Halloween Block Party

This saturday, the girls and I went to a classic Halloween block party!  My friends Jill and Janet decided to throw the party at their houses.  I quickly volunteered myself and Avery to do face painting.  We made a sign with the designs that we thought we could handle.  I didn't want some kid walking up and asking me to paint a a knight slaying a fire breathing dragon.  Keep it simple, Man...Keep it simple!

Mason was our first customer!  Gotta love the purple sucker drool!

Anyways, there were also some classic Halloween games....Bobbing for apples, ring toss, eating donuts off of a string without using your hands.  Ok, so maybe not all of them were classic.

Here's Avery "cheerfully" helping.

Addison bobbing for apples and mono....just kidding!

Jill's daughter, Chloe.

The kids had such a good time.  Everyone brought a bag of candy and a dessert, so there were plenty of treats.

One mom made these cute little owl cookies!  The beak is a peanut half.

 The kids also voted for the best costume.  A little girl named Laney won.  I have to say, her costume was pretty cute!

One game that was fun to watch was where they had to find a gummy bear in a pile of pudding without using their hands.  The kids really got into it!

Janet set up a "Gross" station.  She had bowls filled with all kinds of things....intestines, tongues, skin, and teeth.  The bowls were covered with a cloth and the kids had to put on a blind fold before they reached in to feel the items.  It was really creepy and fun!

Janet's daughter, Rachel

All in all, I think the party was a great success!  It really brought back memories and reminded me of the importance of community and creating lasting memories for our children.

Watercolor paper

I decided to try working on some watercolor paper.  I got some nice, medium weight cold pressed paper from Hobby Lobby.  I have really been inspired by feathers lately, so I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my drawing.  I used a graphite pencil to sketch and then I used watercolor pencils to give her skin a wash.  After that dried, I went over the watercolor with prismacolor pencils.  Her hair and dress are done with regular watercolors and the sky is done with pastels.  The rest of it is done with prismacolor pencils.  I really enjoyed using this paper.  It took both the watercolors and pencils well.

This sweet girl gives me a sense of calm when I look at her.  It's as if she's listening to what the wind has to say.  She has inspired me to do more with this paper.  I think I'm going to do a series inspired by my friends.

Artist Trading Cards

I have been working on my first Artist Trading Cards.  These are little 2.5" x 3.5" crescent boards.  They are durable, non-warping cards.  They are lots of fun, since their small size makes it easy to create a quick piece of art.

I started out with pencil and then I used clear gesso to protect the graphite.  Once that dried, I began shading in her face with prismacolor colored pencils.  I used cream, light peach, and peach for her skin.  I also put in highlights with white.  Her hair is also colored pencil.  When I was finished, I used mod podge to place random pieces of gold leaf.

I did have some smudging around the mouth, but I think she's pretty good for my first one.  My daughter, Addison, loved it so I gave it to her.

The second one I did the same, except for the background I used neocolor water soluble crayons.  I love how the purple makes her pop!

On this one, I used a butterfly rub-on that I found at hobby lobby.  She is my favorite so far.

If you feel overwhelmed by a large piece of blank paper, these ATC's are a great way to be creative without having to fill up a large amount of space.  Grab some ATC's, (you can find them at hobby lobby) and create something!  Don't worry about the end result.  Just enjoy the process.  I would love to see some of the amazing pieces that you create!

YOU CAN create something beautiful!

Dove

A wonderful opportunity has come my way!  I am now helping Tom out at The Artist Within.  It is so much fun.  He is teaching me all the techniques and showing me how to help the students.  Since I work full-time as a social worker, I am only able to help a couple evenings a week.  However, I am already learning so much!

I decided to stretch myself a bit and try to draw something a little more realistic than what I normally do.  I chose a dove picture to work off of and used Tom's method for drawing.  Then he showed me how to shade using graphite dust and a stick eraser.  I was amazed at how much better my drawing was after he showed me what to do!  He is a great teacher.

When I was done with the dove, I shaded the background using a pastel.  I was really pleased with the results!

It's not perfect and I'm sure there are some things I could have done to make it better, but I'm happy with it!  

I'm also working on some ATC's or Artist Trading Cards.  I'll post them later.

Another postcard sighting

Addison received her second postcard the other day and she was really excited!  This one came all the way from Slovakia.  It traveled 9,076 km and took 12 days to get here.

Again, I highly recommend clicking here and checking out how postcrossing works.  It is a wonderful opportunity for your children to learn more about our great world and correspond with people from every walk of life!

Happy Postcrossing!