June Classes - Paint Your ART Out!

Our June painting classes will focus on different and unusual painting techniques, materials, and methods. Sometimes we won't be using paint per se, but our end result will still be considered a "painting." It is so much fun to be an artist in today's world! There are no barriers or rules one must subscribe to when expressing oneself through artwork. This month is about thinking out of the box regarding what a painting really is!  

Take a look at our June schedule below... you might just see a "painting" technique that you've always wanted to try!

All of these projects are designed for ages 8 and up; no previous painting instruction or experience is required. This month we will be using temperas, acrylics, and watercolors, as well as yarn, art tissue, ink, oil pastel, and unusual substrates (surfaces). Sometimes we may also incorporate collage, computer graphics, pastels, printing, and other media into our work, depending upon the project.

Day: Thursdays

Time: 4:00-6:00 pm (sometimes until 6:30 for longer projects)

Ages: 8 and up - adults are welcome!
Fees: $15 per class or $60 for the full month of June (five Thursdays, save $15!)

June 2 

Yarn Painting!

Traditional Huichol style yarn painting, made easy! This is a type of folk art painting practiced by the Huichol, indigenous people living in the mountainous areas of north central Mexico. It takes some patience, but it's worth it (and we have a shortcut!)

June 9

Tissue Painting!

Did you know you can "paint" with tissue? Layered, collaged, and even scrunched up for texture - some modern artists have put down their paint brushes altogether in favor of this unusual method of painting!





June 16

Watercolor Batik!

Traditional batik is a way to design fabric using wax and cold water dyes. We will use similar techniques to create a batik look on paper, with a few fun tricks and surprising results!

 June 23

 Abstract Relief!

Time for some FUN! This project includes assembled pieces of cardboard, paint, and ink.  Working with color, shape, and pattern are what is this fun project is all about!

 June 30

 Farm Critters!

Instead of painting on canvas, this week we'll be painting on natural wood. What would  make more sense than gracing our wood "canvas" with a cute little farm critter? We're  thinking an adorable little calf or lamb - or maybe a kid (the goat kind)?  So sweet!

Playful Abstracts - Kandinski Inspired!

Paint Your ART Out was a lot of playful fun this week! 

Inspired by Wassily Kandinski's "Circles in a Circle" and

"Composition VIII" (left), we traced in pencil all manner of circles using CDs, masking tape, paper cups, plates, and anything else we could find. Then we added ruler lines to make long and short lines, angles, and repeated lines.

We then masked off geometric shapes on our watercolor paper, added a bit of oil pastel here and there (for its resist effect), and painted everything with watercolor. 

Once it was dry, we pulled off the tape and WOW! These are cool! The artwork can now be left as is, or the student can continue to develop the design with ink or markers later:

Cool Colorful Cutout Collage!

Oh goodness, this was a fun one! You know how we all strive so hard to draw things realistically; like that is SO important? Well, guess what folks... it's not! In fact, creating non-objective art is much more fun! No worries about making it look like something real. In fact, most non-objective, abstract art doesn't look like anything recognizable; no words or symbols, nothing representational. The idea of making abstract art can be hard to internalize, especially for adults, but even for children. Ask a 10-or a 12-year-old to just "paint" without worrying about making a representational picture, and they don't quite "get it." However, our group figured it out when they realized they could do whatever they wanted with the paint: splat, swirl, drip, brush, blot, stamp, drag, or whatever with whatever colors they wanted. 

This was fun in itself, but then we had even more fun! After it dried, we cut our artwork into 2-inch squares! WHAAAT? Now we had all of these individual tiny pieces of art, each one unique, interesting, and amazing! We spread them out and swapped a few with classmates, then arranged them on a black or white substrate in a grid-like fashion for gluing. Results? These are just a few of our stunning abstract designs!

Our students had a great time and really enjoyed this project. Maybe we need to create non-objective art more often! If you would like your child to try it, we are offering an Abstract Art day camp this summer at the Blackfoot Art Center! 

Also, we will be adding a few abstract paintings to our guided painting event calendar in the near future. You don't need to know how to draw or paint. Abstract painting is relaxing and stress free, plus you get a pretty awesome piece of art when you're done!

Painting Idaho Country!

