Ant Art!

 
Carlo was being particularly quiet, so I decide to go check to see what he was doing. He had found some ants in the house. I got the camera to take some pictures, because he shares my love for bugs, and the light was pretty.I love shadows and soft light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason they were in the house was Carlo left them some food for them on the window sill. Then I remembered this pin my sister-in-law found, about how this guy gave some ants colored sugar water and because their abdomens are translucent the food coloring changes the color of the ant's abdomen.You can not trust everything on pinterest, so I had to try it out for myself to see if it works. These are not fire ants, which are from the devil, these are just red ants. I do not know if it works with fire ants. I do not plan to find out either. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is my favorite because he drank the green sugar water first, so you can see the colors mixing in his abdomen. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

 

How to Build a Photo Prop from a Big Box.

I took this large box and turned it in to a photo Prop.

 

 

 

1. I found the biggest box in my garaged and emptied it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. I cut the tape on the bottom.

3. Opened the bottom

4. I disconnected this semm so that it flattened the box like bellow.

 

4. I cut the flaps on the box and folded the box. 

5. When you fold the box make sure you flip it over so the inside of the box is the floor.
Repeat this step on the opposite side of the box.

6. I taped the folded flaps together.

7. I taped the other flaps up and connected them all.

 

 

 

8. Then you can stand it up.

 

9. Now you have a blank canvas to paint on. You can paint whatever you want to on it, and then use an exacto knife to cut out the face. We had a shark party for my son's first birthday, so this is what I decided to paint.

 

Becoming Real

 "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes don't see as well and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand" The Velveteen Rabbit

 

I love the Velveteen Rabbit. I cry every time I read it. Growing up my favorite toys to play with were my stuffed animals. I had to make sure I loved them so that one day they would be real. I thought all 115 stuffed animals were alive. Every time I got a new stuffed animal I would introduce it to the rest of the gang. To make sure no one got jealous of the time I spent with the new addition, I would have a talk with the rest of my stuffed animals about how I loved them all and they needed to be nice to their new friend. 

Although I loved all of my stuffed animals, there were a few that had a very special place in my heart. I have treasured these toys, and saved them for Alina. This week I presented them to her. As I pulled each one out, telling her their name, and who gave them to me, I realized how much life these stuffed animals really did have. They held very important memories of the people that I love. One big fluffy teddy bear named Blinkems was the last gift from my grandma before she passed away when I was 12. The dog pictured up above was made by my other grandma who just recently passed away at the age of 91.  One tough Christmas, I believe I was 8, I remember anonymously receiving a box from a church member. I remember how excited I was opening that giant box, and pulling out this panda bear almost as big as myself. I am not even sure if I got much else that year, but I did not care. Watching Alina play with my childhood toys makes me feel as if they have become real.

Happy Medium

For the longest time I have been what I would call, “A little bit of everything” kind of artist. I tried paper art, acrylic paint, watercolor, oil pastels, photography, and on and on. I was trying to copy, not find out who I am as an artist.  I recently read that to find your niche in art, do what comes easy to you, and what you enjoy.

I love the crisp black lines of ink. I love how controlled and defined they are. I also LOVE watercolor. I love to watch watercolor paint. I love how fluid and colorful it is. I love how alive and uncontrollable watercolor is. I look at the two like my husband and I. Hey, we are a great couple, why not combine my two favorite mediums and see how it comes out.

For the first time as an artist, I have enjoyed my creations. I have always enjoyed being creative no matter how I felt about the end result. In fact I normally did not like my end result. I normally would just give my art away to who ever had interest in it. I did not want to look at it; all I could see were the flaws. I do not think my art is perfect. Who knows, maybe I am maturing, but I can see the beauty in what I create now despite the imperfections.

This is Alina when she was 2 years old

This one is old, but I still love it.

I am a kid at heart

Make a Stamp from a Styrofoam Plate

1. Start with a Styrofoam plate.

 

2. Cut out the center of the plate. You can cut it out in what ever shape you want, but keep it as big as you can.

3. Pick an image to put on your plate. Keep it a simple line drawing. If you can not draw, find a clip art that you like.

 

4. Use dark chalk, or a charcoal pencil to outline your image. 

5. Wet the Styrofoam with water.. 

6. Place your image on top of  the wet Styrofoam and press down evenly.

7. Remove image carefully. 

8. Find a sharp fine tipped tool. I just used a pencil.

9. Firmly press down on the Styrofoam with your utensil of choice following the image left by the chalk.

It should look something like this.

10. Liberally and evenly apply acrylic paint to your stamp. A roller may work better than a brush.

11. Firmly press your stamp onto your paper.

Ta-Da!

This is one I made years ago, but I still like it.