Tag Archives: Art Class

Teen Birthday Party of Arting!

Good evening!!

Yesterday, I spent my night hanging out with a gaggle of 11 fabulously giggling teenage girls! Yep! That’s right!! It was my niece, Megan’s, birthday slumber party, and I got to be a part of her big surprise of the night by surprising her and her friends with an art class customized just for them!! 😉

Here is the birthday girl with her finished art piece:

Megan

Megan

Not having taught an art class for teens in over 15 years, I was both nervous and really excited to see what I could come up with! I was ready to teach 8 girls for 2 hours, and ended up teaching 11 – EEK! That was alright, I had supplies for 12 – WHEW!!! Thank goodness I am an uber planner!! 😉

The night's sample project! A 10x10 mixed media canvas

The night’s sample project! A 10×10 mixed media canvas

The thoughts behind this canvas was that each girl would create a self portrait mixed media canvas with a personalized love letter to themselves! The only rules we had, while we were arting was that we were not allowed to criticize our work, and that they had to decide for themselves whether or not their self portrait looked like themselves. We, as girls, have a tendency to constantly be looking to others for affirmation that we are enough in all things. I wanted them to trust themselves in knowing what color their hair or eyes, or skin color looked like! They needed to affirm to themselves that their judgement was enough!

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The girls did an ABSOLUTE SMASHING job!! Not only in creating some AMAZING artwork, but in staying focused, being positive, and hanging in there when something unexpected happened on their canvases!!!

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Just look how focused they are!!

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We took these canvases one step at a time, and made sure to take plenty of breaks as needed! During breaks we played “Down By the Banks”, “Angels in the Graveyard”, “Statues”, and there was dancing, LOTS and LOTS of DANCING!!! 😉 They made me feel like a teen again myself!! 😉

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Anyway, instead of trying to figure out a way to teach the girls how to draw one of my whimsical long neck girls, I took the time before class to draw a generic looking long neck girl and provided a copy for each girl! It would be up to the girls to, not only color their paper girls themselves, but they also had to draw their own hair, because the only thing my sample girl had was generic bangs! All of the girls did such an AMAZING job on this, really blowing away all of my expectations on how they were going to work out!

As they were getting ready for their first break, to let their art work dry a little bit, one of the quieter girls, turned around and said to me, “Excuse me, this girl is supposed to look like me, but I wear glasses every day, and I don’t know how to draw glasses.” OMG! You could have knocked me over with a feather!! How could I have not thought of that!?!?!?!? Well, I told this dear sweet girl, her name was Laticia, we would draw her some glasses. I would draw, and she could be my model!! I dug out my good drawing tools and got started!! She was so sweet and so patient, especially since I had never drawn glasses before IN MY LIFE, but in that moment I felt like she and I had become kindred spirits, and I needed these glasses to turn out perfectly! (being a glasses wearer myself, I know how they can become such an important part of your personal style!)!!! AND if I may say so, these glasses turned out AWESOMELY!!! I can honestly say that this became my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE portrait of the evening, and I am now inspired to draw glasses on a bunch of my girl drawings!! 😉

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Isn’t she cute??? Both of them!! 😉

Every single one of these girls made my night soooooo much fun!!

DSC06527Here is their silly face version:

DSC06531By the end of the evening, I had assured all of the girls that because they now had created their own art canvases that were now officially artists!!! They were tickled pink by that! It was very easy to tell that they each had a really good time, which I was EXTREMELY thankful for!!! 😉

Here is a slideshow of all of the girls, (except for McKenna, who had to leave a little early, which meant I missed taking her picture! Sorry, McKenna!!):

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I am so proud of all of these girls! It was so much fun watching them learn something that at the beginning of the night they were sure would be impossible for them to do, to watching them pour heavily over what hairstyles to draw, which colors to choose, and what positive messages they were going to add to their personal canvases to create their own personal love letter to themselves!

They all did a SPECTACULAR job, and I honestly could not be prouder!! It was a lot of hard work, and at the end of the evening, as I was heading home, I was seriously beat, but MAN WHAT A NIGHT!!! I can NOT WAIT to do it again!!

The birthday girls' tired auntie AKA art teacher, and her mama!! ;-)

The birthday girls’ tired auntie AKA art teacher, and her mama!! 😉

Thank you girls!! And THANK YOU, Megan!! I hope you had a birthday party that you won’t quickly forget!!

