Downtown Snowstorm!

This week we created these awesome downtown snowstorms!

This is a mixed media painted collage.

We drew the basic shapes of the buildings, painted them, added windows, and cut the buildings out.

Then we splattered a big piece of blue paper with white tempera, then glued our buildings to it.






We added snow and icicles to the roofs with white paper scraps and more paint.

We painted trees in front of the buildings and added snow to them.

Some artists then splattered or swirled more snow over the entire stormy scene! 

Snowman Scoops!

Introducing Snowman Scoops!

Such a fun project - for all ages! Our youngest artist was just four. The original idea came from a lesson taught in a 2nd grade classroom, but apparently every kid likes the idea of a snowman ice cream cone!

First, using white chalk, we lightly sketch the three stacked circles of the snowman on a piece of blue paper. We also add the cone at the bottom. 


Then we fill in the circles with white liquid tempera paint. Then we start at the top and paint it again to get it good and white!

Next, we mix a tiny bit of blue into a small amount of white paint and paint this light blue tint near the edge of one side of the snowman. Then we mix in more blue and paint this new tint along the edge. This creates shadows to give the illusion of volume and form for realism. 



Next, we paint the brown cone, and add a bit of white along the light side of the cone without rinsing the brush. This allows you to blend the white and brown more easily from the edge.







Now it's time to add our details, like the waffle pattern in the cone. We use oil pastels to do this.

The snowman's face, head gear (knit cap, top hat, ear muffs, etc.) scarf, buttons, and branchy arms are added.






But what to do about drips and smears of white paint on our blue backgrounds?  

We solved this problem by drawing big white snowflakes right over them!

 

Our thanks to Art.Eat.Tie Dye.Repeat. for this great lesson idea!

Ice Skaters!

One of our favorite winter art projects is the Skating Legs! 


Creating this mixed media project is a step-by-step process that's also a lot of fun! 

We learned a bit about anatomy (the legs), tried our hand at fashion design (leg attire and skates), and followed step-by-step directions (a valuable skill) to put it all together.

          

It was especially fun to build the skates and then lace them! 

To make your own Skating Legs, take a look at our ice skaters post right here. And you can see even more skating leg art here. 

Such a Deer!

This week we created these beautiful paintings of a deer in the winter forest.

For inspiration we observed resource photos of white tailed deer and other types of deer such as the one below.  







Sometimes I display the art of a famous or contemporary artist as well. In this case, I created my own art sample for additional artistic motivation. I kinda like it!






These are 12" x 16" tempera paintings on heavyweight sulphite construction paper to provide a lovely tinted background. 








We had three goals for this painting. The first was to mix tints of all colors used to provide a frosty winter forest scene. The second goal was to carefully observe our deer subject as we render it and fill in at least three shades of brown/tan. Our final goal was to create antlers that were symmetrical in shape and size.

There is such a huge difference in art styles! I love the variation in colors and the interesting backgrounds.

These artists are 6 to 14 years old. 

Cub Scout Paint Night

This week we had a group of Bear and Webelos Scouts come in to paint. 

Our first activity was an art scavenger hunt. In this way they became familiar with the studio and different types of artwork on display. 

Then we learned how to paint winter birch trees in watercolor.

Same instructions, completely different outcomes.

I love how each painting is unique and  expresses the individual painter's personality. I wish I could have gotten an individual picture of every single painting before they went out the door!

Here's a group photo: