Artist Expo Next Week!

NEXT WEEK - IT'S COMING!!!!

The Artist Expo is coming to the Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center.  I have students coming literally from all over the United States!  Check us out and come on in for the fun!  The online registration is closed, but you can still come in and register on site.

Here's the link:
http://www.artistexpohouston.com/

I will be teaching two Metal Embossing classes, which are loads of fun, even for the beginner.  Here's a simple piece I did of a bicycle, of course.  My bicycle and I are very good friends.

Walking through Steps of an Artist Trading Card Series

This is a sweet little series of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) I made.

Not long ago I was sitting in the Panera Bread parking lot looking across the street at a line of birds on the wire.  I did a nice little sketch of them enjoying their peaceful time above Chic fil A and the din of life.

When I heard the subject of our trade was 'Things with Wings,' I knew it would be those birds.  I did, however, substitute the traffic and noise for some peaceful, cool trees.

My purse sketchbooks feed my imagination - they're like cookbooks - recipes not yet tried, but ready to be explored.  My sketchbook gave me the idea for the ATC, and now the cards I made have inspired me to do some nice paintings  I can see a new series of paintings coming out of all of this.  One idea fuels the next.

And, for those students out there - a word about MISTAKES!  As Murphy's Law requires, I went through to the very end of these cards before I made my bad mistake.

My idea of artist trading cards is developing layers.  Here are the steps I took for this set:

1 - Spray paint in the driveway.  Sheets of cool colors, sheets of warm colors.  Found some great artist's spray paint I'm liking these days. Covers well, and is archival.  Yes!

2 - Each set of colors is layered on with a number of stencils and mark makers
3 - Once dry, I cut the big sheets into many of the required ATC size, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"
4 - I cut some cool rectangles smaller to get the complimentary color thing going
5 - Gold stencils on the background
6 - The actual drawing on the cool background
7 - Stick 'em together
8 - LAST STEP:

I had intended to put the date stamp in only one place, on the right side of the blue, hanging out in the sky.  Did it.  UPSIDE DOWN!  ARG!!!  At that point I remembered there's always a way around mistakes - so I started stamping all over, in all directions.  Personally, I think the multiple stamps make the cards richer.  All because of a mistake!

Pretty sure I won't be using the date stamp on my finished paintings, well, sort of sure... but working through layers like this feeds my imagination and enriches my for-sale work.  Try it!  You might like it!

Artists working for Microsoft

Friends.  I adore these two very talented artists!  We worked well together.

Working the Microsoft Grand Opening

 Last weekend Microsoft had their grand opening in the mall.  They trained several artists to work in front of their store demonstrating their Fresh Paint program on this lovely 55" screen.  Loved it!

This is one of my former students - he came down to see me and together we worked this capital up, both signing it 'Me' in our respective corners.  Thanks for coming, Evan - it was fun to see you!

Here are Kim and I, just having fun.  Glad she stuck to the 'wear black' idea. :)

 Here I am doing demos on the smaller tablet of a little boy.  He and his parents were so happy with my picture.  This program is super easy to use.  Believe me, if I can learn it with just a short amount of training, ANYBODY can!  I've used a lot of paint and drawing programs, but this is definitely the best one I've tried.

(by the way, my hair was BRIGHT pink.  This is the very last, faded end of it.)

Here I am doing another demo for these young ladies. There's an easy pull-down menu to change colors, brushes, styles, etc.

All in all, it was a great weekend.  The store was mobbed from start to finish, and it was fun having a part in it.  I couldn't talk them into a free 55" screen, but hey, there's always that Fresh Paint program.

Microsoft Artist

Microsoftgrandopening

Check it out for all the details.

Artist at Microsoft Grand Opening

Today I was trained to work the Microsoft grand opening in The Woodlands Mall. Wow!  This is going to be fun!  They will have a 55" screen out in the mall in front of the store, and artists will be drawing and painting on it to show what it can do and being people in. So... Check it out at:
http://content.microsoftstore.com/en-us/detail/thewoodlandsmall?WT.mc_id=pointitsem_retailNSO_detail_SearchGoogle&tid=sLDbF104X_dt&cid=757if99307&pcrid=47597081765&pkw=microsoft&pmt=e&WT.srch=1&WT.term=microsoft&WT.campaign=Search+-+Microsoft+Store&WT.content=LDbF104X&WT.source=google&WT.medium=cpc

And come on out and see us!!!!

Artist Expo Houston is Coming Soon!

www.artistexpohouston.com It's the place to go!  Happening in just inside of a month, people will be descending upon The Woodlands from all over!  I've already got people signed up in my classes from Pennsylvania, Alabama, Oklahoma and Louisiana and towns in Texas I've never heard of!

If you're interested in:

- taking a myriad of classes
- testing out new products
- getting some great deals on art suppplies
- enjoying fellow artists
- learning in art-themed seminars
- checking out a judged show of paintings from the 110 mile radius of Houston


As for myself, I'll be teaching metals classes.  Here's a sample of one I did.

Wanna try any of the above? Then this is the place for you!  Come and check us out!