St Mary's Catholic School Haiku Workshop at Janet Keen's Art Studio and Mosaic Garden, Rotorua New Zealand.

Haiku written by pupils of St Mary's Catholic School during their visit to my mosaic garden and art studio.

fantails

fantails

singing in the garden

autumn breeze

Louise

peace

peace is life or death

believe, be alive to laugh and cry

life hurts and can comfort

Harrison

                                                                     the studio
                                           the studio smells great
                                           a room filled with ideas
                                           creativity
                                                                     Hozanna

                                                                          chickens
                                                                        rushing for bread
                                                wintery days
                                                hungry, noisy birds
                                                Oliver

                                                            footprints
                                             giant keas
                                             footprints down the path
                                             bigger than mine
                                             Emma-Sue
                                         

                                                              

                                                               skull head
                                                              lonely and sad
                                                              nobody cares about me
                                                               i just lie around

                                                                Michaela

                                                               studio
                                            shining mosaics
                                            different types of artwork
                                            thoughtful creations
                                            Danicca 

                                                           imagination
                                                           creative things around me
                                                           just like being bathed in it
                                                            i love it all
                                         Kate

     

goldfish

goldfish in a pond

swimming back and forth

dancing under raindrops

Emily

                                                               

colourful mosaics

colourful mosaics

hanging in trees

inspire me

red, orange, yellow, green, blue

big, tall, large or small

any of Janet's mosaics the best you see

roses, owls, seahorses

sharks, wild and styled

all look beautiful to me

Ashleigh

garden

the garden once alive

winter had taken over

some plants had died

Janna 

nature

autumn breeze blows

through bare branches

birds sing over noise of wind

                                                                        Caitlin

nature

birds singing peacefully

breeze brushes through my hair

flowers bloom, expecting the unexpected

Joseph 

mosaics

harmonious colours

covered in a frost blanket

lost with inspiration

Orla

 The Story
On Thursday 7th June at 11am, Assistant Principal of St Mary's Catholic School, Mrs Anne Cato came for a visit with fourteen of her enrichment pupils to explore my garden and to gather information for a series of haiku.

Haiku are simple, three lined poems, originally of Japanese derivation.
They are usually about nature and are meditative moments in time.

We went for a walk down to the sunken garden and fed the fourteen Bantam chickens and their mother who have adopted me, at least when there's food around.

Autumn is flowing into winter in the sunken garden so it was a good time to be writing haiku

The chickens were  down here but you can't see them, they proved to be camera shy.
Some of the children had cameras and i-pads to record moments in the garden.

We went up the steps from the sunken garden to the Japanese Peace garden and had another photo session



We asked the  pupils to take note of their surroundings and to breathe in moments that could contribute towards their haiku.

I took shots of people relaxing in the garden and asked them to think about what they could see, touch, hear, and smell

We next went into the studio and the children were given a brief  lesson about haiku as they ate their lunch.

 I showed them some of my haiku and  photography and read them some haiku by other poets.

Everyone was busy  

 and quiet with concentration and were encouraged to write more than one haiku.

I put some lavender essential oil around the studio and played some classical music to help them feel peaceful.

It is useful to have a calm, open mind when writing haiku.  

Ideas were freely flowing.

 Some people sat together on the couch, writing and in some cases sketching small pictures of  mosaics they liked.

Mrs Cato helped them and took some photos of her own.

I went out with my camera and took shots of each pupil beside a mosaic or item in the garden or studio they liked and which in some cases related to their haiku 

Orla presented to me, on behalf of St Mary's with one of the most beautifully illustrated books I have seen called The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg, a card and a gift card to buy some apps for my i-pad.

 I am going to use this with my after school art pupils as inspiration, the blurb at the back says,

"Even the most reluctant imagination, when confronted by these drawings , will not be able to resist solving the mysteries of Harris Burdick"

I gave everyone a magic marble which is designed to be a good luck charm and something for them to remember the creative, precious moments we all had for the couple of hours we spent together.

 

All too soon  

                                      it was time to say goodbye.

Some of the pupils expressed an interest in coming back to make  some art.
This may happen towards the end of the year if there is time.

Thank you to  Mrs Anne Cato for being so well organised and inspirational, she and her pupils  from St Mary's Catholic School were a pleasure to have in my classroom/studio.

