Tween Camp..WHimsical Houses Day 2

On the second day of art camp we further explored the Whimsical House theme but went 3-D. Here's a glimpse of this day:

Lunch on the porch both days was a treat. Nobody ever hangs out here with me but the dogs. It was nice to have a pile of teen girls out here with me.

I found this idea on Pinterest...then it turned out to be my art friend V. Originals! She is an amazing artist. I loved sharing her work with my kiddos and inspiring them with her creations.  These are going to be super cute hanging in the girl's rooms. The 3-D wooden houses can either hang or sit on a shelf. Mine is on my art desk already.

Next week is all about long legged birds. I've some fun ideas up my sleeve and some projects evolving as I see how uber talented the group that signed up is! Seriously, I love camp. They ALL want to be here. They are ALL out of the running through the mud school mode (me too). I forget how much school takes creativity out of kids lives. There simply is no time for art anymore. These middle school kids are lucky to get art once for 9 weeks in the year. How can one possibly live a year without art? Right? Which makes my wheels start spinning that maybe I should start offering once a month "open studio" for tweens. Have them come and just make stuff all day. Oh lawsy...here I go again with the ideas.

Today I spent getting ready for camp next week. Friday is my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary. 50. 50!!  Good grief. That is amaze balls. So we are having a family gathering here then headed to the LAKE all weekend. I can not wait to get myself in a float in the lake with a beverage of choice. (I have a lake drink love.  It's called dark and stormy....look it up guys. Oh boy is it yummy!) And if the lake is high enough I'll do a little dock jumping (I'll be sure to share a video of that!). Oh boy. This is gonna be a great summer!  Awesome art camps, little Lake trips and eventually sand in the toes. Woohooo!! And of course an e-course!!!!

Tween Art Camp...Whimsical Houses

Tuesday and Wednesday marked the first 2 days of camp for the summer. We had the best time creating in the new space! Both days the girls in attendance were super sweet and crazy creative. Two traits I love in the studio. Magic tends to happen when they all want to be there and they all have creative brains swirling. I think it helps not having school to distract their brains into thinking too left sided. Summer is a chance for the brain to relax and crack wide open to exciting new ideas. Creative ideas!  So here's what we did Tuesday:

He was in the middle of it all ALL freaking day. And Lily just sat under my feet pouting. That's usually her spot. But as soon as I put him down and said sit Lily she'd run off. Such a woman. In this photo he is totally looking down at her mocking.

Oh my girl...I just love watching her create.

I threw the pillow idea in kinda last minute. I had this stack of pre-made canvas pillows that were screaming "paint on me". I finally had a group small enough to use them (And I knew they wouldn't mess them up. Painting on fabric is not easy.) I love the way everything turned out!

In fact, truth be told I didn't want the group above to leave! And we worked until the very last second. Perfect way to spend a day. I was so motivated that Mailey and I made leather wrap cuffs that night. I never make jewelry anymore so it felt good to just make something new. Make something period. HA.

Around Here Lately

It seems I start every summer out with a little "project". Little. Right. Why I feel the need to reinvent the wheel every year is beyond me! I finally get time to breath but really can't because my creative space was literally suffocating. I totally forgot to take before photos. And should have. Because unless you've been down here you really can't grasp the magnitude of this adventure.

So this summer I'm hosting all my summer workshops down here. As much as I liked hosting the classes in my personal space, I quickly found it didn't work well for transitioning and making art for me. Plus it became a huge dumping ground after Kirkwood. I really can not create until the space is a happy space anyways. Someone recently couldn't believe that as a creative person I crave order. Like being creative automatically means you are messy? I have actually found that most artsy people I know have the same sense of urgency to clean and purge before they are able to really be creative. We may like our stuff, but my stuff is in order!

This was a ladder view of the "tool room". It's a room the entire length of the house but narrow. Prior to this clean out it had on one end my show displays and a bunch of junk(seriously). All the walls but one are sheet rocked already. Here's what I did:
1. painted the 2 ft concrete wall...put some "Great Stuff" in the cracks and still need to trim out(they were outta the wood I wanted for trim)
2. trimmed out the doorway and windows. painted that. hung a piece of vintage trim over window. hung cute curtains.
3. painted all the walls except the one without sheetrock. I need to hire someone to hang it on that wall because I just can't stand the unfinishedness of it. plus I want to hang a white board for teaching.
4. strung twinkle lights
5. vacuumed spiders gallor
6.  hung rainbow tissue paper flowers up
7. cleaned out and took to the dump an entire van full of crap

 This is just half the room. Sorry all the photos are kind of blurry. I think my eyes are going because I thought they were clear until uploaded here! HA

Once this part was in order and ready for my kiddos, I turned to and put my original desk and chair back into the studio in the middle of the basement. I've already been painting too! It feels amazing to have the space back in order. And I can't wait to teach in the other space next week. It gave me plenty of time for the swimming pool with the kids with giant Project #1 checked off the list!

