Revlon Walk....

A wonderful Saturday in NYC with all the girls for our annual Revlon Walk for Breast Cancer...we walked for our mothers and friends and celebrate that they continue to thrive despite this disease!

"Discover your (womentum>....

This weekend I (along with 8 friends) will be heading into NYC to participate in the Revlon Run/Walk for breast cancer...we have done this walk every spring for the past 5 years to honor our mothers and friends who have had to fight this terrible disease...the power of women in red!! It's a beautiful thing, as my husband says!

A liitle Chuck Close...a little Andy Warhol...

We combined a little of both artists in our self portraits today...the results were really fantastic...great colors and patterns!

Flower Girls...

Working with piles of colorful painted paper, the students on our team filled the hallways with bursts of springtime blooms...the flower girls grew some beautiful daisies!

Inspired by Matisse's Red Fish....

The mini Matisse class outdid themselves today..they worked on mixed media collages inspired by Henri Matisse's Red Fish Painting...oil pastels, watercolors,painted papers and construction paper...a messy whirlwind of a project for a frantic hour..but the results were magnifico!!

My Girls at Easter...

I wanted to call this post "Easter Chicks"...but Leah threatened bodily harm if I used that title...and so it's just my girls at Easter...gone are the days of puffy floral dresses and straw brimmed hats...but they still make a pretty pair!

Nine out of Ten....

"Nine out of ten people love chocolate, and the tenth person always lies."-John Q. Tullius....my kitchen has become a chocolate factory in preparation for Easter!

Das Easter Eggs...

It's not every Easter that you paint your Easter eggs to look like all things German...but that's what Leah worked on today...a friend is heading back to live in Germany and what better dish to bring to a party than German themed Easter Eggs.

All you'd ever need...

"I can envision a small cottage somewhere, with alot of paints and canvases, and a cat, and a fireplace and maybe enough money to give myself some Irish coffee now and then and to entertain three dear friends."-Irish quote.....now wouldn't that be grand!

regal guardians.....

"Love your neighbor as yourself; but don't take down the fence."-Carl Sandburg...Main Street in Farmington has some of the most beautiful regal fences...I walked amongst these houses today and snapped away.

Watercolors of eggs...

Shopping at the Village Sweet Shoppe in Collinsville this morning...love the way this owner sets up all her beautiful confections for the Easter holiday...these lovely marzipan eggs look like they were painted with watercolors.

All the Pretty Papers...

Today the kids helped me make piles upon piles of pretty painted papers stacks for a project our class is going to do next week...stay tuned!

Chrome and shine...

"Only a biker knows why a dog sticks his head out of the car window."...another sign of the warm weather..Harleys

"Imagine That" Art Camp...

Starry, starry night..paint your city blue and gold...today we worked with painted papers, gold and silver foils to make fantasy city skylines. The results were beautifully vibrant...I love working with painted paper..it makes all their project POP!!

Finding colors in everything...

Even the wine bottles catch my eye with their beautifully colored labels...or is it the wine inside...either way, it's a win/win!

Colors like words..

"I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music."-Joan Miro....the students did wonderful watercolors today inspired by the fantasy and surrealism of Miro.

doodling...thinking..doodling...

Playing around with washes of watercolor and my ever favorite sharpie....thinking this might turn into a project at some point..thinking...doodling..thinking...

Spring Has Arrived...

After a very long and mundane winter of white color has returned to our planet in glorious shades of yellows and purples...there is a God and he is shining on us today!!

Hallway of 1000 Cranes...

Our team finally finished what we started 2 long weeks ago. As the last part of our Japanese Relief Fundraiser we had to string 1000 cranes together to fullfill Sadako's wish for hope for the people of Japan. The kids on our team did an amazing job and our final total was a check in the amount of $2,256.00 for the Red Cross.

It can't hurt...

"All you need it love, but a little chocolate now and then can't hurt."-Charles M. Schultz...Chocolate cover strawberries for my good friend, Christine's birthday today.

Dream Weavings...

Today was the first session of a new art program;"Imagine That" Art Camp. Our first projects were watercolor weavings through black paper. The kids wrote in gold or silver leaf script, the Dream poems of Langston Hughes. We tied in National Poetry month with our art project...beautiful results.

Prepping ...prepping...prepping...

I can never have enough painted paper for all the projects I do, what with my own personal collages plus the art classes for kids...so it's a continual roll out of colored papers...roll on.

Inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers...

We started another session of art classes today, called "Mondays with Monet". The first artist on the agenda was Van Gogh. I was absolutely blown away by these little kids and their work. They had as much chalk and smudges on them as their paper...but they really created some beautiful pieces.

Game Face Time

Tomorrow we start running 2 different art classes at 2 different schools for 4 weeks..the last time we did this it got a little confusing and chaotic...let's hope the 2nd time's the charm!

I can't stay away....

I had finished up my 365 Blog in mid February of this year and was happy to have completed that marathon of photography...but I find I miss the challenge of shooting photos on a daily basis, so I think I am throwing myself (and my camera) back in the game. There are photo opportunities everywhere I turn...I just have to be sure to catch the glimmer.