                                               The End
Creative Quote of the day
All my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me  children of an impressionable age, and they are mine for life.
Muriel Spark


After school Art , craft mosaic and creativity classes for gifted pupils.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 3.30pm to 5.00pm
$25.00 per pupil, per hour including, artist grade materials.
All pupils have their individual programmes to suit their tastes and needs.
Pupils asked to complete drawings in a visual diary for home play which go towards a book at the end of the year.
Small classes, well behaved, focused and genuinely interested pupils of all ages are welcome.
Hurry limited places are available.

Phone  Janet 346-3435
txt 0273513887
emailjkeen@clear.net.nz

Painted terra cotta pots,step by step

Abundance and Gratitude  pots with Creativity Queen,  Janet Keen. 

Want to attract more abundance into your life but keep forgetting to focus on it?

 Make some of these sparkly, little pots write out all your wishes and all you are grateful for and place then where you can see them every day.
This will help you to achieve your dreams.

Resene New Zealand  have an array of gorgeous metallic paints in test pots which are featured in their “Kidz Colour” brochure.
  I used Funtasia and Bedazzle.

 I have chosen a just two of them to paint my magical wishing and gratitude pots.

 Step By Step

Equipment needed

Small terracotta pots and bases, Bunnings

Testpots of Resene metallic paints

Flat backed marbles

Small paintbrush

Plastic white picnic plate

Bostik clearseal, (use as glue)

Gun to go with Clear seal, Bunnings

Thick icecream sticks, $2.00 type shops

Alphabet stamps and decorative stamps, Spotlight
Flat backed embellishments like flowers , Spotlight.

 

Directions

Step 1. Paint two coats of Resene metallic paint from test pots over all surfaces of your pot and your base,  including inside and outside.

Step 2. Dry off between coats with a hairdryer.

Step 3.  Place some of the Clearseal out onto a plastic plate

Step 4. With an ice-cream stick apply the Clearseal to the back of some flat backed marbles.

 
Step 5. Place the marbles around the top of the painted pot. They may slide down at first so you’ll need to keep on pushing them on so they stick.
 Turn the pot upside down so that the marbles don’t have far to slide down.

Step 6. Turn the saucer of the pot upside down and place a ring of the Clearseal on it and  glue the pot to it.

Step 7. Apply some more marbles onto the side of the upside down saucer.

 

Step 8. Place some black ink onto stamps of your choice and stamp them onto the pot in a pattern that you like. 

Step 9. Paint two ice-cream sticks matching colours, stick them together in a t to form a little sign.

 Step 10. Stamp or write the words Gratitude pot or and wishing pot on the horizontal  stick of the miniature sign. 
Step11. Stick on some embellishments from Spotlight of your choice 

Step 12. Stick the sign onto the inside edge of the pots.

Step 13. Hand write or type out one wish and one thing you are grateful for each  week and pop them in their pots.

 If you’re really keen try it more than once a week, daily would be optimum.

Step 14. At the end of  six months see how many of your wishes have come true.

Step 15. Good luck, don't forget to be grateful for what you already have. 
I’m going to be contributing to my pots daily  and looking forward to increased abundance. 


These are just the colours the embellishments and the words I  have chosen , feel free to go wild and invent your own. This is just the jumping off place.

Good luck and tell me your story. 

  Creative quote of the day
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”
― Eckhart Tolle

Adult  art and mosaic and creativity classes Monday to Wednesday mornings 9.30am to 11.30 am from $25.00 per hour plus the cost of materials. 

4 week beginners mosaic class $62.50 per 2 hour session, including materials.

Children's After School art Classes Mondays to Fridays from 3.30pm to 5.00pm 
$25.00 including most materials per hour. 
Students will be asked to do some home play towards a visual diary that we can showcase at the end of the year.

Every child's artwork is different. 
Enquire today, give the special person in your life a creative head start. 

 Phone: 07-3463435 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz to book your space.

Encaustic art Workshop

What could be more pleasurable than going out to a two and a half hour class on a Monday night, creating mini encaustic, (wax) paintings?

Not much in my books.

Ten other people thought it was also their idea of fun, four of whom had attended my watercolour and mixed media painting classes; so I was in good company.

