creating with a kid- funnel paint pouring

One of my favorite activities to do with kids of any age is pour painting. It's messy, fun and any age can create beautiful results. Around here we like to experiment supplies and techniques and lately we've been loving pour painting WITH A FUNNEL (pretty much any kitchen tool makes painting more fun). Here are (tailored for kids) a few tips in case anyone out there is looking for a fun winter activity.

Before starting any messy process with kids, I recommend just accepting that IT WILL GET MESSY! In my experience, these types of projects are worth the mess because they are a wonderful way to foster creativity. If messes are hard for you to manage, just take extra time to prep- cover a table and the floor in drop clothes.

I also find that it helps to lay out ground rules before the mess begins (wash hands when finished, you will not get in trouble if paint spills, let an adult know so you can work together to clean up, give a time limit for mess making, ect). While I am not a big fan of rules when it comes to creativity, they are helpful when working with toddlers & younger kiddos.

For this project, we used funnels and a variety of paint. For the pouring process, your paint needs to be fluid. You can use water, ModPodge or puring medium to create fluid paint. 

There are a variety of recipes and supplies but with kids you can keep it pretty simple with watered down paint. I let Lucy use my "adult supplies" and we used a mixture of paint, water and Liquitex pouring medium.

We mixed up a bunch of colors and then I let Lucy go wild. First she poured a few different colors in her funnel and then drizzled it all over a canvas. She worked over the top of it with lots of layers of with her funnel and lots of moving her surface around.

Using a pour painting, using a funnel or unique kitchen tools really encourages getting creative with movement and expression- a great alternative to painting with a brush!

This process is one that has always captured Lucy's attention for hours and it makes for a great indoor activity and the results are amazing!

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spring bundle FLASH SALE!

Hey friends! Spring is in full swing and I’m celebrating with a FLASH SALE! For the rest of the weekend I've bundled four spring themed classes together for $30 (compare at $90 for all four) a cost savings of $60. If you are interested in stocking up on classes, this is the deal for you!

Head on over to my shop HERE for more details or to register.

Offer expires Sunday, April 27th at 7pm PST

spring bundle flash sale from Alisa Burke on Vimeo.

THE GARDENERS JOURNAL

Grab that art journal and meet me in the garden! In this class we will be using the garden as as the backdrop for exploration and creativity! We will be using a variety of techniques and materials to discover and document inspiration, memories, garden planning, wildlife observations, weather patterns and more! I will share all kinds of techniques- from sketching, collage and painting to create colorful and layered art journal pages.

WATERCOLOR BLOOMS

Flowers and watercolors make the perfect pair! In this class I will be sharing all kinds of really simple techniques for transforming your favorite flowers into expressive, beautiful and colorful paintings. 

BEAUTIFUL BIRDS

I love birds! They are beautiful, magical and are the perfect subject matter for drawing and painting. This little class is dedicated to exploring a variety of techniques to create birds. From painting to drawing to using simple tools and materials, we will have fun creating beautiful birds.

SKETCH INTO SPRING

Spring is the most inspiring time of the year- it's when the world begins to come alive after months of cold weather, the sun begins to peek through the cold. Its is also a wonderful time to pull out your sketchbook and capture the season. I've put together another fun online class that captures the season! Just like Summer Sketch and Create Daily, Sketch Into Spring is structured to fit into a busy schedule. Join me for drawing and doodling prompts, ideas, techniques and ways to turn SPRING into inspiration and subject matter for your sketchbooks and art journals!

Sketch Into Spring is a "mini class", it is structured in 30 small but inspiring posts. The concept is that that you have one simple idea, prompt, inspiration or technique to work throughout each day for 30 days!

studio retreat update

I've had a lot of inquires over here about the future of my Oregon Coast art retreats and while I've talked about it in Instagram, I thought I would also share a little update here in my feed.

While I had plans this year to announce my summer/fall 2020 studio retreat schedule, back January I canceled all of my plans behind the scenes- it was a really, really hard decision to make. During the month of January, I had been watching what was happening in China very closely and something just didn't feel right to me. While I had no idea at the time things would escalate so quickly for us in America, my gut told me to scrap my retreat announcements and wait and see what would happen with COVID19.

And here we are, most of the country at home, a health and economic crisis with so many unknowns. While I love offering studio retreats and it is a big part my business and income, I made another hard decision to take at least 1 year off from hosting events/retreats in my Oregon Coast Studio. While I've taken breaks in the past, this feels different because like so many businesses out there, I have no idea what the world will look like moving forward and if parts of my business will fit into that world.

I know there will likely be a lot of people who think this decision might be drastic but don’t feel like it would be appropriate or responsible for me to continue to welcome women from all over the country and the world into my small Oregon Coast community until we know more about COVID19. No amount of money is worth people's health and safety. So for now my studio retreats will be put on hold until things become more clear.

