Fantastic Creative Opportunity

Just recently I found artist Carla Sonheim through the wonderful blog, Vivid Layers. Based on the rave reviews of Marcia and many others from Amazon, I purchased Sonheim's "Drawing Lab, 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun." It was money well spent. There are some wonderful and fun exercises to help me remember the joy of creating art. I can still fall victim in focusing on product instead of process with my own work. I think young elementary school children are such fun to teach because they love the process.



This brings me to the point of this post. On Carla Sonheim's blog
she is offering a fabulous online course: The Art Of Silliness 2, 30 worksheets, 30 days, for $25. The exercises are "non-threatening and easy" and just plain fun. Her book reflects this wonderful looseness and whimsy. She mentions that teachers are welcome to photocopy the worksheets and use them in classrooms. I have signed up and just wanted to pass the word along to my fellow blog friends. These aren't long, time consuming exercises and can always be set aside for a day with more free time. Check out her blog for more info. I'm really looking forward to it!

Summer Samplings

Newspaper Penguin Collage

Asian Koi scrolls with individual printed red "chop"

More fun with toothpaste and lotion batik a la Phyl

More experiments with Chihuly

Pop Art Self Portraits
(Special thanks to For the Love of Art)

Maneki Neko, Japanese "Beckoning Cat"
(5-6 year olds)

Ancient Greek

Vases

Painted Cheetahs (5-8 year olds)
Animal Art Camp

This is just a sampling of some of the projects my 6 art classes and themed mini camps worked on this summer. I had ages 5 thru 13 and really enjoyed helping them create some wonderful artwork. I look forward to some fall art fun in the next few weeks!

Bedtime Dinosaurs

My Children's Book Art Mini Campers took at a look at the very cute, "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?" by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. ( A real favorite in my house when my children were "young"). I have been wanting to do a dinosaur art project for some time, so this was a great opportunity. I have to say the children (mostly age 6) were somewhat intimidated at the prospect of drawing a dinosaur. But after the first few "lumps and bumps" and "candy cane shapes" in my direct line drawing lesson, they were completely at ease and enjoying the process.

After their drawings were complete and gone over in permanent marker, they were able to paint their piece as they chose with watercolors. "Yes, Sydney, you can paint your dinosaur in rainbow colors." While still wet we sprinkled our work with salt. This gave the dinosaur skin that lumpy reptile effect. Of course, they loved this part! Once dry, our creatures, complete with blankies, were cut out and glued to a black construction paper background. Stars and moon were then added. This was one of my favorite projects of the summer. I love the individual personalities of each of these dinosaurs. Well done kids!!

Egyptian Pharaoh and Queen Self Portraits

My example using my niece Shaeye 6 year old students

My Art from Around the World Mini Campers travelled to Egypt and created their own ancient pharaoh oe queen self portrait (inspired by a project I saw on Artsonia). I took a facial profile picture of each child that I printed on simple computer paper. These were cut out and gone over with a watered down light tan tempera wash. After dry, the children added the Egyptian tradmake eyeliner around their eyes as well as highlighting their brow. These profiles were glued to a 12" X 18" black construction paper and using paint and oil pastels, a royal headress (as well as a tunic) was added using the simple shape of Queen Nefertiti or Ramses III. They created their own royal mat for their portraits using metalic gold, red and blue paint. For our finishing touch, we painted aluminum foil with gold metallic tempera and after dry, we engraved it with our initials in Egyptian hieroglyphics using the back of a paint brush. This was cut out and added to the side to really personalize their portraits. I love the way these turned out and the children had a lot of fun with this project as well.

Proud Painted Peacocks

I grew up just a couple miles from the Los Angeles Arboretum (located in Arcadia). It was home to a number of peacocks and peahen imported from India by a wealthy investor, Lucky Baldwin back in the 1880's. It was not uncommon for them to stray once in a while and end up in the backyards of friends. Looking back now, I have a much greater appreciation for being able to enjoy these gorgeous birds up close, roaming freely. A number of their offspring still remain and my daughter can now enjoy them as well.

To create our peacocks my K-2nd graders first painted their board with a mix of tropical blue and green. After our base had dried, the children followed a simple direct line drawing of a close-up bird: bowling pin shape body with a skinny oval behind it. The feathers were painted in layers: yellow, orange, green and "peacock" blue. The feathers were connected to the body using oil pastels. Finally, beaks, eyes and head feathers were added using a combination of paint and oil pastel. This project was a favorite amongst my Animal Art Mini Campers.

Blue Dog and the Legend of the Loup Garou

(The following "Blue Dogs" were done by my Animal Art Class Children - ages 5-8)

My 5th -7th graders took a look at the work of Cajun artist George Rodgrique and his many versions of "Blue Dog", modeled after his beloved deceased dog, Tiffany and based on the French myth of the Loup Garou. The Loup Garou is a human who can change into a wolf at his or her own will (a werewolf). Legend has it that anyone who sheds the blood of the Loup Garou will turn it back into human form and likewise become a wolf themselves for 101 days.



Given their age and the popularity of the Twilight series (with it's human/wolf parallels) , I thought this would be a fun opening project for our summer course. Rodrique continues to paint his Blue Dog and in many different colors. So I encouraged them to choose their own color (after a direct line drawing lesson) and add their own spin. I haven't had this "older" age group in a while and I'm finding it almost odd not having to chant, "1, 2, 3, eyes on me." and other attention getters I sometimes use for my little ones. :) It is a wonderfully humorous, diverse group and I'm looking forward to all of their artwork to come.

Savannah in Monet's Garden

(A Variety of Monet Gardens by Children's Book Art Class)

My Children's Book Art Camp will be taking a look at Linnea in Monet's Garden by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson. It's a wonderful book that combines illustrations with Monet's actual paintings. It follows the little girl, Linnea as she learns about the life of Monet as she visits his pink house in Giverny and stands on the Japanese bridge in Giverny that he painted so many times. To create our Impressionist pieces, we will be adding layers of paint and experimenting with a variety of brush strokes. The children will first create a watercolor wash of the water and sky. I always encourage them to use a couple colors to add dimension rather than just a solid blue sky for example. While the paint is still wet we will as our colors for the lily pads and water reflections as well as all the lush folliage in the backgroud. They will double and triple load their brushes in blues, greens and yellow to mimic the Impressionistic effect. The bridges are cut from large pieces of construction paper (glue together 3 curved shapes and 4 small rectangles) and can be painted over lightly as well to help them blend into the painting. I will take a picture of each child waving (great idea Savannah) and cut them out. They are slipped behind their bridge and glued to the piece.

Voila, each child can be a part of their own Impressionist landscape.