Ugly Fish?

Hello fellow artists and art enthusiasts!

My name is Felicia Follum and this is my first post for Art-a-Day, though I have been following the blog since March. I am an emerging artist and will be graduating from the University of Wyoming in May.  My artwork tends to focus on social issues.  My most recent body of work deals with African American religious culture and my next body will be dealing with human trafficking.

To see more about me and my artwork check out my blog, website, or Facebook page.  But for now I would like to share one of the watercolor studies I painted a couple days ago. This painting was supposed to be a study of cloth using my dad’s old fish tie. I ended up drawing the fish instead of the waded fabric at the other end.  I really enjoy the colors in this painting...

My mom hated the fish tie and gave it to me in high school.  I kept it and entered it in  an ugly tie contest at Alexander's, a jewelry shop.  It won enough for a free pearl necklace. 

Wild Thing, Finished

The Wild Thing is finished! ..my cold, not so much.
This was so much fun to make! Color, pattern and pure uninhibited imagination!
Is it part cow? dog? goat? Lion? duck..?
I'll let you decide what exactly he is.. but his name is Arty, or Arthur.

I used sharpie, and water color pencils

Stay Artsy,
~Sarah Bosserman

Crazy Cactus

In the art classes I co-teach, the project for our kindergartners is "Crazy Cactuses".
We're teaching the kids about line, pattern and color. To make it fun my boss decided to have them apply these elements to cactuses. Of course the students are having a marvelous time exaggerating this botanical specimen to the limits. Some of them are hardly recognizable, but all the better for the bursts of color and random pattern!
I was so inspired by my students that I couldn't help but try my hand at the project!
Here is my "Crazy Cactus"!

My cactus before the water is added

The first step is to draw the body and branches outline with black sharpie. Then, add loads of pattern with colored sharpies. Next, color over the patterns with watercolor pencils. Later, add water with a paintbrush and presto! A Crazy Cactus to grace your fridge or mantel!

After the watercolor pencils have been activated

Next week the students (and I) will add the stickers/pokers with cutout colored construction paper. Like a few of my students, I added wolfish grin. After all, cactuses aren't exactly cuddly are they?

Stay Artsy,
~Sarah Bosserman