Reflections of Claude Monet

Autumn on the Seine, 1873

This week our Summer Art campers Painted like the Masters. On Monday we painted like French artist Claude Monet (1840-1926), founder of Impressionism and one of my very favorite artists.


Monet often painted colorful reflections of trees, so we decided to paint them as well. 

We folded a  large piece of white sulphite paper in half, then we painted our trees along one side of the fold, just one or two trees at a time. Then we folded the paper and squashed it down while the paint was still wet, creating a mirror image below the fold. 

Once our trees were dry, we added soft pastel colors to the sky and river, rubbing them in for a soft look. We also added a few white ripples to the water.

Here are our beautiful "Monet-style" paintings:

My sample

We borrowed this project idea from Painted Paper Art, where you can find the complete instructions for this fabulous mini-masterpiece of art!

Fairy Houses!

Arabella's Fairy House

This week's Summer Art Campers built these magical fairy houses!

They worked so hard to include every little detail that would make a fairy feel right at home. 

Fortunately, we've accumulated a lot of perfect fairy house and garden items and supplies, from which they freely chose what they would need for their fairy house and garden creations. 

First things first... we made our mushrooms and garden gnomes out of air-dry clay. That way they would have time to dry so we could paint them later. 

Our houses were made of milk cartons: they have a perfect square shape and a pitched roof. 
Our houses were covered with tree bark, wood scraps, twigs, and mortared rocks. The roofing material was shingles broken from large pine cones. 

Now it was time to create a garden for our fairy house. We placed them on weathered fence wood planks and added whatever we could dream up. We used white glue to attach things like rock paths and flat items. But mostly we used hot glue to attach anything that could otherwise fall. 

We painted our little red and white mushrooms and we painted our garden gnomes. Then we hid them throughout our gardens.

Finally, we each made a magical little fairy, each with its own powers and special personality. 


I was impressed by the amount of detail that went into each and every fairy house and garden. 

Look carefully and you might see:


Wishing wells

Tire swings

Ponds


Hidden garden gnomes

Bird baths

Hammocks

Window box gardens


Door bells


Crystal wind chimes

Pots of flowers

Gazing balls

Benches

Garden chairs

Jewels

A garden table


Pathways

Clocks

Ladybugs

Butterflies


A clothesline

Birds' nests

A garden swing

Fruit (to eat later)

Birds' eggs

Fairies with magic wands

Acorn bird houses



All of these things were made from natural (or faux-natural) things or objects that a fairy might find and bring back to her home (like these jewels this fairy is wearing on her dress).

This was a great project for kids to learn so many skills: like planning and design, innovation/thinking out-of-the-box, trial and error, engineering (a STEAM skill), how to properly use a hot glue gun (and when white glue is a better choice), choosing from and using a variety of supplies and materials, story-telling, and the pride of successfully completing an amazing and uniquely individual project!

Kennedy's Fairy House

Kieleigh's Fairy House

Madi's Fairy House

Cute Little Fairies!

This week our camps and classes celebrated fantasy, magic, and enchanted things... like garden gnomes, wishing wells, and all sorts of adorable fairies! 



Our Friday art class created these cute mixed media fairies. 







Before starting, we looked at several nostalgic garden fairy paintings, like this one of the Lilac Fairy. 


We thought about what type of fairy we would create. What would she look like and dress like? What powers would she have? Where would she live?






I helped them draw their fairies step-by-step, giving them plenty of personal options as we went along. We drew them with Sharpies, which encourages confident artists!





Next, we added areas of color with crayon, pressing hard. We didn't color in the fairy, just added interesting and colorful details in the fairy and in the background.






Finally, we painted over everything in watercolor for a crayon resist effect. The Sharpie doesn't smear and the crayon pops out! 



 Aren't they adorable?

More Giraffes!

Our Friday afternoon class made these awesome giraffes!

We celebrated World Giraffe Day by creating these beautiful mixed media giraffes. 

They were sketched on 12 x 18 white sulfite paper, painted, cut out, and glued to a piece of black sulfite paper along with several leaves that we also painted and cut out to show a bit of the giraffe's habitat. 





After they were sketched we used oil pastels to create and outline the spots on the giraffe. That way the oil pastel resisted the paint. We used cake temperas since liquid temperas would be too thick to work.



Next we cut out our leaves and our giraffes.

Then we arranged everything on the black paper, with a goal of overlapping a few of the leaves behind or in front of the giraffe for a more 3-D look. When they looked awesome, we glued everything down.

Our thanks to That Artist Woman for this great art project idea!

Amazing Giraffes!

Did you know June 21 is World Giraffe Day?

To celebrate giraffes, we created giraffe art!

These were no ordinary giraffes... ours were abstract giraffes that displayed interesting patterns and symbols in their spots.

These works of art were first sketched in pencil using our flip flop template (with a few adjustments) for the head. Then we added the neck and painted the background.



The giraffe was painted in a light color of choice, then the spots were added. After they dried, each spot was embellished with a pattern or symbol and the facial features were added. Then the entire figure was outlined in black, and symbols were added to the background as an option. 



This is a liquid tempera on white 9" x 22" poster board.   

This is my sample, but as always, the kids' artwork is so much more imaginative and spontaneous than my own!