This week we painted the Idaho countryside -- with the help of Google Maps and in the style of British artist David Hockney.
It was fun to paint our familiar Idaho landscape using the slightly skewed perspective and exaggerated patterns and colors of Hockney's windy countryside roads.

Some of our students tried canvas painting for the very first time tonight. In addition, we practiced mixing colors to create tints for the illusion of distant mountains and fields. We also worked (loosely) with one-point perspective and with shapes and patterns.

Mostly, we just had fun!

Mexican Folk Art!

Our first Paint Your ART class this month was held was held on May 5th, which is also Cinco De Mayo. To celebrate, we decided to try some Mexican folk art by making our own Mexican mirrors. 

This is a multi-media project that can include tempera paint, watercolors, Sharpies, doilies, mosaic paper, scratch board, tooled foil sheeting, acrylic gems, beads, yarn, and anything else you can think of. You will also need one small round compact makeup mirror and a sturdy substrate such as railroad board, corrugated 
cardboard, or heavy cardboard. 

We used a variety of round objects, such as plates and lids, to trace and cut around, as well as funky scissors for interesting edges, and hot glue, and tacky glue. You'll also need glass cleaner and paper towels to clean up the mirrors once the project is completed. 

To create their mirrors, students have many decision-making opportunities as they work through each layer from the mirror in the center outward. Designs can include etching, painted patterns, collage, ink, mosaic work and much more. Each design can be layered outward under the previous design or simply painted or drawn or glued along the outer edge of the previous design. Each artist decides how large their mirror design will be or how many circular patterns to add. These intricately designed Mexican mirrors were created during a two-hour class period.

May Classes - Paint Your ART Out!

This month, our painting projects will focus on colors, patterns, and fun! Each week we will try a different painting medium and new techniques - while creating something amazing! Check out our May schedule below... and if you would like try something new or just have fun creating art, please join us!

All projects are designed for ages 8 and up; no previous painting instruction or experience is required. We will be using temperas, acrylics, and/or watercolors. We may also incorporate collage, computer graphics, pastels, printing, and other media into our work, depending upon the project.

Day: Thursdays

Time: 4:00-6:00 pm (sometimes until 6:30 for longer projects)

Ages: 8 and up - adults are welcome!
Fees: $15 per class or $50 for the full month

May 5 

Mexican Folk Art!

Help us celebrate Cinco De Mayo while creating a bold, beautiful Mexican folk art mirror. This is a mixed media project that includes copper foil tooling, collage, and painted patterns, of course!

May 12

Hockney Meets Google!

Learn to use perspective, patterns and colors in the (slightly skewed) style of David Hockney as you travel the SE Idaho countrysides - using Google maps! This will be an 11" x 14" acrylic painting on canvas.

May 19

Abstract Tempera Art: Paint, cut, collaborate, collage!

This is step-by-step process is a super-fun way to create a unique abstract art piece!

 May 26

Abstract Art in the Style of Kandinski! 

Geometric shapes, tape, watercolor, and WOW!

Japanese Block Prints

This week our painting travels took us to 19th century Japan, where we learned about the woodcarving block prints of ukiyo-e painter and printmakers of the Edo period, such as Katsushika Hokusai. This artist produced an amazing series of 36 views of Mt. Fuji, the largest mountain in Japan. The print to the left is an example of his work.

We used a simpler, less time consuming way to create our own printing plates, using thin styrofoam sheets instead of wooden blocks. 

In one two-hour period, we were able to draw (or press) our designs into the sheets using sharpened dowel 

 (instead of carving them out of wood). Then we went a step further - we cut each section apart from the others, which would allow us to create prints with two or more colors; and we experimented with mixing and blending two ink colors at a time on the brayers to create blended colors from top to bottom, such as in the sky. 

Using our brayers, we rolled our chosen colors on the largest plate sections and rolled the color to the paper, which was a darker color. Then we did the same with the smaller plates, fitting them into the design like puzzle pieces and pressing them as before to transfer the colors. As you can see, after a few experimental prints, our results were pretty extraordinary! 

After the prints dried, we added signatures on paper squares, written top to bottom. 

Of course, the idea with printing is to be able to make more than one print. Some artists made just two, others made up to six, and one or two tried switching out all of the colors used in the first prints for completely different colors in the second series, using the same plates. Very nice!

Special thanks to our volunteer extraordinaire Erica Baguley, 

who prepared and led this inspiring painting project!