To be honest, it breaks my heart. Getting to open my studio, teach, create and share my hometown of Seaside, Oregon with so many creative, beautiful souls has not only been an honor but life changing for me. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to have shared my studio with so many of you and I cannot wait for the day when we can gather and create together again. In the meantime, I will continue to offer online classes and I have some new creative ideas coming in the months ahead. Thanks to so many of you out there who support what I do.

happy earth day

“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
-Jane Goodall 

egg decorating roundup

marbled plastic eggs   masking fluid eggs

bird nest eggs   watercolor easter eggs   everyday decorating easter eggs   butterfly eggs

wood burned eggs

mermaid eggs   geometric eggs   doodle eggs   

whimsical eggs

scrappy eggs   altered plastic eggs   speckled eggs   

canvas eggs

NEW CLASS! doodle it out

Ok friends, I have a bunch of online classes that I filmed a couple months ago and they have just been sitting in my computer waiting for later in the year. One of them is called DOODLE IT OUT and I thought it might be something fun to release right now. So I moved up the launch date and marked it 50% off. Class starts Monday! Below is a little preview and all the details

DOODLE IT OUT
Begins Monday, March 30th
NOW $15 (Regular Price $30)

For information or register HERE

I love doodling, it can be relaxing, stress free, silly and super creative. It is also a really simple and practical way to carve out a daily art practice. The best part is that anyone, any age and any level can do it!

I this class I am sharing 30 super creative lessons on doodling that includes techniques, prompts and exercises to get you playing around with a pen and paper. We will explore shapes, mark making, lines, lettering, a variety of subject matter and more. I will be sharing a variety of simple techniques that will take your doodles to the next level.

Doodle It Out is a class structured into 30 inspiring lessons. The concept is that you have one simple doodling idea, prompt or technique to work through each day for 30 days. I will be sharing all kinds of really simple, fun exercises to get you creating. The concept is that you have one simple idea, prompt, inspiration or technique to work through each day for one month.

All of my online classes have unlimited access which means that you can come and go as you please and create at your own pace!

5 tips for working from home

As a person who has been working from home for the last 12 years, I thought it might be helpful to share a handful of things that have helped me (and my husband Andy) behind the scenes over here running this creative business.

After working in an office and large community setting, when I quit my job to go full time as an artist (while it was the best thing that ever happened to me), the first couple of years were weird and actually really lonely at times. The shift from being around people all the time, having a schedule and discipline to follow to suddenly having to create these things for myself took me a LONG time to figure out. In fact, I am still trying to figure some stuff out but you can scroll left for a few things that have helped me.

Ok I hope these tips help someone out there. Let me know in the comments if you have any specific questions or your own tips for working from home.

Coming very soon Andy and I will be sharing some of our homeschool tips that have worked for our family! 

big sale this week!

It’s my birthday week and it’s an annual tradition around here to celebrate with a sale!

All week I’ve got over 100 of my online classes marked down, bundles of classes, even prices as low as $10! And with any purchase you get a free 32 page digital download of art to use in your own project- lots of fun stuff!

So if you are looking for a great deal, are ready to take a class with me or stock up on classes, now is the time! 

Visit the shop HERE to get in on the good deals!

6 creative ways to use an old sweater

I have been cutting up old or thrifted sweaters to sew with for years! It is one of my favorite materials to sew with when the weather gets cold. 

1. There is nothing cozier than a sweater pillow! This is a great project when you have a larger sweater.

2. A patchwork style blanket is a really fun way to put sweater scraps of all shapes and sizes to use!

TIP:When working with cut up sweaters there is a natural tendency for the edges to fray. I like to use a tight zig zag stitch- this keeps those edges from falling apart.

3. The arms of a sweater work great for creating arm warmers

4. Or even leg warmers or boot cuffs

5. Sweater scraps (like the arms or any long pieces) can be sewn into a scarf or a cowl.

6. Whimsical stuffed toys are a super fun way to use odd sizes and shapes of scraps.

a peek inside my process

real talk with Alisa

When I left for college I made the decision to major in art- specifically painting. But my college art education was a wakeup call about what class critiques, teachers, opinions, business and the art world will do to your passion (spoiler alert- it can break your love of making art into a billion little pieces). I stuck with it despite the challenges and then I ventured out into the world with an art education that taught me that in order to be a working artist, I needed to show my art in fancy galleries with big price tags, get an agent and share my work in circles with money/ status. After some art shows under my belt and trying to be something that I was not, I quickly came to the conclusion that I DIDN'T FIT into this world and that was ok!

It was amazing because as soon as I accepted that art wasn’t precious for me- it never felt fancy- it didn't feel like it should be exclusive for people with money- I didn't care about status- I loved selling my creations at holiday bazaars instead of fancy galleries and I loved my glue gun, puff paint and and craft projects- this was the day that I WAS SET FREE! Set free to simply be myself- to love art and craft, be weird, unconventional, messy, rule breaking and not fit into one category.

And while building the creative business that you see today took me over 15+ years of lots of trial and error, it was that moment of OWNING WHO I AM that ended up being my secret sauce! I think we all have to travel our own paths (and no shade to the gallery artists out there) but it just feels so good to be yourself. To own all the things that make you unique and different, to let go of pressure and limiting beliefs about who or what you should be.

So if there is someone out there today feeling like you have "do all the things" that everyone else is doing, if you are making art/craft that you want to fit in, if you want get "discovered", if you are fueled by money or status or if you are hiding all the unconventional things about yourself...here is my advice- don't do it! It's just not worth it. You are blessed with gifts, you are unique and you GOTTA lean in to all those wonderful, wild and weird things that make you..YOU!

happy weekend!

winter on the oregon coast