The encaustic course run by Nelson artists and motel owners Lynne and Steve Whitford was fantastic because it was well organised.

Everyone was provided with their own aprons and encaustic irons, with a selection of sixteen coloured wax blocks and a generous supply of shiny, white cards to make paintings on.

Lynne lead us through a series of simple wax application exercises that resulted in beautiful, fluid looking, mini landscapes and abstract creations from all of the class members.

Lynne circulated around the room, helping people and Steve was full of positive comments and practical help. The time evaporated, I ended up with thirteen small squares of experiments which I could make into cards or use as samples. 

 I liked the gold and silver coloured encaustic wax and could see the potential in using them with textured backgrounds towards a volcanic landscape series.  

Lynne and Steve own a motel with an attached gallery in Nelson called Ascot Lodge. When I go on my next photographic trip to the South Island next Autumn I want to book in.

I bought an encaustic iron, a stylus and some encaustic paints and am looking forward to using them an American book called Encaustic Art, The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax.

I will be demonstrating some beeswax and encaustic lessons on Monday, Tuesday  and Wednesday mornings if people are interested in attending a taster series of classes, using clear beeswax and acrylic paint with Resene testpots.

If you like the look of the encaustic supplies I have bought; you can buy your own from Lynne and Steve from their website called Ascot Encaustic Art Supplies.

 It’s brilliant to connect with artists from other cities because they can direct you towards the most creative events and places in their region.

 

Creative quote of the day

 “The most important thing a teacher can remember: it only takes one negative comment to kill a dream,” anonymous.

After school art and craft classes from Monday to Friday and adults painting and mosaic classes Mondays to Wednesday mornings.

Phone  07346-3435,  email jkeen@clear.net.nz.  www.jkeen.net.

Mosaic Flower for the Garden, a pictorial journey with Jessica Burling.

                                                                             Step One
Start off with your cut out flower from exterior grade plywood.
          My husband Graham cut it out with our  jigsaw.

                                            Step 2.
                          Sand and undercoat the flower

 Step 3

Choose your coloured marbles to outline flower and glue

 

                                                                Step 4
 Choose other marbles and cut glass tiles and lay out in a pattern you like, leaving even gaps between tiles.

 

                                                 

                                                                           Step 5
                                   Paint around the outside and the back of the flower with  two coats of  Resene testpot colour of your choice.  Mix up some grey sanded grout in a plastic container to tootpaste consistency. Wait five minutes and spread on with a spatula.

                                                                            Step 6
                Clean and remove grout with a sponge.
                  Polish with white vinegar and a cloth.

                                                                              Step 7

Admire your masterpiece.
This  flower will be attached to a painted garden stake with three screws by my husband Graham and will feature with two other marbled flowers in my organic mosaic garden.
Thanks to my assistant, Jessica Burling for all her hard and accurate work.

Creative Quote of the day
Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life. Pablo Picasso

Mosaic Flower Making workshops
 Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings 9.30 to 11.30 am
374 Clayton Road, Rotorua Phone 346-3435 email jkeen@clear.net.nz
 

Portrait Painting Class

 Portrait lessons with Janet Keen Creativity Queen


Come to my studio and learn how to paint semi realistic portraits of yourself. 
I will show you my easy-peasy method. 

                                      These people

                                     had never made a

   portrait of themselves before, much less picked up a brush to do any painting.

                                               Can you believe how well they did? 

Sign up for a series of four portrait lessons. 
No experience needed. 
4 weeks for  $250.00 including paints and use of paint brushes. 
Supply your own canvases. 

Using  Resene testpots.



Phone  07 3463435
email jkeen@clear.net.nz

374 Clayton Road, Rotorua

Monday, Tuesday Or Wednesday Mornings 9.30am to 11.30am

Weekend workshops by arrangement, minimum number five required.

Beaded hearts and crosses

Beaded Hearts and Crosses

By Janet Keen Creativity Queen.

Recycling old jewellery.

If you’re anything like me you have a jewellery box full of beads, buttons, broken broaches, vintage crockery,and lone ear-rings that have gone out of fashion.

Don’t throw these gems away. Recycle them into wall ornaments; they make perfect Mother’s Day gifts. 

Materials needed.

Resene testpot of acrylic paint of your choice, Resene  

Piece of 10mm MDF board, available from Bunnings or your husbands wood stash.

