Here we are, at our final NCIS virtual art gallery. I never would have thought we would be home creating art for the rest of the school year. I also never thought I would be creating an online art gallery for my students. A few good things have come out of this experience for me. I have truly loved receiving each and every email from my students. I love the fact that my students still love art no matter where they are. I also appreciate that my students still want to be apart of the art world. It makes me happy to share my own art with my students. I am glad they can now see what I love to create in art, and they can continue seeing this through my blog. This experience has opened my eyes to not only what my students needed during this difficult time, but how happy they looked with their artwork and how proud they were. Art is an amazing thing!! Thank you students, and I'm so proud! Have a wonderful summer and I will see you in the fall!!   

From its hilly sand blown dunes to its far away dark blue ocean, beach dunes are wonderful to look at and paint. Did you know that dunes form when there is a sufficient supply of sand and strong enough wind to promote transport? Do you see the grassy areas on the dune? This is how the dunes maintain their shape. Its all a very interesting process but also a very beautiful one. I especially like making it feel like you can walk right into the painting, and take a walk up the dunes. The ocean in the distance and the dunes overlapping the ocean make the painting look more 3-D. The rickety and lopsided fence show the age of the wood fence. I especially love the color of the sand against the dark blue ocean. I see another beach dunes painting in my future! Keep checking back to see my next beach dunes painting. I envision the fence closeup and receding back into the distance, with the sand and ocean in the background. Ah...how I love the beach.     

This is week 8 of posting the NCIS student art gallery and I cant believe its been that long! I have received around 30 pieces of art work each week, almost 250 pieces of art sent to me!! What great artists we have at NCIS. This week we focused on themes to draw. 4th graders drew things from the movies, like candy, popcorn, or making their own flip book. 5th graders drew summer fun activities, like a swimmer or a 3-D pool. 6th graders drew cars, like a Lamborghini or convertible car. Enjoy the art below from Newark Charter!  

 During our time in quarantine my son has been asking me to paint him a soccer ball. I was busy with other paintings but I finally finished it. I thought, wouldn't it be neat if I could have the field in perspective, and then I thought the line on the field would be perfect for that. I wanted it to look like the field was going back into the distance. I also wanted to personalize the painting for him and add his number. I looked at the sun coming up in the painting, and added the number in the brightest color. He loves the painting! What he really misses is playing soccer though. He plays soccer all year round, just like his dad did growing up. His is pretty competitive and misses the games, and the time with friends. I cant wait to see him play again but atleast for now he has a memory of it in his room, just what he was asking for. Check out my time laspe video below. I have prints, custom paintings, and pillows made of this soccer ball on Etsy.   

I have such amazing artists at Newark Charter, and I am proud every time I show their art. Each week, I continue to get great artwork from my students, so thank you! This week 4th graders were learning and drawing about castles during the medieval times. 5th graders were learning about Japanese art and making their own Japanese garden. 6th graders were learning about classical art and drawing  a Greek god of their choice. Thank you again for sharing your  beautiful art, and it makes me so happy to see them each week.   

There is something about mosaics that I love, I think it's the texture of all the pieces, and how you want to be able to reach out and touch the art. I have made many mosaics-on wooden boards, kitchen backsplashes, school mosaic murals, and now on flower pots. It reminds me of clay, which I still enjoy working with, and clay was my concentration in college! So here are the steps if your interested in making one. The pictures below are also in order of the steps. I also added a time lapse video of me grouting the pots.
Step 1: Choose a pot that is mostly flat, but if its curvy, you need to break the tiles smaller. You can also use glass pieces, flat marble pieces, mirror, or square pieces if you want them to be more even looking.  
Step 2: Start breaking your tiles into smaller pieces. You can easily do this by placing the tiles in a ziplock bag and hitting the bag with a hammer. The tiles I have at the top of my flower pots were rough and not glazed, so that is why they look like stone in the end.
Step 3: Glue the pieces with any type of tile adhesive. You may need to hold each piece for a minute for it to stick. The glass marble pieces slid down the pot, so I glued the tile pieces underneath them first, then the flat marble pieces. You could use rubber gloves if you don't want glue on your hands. This adhesive will dry within a day.
Step 4: Start Grouting, this is the hardest part but it looks great in the end. Lay down a large drop cloth first under a table. Outside would be better since the grout can fall of the table, but if your indoors, you need to be near a sink, or a hose outside. Lay a large garbage bag down on the table and place your pots of top, I used a big black bag. I purchases the already made grout, which is more expensive, but I didn't want to have to make grout with the powdered mix(they have all different colors). Watch the time lapse video below, before you begin grouting. I used rubber gloves, a sponge, and a bucket of water to add the grout around the pots.
Step 5: Wait about 10 minutes and start to wipe off the grout with a rung out sponge. If the grout is still too wet, you may need to wait another 5 minutes and wipe again. I had to wipe the pot about 5 times to get it clean. I also had to keep changing the water since the grout makes the water pretty dirty. I also used paper towels at the end to wipe. Once your done wiping, you need to let in sit for about 30 minutes. Then you can go back again with a wet and dry rag to wipe the tiles off clean. I rubbed the tiles with a dry and wet rag to get the grout off of the tiles.
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Good luck and I hope you enjoy making these!!