More Spring Break ART Camp

At Spring Break ART Camp, we created our own Aurora Borealis  Northern Lights. This cool art project idea was suggested by one of our young students, and it was a hit!

The aurora was created with soft pastels rubbed and smeared vertically from the torn edge of a piece of paper. Then we drew three horizontal lines to create a hilly horizon line and the far and near banks of a river. We added more soft pastel into the river area and smeared it with our fingers to represent colorful reflections in moving water. 



Then we moved to the paint table and added our snowy hills and river banks. We also added a few thin lines in the river to create moving water. Finally, we splattered the entire painting to create stars, or maybe a snow storm! This project involved a lot of processes and was really fun for everyone. 

We would like to thank Elements of the Art Room for this great art project idea, which I have adjusted slightly for younger students. 

Spring Break ART Camp

It's a Kite Festival!

Our Spring Break ART campers celebrated the coming of spring with these gorgeous soaring kites! 

This is a recycled art project. These lovely kite designs were the perfect project for my secret stash of painted paper scraps that have accumulated in the art studio.




We first painted our beautiful skies with glowing blue and pink tints. Then we cut our kites from the painted paper scraps, and glued them to the dried sky background. We then traced our hands in one corner and added tails and strings to our kites with Sharpies. Some artists also drew designs on their kites.
 

 

Our thanks to Mary Making for this awesome recycled art project idea.

Dandelion Rabbits!

Here is one of those spring time art projects that we just LOVE - our cute little Dandelion Rabbit! 

We have done this one in the past; you can find the original post  right here. 








We started by sketching the basic shape of the rabbit to the left or right in the composition. Then we painted various blue and green tints in the background surrounding the sketched rabbit.  






We then painted our rabbit, who has interrupted his delicious meal to take a quick look around.

Finally, we added our grasses, dandelions, buttercups, and other wildflowers; and we added a few dandelion seed pods floating around in the breeze.

Dragon Eyes!

Our young artists have a 'thing' about dragons, so they had a great time designing and creating these amazing life-size dragon eyes!


We studied a few animal eyes and dragon eye samples. Then they selected their media, such as pastel on black or colored sulphite paper, or Sharpies with paint on watercolor paper.  






Our painters sketched the basic shape of the eye, then added additional details with Sharpies. This artist started with a wash of watercolor inside the eye, then continued with the scales and other details.






Watercolors are added to each section while attempting to mix slight variations in shades from shape to shape.







This artist brought along his own original drawing of a dragon, which he used to help illustrate the eye in detail, again in watercolor. 






Tempera paint was used for this dragon eye. The artist mixed a  variety of color tints for the scales surrounding her dragon eye to create a mosaic of lovely colors. 








This artist chose to use soft pastels on black sulphite paper to create this stunning dragon eye. She used black oil pastel for the deep shadows and white oil pastel to sharply define the edges of the frills around the eye.








Violet sulphite paper and oil pastels were chosen for this  artwork. The artist created a variety of textures, dynamic shapes, and layered colors to create this awesome dragon eye!  

Drawing, Part 4: Cartooning

Any kid who loves art and has Internet access is probably familiar with Art Hub for Kids - a series of YouTube follow-along drawing lessons for children. 


Rob is the artist/instructor who has four kids of his own, one of whom draws right along with him in each episode. 


The subjects are fun to draw and the lessons are super positive. 


There is always room for self-interpretation and variation. 


Older children who want to learn cartooning skills can do so by following along with Rob. 


These are the drawings we worked on for St. Patrick's Day using Art Hub for Kids. 


When folded, the leprechaun is hidden. Unfold and he pops out of a pot of gold!


Our young artists were pretty excited about the results. 


Rob encourages children to draw while having a great time! What could be better?

Drawing, Part 3: Drawing TOYS!

One way to encourage children to draw is to provide observational drawing opportunities. Children want to draw real things. Observational drawing does not discourage imaginative drawing; it enhances it. Children want to learn how to draw their world and the things within it. 



The trick is to provide subjects that they are interested in and would enjoy looking at for their drawings. 

We chose toys!


 We used Sharpies instead of pencils. 

This meant lines could not be erased and perfection was not a priority. 



Artists needed to be bold! 


Drawings also needed to be large. And our goal was to fill the paper with objects. 

Everything needed to be filled with color using any media desired. Artists used markers, colored pencils, and some used chalk pastels for soft textures or furry coats.


Backgrounds could be colored or left plain.