lotta love

I just found this today...

a hint at what's to come

at HATCH!!!

Love love love Lotta!!!

Back from the beach...

We had a great time hanging out for a few days in Virginia Beach-- lots of sun, sand and time to enjoy each other's company before school started today! The kids both are in Middle School now!!! I can't believe how fast it went. I still feel like I'm saying good-bye to them like it's their first day of Kindergarten! They both came home excited and happy with their day and their teachers... what more could I ask for?

I got a lot done at the studio today. And I paid my first rent payment... yikes! But I'm excited about some new things that are about to start and all the great ideas I have for art. The temperatures outside are cool... just like autumn! We'll eat supper out on the back porch (I'll grab a sweater) and say farewell to hot summer days. Hope you're enjoying your last day of August...

xo Bethany

Summer art camps are over...

First of all I want to thank everyone who participated in my summer art camps at HATCH these last three months!!! They were so much fun and I met some really great kids! I am ready to hit the beach tomorrow but I'm also sad that all this activity has ended for the season. I think I learned a lot too... especially with the photography. They always say you learn more by teaching and it's definitely the truth.

Here's some little glimpses into some of the things we did last week... you can see a lot more on the HATCH website under photos in my August Big Kids Art Camp album! Our August theme was "traveling"...

On Monday we learned watercolor techniques on good watercolor paper and real tube watercolors (those cheap Crayola ones tend to fade over time). They painted a picture of hot air ballooning, and then we took everything outside to paint En Plein Air on little watercolor paper postcards of things that they saw...

On Tuesday we learned the basic skill of taking photos and photography. We talked about composition, apeture and f-stop, shutter speed, depth of field and how to create some fun tricks! They got to pick from 4 photo challenges... We also did sun prints as part of photography to learn about photo-sensitive papers, similar to processing your own film.

On Wednesday, we came up with a class design for a silkscreened t-shirt! Everyone filled out a little survey about themselves and summertime, came up with a simple illustration that represented themself and then I scanned them in the computer to put together for the design. I took it to CopyMax and got it copied on acetate. The next day we made the silkscreen which has a light sensitive emulsion on it, similar to the photography we did. On Friday we printed our t-shirt design!

On Wednesday we also learned about Kokeshi dolls and created our own with craft acrylic and wooden forms (you know I LOVE Kokeshis!). As they were traditional Japanese souvenirs, it fit our theme perfectly!On Thursday the class was split into morning and afternoon groups due to the 7th graders having a transition camp in the morning at the Middle School. We learned about Monet and how he started the Impressionist movement, again painting out of doors and exploring color. We "traveled to France" and did our own acrylic Impressionist paintings of something that represented summertime. The kids practiced mixing their own colors and some tried to create textures with the paint...

On Friday we had a day of printmaking! We printed our silkscreened t-shirts, then we carved little rubber stamps out of the white rubber erasers with carving tools. It was a little difficult but they turned out really fun! I had made up passports for each of them (they got to pick the color and put it together) with their pictures and general info inside like a real passport. Then everyone got to stamp everyone else's passport (which allowed them to share their prints!). It was a lot of fun and then they wanted everyone's signature too!

We had our big Art Show on Friday evening and everyone's family and friends came out to see their great art work and have some cookies and lemonade! It was a fun evening...

Now, on Monday morning, things at HATCH are really quiet... I am going to put aside work for the rest of the week and we're heading to Virginia Beach for a few days! Soon I have to get my Fall Term Schedule out. I'm concentrating on Drawing from Sept. through Dec. I also talked with a nice retired woman who lives here in the little development who wanted to learn watercolor so I'm hoping to offer one day class in beginning watercolor. The kids start school next Monday (Aug 31st) so I'll have some daytime hours to create my own artwork and crafts! I can't wait! I'm designing the next window display in my head right now... (I got ahold of some things by Lotta Jansdotter and am excited to show/sell them!!!). I also have a few cool sketchbooks to put out to sell. I'm hoping to get a lot of new things in for the fall.

Lastly... you would be so proud of me..well, I'm proud of me! I started a new exercise schedule and changed how I was eating. It wasn't that bad -- I just adjusted portions and added a lot more fruit and vegetables, and cut out most sugar. Fruit tastes so much sweeter now and I've regained my sense of taste in general! As much as I love wine too, I'm limiting that to only special occasions. And... lots more water. I've already seen a great difference, especially in my energy level! (Which I totally need right now!!!) My daughter Caroline is starting practice today for the Middle School Cross-Country team so I hope someday I can keep up with her! Here's what I love to have for breakfast.... a berry smoothie made with light soymilk, vanilla protein powder, golden flax seed powder, and a cup of fresh blueberries and raspberries!!! My Caroline Raspberry Bush has just begun to produce raspberries (thanks Caroline in Cincinnati!!!!) and I'm thoroughly enjoying them!

I hope you're enjoying the last days of summertime... I'll see you when school starts :)

xo Bethany

Last day of Junior Art Camp and a Show!

