The Mathey Family in the style of Paul Klee -

YUP - You don't have to tell me that this is weird - I already know that but it was great fun!!  This is my portrait of our family in the style of Paul Klee.  Several of his works feature stick figures cavorting about.

The stairs represent our house and the dog represents - well, the dog.  BONUS points to anyone that can identify the four members of our family correctly!!
Linking to Creative Every Day Check-In.

Trip to the museum -

Caleb and I ran to the Evansville Museum of Arts, History & Science while Corey and Connor worked for a few hours yesterday afternoon (Caleb and I definitely got the good end of that deal!).  I wanted to see the art and Caleb wanted to play in the science areas.  Unfortunately for Caleb they closed the science gallery for renovations - and mom(me) wanted to look at "each and every picture" on the walls.  Here's a peek at some of the standouts of the permanent collection - 

GIRL WITH FRUIT

Fernand Leger (1881-1955)

Oil on Canvas 

 MOUNTAINS TO THE NORTH - AUTUMN, LAKE GEORGE, NEW YORK

Georgia O'Keeffe

Oil on Canvas, 1922

 VISAGE

Pablo Picasso

Lithograph, 1928

 PORTRAIT OF A BOY

Pierre-August Renoir

Pastel Drawing

PORTRAIT OF CAROL OWEN COLEMAN

Andy Warhol

Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen on canvas, 1975 

Self-portrait etching

Rembrandt

Rembrandt

Here is the part that I love - I'm always telling my boys that they should date their artwork.  Caleb refuses since he says that real artists only sign their name and not the date - Check out Rembrandt's signature - it has the date - 1646!!  I think the date is one of the coolest parts of this etching!  There were quite a few of his etchings on display behind glass.  One of the great things about a small museum is that you can really get close and study the work.  Whenever I've visited large museums there are always crowds of people obscuring the view.  Obviously these aren't their well-known works but how often are you that close to pieces by famous people??

Mildred is a faded rose -

'Tis the last rose of summer

Left blooming alone;

All her lovely companions

Are faded and gone ~ Thomas More

This week's Illustration Friday theme is FADED.  While "Mildred" is vibrant in hue her old-fashioned appearance and outlook are as faded as the last rose of summer. 

"Mildred" is based on my interpretation of Amedeo Modigliani's work.  I remember seeing his long-necked, long-faced ladies a long time ago but didn't realize what a "nudie" painter he was so click on the link at your own risk!!
BTW - I asked my son, Connor (15), what he would name this lady and he said Doris or Mildred.  I laughed at him but then looked online at the most popular names in the 1920's and Doris and Mildred were ranked 8th and 9th respectively.  Go figure - that kid is smarter than he looks!
Linked to Creative Every Day, Paint Party Friday and Art Journal Every Day

Second Floor Challenge #4 - Circles

Time for another Second Floor Challenge - this one has the theme of Circles!  While this canvas is definitely not one of my favorites, I am bound and determined to do all of the Second Floor Challenges so you will just have to deal with my Kandinsky knock-off.

Do you like it any better when you see it from far away?  Me either. . .
Did you know that Wassily Kandinsky is credited with being the first to do a truly abstract piece of art? Colour Studies:  Squares and Concentric Circles is likely his most recognizable piece.

Connor made his own version in art class several years back and his is definitely more true to the Kandinsky look.  Mine looks more like, "Gobstoppers broken in half" - according to Caleb.  10 year-olds are brutal art critics!

Moxie Fab World: The Spatter Technique Challenge

Time for a fun challenge at the Moxie Fab blog - Spatter!  Sounds easy but spatter is hard to control and messy - so to amp up the mess for myself I decided to make my chevron background with a stencil (Balzer Designs) and spray mist.  Using spray mist (Sunny Yellow - Inkadinkado) gave me the unintended added bonus of yellow spatter to go with the brown spatter (Transparent Raw Umber - Liquitex).

The sentiment is pieced together from two different A Muse stamp sets.  The yummy sparkly brown glitter is from Martha Stewart.  

Illustration Friday - SIGHT

"The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has SIGHT but no vision."

                                                      - Helen Keller

An incredible quote from an amazing person.  As a young girl I read a lot about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan - so inspiring!  I decided to participate in the Illustration Friday Challenge for the first time - the topic is SIGHT.

I started with this girl with large eyes - but wanted to do something different from what I've done in the past so I

covered her eyes with a piece of cardstock attached with repositional adhesive  (looks as if she is embarrassed to be seen in this blog post).

Then added a couple layers of watered down gesso.
NOTE TO SELF - In the future if I want to add gesso over an image that was colored partially with Neo-Color crayons then seal it first!  Otherwise the watery gesso will totally smear your colors! 

