Welcome July!

It's July 1st and so it's time to give away another coloring page to all you coloring fiends out there. This one is called Meet Me in the Garden and is my contribution to the Strathmore "Pass the Journal" round robin goin' round under the name of Horace! So click on the photo and print it out and color away to your hearts content. Post it at my Susan Schwake Art page when you are done. I'd love to see it in living color!!

Make it Mondays : Found wood

 First find yourself an old piece of wood with chippy paint and plenty of distress. I found this old door which suited my purposes. Turn it each way - this and that. Around and around! find something in the distressed areas. Pretend it's like looking at the clouds in the sky when they appear to be rabbits or snails or ....  Then outline with pencil your found image. I saw a girl. Using acrylic paint add color!

Here she is getting her first coats of paint in for her face and hair. It's easy to paint in details if the wood is smooth. If not - don a mask and sand it a bit.

Here she is a little further along. Have fun with this process. It's playful. Can't find an image in the wood? Ask a kid. They will be very helpful. Happy Summer to you!

Making art with Groups

This group of droplets were painted by a variety of people of all ages. They were to be installed in our local hospital's CHAD unit. This was a project I directed six years ago and really enjoyed both the creating/conception of it as well as the final installation. Local woodworker Pat Bowen made the wooden droplets to my specs. Good things happen with art in groups!

Make-it Mondays : Buttermilk Chalk drawings

Good Morning friends! Today we are making paintings with Buttermilk and Chalk!

So gather these materials:

Chalk

Buttermilk

Paper

Simply dip the chalk into the buttermilk and draw!

The buttermilk makes the dust from the chalk go away.

It creates a smooth rich line.

Keep dipping between lines

Draw anything you can think of.

The more colors you use the more vibrant your drawing will be.

Let the drawing dry and then hang it up to admire it!

New Exhibit for July!

On the Walls : in The Square Magazine

Good Morning friends! When Chloe Kanner emailed and asked if we would mind being photographed with the focus on our home and our art I was hesitant (looking around at the dust buffalo as I call them) but agreed as I really really like Chloe Kanner.

We did scrub up nicely and she did focus on the art and how much it means to us in our home - not just in our gallery. It was fun in the end and her wonderful photographer Meg Hamilton from Rodeo & Co. captured us perfectly.

I was thrilled that she was able to capture our sculpture by Adam Pearson called "The Traveler" as it's so hard to photograph!! A big thanks to The Square for this article!

Make-it Mondays! Kids Potato Prints

 So easy and safe with the use of plastic cutlery and some pre-halved potatoes! It's a great feeling to let the kids carve them on their own and take pride in their own work.  SO - Let's make some art!

A finished print on construction paper with brown ink

Slice a potato in half either length-wise or width-wise for the child

Let the child use a plasatic knife or fork and scrape and dig the potato to make marks on the flesh side.

Place potatoes flesh side down on paper towels to absorb moisture. Press potato into an ink pad and press firmly!

Put four - six newspaper sections under the sheet of paper you will print on. Press inked potato onto paper firmly.

Lift the potato up and re-ink to continue printing! Make a pattern with different colors and carved potatoes!