Here is to a night of feeling UNBELIEVABLY BLESSED by the work that I am doing!!

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If you want to have a different life, live differently!

 

 

 

Getting In Touch with the Inner Me!

Good evening!

I don’t know exactly where to start, but I had the opportunity to take a Soul Collage class and I am so VERY GRATEFUL that I did. First of all this class was given by the FABULOUSLY GRACIOUS Glenda Goodrich, AKA GG! This was a full class of  9 very different ladies, all different ages, coming from very different backgrounds, each with different life perspectives.

It is very difficult to describe this class; more something that you need to experience to really understand, but if I had to try and describe what it is to you I would have to say that this is a class that uses imagery to help you tap into your inner self to help you answer questions and guide you throughout your life. It is kind of like a process to help you build your own deck of personal cards to help you look at anything you have going on in your life with new eyes.

Here are the three cards that I had made, and what they symbolize to me, (please note: these images are not mine and may be subject to copyright laws):

This card represents to me Womanhood.

I Am One Who embodies happiness, wisdom of myself to come, am comfortable in my own skin, and able to live my life in my own way without worry about what others might think of me, while living generously, and with compassion for others .

This card represents Vanity:

I Am One Who looks through a skewed looking glass, I am my inner critic, constantly judging and critiquing and never quite feeling like I measure up, and reminding myself that I never will.

This picture represents Compassion:

I Am One Who loves boldly, deeply, richly, and with my full self. I am the nurturer, the comforter, the nurse, and the protector.

Are you still scratching your head? Well, I was confused too until I actually made a couple of cards, and then did a “reading” for myself using them. A reading is where you look at your card, and you tell yourself what you think your card is trying to “tell” you – AKA what was trying come through to you from your subconscious? During my self-reading of my first card I had quite the emotional breakthrough, which was embarrasing, but also quite surprising, in a very good way. Anyway, while I was describing what I felt my first  card was saying to me, and for some reason I realized that every quality that I have been so envious of in others were actually qualities that were already there in me, and I just needed a way to tap into those feelings. Well, I started crying and wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to finish. Thankfully I did, but what I realized afterwards is that I was crying tears of amazement, happiness, and joy. Not what I expected to get out of just another art class. No, that is NOT what this class was.

I know I have said this before, but I just can not say it enough, I am so thankful that I was able to take this class. I highly recommend anyone interested in taking this class, to do so. For me it was eye-opening, and I believe will ultimately be life changing and healing for me. Soul Collage cards are a going to be a great resource for stopping and listening to what my authentic self is trying to say. What a GREAT and extremely helpful resource to add to my already growing artist repertoire.

GG, I know you didn’t invent the technique, but I thank you for being brave enough and generous enough to pass on the technique! I am grateful!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!

This card represents to me womanhood.

I Am One Who embodies happiness, wisdom of myself to come, am comfortable in my own skin, and able to live my life in my own way without worry about what others might think of me, while living generously, and with compassion for others .

A Late Post!

Good evening!

I am sorry this post is getting to you so late! I completely lost track of time this evening!! 😉 I was playing in my craft room with my friend, Cicily! We were both collaging our little hearts out! I can’t wait until we get to do it again!! 🙂 I will have to take a moment sometime tomorrow to take pictures of our newest works in process for you to peruse!! The funny thing is, that we were sitting on completely opposite ends of the room, and our color schemes are almost identical!! TOO FUNNY!!!

Well, I am ready for my class on Wednesday, and because of lack of class space, I am going to have to find some kind of alternative activity for Saturday, since my encaustic class will have to wait until the next round!!! HOWEVER, I picked up all of my supplies this afternoon after work, and I am ECSTATIC!! I truly can not wait!!!

Oh! and I am excited to say that I am going to take a Zumba class next Monday evening! My first Zumba class ever!! I am all about making movement fun, and I have heard nothing but GREAT things about Zumba, especially one of the classes that is offered a few blocks from my place! I will give it a try for one week, and then I will decide if it something that I can commit too!! I will keep you posted!!! 😉

As for me and right now, I am zonked!! It is so far past my bedtime that all I can do right now is tell you G’night…and

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!