artist in residence

our very own artist in residence

has been hard at work over the past month or two.

she was asked to produce some big projects and she delivered!!

 aftie's young women's advisor from church asked her to help create some

décor for the elementary school carnival that she was co-chairing.

 it was a jungle theme and

our basement became project central!

I knew that ping pong table we purchased for ryan's birthday would come in handy.

it was the perfect space to work on the 6x9 foot mural.

 Aftie happens to have an amazing art teacher at school

who went above and beyond to help her accomplish this huge project!

thank you Mrs. Woods!!!

 aftie also has wonderful friends who love to be together

and also love art and are super talented.

they helped many early mornings before school

and stayed after school to help as well!

hooray for Grace, Candi, & Mel!!

 we went to the elementary school to help hang the paintings

and every person who passed by

commented on how amazing

the animals looked!!

they couldn't believe that an 8th grader had created them.

 here's our favorite carnival co-chair, Ashley!

she is so sweet and wonderful!

we love her!

she was so supportive of afton and all of her efforts.

 here's the finished mural.

6 feet by 9 feet of pure awesome-ness.

 they even made these cute photo props for the kids to stick their heads through.

isn't that crocodile funny?

whew! 

huge, fun, wonderful experience for our aftie girl!

 she also had a piece entered in the district art show

 its the same piece that was entered into the regional art show at UB

not her favorite piece.

but she did LOVE that it was featured on the invitation.

(see above, 2nd photo down on far left)

and finally, here is the mural that she created for the New Beginnings program

for her young women's church group.

a couple of cute friends from church came over to help finish up the painting.

the theme for the program and her mural was

"o ye that embark in the service of God"

her mural depicts the view from the deck of a ship setting sail.

I love watching this girl tackle a project.  I love watching her vision unfold.  I love watching her determination to get it "just right".  I love watching her work hard.  I love watching her talents develop.  I love watching her confidence increase with each project completed, and each "WOW" we hear from those who see what she can do. 

What a delightful experience it is to be her mom!