Author Archives: Sandy Lupton

silver lining

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Precious Metal Clay with Cindy Quensenbury
Rawls Museum Arts, Courtland

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I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy November day than in an art class making new friends and fabulous jewelry!  In this class, Cindy taught us to make wrap-around rings and beautiful ocean pendants with Precious Metal Clay. We set stones, added a pearl on a post, used texture tools, painted with slip and more to form hand-crafted pieces, that when fired, became fine silver jewelry.

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I got to make some new friends and we all went out to the local Mexican Restaurant for lunch and margaritas while Cindy fired our pieces and babysat the kiln. What started out as a cold and dreary day, turned into fabulous fun, thanks to Cindy and Rawls Museum Arts. Cindy is the most generous teacher I know, and I highly recommend her classes!

leah and heidi

leighsRing1pearl ring

artful octopus tour

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Intuitive Painting Class
Cecile’s deck – Rodanthe, NC

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A few of the gals in the trailerhood wanted me to teach them how to paint. They wanted to paint something bright and funky to liven up their beach trailers.

Instead of the “normal” way of painting, we did things a little different. We started out painting intuitively, working the background with lots of layers of color, texture, and pattern…waiting for the octopus to find his way onto the canvas. We painted with our hands and with different size brushes, letting each layer dry in between. Once the layers were in place, we used a pattern to paint the water around the octopus and finished up by adding in the details.

Even though we all used the same pattern, each octopus was a unique creature with its own personality! They now all hang proudly in the trailer homes of the artists.

During the “official octopus tour” the artists invited us into their homes to show off their creations on display. One artist even told me that I had inspired her to get out her paints and long-forgotten brushes and make art again! That is what it’s all about!

We are planning on a turtle painting party in the fall.

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a new twist on art classes

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Art Fully Yours – Conway, NC

I have been hearing a lot about “wine and paint” parties…a fun new arts and crafts type class where the teacher prepares the canvas, hands out the paints and brushes, and then everyone in class paints the same painting. The teacher goes over the process one step at a time, and in just a few hours, the students leave with a beautiful finished painting. 11377369_837587332994555_1687013281371712007_n In our area, these classes have been hugely popular, thanks in part to Twyla Duke of “Art Fully Yours.” She makes learning to paint really easy — takes the drawing part out of the equation and has the patience of a saint. Her bubbly personality immediately puts even the beginners at ease.

Some of the girls at the beach have been asking me to teach one of these classes (mostly because they love to drink wine) so Twyla invited me to participate to see how it is done.

Twyla actually gave the group a choice of 2 paintings: an Easter sunrise and a landscape. I chose the landscape. She ran back and forth between the two painting groups without breaking a sweat.. I’m not sure how she managed that!11350469_837584722994816_6552578046810991933_n For the landscape, we started at the top of the canvas and painted the sky, then the clouds and treetops. We worked our way down from there. In 2.5 hours, we had a beautiful landscape finished and learned a few new strokes to add to our painting skills arsenal.

While painting, I made some new friends and had a blast. If you are interested in painting with Twyla and making a painting that is “art fully yours” check out her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/artfullyours. Thanks to Twyla for inviting me to attend and for letting me share her photos! 10428074_813143985438890_2242183858547597187_n

spring jewelry sneek peek

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Just a little peek at what I’ve been working on – mixed media necklaces on hand dyed silk, cotton and linen wrapped wire– super comfy and unique. Featuring resin, copper, brass, beads, shells and charms. Available at Shooting Star Gallery very soon.

the art of video games

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The Art of Video Games
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia

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“ The Chrysler presents an exhibition that does more than trace 40 years of creative artistry and technological advances in digital entertainment. It poses the question of whether video games deserve to be considered art.”

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My Daddy was so excited in the late 70s when he brought home PONG- the very first video game I had ever seen. We all sat around the TV and played for hours. I remember playing Pac Man and Space Invaders at the Pavilion in Myrtle Beach in the early 80s. I have fond memories of Frogger, Asteriods, the Atari system and Mario. When my baby was growing up in the 90s there was Pokémon and Donkey Kong. My most recent video game purchase was a Wii system and Wii Fit, Wii Dance Party and Wii Bowling. Its crazy how much video games have changed in a relatively short amount of time.

This exhibit at the Chrysler Museum of Art shows video games from the beginning of time (or so it seems) —  to the present. It was interesting to see how much the graphics have advanced over the years. I enjoyed playing the vintage arcade games, but my favorite part was the art that the visitors made depicting their favorite video game characters.

The exhibit ends this Sunday. Check it out if you can- it was a hoot!

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