Sleepyhead Designs Studio

The joy of using our gifts to serve Him!

2013-04-29T20:52:00.002-05:00

Last November, our family served one Saturday with RAP Ministries at the Dorcas House. The Dorcas House reaches out to women and children of Central Arkansas with the compassion of Christ. By providing housing, counseling, daily chapel services, they meet the physical and emotional needs of women who are struggling with chemical dependency and other addictions, or domestic violence. During

Painting and emotions

2013-04-08T19:43:00.001-05:00

Not much going on in my studio lately. I haven't had much time to paint, and when I've had a few extra hours, I just don't feel like painting. I've never really experienced this before and it makes me sad. Between trying to manage a family of five (three kids and their activities, laundry, groceries, etc) a full time job, church and ministry, there's not much energy left over for creativity.

Springtime and painting flowers!

2013-03-20T19:07:00.001-05:00

I love springtime! Especially the flowers, fresh air, warmer temperatures and the expectation of renewal. I think one of my favorite things to paint is floral still-lifes. I love experimenting with color and the light and shadows. Here's a quick look at how I go about a painting (most of the time). Most always my paintings are inspired from something I've seen with an eye catching

Renewal

2013-02-15T15:28:00.001-06:00

I knew something was missing, and perfect way to describe my day. Thank you Lord for a day of renewal! "For those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength..." Isaiah 40:31 It's been awhile since I've gotten to spend a day in my studio. I have an extra long weekend so I painted today-it always goes by way to fast :( I love the way this 30 x 40 mixed media turned out,

Fun painting cows

2013-01-20T18:29:00.001-06:00

Still trying to find some time each month to get in to my studio and paint. I've done these top two cows this month. Mama and baby (above), is on a 30 x 30 canvas. And Big Boy (below) is on a 24 x 24. Both are in oil. I did these three guys this summer and they have already gone to a happy home. I don't have any kids classes scheduled right now, but will probably do some

Folded Notecards

2013-01-19T10:28:00.001-06:00

I now have some of my original art on 4 x 6 folded notecards (blank inside), that will be available for purchase. They are currently 5 for $15.00 and all profits go to my favorite charities. They come packaged up nicely so perfect gift for someone who enjoys art. Inbox me if you are interested in purchasing any.

How to draw or paint Santa

2012-12-13T21:00:00.003-06:00

Each year I do painting workshops for children where I teach them how to paint a portrait of Santa Claus. I do this in groups of 6-8 and it takes about two hours. Here's how I teach kids how to draw Santa Claus. I start out breaking him down into basic shapes. Once they get the basic design down, I show them a variety of painted Santa portraits and how the shapes are incorporated. Then they

Native American Animal Hide Art Project

2012-11-20T19:07:00.002-06:00

This week I was asked to help my daughter's second grade class with a Thanksgiving art project (one of my favorite things to do :)) I can still remember one of my favorite art projects from my elementary school years. We were learning about the Pioneer days, and we made Indian art on faux animal hides. It must have made an impact since I still remember it some 30+ years later. My

New Christmas Paintings

2012-11-17T18:56:00.000-06:00

I have a few new Christmas pieces that will all be at Scallions in the Heights next week, so stop by and check them out. These are all acrylic and mixed media. 11 x 14 Acrylic at Scallions

Painting and Drawing Pumpkins

2012-11-11T11:28:00.001-06:00

Here's a fun fall project where you can introduce numerous concepts like; lines, shading, and warm/cool colors. First, I teach students how I draw a pumpkin. I always teach that before you paint to practice your drawing and plan your painting. And I love talking about painting fruits, and stress that there's not such thing as a "perfect" pumpkin. They can be fat, tall, bumpy, lop-sided, etc.

Fall Colors

2012-10-29T14:24:00.001-05:00

I just love, love, love fall! The colors, the crisp temperatures, the smells....it makes me want to paint! I've taught several classes each fall on painting fall foliage. It's a great way to introduce landscapes, foreground, middle ground, background and horizon line. I also taught about the lighting and shadows. These were done in acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 canvas.

October Art Celebration

2012-10-07T10:30:00.002-05:00

Since my Birthday is in October, I decided I wanted to celebrate by donating 40% of all my October Art Sales Profits to my two favorite non-profits, Go Near Ministry and RAP Ministries. James 1:27 says that "religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." Last summer, as I read this blog post about the Widows

My Favorite Children's Art Lessons

2012-08-26T15:10:00.001-05:00

Since I'm taking a short break from teaching and blogging, just thought I'd highlight some of my favorite art lessons that I've taught over the years. If you are new to my blog, it will be a quick way for you to get a sampling of my projects and posts over the past five years. I love art projects using recycled materials-to see my favorites, click HERE & HERE. Kids always love

Teaching Private Classes-Could you do it?

