Sketchbook Project: Week 16

You guys! I finished a SECOND sketchbook!  Can you believe it?  Even while traveling I've been able to keep up with this project, including filming and photographing on the road.  Actually, yesterday in Savannah, I found a shaded park bench and filmed the flip-through that I share on Instagram and took these photos.  All of my pages this week are again inspired by our travels, and I love each and every spread.  I hope you do too!

Watercolor

Colored Pencil

Watercolor

Watercolor

Watercolor

Watercolor

Colored Pencil

Thanks for reading!  You can catch up on my project here. 

Workshop Tour Update!

Hey pals!  I'd like to share a little update with you about my workshop tour!  I'm having so much fun hopping from town to town and teaching my needle felting technique.  I'm getting to hang out with the coolest people, spending a couple of hours crafting with them.  I mean, how neat is that?

Each of the stops are places we've never been, so every couple of days is a quick introduction to a new city.  Last week, we visited Nashville & Knoxville, Tennessee and Asheville, NC.

In Nashville, our workshop was at Hey, Rooster General Store, owned by the sweetest gal, Courtney Webb.  She's got some really amazing food, home and bath/body products, as well as some great art and prints from very talented artists in her shop.  Give her a visit if you're in the area!

In Knoxville, The Hive served as our classroom.  This space hosts "community gatherings, private parties, photo shoots and houses creative entrepreneurs." It's a beautiful space in a cool town.  These classes were a delight! Also, we used Airbnb to rent a huge downstairs area in a local couple's home.  It was beautiful and very charming.  Our hosts even stocked our fridge with snacks and breakfast foods!

Asheville's workshop was at The Drygoods Shop, owned by Leigh Anne Hilbert. It's a shared studio space, classroom and storefront.  It's a very lovely place with lovely people! My class was so fun, and the ladies I met and taught here were amazing. Asheville the town is fun and quirky and serves up some really good food.  We had the yummiest coffee, doughnuts, Indian street food , local beer and cider.  There were so many other places recommended to us, but we just didn't have enough time to visit them all!

On our way from Knoxville to Asheville we went through the Smoky Mountains and spent the day in the National Park. It was ridiculously beautiful.  Every bend in the road evoked some sort of gasp or sigh.  We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway and came back a couple days later for more hiking. Turns out, I love mountains and apparently need to visit all the mountains everrrrrr. 

I visited the class space for my Raleigh workshop today, and I'm really excited to share it with you next week, along with updates on upcoming Charleston and Savannah workshops!  Talk soon, friends!

Sketchbook Project: Week 15

Hey y'all.  We've been traveling and teaching workshops for a week now and are currently in North Carolina.  I'll be posting more specific tour updates very soon, but for now, let's talk about how travel inspires my artistic soul.  Every single page in my sketchbook this week relates to an experience of the day.  From an excited burst of colors, to bridges of Knoxville and the Smokey Mountains, I love how the sketchbook is serving as a visual journal.  I usually keep a travel journal and add a few sketches here and there, and for some reason I decided not to bring another journal for writing.  But that's okay, because I'm still recording memories on these pages.

I hope you enjoy them!  See previous weeks here.

Left and Right: Watercolor

Graphite Pencils

Micron Pens

Watercolor

Left: Japanese Brush Pen   Right: Watercolor

Have a great week! 

Sketchbook Project: Week 14

What. A. Week.  I've been preparing to kick of the Workshop Tour and roadtrip all week by finishing and mailing current projects, last minute workshop kit prep, and packing. I have a piece that I'm working on for a exhibition in Springfield next month that I didn't manage to finish, so I'm taking it on the road!

I enjoyed my sketching time this week. As a whole, the seven sketches have a fairy tale feel to me.  The cotton candy clouds at the first of the week helped to set the tone, and then the rest of the pieces seem to fill in the fantasy gaps for me. I'm missing another creature--a gnome, maybe? Haha, next time.  Actually that butterfly spread is the planning sketch for the aforementioned exhibition piece--I'm pretty excited to finish that wool painting. 

Over the next few weeks, I'll be blogging a bit about the Workshop Tour as well as the Sketchbook Project.  I hope you enjoy following along!

Gouache

Prismacolor Colored Pencil

Left: Watercolor    Right: Micron Pen

Colored Pencil

Left: Micron Pen, Watercolor    Right: Gouache

Talk soon, friends!

Sketchbook Project: Week 13

I found it very hard to nail down inspiration AND time to complete these pages.  On top of that, I could NOT find my watercolor palette for a couple days.  I was convinced someone was playing a joke on me, but I eventually found it hidden in a locker underneath another sketchbook.  Because I felt so hard-pressed for time, I only have one two-page spread this week.  No big deal, though--If you remember, I have no rules about quantity. 

Sometimes when I start a page I have absolutely no plans for it, and it will end up going in a very unexpected direction.  For example, the last page this week took on a last minute "Alice in Wonderland" vibe.  I think it might be my favorite out of this set.

I've been busy with details of the felting workshop tour, packing kits for the workshops, finishing portrait orders and planning some VERY exciting things that I will share later.

But for now, I hope you enjoy these pages!

Left: Crayola Marker, Gelly Roll Pen     Right: Micron Pen, Watercolor

Watercolor

Left: Watercolor, Salt, Gelly Roll Pen    Right: Mechanical Pencil, Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Left & Right: Watercolor, Prismacolors

See you next week with new filled pages. If you need to catch up, click here.

Art Class Visit and Mini Workshop

On Thursday, I visited my friend Jessica's middle school art class and gave them a quick lesson on needle felting.  I had a great time, and the students loved it as well.  My friend said they were talking about it and showing other teachers what they made during our mini-workshop. I showed them how to create little monsters and critters, and I was so impressed with their creativity!  They picked up the technique quickly, and only a couple needed a bandage for their poked fingers.

Getting back in a classroom setting with younger students felt great.  Mostly I teach adults now, but a year ago I was still working as a zoo educator teaching Pre-K to elementary kiddos. I was worried that I might be nervous, and I was for the first few minutes.  But that quickly subsided and teaching in a classroom felt great, just like it used to feel.

I'm totally game to visit more classrooms and give a lesson or two.  If you're a teacher (or you know one) in Southern Missouri or Northern Arkansas, get in touch if you'd like to set something up.