CREATIVE CREATURE ENCOUNTER COME TO A CLOSE..........................

As you probably can tell by the long silence from me on this blog, I have been very busy with my grant project.  My Creative Creature Encounter has officially come to a very successful end. Over the summer, I had over 300 children and some adults paint with me at Potter Park Zoo in Lansing, Michigan.  I had all the supplies available for the kids to sit down and paint with me, and we painted tigers, ducks, butterflies and giraffes.  Everyone that participated went home with a painting. This was all made possible through a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Lansing and thanks to them, I was able to supply paint, brushes and canvases for everyone to paint with.

I met a lot of awesome kids and great painters during my project.  It amazes me what great paintings the kids did with just a little direction from me.  I hope I inspired at least a few young people to follow their creative spirit.

During the times I was not at the zoo painting I was in my home studio painting 10 of the animals that reside at Potter Park Zoo.  I also managed to fit in time to paint an exhibit for the Golden Lion Tamarins that the zoo acquired. Now they have a new home with a mural of the rain forest canopy as their back drop. My daughter Katie and I worked on it together  and I think it looks pretty good for our first attempt at a mural. 

Potter Park Zoo is a lovely park with great staff who are very friendly and helpful. They made me feel at home and welcomed me into their family (human, that is). They have a very wide variety of animals for all to see.

My Creative Creature Encounter project ended with an exhibition of my 10 paintings in their Safari Room.  On September 15th there was a free reception open to the public. We had a great turn out. The paintings continued to be on display until October 5th.

As a result of the grant from the ACGL I will have an outdoor billboard with the Lion on it somewhere along the highway! The Arts Council has partnered with Adams Outdoor Advertising to produce billboards for artist member grantees of the Arts Council. I am very honored and excited about this and as soon as I know where it will be I will let everyone know of it's whereabouts!

What I learned from this project:

Kids are great, creative, energetic and inspiring (but I really already knew that!)
This project enabled me to share my passion for art with others.

I was challenged and I stepped up to the challenge.

I was able to hone my craft over the 6 months of the project.

Painting wildlife is still my favorite subject to paint.
Don't stand too close to the Mandrill's cage as they have very long arms! lol

Most important lesson of all: 
I would like to acknowledge and thank my family and friends for believing in and supporting me!