Arrrrr morning walk

It was frosty today...so I broke out Sadie's Halloween sweater. I am not a fan of clothes for dogs, but sweaters are a must when it gets cold. And Sadie isn't embarrassed wearing it.

Collage Pop Art Animals

I really wish I could rotate pictures after I have uploaded them.  Sorry.

Steps:

1. Find an animal pic- print as a 5x7 grayscale.

2. Use grid enlargement to double the size to 10x14

3. Paint the background with a BRIGHT color.

4. Divide animal into sections, leave lower half of animal ( or another part) undone- outline with sharpie.

5. Use paint to create value in a few sections with one color per section (monochromatic).

6. Add texture to a few sections with sharpie.

7. Tear different textures and colors out of magazines and glue down. I also had silver paper they used.

This project took about 3-4 45minute classes.

Some turned out not so hot. It is important to emphasize how they divide the sections to follow the shape of the animal, and to use small torn strips of paper rather than chunks.

American Gothic Parodies

My students loooved this project. I talked a little bit about American Gothic, most students recognized the painting, and then asked each student to pick out a "famous couple." I encouraged cartoons, but they were not limited. I had a list to help them get started, but no one was allowed to do the same thing as someone else. The students were thinking up couples I had totally forgotten about! They then had to decide how to position their character, and what details to include. They penciled in a sketch ( NO TRACING) and the background ( as close to Grant Wood's original as possible). Then paint! I loved this project because it was fairly simple directions.

DIY: Dining Room Chairs

before

after

primed

all four before

all four after

around our temporary kitchen table





I wanted to do my own chairs after I found the fabric you see at Above All Fabrics. After I bought the fabric, I started looking around antique shops for chairs. Man, are chairs expensive! I really didn't care if they matched I just wanted to be able to recover a cushion seat. Well, I was talking to my MIL about my plan and she said to use the chairs someone had given to my hubby when he moved out to Oklahoma. They were PERFECT! I primed them immediately and then had to wait for the fabric to come in. I am  terrible at patience.  I also ordered some of the same print with a teal background  for plans of two end chairs in the future.


After we moved into our new house, my mom came down and I knew she would loooove this DIY project. We hit Lowe's and stared at spray paint forever. I was hung up because the teal color I loved only came in gloss and I wanted satin. I also wanted to do different colors, but on the shelf none of them seemed to go together. My mom threatened the thought of buying regular paint, and I immediately pulled four cans of satin spray paint and said these will do. As soon as they were in my mom's arms I couldn't believe how perfect they were together!




While the spray paint dried, we recovered the seats with a heavy duty stapler. Very easy. Well, very easy after we traded in our first stapler for a better one. 


My only debate is what color to paint my two end chairs once I get them!?!?

Celtic Roads Finished!