Painterly Peacocks

"Miss Mary, I really want to put purple polka dots on my peacock's beak to make it beauteeeful." Hannah, 5

This week my class created some wonderful painted peacocks. I wanted them to be loose, painterly and expressive with their birds. So I had them start by using sponges to swirl acrylic paint onto their boards to create a feathery impressionistic background. While still wet they painted the body and the "eyes" of their feathers. Once the background was dry, they used oil pastels to finish the details on their feathers and finished their paintings with the eyes and beak. These works were created by girls 5-7.

On a side note, my daughter and I went to the Los Angeles Arboretum early this summer just in time for peafowl mating season. (hundreds of peafowl roam the grounds freely, descendants of the birds first imported from India by the wealthy original landowner, Lucky Baldwin back in the late 1800's.) What a treat to see the peacocks fan their feathers and literally strut their stuff trying to get the attention of the peahens. But we laughed because the females just looked bored and uninterested no matter how proud the males were of their beautiful plumage. (Insert joke regarding parallels with human behavior here ;)

Piatti Owls, Take Two

Paige (7)

Sharpie Markers and Acrylic

Ella (7)

Talia (7)

Lilly (5)

Hannah (5)

Brianna (7)

My October session art students looked at the work of Celestino Piatti. For this group, I gave only the primary colors and black and white. We talked about adding designs and patterns in the way Piatti did in his graphic owls. This was the first opportunity for some to mix paint and it was fun for them to come up with their own color palettes for their owls.

More Mega Bugs

(preppy bug with an argyle body?)

(With those lips...maybe a diva bug)

First time using oil and chalk pastels - nice job Lilly!

I just started a new art session with a group of kindergarten thru 2nd graders. I thought my pastel "mega bug" project from my earlier post would be a quick straightforward starter lesson to loosen everyone up on our first day. Some of my students have never used pastels before while a couple could have jumped up and lead the lesson. I talked about creating fantasy bugs using whatever colors or patterns they'd like. The key was to work BIG (and off the page), as if we were viewing the bug through a magnifying glass. They outlined their shapes and patterns using light colored oil pastel (for contrast with our black paper) and used chalk pastel to fill in color

Early Finisher Projects

"Mega Bugs" in oil and chalk pastel

Via Pinterest

My example - Sharpie and Chalk Pastel

Fauvist Hedge Parsley Landscapes

My art classes run 1 1/2 hours now. And of course, we all have our own pace. Some kids just want to blow through things, some are content to work on one piece throughout the class, and some just naturally work at a faster pace. Here are a few projects created by some early finishers who wanted to do more than just "free draw" or "free paint."

Celestino Piatti Inspired Owls

Liberty - 7

Samantha 7

Daniella 9

Abby 9

Scott 6

Alexander 6

"The Happy Owls" 1963

I was "pinning" away a couple weeks ago and came across some very cute owls by graphic artist, Celestino Piatti. This art class session, my challenge has been to have art projects appropriate for a wide age range (grades K thru 4th). I thought this would work well for the group. I created two versions of owl pairs. The first is done using cotton balls triple dipped in white, brown and black to create the look of feathers. For the second piece, I had an extra board left over from my Statue of Liberty project painted with primary colored stripes(and I am uber-thifty and love to re-use and recycle). I drew a pair of owls right on top, painted the wings purple, and outlined everything with black using s small brush. This week my class chose between the two or could use both techniques. They created their compositions and laid down their color and then traced over all their lines with oil pastel or black paint. (They didn't share my enthusiasm for creating delineated feathered wings and opted to keep them simple - and of course they are wonderful as is :)

Peter Max Inspired Statue of Liberty

The above pieces were created by children 5-9

Tempera with Charcoal

Chalk Pastel and Charcoal

Step One - Pastel

Last week I saw these wonderful Peter Max inspired Statue of Liberty paintings on We Heart Art. They are full of energy and personality. I tried two versions, one with chalk pastel and the other, tempera. I laid down the chalk pastel in bright colors smearing with my finger but not being concerned about how the statue would play out on top. I took Joanna's cue with the paint version and used only primary colors. Once dry I used charcoal to draw a simple graphic version of Lady Liberty, smearing lightly with my finger. I highlighted these lines with white oil pastel. I added a few extra "scribbles" of color to mimic the energy of Max's work.

We Will Never Forget

Over a year ago I did a project based on Eric Carle inspired cityscapes. I encouraged the children to fill their page with buildings and sky scrapers. A 1st grade boy created this piece and was very content with his two buildings. It really struck me at the time as the Twin Towers with a fiery sky. Of course this is my history and I'm sure he knew nothing about that horrible day.

Today I have watched some of the memorials and stories of the heroes of 9/11 and heard over 3000 motorcycles ride down Pacific Coast Highway in a tribute parade. And I'm sure like many of you I am immediately transported back to that day, recounting exactly what I was doing as I watched in horror as the events unfolded. And today I found myself explaining this day in history to my daughter who was still growing inside me.