Monday, April 27, 2009

Illustration Friday: Theatre

I've been struggling with some artist's block, so I returned to traditional media for this. Brush and ink colored with watercolor pencils. You just can't get that wet in wet action from a computer. I really liked the way it looked in black and white too with just the ink and wash.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Art in Action: Wang Yuan-Ch'i

Today's Art in Action lesson was from the Chinese landscape artist Wang Yuan-Ch'i: Pavilion with Distant Mountain. Today I had a full class of third graders--which went fine. (I usually have half of a combined 2nd/3rd grade class, but today had both sets of 3rd graders from two combo classes. ) The art part of the lesson was about Chinese brushwork--which is something I've studied a little. I have a chop (a stone stamp with my name in Chinese) that I had made when I was in Hong Kong (on Semester at Sea.) The kids thought it was great that I let each of them stamp my chop on their painting to give it an authentic feel.
Shown here is my demo painting (on the right) and my daughter's (who tags along and does the lesson too.)(on the left--I got it correct this time.) My daughter decided to put a lion in her Chinese landscape.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Illustration Friday: Fleeting Space Commander

I think he may have lost his fleet. So this is a little different, a costume design inspired by Mark Mitchell's How to be a Children's Book Illustrator online class. (Don't ask why an illustration class resulted in a costume design--it's complicated.)
I spent many years in Theatrical costuming--a little blaster from my past. Just a fleeting moment...