sits on a wire.

Sweet tweets!

Prints on Wood - Jardinero

I'm thrilled to announce that prints of my painting "Jardinero" are now available for purchase at Prints on Wood. This is exciting because the original artwork was painted on wood and this is the first time I have been able to offer high quality prints in the same medium.

They are beautifully finished and ready to hang right out of the box.
Prints start at just $29. New prints to follow soon at PRINTS ON WOOD.