Andy Warhol style portraits

 In one of my classes, I am teaching about Pop art, Andy Warhol style. Why not?
He was the best known artist of my growing up years. This lesson was on portraits done Warhol style...photographic, flattened to two or three values.    The first step was to find a good photo...had to be somebody famous and glamorous, someone Warhol would choose. (picture #1) Then I photo-shopped it to black and white and flattened it to just a few values. (picture #2) The students then copied it four times on their sketch pads. (Warhol loved repetition) They had to use three colors, using different color scheme for each of the four. Picture #3 shows Grant's final product: Portrait of Johnny Depp. I loved how these turned out. (more student work to come)

AURORA RAIL STATION

This is Linda's first water color project. She wanted to do a painting of the railroad station in Aurora on tile to hang above their basement entry. First she painted it on water color paper about 14 x 22. Then we scanned the image and stitched it in Photo stitch. We printed it out in sections and fitted it onto the tiles. (The tiles had been previously mounted to fit the area of the entry) Finally, we glazed it in clear acrylic gloss to bring out the color and protect the painting.  It turned out great, but it was not an overnight project!  Congratulation, Linda, on persevering. Most of my students choose a much simpler project to start. Plus she also has the original to frame and hang elsewhere.

I loved this picture of my grandson, Jonas, as he was rolling a ball to Candy's dog, Purdy. I try to do a painting of each kid around the age of 2. I struggle when painting to keep children's skin fresh looking, but I think I managed it this time. The painting is watercolor on 16 x 20 Arches.

Christmas Card

This was my Christmas card this year...or New Years card, since I don't mail until after Christmas. I was doodling in church one day at the beginning of December, and Megan was giving a lesson on keeping things simple and keeping Christ at the center of your holidays. I kept saying to myself, "keep it simple....don't overcomplicate." There are a few basic lines, and the outer shape looks a lot like a human heart. So the theme was Let Christ be at the center of your life.