2012-08-09T17:39:00.000-05:00

This week, I taught my last workshop for the summer. I can't tell you how blessed I am to be able to do something I love, and inspire children at the same time. I'm also very exhausted! This summer, I taught over 15 three/four day workshops-every week of the summer except one, to over 100 kids! Sometimes teaching twice a day. It's really the first summer I've done continual workshops, and I

Five tips for Painting with preschoolers

2012-08-02T15:36:00.005-05:00

I did a workshop for preschoolers this summer called Messy Me. It's been awhile since I've done art with kids this age, since my youngest is now 7. This abstract was probably my favorite of the four projects we completed during the week. If you would like to see some of the other projects, click here or visit my facebook page at Sleepyhead Designs Studio. This painting project was done on a

Recycled Workshop-Project 3

2012-07-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

My inspiration for this project theme came from Oh Boy Fourth Grade, that of course, I found on Pinterest. I modified it to go with my recycled theme, so instead of using really cute scrap book papers like she did, we used old cereal boxes, and any other colorful boxes and containers we could find. We used some old colored corrugated cardboard for the sun and the cut up boxed for the

Recycled Art Workshop-Project Two

2012-07-26T18:02:00.001-05:00

Using discarded cardboard box flats, students used paper mache and newspaper to create their own canvas. Mod Podge works great for this-to order in bulk size click here. Backgrounds were planned and designed on paper, and then painted on with acrylic paint. Inspired by Pinterest, toilet paper rolls, scrap paper and mix matched buttons were turned into these adorable owls. Old

Placemat Lesson for Pre-Kinders

2012-07-23T22:57:00.002-05:00

Here's a fun little lesson for pre kindergarteners. It's great for teaching shapes (rectangle, circles, triangles), primary colors, and patterns. We started out by printing a pattern on our rectangle placemat with our first primary color, RED. We used foam rollers and tempera paint on white posterboard. We used rollers like these-to order click here. These circles were pre-cut, but

Kid's Recycle Art Workshop

2012-07-18T20:30:00.000-05:00

This week I just finished holding an amazing Recycled Art Workshop. And when I say amazing, I don't mean my workshop, but I'm referring to the amazing creative kids that attended. Using all "trash" and a little inspiration, they took the info I presented to them and ran with it. I was really amazed at the unique creativity of each piece of art. Here's project one of three. Thanks to

Painting Monet

2012-07-13T19:17:00.002-05:00

Here's the last set of paintings from the Copy Cat Workshop. If you have missed the other three paintings completed in this series, click HERE to see the first post in this series. While the subject matter seemed simple, this proved to be the hardest in the series, because of the soft subtle tone and Monet's painting style. To find some great books for teaching kids about Monet,

Painting Mondrain

2012-07-09T19:55:00.000-05:00

Done your school shopping yet??? $10 Off When You Buy 2 Jansport Backpacks with Promo Code TGT6W4WC Learn more about great abstract artists, including Mondrian in this book-click picture for more info. Painting Piet Mondrian was my favorite lessons of our Copy Cat Painting Workshop. I loved the way these turned out, and would have loved to have been able to keep each and every one

Painting Pablo Picasso

2012-07-07T21:03:00.001-05:00

Looking for kid friendly books on great artists, click picture above for information. If you missed the first in the Copy Cat Workshop series from last week, click here to see our Van Gogh paintings. This painting, "Asleep"(1932) by Pablo Picasso looked like it would be a simple one to copy, but it turned out to be very challenging. It was another great exercise in using "lines",

Vincent Van Gogh

2012-07-03T17:03:00.000-05:00

Looking for books on Van Gogh? Click picture above for details. To see where you can order these kid friendly books on Van Gogh, click on any of the pictures above. If you missed last week's post, I highlighted a "Copy Cat" painting workshop where students spent four days copying the works of four famous artists. Students spent a total of around 3-4 total hours copying one of

Great Artist Copy Cats

2012-06-28T16:32:00.001-05:00

Just finished up another week of art camp! This week was the "Copy Cat" Painting Workshop, where some of my older and more advanced students copied paintings from some of history's most famous and influential artists. I'll be posting more detail and pictures from these classes, one artist at a time, in the up- coming weeks. It turned out to be a very artistically challenging week as

Crazy Hair Portrait Paintings

2012-06-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

This painting idea of Crazy Hair Portraits was inspired by a lesson I first saw on Pinterest, but it came from Mrs. Brown's Art Class website. I adapted the ideas for paints, and to teach the concepts I wanted to emphasize for a younger age group. We learned about lines; how many different types of lines there are, how they can show texture, motion, mood, etc. We learned the