Howdy, friends!  After much merry-making, visiting, and relaxing over the holidays, I'm ready to get back on that art grind.  I'm giving the new year a creative kick start by posting 30 different sketchbook spreads over the first 30 days of January!  It's a tame way to share my inner workings :)  Come back tomorrow for more!

Tis the season for all things pinecone!  Just ask Pinterest.

So to keep up with the trend, I had my (incredible) Art II students do close study graphite drawings of pinecones I picked up from under the massive pine tree in my front yard.  Below are some of my favorites:

I can't help but be reminded of that great book club scene in The Stepford Wives where the ladies/robots are engaged in an animated discussion about all the lovely holiday decorations one could make with pinecones.  Bette Midler's suggestions are hilarious.  My contributions here are decidedly tamer, but I'm obsessed all the same :)

My mom has always been a collector of strange objects.  I once found a jar full of tiny golden bulls in her house along with a small figurine of Tupac Shakur.  My favorite of mom's careful acquisitions has to be her impressively vast array of cereal boxes from the late 80s and early 90s:

Hooray!  It's just barely over a month away from one of my favorite events of the year: the CraftySupermarket Holiday Show!  Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 29 from 11am-6pm at Music Hall in Cincinnati!  To celebrate and drum up some extra excitement, Rock Paper Scissors, a badass local art supply & music store is featuring some participating crafters' work on their walls and shelves.  I dropped off two paintings over the weekend for the show, and they showed up in their lovely Instagram feed.  Thanks, Lindsay, for the pretty photo!

So please stop by 1301 Main Street, and pick up your Microns and take in the all pretties on display.  I want ALL of those earrings :)

I'm the worst.  THE WORST.  Blogger, I mean, as another year has passed with nary a peep from me.  I taught, I drew/painted things, I went places.  

I'm pleased to be back in the blogosphere with some visual goodies.  This summer, I landed a gig as Project Manager with ArtWorks Cincinnati to create a mural in the fast-growing historic neighborhood of Over-the-Rhine.  With Jason Snell as our lead artist and designer and a team of 9 teens from the greater Cincinnati area, we created a 3,000 square foot homage to Henry Holtgrewe.  

Holtgrewe was a German beefcake and family man who immigrated to Cincinnati in the late 1800s, settling in Over-the-Rhine.  There, he established multiple bars and saloons, and regularly performed incredible feats of strength for his adoring fans.  In 1904 at Redlands Field, he shimmied under a platform on which the entire Cincinnati Reds team was standing.  He lifted the team, platform and all, with his back - an estimated 4,103 pounds!  His descendants, many of whom still live in Cincinnati, have many more stories that have been passed down through the generations.

The man & the legend passed into obscurity, until recently resurrected by Jason, who is deeply interested in Cincinnati's lesser-known historical figures.  He pitched the idea to ArtWorks, and long story short, this is what happened:

Needless to say, it's been a while - OVER A YEAR - since my last post.  It was a year of huge personal change, but through these struggles and heartaches, I have hopefully evolved, as a person, as a daughter & sister, and as an artist as well.

I'm still teaching, though my position was reduced to part-time, so I picked up another gig as an adjunct professor at Northern Kentucky University.  Somehow, I'm still managing to make art.

I'm getting ready to have my first show in over a year, so I've been working feverishly on some new pieces.  These drawings for me are a refreshing departure from the heavy graphic lines you get relief printing.  I'm able to get a more delicate and feminine effect.

I'll post the details of my upcoming shows here soon, as well as some documentation from my most recent mural project, completed over the summer.

-elh

So much art, so little time. 

Here's a project my Drawing 1 students finished over two weeks ago, entitled "The Hand Book."  For this artistic endeavor, my students had to approach the same subject (their own hand) from 8 different stylistic standpoints: breaking down their hand into the four basic forms (cone, cylinder, sphere and cube); drawing the contour lines with two pencils taped together; Cubist-inspired; Surrealist-inspired; less-dominant blind-contour drawing; stippled; regular old drawing; and of course, a cover for their books.  A grand total of 8 drawings on four pieces of paper, bound in a corner with a brad. 

This is a good exercise in finding freedom in restrictions, but some students weren't comfortable with that.  Lots of them said that they got really tired of drawing their hands, and funnily enough, these were the students that obviously needed the most practice.  Lots of them also just traced their hands, thinking I wouldn't notice.  Oh, hand turkeys...

Most students churned out some good stuff.  Check it out:

I think I'll do this project again next trimester, maybe throwing some more or different prompts.  It turned out pretty well, overall.

I can't wait to show you what they're up to now!

I think it's time to share some good news.  Though I haven't yet officially signed the contract, I have been tapped by the good folks at ArtWorks for the biggest commission of my career thus far.  I have been asked by Children's Hospital here in Cincinnati to create 12 custom pieces of artwork to be installed in the newly renovated neurology unit! 

This commission is not only special because of its scope, but because it gives me a chance to make a mark on a place that has made such a difference in my life.  My little cricket has epilepsy, and at one point, her seizures were so out of control that we thought she'd be severely brain damaged or worse.  Children's Hospital saved her life on more than one occasion, and she has been seizure-free for nearly a year and a half.  No number of words or works of art could ever express my gratitude, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't try, right?

So I embark on this crazy mission with my cricket in mind.  The theme that Children's has asked for is "Wishes, Hopes and Dreams in Nature."  I've come up with three concepts for their consideration: 

Each concept involves incorporating the actual written dreams, hopes, wishes, and prayers of patients, family and Hospital staff directly into the artworks. 

So which do you like best?