Poppy Fields, Like Monet

Poppy Field (Giverny)  1890-91

In celebration of spring, we painted a field of poppies in the style of Claude Monet. We always enjoy painting poppies because they are so bright and cheery!

I have found that beginners can create this theme very successfully in either tempera paint or watercolor.  This eight-year-old is tempera painting on white sulfite paper (heavy drawing paper), 12" x 18". 

The painting is started at the top after first drawing or painting a horizon line. The sky is painted, clouds added, and then the grassy green areas are painted all the way to the bottom. 

Note: We always mix our own greens by adding yellow or a bit of orange or blue to the standard Kelly green that is found in most paint sets. Have a nice big mixing pallet available!

Next, a few darker green blotches are painted along the horizon line and tops of hills to represent distant trees. Then the bright red flowers are added: simple blotches of color in the background to represent patches of flowers, then individual flowers in the foreground. A few might have black centers for added detail.

The last step is to add a few blades of grass in the foreground and maybe some dots of white (flowers) for additional sparkle. 

These poppy fields were painted in watercolor by adults. The process is similar to the above, except any white areas (such as clouds) are left unpainted (then other cloud colors can be added to them as desired). Size: 9"x12"

Of course, this technique can be used to paint other wildflower landscapes as well, such as this hillside of lupines. 

To learn more about painting wildflower landscapes with children, see our previous weblog post, Monet's Poppy Fields.

More Abstract Art

Our exploration of abstract art has been so much fun, and we are not done yet! We also painted these layered abstract pieces, suitable for framing.

These large format tempera paintings are brimming with bold shapes, patterns, and colors!  

We used heavy duty watercolor paper, 18" x 18" square before being taped around the edges. The final compositions were about 14-1/4 inches square (depending upon the width of the masking tape) within a nice white border.

For detailed instructions, please see our earlier post: Awesome Abstract Art.

In addition to our layered abstract artwork, we also created EXPLODING ART books! Also known as SQUASH books, these innocent little books are hiding an explosion of art excitement! 

These little gems are so much fun to make too. Start by making a bold piece of abstract art on a piece of 12" by 18" drawing or white construction paper. We used watercolors, metallic markers, and Sharpies for ours.

After they're dry, cut them up into squares, then cut some in half again to make triangles. Assemble your book by making two cardboard covers and then gluing the artwork pieces to folded construction paper inside the book. 

Here is a video showing how to make art explosion books, step-by-step. 

Oops!  

You may decide you love your abstract artwork so much you can't bear to cut it up.  Don't despair! Simply find a color copier and have your art copied and printed (in two halves if necessary - the cost is minimal), then cut up the copies and proceed to make your squash book!

For more about Art Explosion Books, 

take a look at our past weblog posts here and here. 

Abstract Art!

We decided to start off the New Year with some ABSTRACT ART making. 

We started our exploration of abstract art with these patterned cardboard collages. These are made by gluing corrugated cardboard strips and scraps to a square of cardboard, then painting the sections in various colors and patterns. 

Cardboard pieces are glued down with ordinary white glue (no need for hot glue), and painting can begin prior to the glue drying completely. 

You can use liquid tempera or acrylic paint; either type should sufficiently cover the corrugated cardboard. If a color seems too transparent, you can paint the substrate white first, then proceed with your choice of color.

The result is a colorful, unique, 3-dimensional work of art!

Next, we got a little (okay, a lot) more experimental with some playful layered abstract art. Working in layers on a square piece of white poster board, we used a variety of painting techniques, including brayer rolling, stamping, sponging, splattering, or whatever else we could think of, along with a little collage work. 

We decided on a theme along the way and incorporated it into the
piece along with a few descriptive words and/or illustrative images. 

Tip: Our artists found it's best to select a few analogous colors first, then add one complementary color to spice it up. It's more pleasing to the eye than attempting to use an entire rainbow of color!

We also made some circle & line abstract art in the style of Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky. 

For these, we used masking tape, lids (to trace), cake temperas, and Sharpies on 12 x 18 drawing paper.

We decided that abstract art is not only fun to look at, but also fun to make!

Abstract Triangle Art

We decided to start the new year with some abstract art exploration. Our first explorations were these painted watercolor triangle collages. 

Pretty spectacular, aren't they? 

Lots of fun to make as well. Little did we know (for all those "I'll never use math" naysayers) that we would use plenty of math - specifically geometry and algebra - to complete these, without even knowing it. 

For example, how do right triangles, equilateral triangles, acute and obtuse triangles fit together evenly, while leaving equal spacing between each piece? Tricky - and fun! 

Also, knowing how large to make the substrate for the amount of painted/cut paper to be glued on it was another problem to figure out. 

Of course, running out of space would mean not using all of the collage pieces. Not enough pieces would mean cutting down the substrate to fit. In art, either solution is okay!   

We also made rules - such as cutting out triangles only for this piece. And none of them should touch - we tried to leave even spacing between each shape. 

Smaller cut, puzzle-like elements. Artist age 8

Abstract paintings were created with liquid watercolor (mostly using wet-on-wet techniques) on student-grade 90 lb. watercolor paper. Collages were then glued to black or white square poster board.

Learn more about this abstract art project on our earlier post.