Yeah for order. And clean studios painted sunshine yellow. Actually the color is Pale Honey at Home Depot. It is my favorite yellow ever. And since I bought like 6 gallons of it to paint something somewhere in this house I just keep painting with it. And it's still not gone. One day I want to paint the outside of the house this color. It'd be so pretty yellow!

See ya later in the week with what I've been painting.  Happy Tuesday!

Summer Art Camps Offered!!

The summer schedule is set!  I am super excited to be offering all my classes this year in my home art studio (when I've told kids this at school they've been all ooooo......ahhhhhh).  Space is limited, so if you are interested, please email me at jennihorne@ymail.com for your space.  If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask!  Each 10-3 session will be packed with art making.  The focus for each day has a unique theme with the projects based on this theme.  I look forward to having your children in my studio!  Oh, and please notice the ages for each workshop.  The Tween Girl camp is for girls only ages 10-16.  The Young Masters camp is for boys AND girls entering 1st-5th grade.  And I can only host 12 per class. 

Partay Animals!

This summer I've chosen two themes to run with.  One is "Whimsical Houses" the other "Long-legged Animals".  These long-legged owls turned into quite the partying pair!  I can not wait to see what the little artists come up with when given this theme!

Whimsical Houses

 

Not much to say today.  Just that I love this painting.  I try to not paint so bright, but I have to.  I love playing with colors next to one another.  Mixing this orange, that pink and this green.  It's all a part of who I am as an artist.  And pretty sure it always will be.   You know the funny thing is I tend to wear a lot of black and white.  Hmm....I wonder what that symbolizes?

Grover...I mean Grovette

So this little guy was seriously one disaster after another.  From cracking clay to melting in half in the oven, he was doomed.  So I made Grover....a girl.  I just couldn't stand the suffering anymore.  hahaha....That and I was trying to cover up his decapitated neck scar.  The only thing laying around my studio to cover this scar was ribbon. Oh, and right before he got the bow, he fell face forward and the nose fell off.  I might have said a potty word at that point.

Grovette is the perfect example of why it's so important to have practiced the projects before camp time.  This year camps are only 10-3.  No over night's for drying.  Kinda stressful.  I've already altered the houses to be wood sculptures.  Our long-legged animals are going to be more wood now too.  It was still fun to craft these up.  And I learned a lot about sculpture and what to and not to do with my Tweens and Little Masters this summer!  Who's joining me?

Happiness Here

So after my little blog temper tantrum, I felt better.  Sometimes you just gotta get stuff off your chest ya know?  I used this frustration to get my body into the studio and finish up samples for art camp this summer.  Funny things happen when motivated to teach absolutely amazing projects to kids in the summer.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again....I love art camps.  I love planning, buying the supplies and making the samples.  I like to out-do myself each year.  It's my thing.  So this need to create came at a perfect time in my little artsy life.  Whew. I never liked kool-aid anyways. 

So more to come on camp dates.  Tiffin is whipping up some fantastic postcards to blast out to the world.  I also need to get into my website and update everything there.  In the meantime I intend to tease you with all the samples. 

 I mean seriously?  This house?  I know you want one!!!

Anyhoo....as soon as everything is ready you'll be the first to know here!!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  We have nothing on the docket.  So seeing Divergent is on the to-do list and maybe our first bonfire of the spring!

Paint Something ART CAMPS!!

So I've been a busy bee making samples for PSW art camps!!  Woohoooo...I love camp.  Really.  It's my favorite thing to plan for.  Seriously...I scheme and plan for months what spectacular projects I'm going to share each summer.  And this summer as an extra treat all camps are being held in my personal studio space.  I told some kiddos that this week and their eyeballs about popped outta their heads.  I know.  It is a pretty cool space to play in.

So letting the cat outta the bag a little before my promotional pieces are ready, there will be 2 themes this summer:  long legged animals and whimsical houses.  I'm working on 3D ideas that can be done in one day.  Kind of a difficult task since real clay is out and air dry clay is beginning to prove out as well.  We'll see.  I gotta work on heating it again in the oven without melting anybody.  eh-hem..Gomez.

For now here is Gomez and the Radiant Orchid House.  I totally bought the Pantone color of the year at Lowe's.  It is a spectacular color.  And I don't even like purple.

I'll be sure to share again once they are finished.  Lots to add.  Have I mentioned I love my job lately?