Giant Snowmen!

How do you build a giant snowman? Easy. It's all a matter of perspective. If you were a bug -- or a kid making a snow angel -- and looking up at a snowman, it would look very, very large! It's all a matter of perspective. 

Instead of starting with three stacked circles, we drew partial, overlapping circles up from a corner of a 12" x 18" sheet of paper. Then we added details, making sure that closer things (near the bottom) were larger and things in the distance (higher up) were smaller. 

We outlined our snowmen with black Sharpies, then again with Crayola markers, which we "painted" with water to bleed into a nice bluish snowy tint. We painted the rest of our details, then added a nice colorful background. 

 

 

 

More Winter Trees!

These amazing tree scenes were created by painting the background paper with tempera, then scraping white paper with credit cards to make the trees. These are then cut out, and carefully arranged and glued over the background. Finally, tissue 'leaves' are glued to the artwork to fall from the trees. 

I just LOVE this project! The artwork has such a lovely abstract look. Aren't these beautiful? 

Trees in Watercolor

Trees are such a wonderful subject to draw, paint, and collage in all sorts of media! 

We recently painted winter scenes of trees in watercolor using unusual techniques and supplies such as masking tape, toothbrushes, credit cards, and salt for some special and surprising effects!

 

 

Christmas Cars!

This idea, from Deep Space Sparkle, is a perfect introduction to illustration art. The artwork is not intended to be realistic or painterly, but more like an illustration in a children's book.                                                      Kids often try so hard to make things look 'real,' especially middle schoolers and up. This project offers a great opportunity for them to loosen up and draw something a bit less perfect, even cartoonish and silly, while illustrating a rather quaint and old fashioned subject. 

The kids (ages 10 to 15) were a bit hesitant about it at first, but loved the Christmas Car once we got going! Corban (our only male artist) painted Christmas Humvee driven by Slenderman in a potato storm. 

Well, alrighty then! 

Glimmering Trees!

This is such a fun winter project! 

Great for all ages too, especially because of the surprise painting technique using bleeding tissue paper. (A 4-year-old created the trees on the bottom left.)

Also, kids love to use metallic Sharpies, so you can't go wrong. 

We've created glittering trees many times, always with beautiful results. 

If you would like to try this project, you can find out more at 
http://kidsartists.blogspot.com/2010/12/colourful-christmas-trees.html

Just Let 'Em Paint!

Sometimes you just gotta paint! 

"Free-painting" is an integral part of our art program. No rules. No instruction. Just paper, brushes, palettes, water, and paint. Then let them go to it! Often, amazing things happen. 




Okay, I admit I encourage the kids to mix their own colors. I might even show them how to do it. (That's what the palettes are for.) And if they ask for help, I'm there. 






It's important for young artists to take art classes and attempt directed art projects. They will learn new art processes, how to use new materials, and try new subjects and ideas. 

However, it's equally important - for the sake of creativity - to let young artists go their own way and paint at will! 

Beautiful Autumn Leaves!

Our young artists drew these autumn leaves with black Sharpies. Then they added details and outlines in crayon, focusing on repetition and patterns. 

Finally, they used watercolor to paint over the entire composition while enjoying the amazing wax resist effects as the colors 'popped' through the paint!