52 Paintings: Week 6

Rhododendrons by Christy Berry

Greetings,

This week the snow and temperature has been falling so I wanted to bring a little color to the world.  I took a photograph of rhododendrons from the Dow Gardens last summer.  I have wanted to paint this photograph for some time.   And yesterday, I came across it because I wanted to paint something blue.  I used the last of my Persian blue to paint the sky.

The painting is not very large it’s about 2 feet by 1 and ½ feet.   Please enjoy a little bit of summer during the winter.

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

P.S.  Please let me know what you think.

52 Paintings: Week 4 and Week 5

Greetings,

This week I created two paintings.  The first one I didn’t like at first (I fixed it so it’s all good now).  A few weeks ago, my middle school students created self-portraits using a stain glass type painting style.  What I mean by that is that they drew the face and outlined it with black paint.  They then painted different colors for each section.  I couldn’t get this out of my head so when I created my first painting it bugged me so I created my second painting.

Now, I like to recycle and found a “painting” at an antique place. It was a reprint of The Angelus by Jean-Francois Millet.  I hope he is not rolling over in his grave because I painted over this reprint.  It had a frame, I couldn’t resist.  I thought no big deal if this one doesn’t turn out, so why not try it in a different style.  So I painted it in a stain glass style.  I liked how it looked, but now the frame did not match the painting. Thus, I painted the frame.  Now, it is ready for somebody’s home.

Ok, so back to the first painting.  It was still bugging me, so I went and tried to duplicate the style on the little canvas.  It turnout; however, I still like the second painting because of the smooth surface.  My paintings are for sale, so if you see something you like please contact me.  I would like to keep supporting my painting habit.

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

52 Paintings: Week 3 Finger Painting

Greetings,

Purple Flower Finger Painting by Christy Berry

This week has been a busy week but I have my painting for week 3.  It’s a finger painting.  Yes, a finger painting.  I wanted to do a finger painting to cleanse my pallet and start my next painting refreshed.  I found that finger painting can be fun.

I was forced into finger painting after moving.  My brushes were packed somewhere and I wanted to paint.  I had a canvas and paint.  The stereotype is that children finger paint and adults uses brushes.  See my daughter’s art here. But what I found was that physically connecting with the paint and structure creates a unique texture on the canvas.  The acrylic paint builds upon itself.  I rather liked my first one, so I thought I would try it again.

I caution anybody from attempting to finger paint unless you can channel your inner child because you will get messy and have fun.  Here is my painting for week three.  Please let me know your thoughts or if you have tried to finger paint lately.

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

When Pigs Fly

Photograph of Georgia by Christy Berry

Greetings,

Next week my high school students will be creating their own flying pigs.  I wrote about my flying pigs in 2011.  My co-worker wants a “Michigan” pig.  Now, not a pig about Michigan but a University of Michigan pig.  I’m not sure that would fly in my household but they are flying pigs, so anything could happen.  I have written down a formal lesson plan for those who would like to purchase the lesson including which benchmarks are addressed.  Click here to be connected to the lesson.  And remember when pigs fly creativity happens!

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

52 Paintings in 2013: Week 2

Taking the advice of another art teacher, I created art over my Christmas Break.  Well, it took longer than that.  This is the four foot by three foot painting that I have been slowing painting.  I have spent weeks working on this painting; a couple of hours almost every night for the last three weeks.  I am excited that it finally finished…. I think.  I am at the point of if I add another line I ask myself, “Will it take away from my image or add to it?”  That is usually my stopping point.

I also did a lot of looking at the image to check and recheck what needed to be added.  I have created a short video of the progress of my painting.  I took a photograph after every night to show the progress of my monstrous project.  Please enjoy the clip video.

I used:

• Acrylic Paint
• Variety of Brush sizes
• 3 weeks of time
• 4 foot by 3 foot stretched canvas

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

52 Paintings in 2013: Week 1

Greetings,

A friend of mine (Joy Bender Hadley) is doing a project of creating a piece of artwork every day this year. This is incredible!  Joy’s cool plan of making art every day can be seen here. You can also follower her tweets.

Now I would love to do something like that but my family and I just recently moved (the reason why I haven’t written any posts in a while).  Everything is still in boxes.  I am thankfully, still teaching art.  However, it is now at the middle school and high school level.  I love my new job and I am still adjusting to the “giant” students.  I am used to most of my students being much shorter than I am.  Now my students tower over me.  I am also adjusting to new grade level content standards and benchmarks.  Which is something that I love but it takes time.

In order to sort of do what Joy is creating I have adjusted my goal to 52 pieces for the year.  Last year, I made 21 paintings.  Mind you this also included taking 2 graduate classes (one of those was my capstone), being a mom of two young children, teaching full time, and moving.

I started one last week and it is four feet by three feet.  That’s probably the biggest painting I have ever painted.  I have already painted for at least fifteen hours this last week. It will take me a few more weeks before it is completed.  So in order to get my painting in for this week, I went on the small scale.

Christy Berry’s Small Rose

I used:

• Koi watercolor paint
• Mini Mack Tidwell brush
• 2.5 in x 3.5 in Strathmore Watercolor Paper-Cold Press
• Hourish of time

I call it Small Rose.

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

2012 in review

Greetings,

Thanks to everybody who stopped by to take a look.  Please visit in 2013.  I’m working on new posts for new grade levels. Please subscribe and get updates via email.

Artfully,

Mrs. Berry

 

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 8,100 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 14 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.