Hair dryer

Jigsaw

Tweasers

Sandpaper

Design for a heart and or a cross (google hearts and cross silhouettes)

Bostik Clear Seal glue with the glue gun, Bunnings

Iceblock stick for applying Bostik Clear Seal

Spray can of Plastikote, gloss laquer, Bunnings

Small paintbrush

Screw eyes and string for attaching your piece to the wall,  from Two Buck and More Shop, Tutanekai Street.

Old junk jewellery or beads and buttons, scrapbook embellishments, Spotlight have a good selection.

Beads and scrapbook embellishments, Two Buck and More Shop.

Paper towels and turps or soap and water for cleaning your hands afterwards.

Cloth for polishing

Newspaper

Method.

Cut out your cross or heart with the jigsaw.

Sand the edges.

Paint two coats on the back and sides of your heart or cross in the colour of your choice with Resene Testpots of 

Dry off between coats.

Use the gun to spread some of the glue out onto a plastic plate. Make sure you are sitting near and open window with plenty of ventilation so that you don’t breathe in the fumes of the glue.

Spread some glue with your ice-cream stick onto part of your heart or cross, don’t do too large an area at once or the glue will dry out.

Place beads and broken jewellery on top

If beads are small you will need to lay them on with teasers.

Don’t be afraid to pile small beads on top of each other with a bit of glue to give a 3 D effect.

Keep sticking embellishments and beads on until finished.

Leave to dry overnight.

Polish the beads with a cloth so everything looks shiny and clean.

Lay some newspaper down outside and  place your hearts or crosses on them.

Give them a spray of the gloss Plasticote varnish. Do not breathe in the fumes.

Wait until dry and give another spray.

When dry, turn over and screw in the screw eyes as a wall attachment near the tip of your cross or heart.

 You are welcome to sign up for a heart or cross bead making workshop with me. 
Bring along your old, unwanted jewellery and beads.
 I’ll have the shape, glue, paint  and everything else all ready and you can make it in the comfort of my studio. 

                       My client Fiona's cross, this is the third one she has made and is in the process of making a black and silver one,. Ill post a picture of it when she's finished.


Art, Craft and Mosaic Creativity Classes 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday  mornings from 9.30am until 12 noon. Ring Janet Keen  07 346-3436 or email jkeen@clear.net.nz  for details and prices

374 Clayton Road, Rotorua, New Zealand 

Artist date according to Julia Cameron's book the Artists Way

It is important as an artist to get out of your  studio  to explore your surroundings.
This helps your painting feel fresh and exciting, the ideas and views you pick up will feed into your work. 
 Thursdays are my  days off. 
I sometimes  go for a walk, go see a foreign movie at the Basement Theatre in Himemoa Street, go out for breakfast or lunch and go shopping.
Or I  go for a trip out of town.  I focus on having fun and it's the only day of the week I don't do any teaching. 

  This Thursday I went to Cafe De Paris in Hinemoa Street, Rotorua for breakfast at 10 am.

 I had gluten free and organic mushroom crepes with a cuppucino, which was lovely.

 Cafe De Paris has free Wi-Fi which is perfect for me to write this post for my blog.

 Top tasting coffee.
 It was a very sunny but frosty morning so having something  warm like this was very welcoming and the cafe itself was well heated, the acoustics good and everyone else dining looked relaxed and happy.

Valerie, the  owner  is doing my beginners mosaic course, in which you make a fish, a mirror and a pot for the first three sessions and grout,  plus paint the back of them in Resene testpot colours. 



All for  only $250 including materials,  running Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 9.30am to 11.30am.

 The cafe has happy French music in the background and lovely French posters and art on the wall.
  Valerie  is very friendly and welcoming and obviously has a lot of regular customers. Many of my clients go there from time to time.
You could almost be in France and I think going to a genuine and themed cafe like this is a way of travelling out of your country but without the jet lag.

Of course I still want to travel to France, I am hoping we will be doing this next year.
 I just need to keep affirming that I will make enough money through my art teaching and writing plus photography business to pay for it.

If local or international visitors  want a cozy slice of Kiwi culture and food with a French twist you should give Cafe de Paris a go, the menu is quite extensive and the prices are very reasonable.
Creative Quote of the Day
 “He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.”
― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto