Friday, June 28, 2019

Little Artists Paint Like Monet!



This week our little artists painted Monet's Japanese footbridge.

We first examined a few versions of this painting and learned that Monet painted the bridge many times. He was an impressionist so capturing light and color were most important to him. He painted the bridge in the morning, in full sunlight, and at sunset. He painted it during different seasons.



I taped a piece of watercolor paper to each board ahead of time. Then the children drew their bridges using at least two or three blues and greens and pressing the oil pastels hard.

They then drew in their waterlilies beneath the bridge using green and any other colors they wanted, again, pressing hard.

Finally, I quickly sponged other each piece with a wet sponge, and they added dabs of turquoise, blue, violet, and green. It was fun to watch the colors spread and to see the oil pastels resist and poke through the paint. 

We added course salt to the wet paint to add texture and sparkle to the water. We had to wait a bit for the salt to do its magic! 



Yup! That's right. Four- and five-year-olds can paint like Monet!

Saturday, June 22, 2019

Funky Folk Art!

Our Little Artists made these Funky Chickens.

This week we created crazy critters! We learned a bit about folk art, and then we used lines, patterns, shapes and colors to create our own folk art creatures!




Then, our older kids made these colorful "croco-gators!" 

They painted basic shapes (like rectangles, triangles, and circles) to create the basic body shape. 




Then they divided the shape into sections and filled each with patterns and/or colors. We used liquid tempera paint on 11 x 22 inch black poster board. 


Saturday, June 15, 2019

Rainbow Trout for Dad



We painted these beautiful rainbow trout for Dad or Grandpa or whoever might need a Father's Day hint to take a child fishing!
First, we observed the shape and details of a trout and we sketched it lightly in pencil on a 12" x 18" sheet of 130 lb watercolor paper. Then we went over our sketch with a black Sharpie, adding additional details like spots and lines in the fins, and we erased any stray pencil lines with a big soft eraser.




Next, we observed how the rainbow of colors are distributed in the trout, starting with green along the top and ending with green at the bottom. 





We worked on blending and lightening our colors using water, and we created new colors in our palettes.






We painted the head and fins as desired, using many of the colors that we created earlier.








To complete the painting, our artists could simply paint in a watery background and sprinkle it with rock salt, or cut out the fish and glue to piece of black sulphite paper. 


Our thanks to Apex Elementary Art for this awesome art project idea!

Art for Father's Day!



This week our Thursday art classes made artwork just for Dad!


These are little watercolor paintings in frames that were created using natural elements to match the subject of the painting.


The children worked very hard on this gift for their fathers and were proud of the finished results!




As a bonus, each artist created not one but two small watercolor paintings. That way they could choose their favorite to frame and keep the other painting for themselves.



The paintings were created from observation using photos of nature from our resource files.  The artists then mixed their own colors and created textures, shadows, and details using a variety of brushwork techniques.



Our Little Artists made ROBOT Dads and Kids for Father's Day!

This is a collage project similar to the Invitation to Create Robot Lab in which the materials and tools are made available on the table and the kids just go to town.


We set out paper scraps, strips of cardboard, bits of straws, googly eyes, sequins, beads, small metal fasteners, glue, scissors, and markers. 

And as you can see from these pictures, these Little Artists went to town!




Once they were finished with their masterpieces, we found the just the right letters to personalize our gifts of art for Father's Day!

Friday, June 07, 2019

Outer Space Art!



This week we created         

Outer Space Art!!!


We painted galaxies, planets, moons, nebulae, stars, space dust, comets, and space travelers!


This was step-by-step mixed media art project that involved lots of fun processes, techniques, and art media - beginning with smash painting! We smeared various colors of liquid tempera paint on a variety of smooth plastic lids, which we smashed and swirled to a piece of paper to create our planets. We also traced a few lids to fill with wet-on-wet watercolor for some of our planets. 


While our planets dried, we sponged liquid tempera paint diagonally across a piece of black poster board to create our galaxy. Then we added white to our sponges and did it again, then a bit of black to add the shadows and darkness of space. 



Next, we splattered our space painting with white tempera paint using a toothbrush and then again by tapping two long paintbrushes together. 








We cut out our dried planets and arranged them in our solar system. A few artists created a larger planet or moon to place at the bottom of the piece in the foreground for added dimension. 



The next step was to create a collage space traveler of some sort. This might be a rocket ship, a flying saucer, or a silly space alien. Artists could use any materials they desired to create this element. 



Finally, everything was arranged or rearranged and glued to our space art. Then any additional elements were added such as rings, comets, or distant galaxies. White and metallic Sharpies worked great for this step!




Check out our amazing Space Art!

Not to be left out, our Little Artists made these Space Aliens!!!

First they painted a spaceship - strangely similar to a snow globe. Then they designed a Space Alien of any shape, color(s), texture, and any number of eyes that they could dream up! 

Lastly, they added a few collage elements such as shiny washi tape or punch-out lights to finish the spaceship. 

Then they cut out their Space Aliens so they could play with them!