ArtWorks Studios

Check out these young artists!

2011-03-13T09:45:00.001-07:00

Can you believe that a five year old chose to paint a study of this Matisse painting?

My version of Monet's Sunflowers...great job!

Painting flowers at Highland Bluff with some 4th graders.

CopyCat painting parties...Kids parties, adult parties, groups, girls night, etc. You pick the art project anything from pottery to painting, mosaics, to sculpture!

Look mom I can paint with my feet!

I love to use my toes!

Finger painting my fingerprints on my wheel thrown bowl

I LOVE charcoal!

Can I touch it?

Beautiful flower and vase still life painting by this private lesson student

Birds of a feather...or lots of feathers...stuck together

Clay is So much fun!

Private lessons, parties, classes, fine art and gifts in the gallery! Create Each Day and have some fun with us.

Parties at the Studio

2011-01-10T19:40:00.001-08:00

We've been hosting alot of parties at the studio in the last month or so. Ranging from kid's pottery or painting birthday
parties,

Check out these 4&5 year olds painting a copycat sunset beach scene!

adult and kid's CopyCat paint parties,

And Christmas parties

And our Gallery grand opening party! Wow! I've eaten so much cake and party food lately, yummy.

We still have a few party time slots available in January and February, so call me to book your customized Artsy Party!

Create Each Day with chalk, paint, or clay...
or ink...or pencil, or charcoal, watercolor....wood, metal.....

Location:Artworks Studios

Adult Painting Class

2011-01-10T18:37:00.001-08:00

There's still time to sign up for the 4 week adult intro to painting class. It starts Tuesday Jan 11 from 7-9pm. Also all adult painting students who have taken the intro class are welcome to join the regular ongoing class which begins at 6:00pm. I'm looking forward to getting started back and seeing everyone again.

For pottery students who need to finish up any pieces at the studio you are also welcome to come on Tuesday evenings. We will have another intro to pottery class starting on February 10th.

Movin' on down, pics of the new space

2010-12-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Well here are a few pics of what we've been doing the last couple of months to get the downstairs studio and gallery space opened, while keeping regular classes, private lessons, parties and everything else going upstairs. Thanks to all my students, parents, and family for their patience and encouragement. I am especially thankful to my husband, Tam, for working long hours with me and helping me to bring my dream of this space to life!

Got all the carpet up, thought I could just paint the floor and be done with it. But no, not me, I had to chisel up that 1st tile to see what was underneath...and you know it always seems like it will be a quick and easy job.

Take a break from the tar covered floor and paint the front room for a while.

Wow we've used crowbars, spackle knives, scrapers, hammers and chisels to slowly remove bits of the old tiles piece by piece.

Oh that orange
Is coming along nicely!

WHY!?? Did I want to mess with this silly floor anyway?

We continue on hammering away for over a month. Ting ting clank (at least I was able to build some of my arm strength back up ;) breaking tools, searching for new tools, taking multiple excursions to Home Depot and fast food places. We were slowly getting the tiles up, but had no idea how to get the black sticky tar up. I could see that the original hard wood floor was underneath, but it just looked dirty sticky and had an awful smell... And oh yeah it stuck to everything... Shoes clothes, tools, sand paper....

Nothing seemed to work to get the sticky nasty mastic tar off of the wood floor that I just KNEW was gonna be beautiful underneath and that all our hard work would pay off. We tried solvents, scraping, sanding, renting floor sanders. Everything just gummed up with tar.

Another machine that didn't work

Finally, as we are ready to give in to defeat, I try my favorite little turquoise power tool, a 11,000 rpm Makita angle grinder with a flap disk. I learned as a sculptor (or sculptress if that is even a word) that a grinder is my favorite and most useful tool, and it wins again. We did go through quite a few disks, but it did the job.

It sure was messy though since it grinded the tar into tiny bits and splattered them all over the place. The walls, floor, our clothes were all covered with bits of tar.

Wow, Tam, this reminds me of us grinding all of the chair bolts off of the floor at the old Capri Theater in Fondren about 7 years ago. (all because I had this crazy idea that I wanted to do a performance art show there and display my paintings and....)

I'm seeing some beautiful wood down here. The place is filling up with sawdust now, not just tar! Now time for more shop vac in'

Wow I can't believe this is the same floor!

Rolling on the polyurethane, wow this sure is the laid back easy part!

More painting, I love adding color you know

More painting, rearranging, bringing stuff down the stairs, and setting up the studio.

All of our classes, lessons, parties and events are happening downstairs now. I've still got some more organizing and projects to do, but it will all come in time.

For now, just add people and art!

Come to ArtWorks Studios to draw, paint, or sculpt your own art, buy art, learn about art, or have an artsy party.

Create Each Day with Lori Rene'

Gallery is now selling Lori Rene' paintings, sculptures, and handmade glass and clay necklace pendants.

Girl's Night out at ArtWorks Studio!!!

2010-09-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 17, a group of girls from Hillcrest Baptist Church in Byram had a girl's night out at our studio in Brandon.
It was so much fun for all!!!

These were the finished products. But the "in-between" pictures are below:

Outside spray-painting the canvases so they would be dry by the end of the night.

Ashley getting ready to do some painting!

They even brought food! It was an all -out girl's night! Chick-Fil-A, Death by Chocolate, Caramel cake.... creating art AND food!!! Does it get any better?

Showing the students the first step to being an artist.

Eager students!

Hey down there!!!

Kelly and Diet Coke! Watch out!

Showing the girls how we are going to add texture to our creations.

Penny and Shelley

Mixing colors.

In deep concentration, making BEAUTIFUL works of art!

Another picture of the finished products.

A picture from one of the girls, after hanging it in her home. Her family was so proud!

Book a party at ArtWorks Studios and have 10 friends/family members/coworkers show up to create a painting, and you will get to paint for FREE! Book a party. Evenings are available. Just contact Lori!

www.artworksstudios.com

Brennan's birthday party.

2010-05-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

Brennan's 6th birthday party was held at the studio on May 15th. Everyone had such a good time and made a unique piece of art to treasure.

Mrs. Lori giving the kids instructions on how to make a piece of pottery.

Who's listening?

Starting to get the hands dirty.

Mrs. Lori making her box and showing the kids how it's done.

Time to get started. Looks easy enough.

Even the young ones had a good time and got involved.

Emma concentrating so hard on her box.

The kids are having so much fun getting their hands involved in their artwork.

Brooklyn making her art.

Bailey is doing such a magnificent job!!!

Grayson and Peyton moving right on along.

Grayson's silly face.

Allie concentrating.

All the finished pieces of original art. Ready to dry and put the finishing touches on.

Mrs. Lori's face painting on Emma. Emma wanted a cupcake.

Olivia loves ladybugs.

Emelia and her sweet face with her heart painted on.

The birthday boy and his cake and the number "6".

Allie's heart.

J.J.'s arm "tattoo". The dragon was very popular this day.

Caroline's "hair"bow.

Brooklyn and Emma's face art.

Mrs. Lori is painting another dragon on Peyton's arm.

The kids had so much fun at Brennan's birthday party yesterday. Even the parents got involved and had a great time.

Hope to see all of you this summer!!!

"Spring, Street Scenes, and Things"

2010-05-04T11:19:00.001-07:00

Come by Brandon City Hall to view our artwork. Our show entitled, "Spring, Street Scenes, and Things" is a part of the Art in City Hall series exhibit #2 on display now through June 11th. Others in the exhibit include area professional artists, students, and art from the state hospital. There is alot of neat stuff to look at, and the space is great. City Hall is located in the old Winn Dixie building off of Hwy 80 (turn on Highpoint Drive) I believe the hours for City Hall are Monday through Friday 8:00 am - 4:30pm.

The students did an excellent job drawing and painting flower still life displays and scenes from the Downtown Brandon Historic area. You may have even seen us out and about enjoying the nice spring air as we sketched buildings and learned to change the 3-D world around us into a 2-D piece of artwork.

Thanks to everyone who attended the opening reception on Monday evening, we had a great turn out! Hope everyone enjoyed meeting the Mayor, eating some good food, and viewing all of the great artwork. Thanks to the City of Brandon, Mayor Tim Coulter, and Amanda Tolastad who helped make this show a reality.

Announcing Summer Art Class Schedule

2010-04-21T10:15:00.000-07:00

"CREATE! this Summer

Tuesday nights in June (1st-22nd):

#1. Discover Arts Summer Series--$70

K-5 through5th grade
5:30- 6:30

Adult Intro to painting--$125 (includes canvas and paint set)
7:00 - 9:00

Mini-camps:

#1. June 3-4:

Preschool: Bugs, Bees and Butterflies--$30
9:30-10:15
Get inspired from nature. Make your own clay creations, nature prints, and more.

K-5th grade: Mosaics and Mexican Tile Art--$50
10:30-12:00---K- 2nd grade
1:00- 2:30---3rd grade- 5th grade
Create your own mosaics and learn the art of Mexican tile painting called Majolica.

Teen Techniques: Painting at the Rez---$35--This is MONDAY only(includes free paint set to keep!)
4:00- 6:00 -- At Pelahatchie Shore Park
Meet me at the park for sketching and watercolor painting of water, boats, bridges, cars, and nature scenes. (Bring water bottle, sunscreen, and bug spray!)

#2. Xpress Yourself: Action Painting--$50

Preschool ($30 for preschool) 9:30-10:15
K- 2nd grade-- 10:30 - 12:00
3rd - 5th grade-- 1:00-2:30

Back by popular demand get ready for another round of splatter-painting and other paint-slinging fun! (Be sure to wear your art clothes!)

Teen Techniques
Jackson Pollock abstract canvas painting--$40
Create your own Jackson Pollock style painting on large drip-style 24x36 canvas.
4:00-6:00

#3. July 8 - 9: Underwater Artist

pricing and times are same as above for each age group
Paint underwater landscapes, beach scenes, and create your own exotic underwater animal from clay.

Teen Techniques
Charcoal drawing techniques

Full week camps:

#1. July12-16th--$115 (includes a T-shirt)

9:00-11:00-- K- 2nd
2:00-4:00--3rd-5th
4:30-6:30-- 6th - 12th
2-D Studio

Drawing, painting, still-life, and canvas

#2. July 19-23rd--$115 (includes a T-shirt)

Same times listed as previous week
3-D Studio

Pottery, sculpture, recycled art, and trash art.