We finished the Junior Art Camp this morning by learning about photography! We talked about apeture and shutter speed and then they took their own photos with my digital camera and a tripod. They played with depth of field, creating the illusion of holding a tiny person or making things appear to grow out of someone's head! They also put the camera on a fast shutter speed and caught their subject "floating" in mid-air! We had so much fun with this! Then we also did sun prints with objects they found outside. Unfortunately there was really no sun this morning so we made our own sunlight...

We held our little Art Show at noon and everyone's family and some friends came to share cookies and lemonade, and to see the great art that the girls made all week! If you'd like to see all the work, you can go to my HATCH website and view the photo album here!

Next... I have an Odyssey of the Mind Team Picnic we're throwing on Sunday evening and my little photo albums that I put together came in the mail! I'm so excited to give the kids their books and to spend some time with them before school starts again!

Have a great weekend!!

xo Beth

Junior Summer Art Camp

One more day of my August Junior Art Camp... this was just a group of three little girls and we've been having fun this week making silkscreen t-shirts, watercoloring En Plein Air, acrylic Impressionist paintings like Monet's, Kokeshi dolls and today we learned about Redwork and tried some "drawing with thread" as I call embroidery! The girls LOVED the embroidery! We have one more day and we'll learn some photography tricks and do sun prints with photographic paper... then our little art show happens at noon. I'll miss these girls!!! They were really wonderful students.

feeding my etsy fetish

I have a bit of a fascination with old cameras. You probably didn't know that. When I was little there were a couple old ones in my dress-up trunk and I thought they were great! One was similar to this old Brownie camera... the box with a little screen that really any kid could use. The old Brownies sold for $1 originally! I found this little Kodak site about them when I was searching for instructions to build a pinhole camera for my Art Camp. Well, just let me say that the pinhole cameras are way too complicated for the time I wanted to spend on it, so I am moving in the direction of photosensitive papers and making prints, plus learning some fun photography tricks. Meanwhile, I had come across this little cutie on etsy and had ordered it. I guess on a whim, but now that I think about it, I guess cameras had been on my mind anyways... it just came this week and is now displayed on a shelf, reminding me of how much I loved those old days, dressing up and pretending to take photos of everything! How I wish I had that old camera...

thank you thank you thank you

I have been the world's worst blogger lately... hardly posting, not following my friends blogs, and basically missing everybody and everything out here in the indie arts and crafts world! This is my inspiration for getting back into teaching and for everything I do at HATCH. So I was moping around a bit and then I remembered that Amy told me to read her blog a few days ago. It was a busy week with company here so after completing bills and paperwork, I saw Amy's name and remembered I was supposed to look! And this is what she did-- she listed me with other wonderful women for this award!!! Thank You Amy!!! But then I had to look up who Bella Sinclair is and while I was happy to find her work (I love it!), I was saddened to hear of her very recent loss of her husband. Isn't life like that? You could be just working away, doing everything you usually do... and suddenly everything changes in a blink of an eye. I realized that I just don't stop enough and do the things I love to do. I have been reading a novel lately-- The Red Tent. It was loaned to me by my friend Sheri who just loved it. It is fascinating and intriguing and I can't put it down. But I am missing following the stories of real people (like you) who fill their days with the regular tasks of living but do it beautifully and creatively. So... back to being more like me. And while I'm at it... I'm starting a new work out this week. I'd kind of like my old body back too... maybe even a little better. The stress is really getting to me and I feel like a giant slug! I laughed when I saw a drawing on Bella's page by her daughter of her mom saying "I am too lazy"! I think my kids would mirror that sentiment. I did play tennis with my sister Jane and I could tell I haven't run in too long! I'm also one of those weird people who gains weight during the summer because it's too hot for me to exercise much and then loses it as soon as it gets cooler again. (hope?) On that note, it's time to think about supper! Where do the days go?

Hope you are enjoying your Saturday...

xoxo Bethany

If you give a kid a camera...

He'll take lots and lots and lots of photos!! I had a little art camp for a four-year-old this week (just Monday through Wednesday) and we filled our mornings with all kinds of art activities! August's theme is "Traveling" so we read Toot & Puddle books (because Toot is always traveling) and then started by making a hot air balloon to float away in....We made little clay car photo holders, learned to watercolor outside and made postcards of the paintings to send, of course we learned how to use a camera, made a Kokeshi, and my favorite project-- freezer paper stencils on t-shirts! This is Benjamin's turtle drawing that we transferred to freezer paper, cut out, ironed on and then he painted fabric paint on it. Then, wa-la, after the paint dried and we removed the stencil, he had a perfect print on a t-shirt!!! I want to do lots of these!

On the homefront, here's a photo of the patio in progress... it's now done but I guess I didn't get a photo yet of that. It looks great! My sister Jane and her two girls arrived here to stay until Friday so it's been pretty busy between teaching and cleaning and laundry... oh my. We had fun making scrabble tile necklaces today, eating my favorite crab pasta and playing mini golf tonight. We might be canoeing tomorrow if the weather is pretty and I have a tennis match to do with Jane now that I'm taking lessons. I might just be able to actually return some serves!!

Hope you're having a good week!

xo Bethany