Mary Fedden Inspired Still Lifes

I discovered the art of Mary Fedden via Pinterest. I had looked back at my pins on my Art Inspirations board and realized I had clearly been charmed by the work of this wonderful British artist (who passed away just two years ago.) For my group of K thru 5th graders I settled on a still life of black tulips and lemons (both reoccurring elements in her work). I found this video of her speaking about her art which I shared with the children:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxOOKRhllPw. I love how she described adding cut elements like putting together a "jigsaw puzzle." That's how my group approached their still lifes. I also learned that David Hockney was a pupil of hers. The children's use of bold color reminds me of his work. I look forward to creating more Mary Fedden inspired art, getting more involved with the "jigsaw puzzle" approach.

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Jungle Jaguars

 Ella, 5

 Alexa, 8

 Luke, 5

 Charlotte, 5

 Grace, 6

Cora, 5

My Animal Art Fun group of kindergarten through 3rd graders did a beautiful job creating their jungle jaguar pieces. Jaguars were created with chalk and oil pastel on construction paper and then cut out. Their backgrounds were done with oil pastel and watercolor resist (always magical in the eyes of a young artist). They had the option of adding an extra layer with cut leaves from sponge painted paper. Well done kids!

Merry Christmas from SoCal!

It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas here with a temperature of  81*( But I'm definitely not complaining) 

Wishing you all a Wonderful day and much happiness in the New Year!

Snowmen Collages

my example

Or I guess I should say snowpeople.  :)  I was admittedly overly ambitious to think the children could easily complete all the steps to create these collages in an hour and 15 minutes. In order to do so, it required me to become equal parts art teacher and drill sergeant. We first used liquid watercolor and salt to create our winter sky backgrounds. I had some Sax blue glitter watercolor which was fun for the kids to use and made their skies sparkle. The birch trees were created by scraping black acrylic paint across posterboard scraps using cardboard pieces. While these dried, the children made their snowpeople with chalk pastels on blue construction paper. At this point I brought out my hair dryer to hurry along the drying process. The snowpeople were cut out and the birch trees cut into strips. I encouraged the kids to vary the width of their trees to make them appear closer and further away. And last, they glued down all the elements. If we had more time, I would have had them add some cast shadows to their birch trees and maybe some extra snowfall. I will definitely try this project again at a more relaxed pace.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas! Enjoy your time spent with family and friends!

Whimsical Winter Animals

My two Winter Holiday Art Fun classes revisited a couple favorite lessons with these tint and shade rabbits and foxes with watercolor skies. They have a wonderful illustrative quality which would make them perfect to accompany a short story or a poem. Both groups followed direct line drawing lessons to create their rabbits and foxes and shaded them with chalk pastels. Animals were cut out and glued to winter backgrounds.

Artwork by children 5 - 10

Notice Andie's addition of a very fancy pair of earrings

 Sweet fox by a sweet girl - Jenna, 5

I love how Ian chose to use every color offered,
creating a gorgeous watercolor sky

Sheep in the Snow

 Sami, 5

 Presley, 5

 Grace, 6

Jenna, 10

I'm finally getting to some seasonal art projects this month. The temperature has dropped into the 50's this week. For SoCal residents, this could be considered bitter cold. Although I know the rest of the country is dealing with "real" frigid weather right now. 

The children created their sheep on brown and blue construction paper with chalk pastels. They followed a direct line drawing lesson and used both the tip and the side of their pastels to create texture. I encouraged them to use a little smudged charcoal to create shadow and depth. On a separate piece of board I offered blue, black and purple liquid watercolors to create a wintertime sky. After this was dry they created snow using the backs of their brushes dipped in white acrylic.Sheep were then cut out and glued to their backgrounds.

Snorkeling Self Portraits

Nothing says late autumn quite like snorkeling right? :) I wanted to do a self-portrait lesson, but decided to add a twist with my two groups of after-school students. I offered a template to create a head and from there the children (5-10) followed a directed line drawing lesson. A variety of media was offered to add color to their portraits, acrylic paint, oil pastels and chalk pastels. I encouraged them to outline everything with a permanent marker or oil pastel once complete to make everything pop. On a separate piece of board the children created an underwater effect with liquid watercolors and salt. (Always a crowd pleaser) Finally the children created bright colored tropical fish and played around with placement to create an underwater scene. Snorkelers and fish were cut out and glued to their backgrounds.