A little outline with a white paint pen really makes the eye stand out!

Some bookprint about eyes/sight and some washi tape made this the newest addition to my art journal.  Speaking of sight - this is a pic of our son Connor putting in his new contacts for the first time on Friday.  (Think it would help if he opens his eyes a little??)

Linking to Artists in Blogland Show and Tell Saturday #26 and Just Journals.

Wisdom from a Bag Lady - -

YUP!  I crack myself up sometimes - why, you may ask, is this regal looking woman being referred to as a "bag lady"?

Recently, my husband made a bag lunch to take to work and left one lone rejected empty bag on the counter that I felt compelled to use for a quick sketch.

 Many layers

and layers of paint

and ink then ensued.

Some more scary than others until finally. . .

she arrived - The bag lady!  When I asked my husband what he thought he said, "She might look better with a shirt."   I replied, "Hhhmphhh - who asked you?"  (oh ya, that would've been me).  Anyhoo, that is why he is currently not employed as an art critic.

Bag ladies rarely get the respect that they deserve so I thought my gal would appreciate a crown - and some decorative washi tape.  All things are better with washi tape, right?

That quote seems perfect for an elegant bag lady.

So there she is - one of my favorite art journal pages so far!!  Please note that I left the part at the bottom to prove that she was drawn on a paper bag -
Linking to Art Journal Every Day,
Paint Party Friday - Week 10 Year 2,
Creative Every Day:  May 14-20.

Figure Drawing -

Last Thursday it was fun day of sketching with my pal, Roni.  I wanted to try figure sketching so I got my wooden figure and took it over to Roni's house.  LOOK at how sweet the two look together -  like a "generic parent figure" walking a "generic child figure" in the park.  Doesn't that touch your generic wooden heart?

(Also note the take-out cup from Cracker Barrel - we had breakfast before sketching - everyone knows that sketching goes much better after a hearty serving of Hashbrown Casserole!) 

Anyway - my figures kinda look like robot people - they were fun to draw but I couldn't figure out any text to put with them until I grabbed my 1940 Healthy Growing book and started snipping out some wording.

 "The things you do most of the time seem to affect your bones and muscles."

". . .at first it may be hard for you to stand or sit straight and at ease. . ."  This layout is definitely different from any other endeavors in my art journal but I love it!!

BTW - This figure sketch for a painting looks so modern to me but was painted in the 1500's by Luca Cambiasi.  How cool is that??!!

Linking to - Paint Party Friday - Year 2, Week 9;

Art Journal Every Day; and

Artists in Blogland - Show and Tell Saturday #25

Painted Ladies Canvas -

Finished up my girl canvas!!  The ladies were such fun to make and I'm tickled with how they look all together on the finished piece.  

The believe card comes from a set by Melody Ross and the words were written with Cosmo Cricket letters and held up with Tim Holtz Memo Pins (be careful - those babies are SHARP).  Some vintage lace and Me&My Big Ideas rub-ons finished up my messily painted background.

TRUST, FAMILY, LAUGHTER, CREATIVITY, LOVE, MYSELF - all good things to believe in.
Caleb - "Mom, Don't ya think it is pretty vain to put myself on there?"
Me - "Isn't it important for me to believe in myself though?"
Caleb - "You got a point there. . ."

Linking up to the Second Floor Challenge #3 - TRUTH.  

Did you know that Liquitex has spray paints now??  I just got my free sample in the mail the other day and am anxious to try it out - bet it will be awesome with stencils!

BTW - Do you see that the mass produced letter is addressed to "Dear Artist"?  Maybe now instead of answering to mom I should demand to be called "ARTIST" -
Caleb - "ARTIST - Why do I have to take a shower?"
Connor - "ARTIST - What's for supper?"
Perhaps when I show my next creation someone in my family will say - "That's nice, ARTIST".  Has a nice ring to it, doncha think??

Fingerpainted Flowers -

Messy, messy fun in the art journal - wanted to try my hand at fingerpainting flowers.  Wait for it - - "try my hand at fingerpainting" - har har!!  I'll be here all week . . .

The top page is meant to look like a patch of orange poppies on a sunny day.  However, my husband says they look like a bunch of peaches with their pits showing - sigh.  I believe a bit more success was met with the second attempt.

Here is my half-dried out palette - once the painted flower designs were dry and trimmed down for the journal, I decided to cut up the remaining bits into small strips for use on future projects -

The idea for fingerpainting flowers came from a recent Alisa Burke post where she made amazing work of her flowers -

The whole point is to try something new - It was fun, messy and quick - definitely something to attempt again on another day!

Linking to Show and Tell Saturday #25 - Artists in Blogland  and  Just Journals Link Party.