how to paint canvas shoes

Painting shoes used to be my JAM. I was always eyeing those clearance racks in search of cheap canvas shoes to paint on. Shoes are an interesting canvas - you have to be thoughtful about your composition, you get to wear your art, and you wouldn't believe the friends you can make just wearing fun shoes.

1.18.16 [renaissance hotel]

It has been quite an exciting January already. I'm settling in to my new role at the Foundry Art Centre and just wrapped up a very fun exhibition at the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel. Thank you to the Renaissance for featuring me and my work. I would absolutely recommend being a part of this art initiative in Saint Louis; included in this post are details for you to display your work or play your music at the Renaissance Hotel.

inktober

Thanks to Instagram, I was reminded of the annual art-making challenge of Inktober which I have wanted to participate in since I learned about it last year. The goal: complete one ink drawing per day in October. This exercise came at the right time for me; I often get in drawing ruts and instead of fighting through it, I default to lettering and calligraphy. And as much as I love lettering and improving my handwriting skills during that evasion, I neglect drawing and those skills become rusty. And then I fear picking up a pencil or pen because I know the result will be dismal. And believe me, day one of Inktober was just that. Looking back on October, I can see improvement in different areas of my drawing, composition, and abilities, and I can also look back in my sketchbooks and look at all the ways I flopped! Here are my drawings for Inktober 2015:

7.18.15 [prague prayer calendar]

Camp starts three weeks from now and we're buying all the Wonka candy we can find and finalizing our lessons for camp. This will be our fifth trip over to the Czech Republic to help lead a Teen English Camp and our theme this year is pictured above; we will be studying men and women of faith in Czech history. To prepare for the camp (and kill two birds with one stone for the Czech-themed exhibition I have at a local arts centre) I researched all the people we will be studying and drew them. Here're some of the pieces in the gallery that I made for camp.

central perk bridal shower

And as maid-of-honor, I had the pleasure of planning her bridal shower and when I started off, I had a LOT of ideas. Mostly TV-related. She and I grew up watching Gilmore Girls in her front room and in college, I got her hooked on Parks & Rec. But the show she knows better than anything, is Friends.

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