New Paintings

I've finally started to make some headway on the paintings for Chhaya, and here is a look at some of the stuff I've been working on:

This one is 36"x48", although my seriously lousy smartphone camera does not do the best job of capturing detail...

Here's a detail of part of the city on the horizon line.  There is a long-standing tradition of miniature painting in India, and I'm interested in creating some small-scale pieces as well.  

Detail of Dog-thing.  Not sure exactly what this creature is, but I think it's a dog...

Detail of moth and moon.

This is the second painting(R); it measures 30"x40".  And here's a detail of the patterns in the background(L).  I've just started another layer of these patterns, so they'll be more pics to come...

Here's a couple more sketches as well, both pen and ink.  I plan to have a few clusters of smaller pieces throughout the show, and perhaps some prints available of the drawings as well.

 That's about it for now, but I should have another post coming up soon about some Fall and Halloween projects I did with my kids.  

Monarch Madness

Autumn is definitely my favorite season, not only because it's a beautiful time of year, but also because I love all fall-related crafts and activities.  That being said, there is a limit to how many projects one can do involving leaves, corn and pumpkins.  This week, I decided to focus on another interesting aspect of fall:  the migration of monarch butterflies.  We created a whole slue of these gorgeous creatures for the art wall.

...This was the complete project.  Pre-K and preschool made larger butterflies out of butcher paper and tempera paint (the go-to combination for all ECE art teachers!).

...Older toddlers worked with a variety of collage materials, such as tissue paper, felt and construction paper...

...my kids worked with liquid watercolors, sea salt and glitter...

...I also included a little bit of information about the monarch's journey and what route they take...

I think this one might be my favorite.  I love the use of color and the pattern this student created.  My students had a lot of fun with this project and I think I'm going to do variations of it in the future.  

New Work

Yet more recent sketches.  These are inspired by Hindu imagery and painting.  I've recently become very interested in this aesthetic, particularly their use of pattern and line work.  

I just started a large painting similar to this work.  This is a totally new direction for me, and I'm excited to try something altogether different.  I feel like I haven't been willing to break out of my creative comfort zone, and it's been detrimental to my work.  I'm hoping this new challenge will force a breakthrough.