3.23.2015

Sunday Studio Date SET!


Super excited to announce I am hosting Sunday Studio Workshops  once a month in my personal home studio. The 1st being 
Sunday, April 19th from 2-5PM. To sign up please email me at jennihorne@ymail.com. Cost is $55 a person with all supplies included. You just need to bring an apron and perhaps an idea of what you'd like to paint. I'll guide you step by step through the creative process.  It'll be an awesome time! I hope to see you all there. Please email me with any questions. You will receive my address upon registration. I am south of Atlanta.

Woohooo for art dates! Join me friends.

3.16.2015

Sunday Studio Welcomes Friends

This Sunday I hosted a few friends in my studio for Sunday Studio time. Well...actually I'd never met them before, only met them online.  As you know, I've been teaching an online course called Paint Something: an e-course. It has been a huge blessing for our family in several ways. I absolutely love connecting with creatives from across the globe. This past course a sweet new painter named Britt kept popping up in my email with questions and paintings she was working on. I could seriously feel her excitement for painting through the lines on the web. Makes my heart so full to know the joy I have has spread to another.

Anyhoo, she asked if I'd be willing to do a private art class for she and her Mom. This is not something I normally do. But something about her energy made me say "Yes". Come on down. And by down I mean she DROVE 2 hours south to her Mom in Athens and then they drove the 2 hours to my house. Talk about humbling. She drove all this way just to take a personal class in my own studio. Awesome. Truly. So here we are in the studio. Oh and Mailey joined us too. That made me very very happy. :)
And before you knew it 3 hours had passed. She asked lots of questions I'd never thought about. Sometimes as a painter you just paint ya know? They were great questions though and ones I intend to add to PART 2 of the e-course coming out this summer. We all painted birds I'd found on the internet. This was what I painted during the class. As part of my personal classes I always paint with the students. I think it's important for beginning painters to watch my technique. Quickly they see I am very messy, very fast, and layering paint is what makes my paintings glow. My painting:
Britt's mom painted this:
And Britt painted this. Well...she's not done. She's a tad more meticulous than I.
During our time together I found out that she's a photographer. So today I peeked at her sight and about DIED. Her photos are gorgeous. Britt's specialty is baby photography. You gotta go peek here at her site. It'll just make you all gooey inside at how sweet the images are. Dreamy for sure. I want to reverse time and get my babies photographed by her. 

Anyhoo....this weekend got me thinking about studio time. If you are interested in a personal studio session email me for possible dates.  jennihorne@ymail.com

Private Studio Sessions
length:  3 hours
days: I am available most often on Sunday afternoons. But can work in a Friday or Saturday depending on kids and hubby. I could teach as early as 3 on Fridays. 
includes: all supplies and inspirations
cost: $60 per person for 3 hours
*please note I do prefer at least 2 students in attendance. It can be mother/daughter or just friends. I can hold up to 12 in the studio at a time. If over 10 we lengthen the class to 4 hours. 

So gather your peeps and come on down to Sharpsburg! I can't wait to meet you all and talk art and family and life and passions. It'll be a fabulous way to spend an afternoon.

Creatively,
Jenni



3.12.2015

Hello 43

Hello 43. I am kinda excited to see you. Seems like just yesterday I was surprised by friends and family for my 40th. There's something calming about getting older. Each year as I add another candle to the cake I am gently reminded that this life I've been given is a gift. A life that as I've gained wisdom...aka...age...I have become more and more mindful of. I have better routines for daily living. I have let go of many anxieties and have opened my heart up for truth to enter. This past year has been uncomfortable in many personal ways. But I have found that having to wiggle in my skin a bit has truly been a blessing. I was literally running on auto-pilot. Not much joy in that kind of living. So I thank my dear husband for standing by me as I grow into who I am today. And for all of you out there on this creative journey with me. I've a feeling 43 has some amazing rewards in store for me. I can not wait for them to be revealed and to absorb this entire year.

3.09.2015

True

The idea of choosing a word of the year to inspire you has been around for a spell. And, well, honestly this year I decided not to bother. Not sure why. Maybe in January I was in a funk or something. Anyhoo...fast forward to March and in particular my birthday, and a word hit me upside the head as a focal point for my year. TRUE/TRUTH

A friend gave me a print for Christmas from an Etsy artist that says "I will not compare myself to others on the internet." Awesome right? It came right after my little artsy self felt robbed of its identity. It came at a rock bottom place with my family life. It was perfectly timed. You see, we as human beings can not help but compare ourselves to others. And if you say I don't do that then you are lying to yourself. I'll admit at first when I got the poster I was like "I don't do that."  But then on second thought.....

