This is the first display I set up in my classroom!  My kids did a project on Architecture & Color… which means they had a LOT to learn (this is their first art class.)  We covered color theory, basic photoshop & photography tips, drawing, AND painting just for one little project.  They probably have no idea how much they learned, but LOOK at how good they turned out:

What do you think?  I’m proud of them, especially since most of them are so scared of art and of getting a bad grade.  It’s nice to see them produce something they didn’t realize they could!

I’ll be posting a ton more so get ready to see some student work =)

If you missed it, last week I started a new feature here called Medium of the Month.  Each month I’m going to pick a different artistic medium, research and explore it, and create something using that medium.  This month is watercolor (mmmmhmmm!!) and you can see my first post about it right here.  It has some information on watercolor, some techniques to try, and some watercolor inspiration.

I tried out the alcohol and cling wrap techniques… want to see how they turned out?!

This is the before & after alcohol technique…

It didn’t turn out as cool as I expected, and looked even less interesting when it dried.  I still like the effect though and see myself using it.  Well, I DID use it, when I was playing around again here:

See, around the edges?  Subtle but nice, I think.  Would you use it?

I also did the cling wrap method, which was a little strange and didn’t work very well my first try.  I found that it doesn’t work if you just lay the plastic on top and then take it off.  You have to move it around and make intentional manipulations to the watercolor.  I tried it around the edges of the alcohol test painting, in blue:

See?  Interesting & different.  I think… I like it.  Yup!

Now I’m trying to decide what I actually want to do with this medium and these techniques… ahh I don’t know!  I’ll work on it and let you know more next week =)

Isn’t that crazy?!  All done with spray paint.  I really want to experiment with it a little now that I have the general idea down (thanks to my friend Drew for teaching me!)  What do you think?

Hey party people, I have so much to update on!  Lately I have been doing TONS of planning for nicoleioma.com (you would be proud, really) and I’m hoping to start some (hopefully) cool/interesting/amazing/wonderful posts in October.  Which is soon, in case you missed the “October is Almost Here” memo, like I did.

Aaaaanyway…. the above photo is from a project I am currently working on for a class which is all about using technology in education.  It’s a very interesting class, a little crazy, and they wanted us to make a “Digital Story” (aka… a movie) about what we envision our future classrooms to look like and how technology is going to be part of that.  I decided to try out the whole stop motion thing… and I am looooving it!  Aside from the fact that I have taken almost 100 photos and I am nowhere near done.

Trust me, I will be more than excited to share when I am done =)

I also did something SO cool last week.  I think so, anyway… my friend Drew does these really cool spray painting landscapes and he taught me how.  I took a ton of photos while we were working on them and a bunch of the finished products and then MY CAMERA WENT MISSING.  I am trying not to panic and just hoping it will turn up, but… I have no idea where it could have gotten to.  But once I find it (and I WILL) I will post those pictures.  (Oh and by landscape, I mean OUTER SPACE-scape.  Yes, I made outer space.)

Well, I guess that’s it… until I find my camera and October rolls around.  I’m pretty excited about my new posts and I hope you are too!  Although I really think I’m being a little over ambitious… we’ll see =)

Hope you enjoyed =)  Have a great weekend!

And where it is now…

I don’t know.  I’m not sure how I feel about it right now, I’m just kind of… stuck.  Which means I will probably leave it alone for another few weeks and then get back to it!  Ideas/suggestions/thoughts??

Hope you are all having an amazing weekend =)

This weekend I have been hard at work painting, and have (mostly) enjoyed every minute of it.  Here is a little peek at an in-progress painting I have been working on…

And here is what it looked like a couple months ago when I first started working on it..

Haha.  I have ideas in mind about where I want to go with it, but I keep getting stuck and thinking that I just like it the way it is.  I’ll keep going, for sure, but it might take a little while… I’ll share once it’s finished.

This is the biggest painting I’ve ever done, but not for long!  I am starting a HUGE HUGE HUGE project, which I also worked on this weekend, and I’ll talk more about this week.  It involves painting on a very large scale, lots of pressure, and a painting style I am learning to master as I go along.  I’m going to need all the help/advice/encouragement I can get!

Hope you have a wonderful week =)

Cool, right??  I thought it would be a fun activity for my art campers to do, to break up the day a little bit and to make things exciting, so I’m going to try it out with them later this week.  I’ll let you all know how it goes  =)  I thought about doing a tutorial, but it’s pretty easy to just google it and see how to do it (I can do a step-by-step if anyone wants me to, though!)

And if you know of any fun, active art activities that will make my poor kids less jealous of the other camp (imagine walking by slip n slides & kids playing capture the flag with face paint, while you have to sit and draw or paint) then let me know!  I want them to have as much fun as possible, so that more kids want to go to art camp =)

I want this on my wall.  It’s so pretty… maybe somedaayyy ♥

This is the first page, before I put the covers onnn

And then I put a camera on the cover to make it a little more interesting (the class I’m teaching is Digital Photography.)

It’s RIVETING.  Haha.

Omg just a few more days until Spring Break =)  I need it.  And I’m going to Chicago for the St. Patrick’s Day festivitiesss  !!