Last week in art class we looked at portraits and talked about style, tone and visual interpretation. We did some serious work, and then we practiced doing quick caricature sketches of each other. The models did not have to sit perfectly still, we talked and laughed and I encouraged my students to do multiple sketches during the 5 minute “poses”. It was rediculous and fun. 🙂 I love teaching art.
I am growing a garden this year. The first bitty radishes came up this week. Very exciting. 
I stole this illustration idea from my clever, sweet, artistic cousin Hannah.
Nothing fancy. Just spent some time focusing on individual features. 2-3 minute sketches.
This summer I will be teaching two life drawing day camps at Cedar Springs Camp in Lake Stevens.
I am really excited about this. I will be teaching traditional observational drawing skills, exploring different techniques and just enjoying drawing outside in nature. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
More than that, though, I am excited about the opportunity to share with these kids in all the wonder of creation. Being inspired by nature and by each other. Taking the time to appreciate all we see and that inspires us to create. Knowing it all points us back to our Creator God who made us in His own image.
The first camp runs June 20-24 and the second, August 22 – 26. This camp is for kids in grades 5-9 and it is an all day (9-5) camp. If you are closer to Bothell or Lynwood there is bus transportation available for a small fee. All the money and registration details are available here.
An open air painting from art class. It is outdoor ed season here at Cedar Springs and the geocaching kids made it into the scene. 🙂 
I’m so excited for this summer. I’ll be teaching two weeks of drawing camp this year. Lord willing, and registration allowing. If it goes well, maybe a watercolor camp 2017…Dreams. ☺️
I think it was in 2013 that I did a sketch of this musician and gave it to him after the show. He then sent me a Facebook message to thank me with an image of the sketch. I had forgotten about the message and the drawing until I found it again, thanks to a little article on Facebook that helped me find a tiny trove of automatically filtered messages tucked away, mostly unread. This was the only gem. But it was fun to rediscover. Thanks Facebook.
This guy is one of my heroes. A fantastic author and illustrator, his children’s books are among my favorites. You Will Be My Friend and the Curious Garden are just terrific books, tender and humorous in the best way. Last night I had a chance to go see Peter speak at the U Bookstore in Seattle. He is currently promoting his first middle grade novel, The Wild Robot.
This morning I read the first six chapters to my boys. The chapters are short and fun to read. All three boys are enthralled. Rozzum the robot has just scaled the cliffs of her wild rocky island, finally safe from the waves and sea… I left them chanting “Read chapter seven! Read chapter seven!”
But mamma needs her coffee.
Actually, I still need my coffee, being a bit of a scatterbrain, I thought I should write this out while I had it in me. The sun is out and it’s calling me. 🙂
I did this sketch of Mr. Brown while he talked. The pink was added, a little hap hazardly at the end because a kid asked what his favorite color was. It was pink. And I loved why. Just check out the enchanting cover on his new book and you’ll see.
Do you see it?
It truly is a great color.
You can learn more about the illustrious Peter Brown on his website: www.peterbrownstudio.com
We worked on hands and faces in art class a few weeks back. This is a sketch I did of one of my students. 
We took the boys out on the mountain loop to find snow last weekend.
It’s been warming up steadily out here and it seems we made it out just in time. The snow was crusty and melting but we had fun all the same.
Being out in nature, watching my kids play, often puts me in a mood to paint. Sometimes I’m able to maintain that mood and retain the energy until an opportune time. This was one of those blessed times.
I realize I painted them looking like babies. They are growing so fast! But in my heart they will probably always be my little babies. ❤️
I had the pleasure of designing a post card for our camp.
Celia Marie Baker 