So let's chat about this....comparing ourselves. I'm not just chatting art to art, rather I'm looking at BIG picture with comparing home to home, marriage to marriage, kid to kid, car to car, vacation to vacation, etc. Quite honestly how can we not? I love instagram and peeking into the lives of sweet friends I've never met across the globe. And have often thought to myself dang how do they keep their house so clean? Their kids are always so adorable. Oh if I could afford a vacation to Hawaii. Or LIVE in Hawaii. How do they have time to run so much? Ooo..they made that to eat? I really like that outfit. Oh my gosh that couch! Look at the fun they are having together. I could have made that. I wish we had snow. Dang they got that where? Ooo..I need that shirt. I wish my kids would selfie with me. Am I right? Have you ever had these thoughts? I have. Pretty sure you have too. Making you wiggle right?

So the word TRUE is going to be my mantra for 2015. Staying on top of myself to remain authentic in this world of copy cats and wanna bee's. I don't want to be a wanna be. I want to be ME. Jennifer Adkins Horne. I know in my heart I am truly blessed beyond measure for the life I have. It's the truth. This beautiful name comes with an occasionally messy house, old cars, no Hawaiian vacation, new front door needing asap, kids who struggle in math, injured son, burnt toast eating, Jesus loving Momma, who would love a day off to just do what she wants to do. I know the truth in my house. And that is what counts. That is what keeps me smiling and moving forward. Oh I'll continue to peek into your lives on instagram, but take every image with a grain of salt. Because "I will not compare myself to others on the internet."  truth.

3.06.2015

Summer Art Camp


I can't tell you how excited I am about this summer's art camp line up. I usually do one day camps but found so many awesome projects decided to add another day! So 2 days, 10 hours, 12 kids, 2 doggies and myself are destined to have a hum digger of a time in my home studio. If you are interested please email me to reserve your spot. Space is limited and always fill up.  yeah for camp!!

3.02.2015

The Bunny

Oftentimes I get the itch to make 3-D stuff. Sometimes it's just because I have to do creative stuff to make my brain happy, but also because I am always making samples for future art camps and after school art experiences. I have found during my years of teaching some awesome techniques to use with kids. A few years back, before life got to be...well...LIFE I attended lots of art retreats. Gosh I love attending art retreats. The energy, the classes, the getting away with other creative minds, it's just DREAMY. I've attended many different types of classes over the years. Some were taken to enhance my painting vocabulary. But I have to say my favorite have been the 3-D sculpture classes. I've learned techniques I'd never have thought of on my own. Pieces and parts of each class put together in my unique way make the creative journey more adventurous and special.
Which leads me to Peter Rabbit here. I think I saw something on Pinterest using paper clay. Dang Pinterest. It's my rabbit hole, between the complete food envy and the how did they make that syndrome I get lost in a world that perhaps is like a drug. And I can't get out. Until I break down and bake the Ooey Gooey Oreo Bars and sculpt the Peter Rabbit. Well, that's this week's attempts anyways.

I love working with paper clay. The brand I usually use is DAS, but this summer I found Polyform brand Model Air clay delightful. Plus it's what I had on hand this particular day. I always start with Styrofoam ball bases and foil to build up areas. For the ears I stuffed popsicle sticks in and molded around them. One day I'll make you a video of how I make these creatures. For now, the supplies used are: Styrofoam ball, Popsicle sticks, clay, glass jar, acrylic paints, wire, brown oil paint, vegetable oil, paper towels and other embellishments.
I have found that allowing these sculptures to completely air dry AND NOT get impatient is key for less earthquake size fault lines in the final pieces. Sitting them in the sun helps, but ovens tend to melt the styrofoam insides and lead to cracking on the outside. That's just not the look I'm going for. In other words, plan on these sorta things to be more than one day projects. Now the paint however, I am all about heating up and moving on. Peter loved the blow dry below. Above is a photo before I added the secret aging step. I wish someone could rub something on me and within 5 minutes reverse the aging in the opposite direction I took him....just saying.
After he dried I used a secret technique I learned in one clay class to make stuff look old. Basically you use an oil based paint and a tad bit of vegetable oil to rub all over him. I put more in the seams and places I wanted to accent, like his teeth. I like my sculptures looking a little "Old Timey". Of course he had to have a party hat and collar on. I made him glasses too but decided the wire whiskers and the glasses competed too much.
Last details are my favorite. And learning to edit, from decorating to my wardrobe is always an issue I fight. He's on top of a glass jar I filled with glitter and hope to find some tiny Easter eggs to put in the jar too. The collar is vintage crepe paper streamers I bundled up on top of tacky tape. The hat is paper covered in glitter and topped with a pom-pom. Last, I cut some floral wire I had on hand and made the whiskers. I just adore the way he turned out. My little sister collects rabbits, so I think I'll mail him to her!

So....what have you been crafting lately?
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