Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Little Monsters

Today in class, I had the students design their own monster.  Then
they drew them on the canvas, and painted them with acrylic paint. 
Kate here is outlining her painting...too cute.

This is Anna and her monster, with curly arms!

And Samuel's is a sort of buffalo creature...scary!

Children's Art classes: Wednesdays  4-5pm
$10 each  Call the gallery to register
318-628-3560

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Show Ready

I am getting closer to finishing this drawing.  I just added a little
background...some of the colors in the bird lightly cross-hatched across
the surface.  I am going to enter this in the Colored Pencil Society
show soon. 

Monday, February 25, 2013

Not so Angry Bird

Just about finished with the bird...now for the background (which I usually
do not care for!)  When talking to many other colored pencil artists,
I found out that many of them do the backgrounds first?!  I never do that.
How do they know where their subject is going to be exactly?
You might change your mind about the size or placement...oh well,
there is more than one way to do things.  I just like to have my
subject done when I add the background.  Interesting....

sheltongail@hotmail.com
 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

A Night in Peru

Some of our table decorations for the dinner party

Some of my artwork in the back of the pickup tree (that is in the cafe)

The salad course...shrimp and vegetables Peruvian style

The soup...more shrimp and vegetables...delicious

Beef stir fry and rice...main course

And the final dessert course...white chocolate mousse with
coconut and marmalade
These are some of my special helpers...Jody, Nelson, and
Meagan...thanks so much!!

And this is our chef, Pete Schneider, with his parents


We pulled off our third annual dinner party/gallery talk
last night with our "Night in Peru".  We enjoyed delicious
food prepared by Pete, Hannah Schneider, and Carrie
Sanders.  And I gave a slide show about our trip,
and shared some insights about my artwork.
Thanks to all my workers and those who
helped in any way...it was great!

We will probably do another one next year...after
my trip to China!  So, look forward to some
Chinese cuisine, and some oriental artwork,
coming in February 2014!

sheltongail@hotmail.com
 


Friday, February 22, 2013

A Bird on the Paper

Making some progress on this drawing...still have some textured
areas to do.  The part that is left is very tedious.  This is called a
 "work in progress, or WIP.  There is a great group on Facebook that is comprised of colored pencil artists from around the world. 
You can check them out, and see lots of works in progress...
very interesting.
Colored Pencil Artists and Lovers/Facebook.com
(CPAL)
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Bird Progress

A little more....lots of fun hair!
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Is this an emu?

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Angrier Bird

Making some progress on this drawing of this bird.
It has some really interesting textures...I have
used some Gamsol on a few of the areas.  It helps it
all blend together and smooths out the pencil
strokes.  The paper is a cream color, and is  a new
paper for me, called Stonehenge.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Monday, February 18, 2013

angry bird

Decided I needed a little "fine art" fix!  I have to have something new
to enter in the Colored Pencil Society show, so I started this bird.
I can't think of what kind of bird this is...if you know, leave me a
comment.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Sunday, February 17, 2013

"Texas, Our Texas"

I think I have finally tweaked this design enough!  Here is the
black and white drawing.

And here is the color version.  I have plans to print this on a
red tote bag.  T-shirts would also be a possibility.
I hope to have the bag ready for the next market in June (hopefully
before then).  There was a lot of requests for a Texas-themed
design while I was in Dallas.  I meet with one of the
permanent showrooms next month, and plan to
show this design to him as well.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Art Show and Tell

These are selections from the YACA art competition.
This piece is a pencil drawing with  real objects added...very cool.

This is a 3 dimensional abstract piece.  Reminds me of
topographical land maps...and I like the colors.

This is colored pencil.   I thought the rendering was nice and
I also love the colors in this one.

When I first saw this piece, I wasn't sure what it was.
Then I realized it was piano keys.  

Very interesting drawing of an Indian woman



This is another drawing that has 3 dimensional
objects added...the butterfly wings came away from the surface. 


And this was absolutely stunning!  It was drawn with
charcoal, and  it was the talk of the show.  I was not
there for the awards, but I am sure this one took top honors.
There is no way I was drawing anything this well
in high school?!  Congrats to the teachers
and students whose talents were well represented.

YACA (youth art council of America)
Look into this organization if you are an
art teacher or art student...well worth it

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Friday, February 15, 2013

YACA Workshop









I put my "teaching shoes" back on today.  I spent the day at the YACA convention (Youth Art Council of America).When I was a teacher,
I took my students to this convention.
 It is a wonderful organization.  At the convention, the students
compete in an art show, take workshops, complete art projects,
attend a banquet and a dance, and have lots of fun.
Today, I taught them to do colored pencil on canvas, using the
Gamsol solvent.They caught on very quickly, and had some success
with it.  It was a fun day for me, away from the gallery,
getting to spend time with young people with a passion for art, 

and a desire to learn.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Valentine Fun

A little Valentine fun today in my art class...They made
 cards out of heart shapes.
And then we made some "goop"...with corn starch and water, and red
food coloring.  They had a blast...got a little messy, and
giggled a lot!  Hope you all have a fun Valentine's Day
tomorrow!  Love all around.

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Learning Curve

In our Tuesday art class today, Dana finished her egret
painting.  I thought she did a nice job.

This is her next project...a white iris.  She applied the masking fluid
onto the paper, covering up the drawing of the flower.  She will
continue on it next week.

This is Jordan's "Louisiana" montage piece.  She designed the whole
thing.  It is for a contest, and has to have a Louisiana theme.  I think
she got it all in there!  She will keep working on it.

I have two new students in the group...a couple of friends wanted to learn some basic things, and today was their first day.  I started them off with
 some pen and ink.  Students always have some success with it.  They
both did very well,
drawing this little bird using different techniques with the pen.


And this is my finished egret watercolor painting.  It is about 12
 inches by 16 inches, and I would like to sell it.  I would take $40
for it if anyone is interested.  I can ship it free!  Just leave me a
comment or email me:
sheltongail@hotmail.com

Info on Adult Art classes:
Tuesdays  from 4-5 pm  $10 an lesson
Call the gallery to register  318-628-3560

Monday, February 11, 2013

The Texas Drawing Board


still working on some "Texas" designs...I like some
elements, and some don't work.  So, I keep sketching,
and changing ideas and locations of things.  I 
will keep on till I am satisfied!

sheltongail@hotmail.com

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Birthday Party Time

birthday goodies

party goers doing a "Hello Kitty" craft


More crafters...cotton ball fun

We rented out the deck today for a "Hello Kitty" birthday party.
The little girls braved the chilly weather, and had fun
finishing a craft project, playing some games,
opening gifts, and enjoying some delicious
goodies.  A great day!

The deck is available to rent for parties, showers,
weddings, receptions, etc.  We can set it up to
fit your needs.  We can also rent it at night...there
is electrical out there as well.  Just let us know
if you would like to host your next get together
out on the deck!

sheltongail@hotmail.com 
Pea Patch Gallery 
Winnfield, LA
318-628-3560

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Boots, and more Boots

One of two options for the boot bag...kinda plain.  The bag is that greenish turquoise color, so I don't want the design to be too turquoise.


This bag is a little bigger, and could be used for a weekend getaway
bag.  It has velcro tabs at the top.
This design has a little more "spunk".  Is it hard to read?   I will keep
working when I can squeeze it in between everything else!

I heard from two cupcake bakeries that may want some of my
cupcake bags...to use for corporate gifts as well as regular gift
bags filled with their yummy cupcakes!  One is in Alexandria, and the
other is in Lafayette, Louisiana.  Hopefully we can do some business
together!  Keep you posted.

sheltongail@hotmail.com