Zebra and Giraffe Safari Portraits

My first lesson this art session is a multi-media project I adapted from an idea I saw on Artsonia. The children could choose between a zebra or giraffe.(It was a complete zebra sweep in my 2nd and 3rd grade class!) I went through a direct line drawing for each animal. They then went over their pencil work with permanent marker and then tempera paint. This was put up to dry and they worked on their black background (posterboard) .They were given sponges, pieces of cardboard and q-tips to create designs and patterns just around the outside border. When their animal was dry they used oil pastel to create a horizon line and a couple trees to look like an African savanna. A watercolor wash then added to make the earth and sunset. This was piece was mounted on their black background and for a final touch, some cut pieces rafia (African grass)was glued in front of the animal. While it was a fairly involved project, the children loved adding each layer to their work of art.

(Day 1 Giraffes and Zebras)
I love how the same direct line drawing lesson produced so many completely unique zebras in my kindergarten class.

Eric Carle Style Elephant

I'm starting a new session next week and we will be focusing on animal art projects and children's book art. I never get tired of doing Eric Carle inspired collages. And this project will fall into both catagories. I used newspaper to create the elephant. By leaving some of the paper showing through I think it adds a fun spin to the collage. The grass was created with tempera and the back of the paint brush. I had lots of scrap textured paper to create the bird.

The Little Watercolor with the Long Story

I've had a lot of people ask how a girl born and raised in southern California ended up at The Savannah College of Art and Design. My life was forever changed by this watercolor I did my senior year in high school.


My art teacher was collecting our submissions for the Scholastic Art Awards. She discouraged me from entering this piece as she felt a true watercolor should have more white of the paper showing. (To her credit, she had a valid point.) I thought it was one of my stronger pieces, so she relented. It went on to win the Kodak Award for Best Watercolor in Los Angeles County. From there it went to the national competition in New York. While it didn't win anything there, a scout from SCAD saw the piece and offered me a partial scholarship. I went on to graduate from SCAD, meet my husband (of now 18 years), live in the south for a decade, and even name my daughter, Savannah - all because of 1 little painting.

We all make decisions in life that can forever change our course. I have something very tangible to mark my life altering path change.

Tasty Treats A La Thiebaud

My Mini Modern Artists finished this art session with a take on the work of pop artist, Wayne Thiebaud. The children were very excited about the subject matter of this living artist: rows of cakes, lollipops, pie ect. They each chose their dessert and drew and cut out a simple shape to be repeated. Some kids opted for a whole sweets buffet. After tracing their shape in permanent marker they used chalk and oil pastels to mimic Thiebaud's thick painterly style. I encouraged them to add some strong cast shadows, also very prevalent in his work. I did my own cupcakes as an example. But I was really thrilled to see these 2nd and 3rd graders take it a step further with color and placement. I think they did a wonderful job!

Leo the Late Bloomer

My kindergarteners finished this art session with their take on the 1971 published, Leo the Late Bloomer. It's a cute story about Leo the tiger who is having a hard time learning to read, write and draw. But as his mother says, "a watched bloomer never blooms." In his time he learns to all the things the rest of the jungle animals can do.

Since we only had 1 hour to complete this project I gave everyone a head template to trace. From there we drew the rest of the tiger features step by step. After going over their tiger in permanent marker, they could add leaves, flowers, and butterflies with oil pastel. Lastly we used watercolor to paint our tigers orange and a blue wash for the sky.

Dale Chihuly Inspired Sculpture

(Playing around with composition)

My Mini Modern Artists took a look at the work of Amercian glass sculptor, Dale Chihuly. His amazing installations can be seen around the world. Closest to our home is Fiori di Como in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Commissioned by Steve Wynn, it took over 100 architects, engineers, shippers, installers and glass blowers to create this 2,100 square foot installation with over 2000 pieces of glass. It's a spectacular piece that looks like a mass of dream-like flowers or sea creatures. Originally I had intended for each child to create their own design to take home. But I thought that collectively, they created a wonderful meandering composition more in the style of Chihuly. And as an added bonus, I get to keep it! Each child will get a mounted photo of their collaborative project.

I bought 8x10 sheets of Shrinky Dink paper (can you believe most of these children had never heard of them?!) I had them create a design with permanent markers, encouraging them to keep it simple and repetetive. Each sheet was put in the oven where it contorted to a unique shape. I randomly glue gunned the pieces together (managing to burn myself only once!) and threaded a small hole in the piece with fishing line and then a simple wire hook and hung it from my ceiling. It looks beautiful spinning slowly with all the interplay of colors, forms and shapes. I plan to do this project again on a smaller scale so each child can have their own mini Chihuly inspired sculpture.

Georgia O'Keeffe Inspired Flowers

My 2nd and 3rd graders got to take a look at one of my personal favorite artists, Georgia O'Keeffe. I particularly love her flowers, painted so close up, they take on an a beautiful abstract appearance. O'Keeffe once said,"I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore it's beauty."
I had lots of close up photos of flowers for the children to use as inspiration. As large as they thought they were making them, I had them take it a step further and encouraged them to go off the page in at least 3 places. They used oil pastels to draw their flower and add details. A watercolor wash was added to the background to really set off their flower composition.