Glogster

This is my daughter's 5th grade presentation on Deforestation.  She did it on a really cool sight called Glogster.com.  I thought I'd share, as I know many of you have school age kids too.  But also, wouldn't this be a cool way to share an art lesson or project?  I might just have to try it out for myself!  It's basically an interactive poster! Cool!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #22

I thought she was kind of fun! "The Rebel"...

 

 

29 Faces Challenge: Face #20 and #21

Here she is, a "beautiful mess", a self portrait...I was feeling sort of defeated when I did this one. As a mother of an ODD child in her tweens, by the end of the day ( or lately, by the time she walks out the door to catch the bus in the morning) I am completely mentally and physically drained. If you don't know what ODD is, it stands for oppositional defiant disorder, and it is a moment by moment battle for me to stay calm, focused, firm, fair and consistent in my dealings with my daughter. ODD coupled with anxiety and a mood disorder make my daughter extremely hard to be around sometimes. I love her dearly and unconditionally, but sometimes I just want to lock myself in my room and bury my head under the covers and pray, cry, scream or just shut down completely...but I can't do that, because I love my girls...someone has to keep the peace and try and maintain the sanity in our household....so anyway, that is how I was feeling when I did this face.

On the flip side, when my daughter is feeling good, she is funny, witty, creative and downright brilliant! Sort of like living with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality. She has a beautiful spirit, and a heart that is bigger than even she knows! And anyway...sorry for going off about all that, but that is the story behind this face, and now you know a little something about me that you probably didn't know before! This was my art therapy for the week!

A "beautiful Mess" is the state my heart and soul are in most of the time. I think those two words describe how I feel and where a lot of my art is created from...

This next girl was inspired by an artist named Juliette Crane. She does really cute owls and animals, but I like Juliette's faces the best! I couldn't really capture her style with the ipad, but I love her loose, painterly style and the way her art makes me feel, and she has some incredible backgrounds in her artwork as well.

So, I guess that's about it...on to some other projects for the day.

29 Faces Challenge: Face #18 and #19

These faces were both kind of works in progress...they were some of the first things I created with the ipad. Since I've been short on time, I decided to try and improve upon them. The changes are pretty subtle, but I think I accomplished an improvement in both of them.

Here Is the before...

This is the improved upon version, more shading, brighter colors...different shading in the face...

Here is the second face before.....

And here it is after improvement...again, brighter colors, more shading, deeper contrasts and more details...

29 Faces Challenge: Face #17

Today's post is all about my dog Slash...He is my Face #17 for the 29 Faces challenge. I uploaded this short video, so you could see, he is a "one of a kind" when it comes to personality.

Face #17: Slash my Dog

I am almost embarrassed to post this picture, as you can see I'm no good at dog faces...But my dog Slash has the funniest personality and I wanted to capture it...I'll need to work on that! I was inspired by another artist doing the 29 Faces Challenge Nic's Earth.  She does the most beautiful dog faces, and she captures something unique in each one.  I just love her work!

Here are a few photos of Slash...he is a German Wire-Hair Pointer, and I wish I could have 100 of him!  There really are NO words to describe him...he is a constant source of entertainment (and nuisance...) for our family.

29 Faces Challenge: Face #14, #15 and #16

Well, I wish I had been able to get this posted yesterday, but it just couldn't happen! So Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all of you! Each of these faces were created with the 53 Paper App for Ipad. All were in different stages of completion, but I finished all of them this evening while watching my daughter's 2 hour gymnastics class! I REALLY like how #14 turned out!

Face  #14

Face #15

Face #16

29 Faces Challenge: Face #13

I created this one using both an original piece of artwork and an Ipad App called Photogene
First I scanned a page from one of my art journals, then used the app to create this "stamp" effect! This is the original art that I scanned and then uploaded to my Ipad.

Original Art Journal Page Scanned

And here is what she looks like after using the ipad app...

29 Faces Challenge: Face #13

29 Faces Challenge: Face #12

Face #12...you guessed it...created on the Ipad using the 53 Paper App. It's supposed to be me and my two beautiful daughters, who I love with all of my heart. It's represents the bond we have, no matter how hard it is to be a parent ( and trust me...it's been challenging on so many levels...) I will always love them unconditionally, forever and ever!!!

The rest of these are just a very small sample of what you can do with the many Apps available for the Ipad!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #11 and #12

This one was once again created using the 53 Paper App for ipad. I love the blended color effects you get with the water color paintbrush. I'm learning something new each time I use this app! It's still my favorite even though there are many more apps with far more versatility.

This one was created in the ipad app Procreate. I'm not happy with the face at all, but I like the background a lot!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

29 Faces Challenge: Face # 9 and 10

Hi my fellow challenge participants!, These were both done using the Paper App for ipad again. It's so satisfying to be creating something and still be able to be in the same room with the family. Using the ipad means I don't have to juggle all my art supplies in my lap or cart them back and forth between rooms...even though I don't have a " tangible" original on a canvas, I still have a digital original that I can turn in to prints, cards or use in my jewelry! This first one I painted using my finger instead of a stylus. On all of my others I have used a special pressure sensitive stylus called the "Pogo" . She turned out better than I thought she would! It's harder to create small detail without the stylus, but still a lot of fun. If you have an ipad, give this a try, the App is free and the "in App" upgrades are inexpensive and well worth the extra dollar or two. If you are really serious about using the ipad for art I would recommend the "pogo" stylus as well!

This little alpaca I created with a friend in mind who owns an alpaca farm, Alpacas from Mars. At first he had teeth on both the top and bottom, until she told me that alpacas do not actually have teeth on top! Good to know! So here he is, the "revised" and anatomically correct (sort of) version. At any rate, I think he's a cutie!

Hope everyone is having fun! I sure am!

29 Faces Challenge: #6, #7 and #8

I'm going to be pretty busy for the next couple of days, so I decided to get ahead of the game and post these three now, so I won't get behind in the challenge. All of these were created in the 53 paper App for the Ipad. Have a great week everyone, and I hope to get to everyone's blog sooner or later!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #5

These are some of my favorite colors and I found them in a napkin! I started out printing and cutting out a face from one of my art journals. Then I laid the cut-out on top of a napkin that had a color palette that I love and took a photo with my ipad.

I then imported the photo into an ipad app called Procreate and proceeded to paint and layer until I ended up with the final product below. I'm really happy with her now, although, because I love to have a word or two in most of my paintings, I may have to add some in later...we'll see...

29 Faces Challenge: Face #4

I really like the colors in this one. She was created using the 53 Paper App for the Ipad. I wish I had interesting stories to go with each face like some of you do. I love reading them.  I'm just not a writer and unfortunately can never think of what to say! I'm not much of a talker either, for that matter...Lots of thoughts swirling around in my head! I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

29 Faces: face #3

For this face I used an app on my ipad called Procreate. It has a lot more versatility then 53 Paper. Procreate allows you to use layers and a variety of cool brushes that you can adjust the size and opacity. I'm just learning how to use these more advanced painting programs, so I think I've just barely scratched the surface...which is exciting!

29 Faces Challenge: Face #2

Fooled around with the ipad again tonight, same App, 53 Paper. I'll try a new App for my next one.  It will be interesting to find and try different art/painting/sketching Apps and see what they can do. I really would have liked to be able to lighten her face up a bit, but in this app you have only the basic tools, so I couldn't do much without having to start all over again! I need to get painting with real paints again.  I've been in a slump for awhile and need to get back to putting real paint on real canvas!

29 Faces 2013 Challenge Here We Go!

I'm so excited to participate in this years 29 Faces challenge! I did this last year and it really pushed me to do something creative everyday. It's a great way to just let loose and try new things with your art. For me, my Ipad has been my canvas for the last few weeks. I use an App called 53 Paper.  Super simple, but versatile! I love it! So I will continue to use my Ipad, but also will bring out my art journals that have sat for far too long! I'm excited to see what all the other participants come up with, and hopefully will be making some new art friends from around the world!

Version 1: Done in 53 Paper App for Ipad

Version 2: Tweaked texture and colors in Snapseed App for Ipad

If you are interested in joining the 29 Faces Challenge for 2013 you can click here to get started! Hope to see you there!

Best of intentions gone astray...

I had the best intentions of getting out of the house today and getting some errands done,but I sat down to mess around with my bullets, beads and wire...and before I knew it, the kids were home from school! Oops, Hubby won't be happy with my lack of household productivity today, but I just couldn't put the stuff down! Do you know what I mean? It's a combination of joy and guilt all at the same time. I should have been cleaning, shopping, cooking...but I PLAYED instead! Here is what I created today (and last night). These are pendants and earrings made using recycled bullet casings, beads and wire.

I'm not super great at the wire wrapping yet, but I sure am having fun playing with all of it! The pictures don't convey the colors well...but this one below is made from silver colored bullet casing and the wire is copper and silver. This one is my favorite.

This next one, REALLY didn't photograph well. The casings are brass, wire is copper and the beads are various shades of purple. The purples didn't come through we'll in the photo.

Just like the one above, the purples in this didn't come through. It is all silvers, purples and copper wire.

I just couldn't photograph this one at all. It's very simple and very pretty, silver with the turquoise bead wrapped in silver and crackled marble below.

Last but not least, these cute earrings are made of brass .22 shell casings, brass wire and copper wire hearts with purple and green accent beads.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with most of these. But now, I must go and accomplsh something of value to my husband or ill never hear the end of it!

New Pendants...New Designs!

Finally finished these new pendants using older artwork and my ipad to create new designs!

These new pendants will be listed on my website artplaytoday.com sometime in the next day or two, but wanted to share them here first!