Backyard Birds

We can tell that spring is around the corner because our favorite backyard birds are returning!

Many of us have noticed flocks of red-breasted robins in our yards, which is a very good sign.





Our focus this month is improving drawing and sketching skills - so, with oil pastels, we drew life-sized backyard birds on construction paper, adding lots of  details and realistic colors. 









Then we cut them out and some artists added a few fuzzy feathers. 







We then created a background that included a tree limb for our bird to perch on. 







Our 2-hour class made a 3-D tree using collage, while our shorter class drew the background in with oil pastel on blue or grey sulphite paper. Then we glued the bird onto the limb, some choosing to use 3 D-O's to give the bird a more dimensional look, and some adding musical notes for their singing birds!

These artists ranged in age from 6 to 14 year old.

Self Portraits

Our Little Artists created their own Super Hero self portraits!

This one is named The Burp! (Can you tell these little artists are boys?)

They drew their own self portraits with Sharpies. Then, while they painted their backgrounds (and to their delight), I cut them out for them. Then they glued them down. 

Da-da-ta-da!

Paint Night-Watercolors

Paint Night at the Art Center!

These young ladies painted birch trees, a favorite project around here for beginning watercolor artists. 

Each artist's painting reflected her own style and personality through color, line, form, and composition.   

Polar Bears and Northern Lights

More Polar Bears! 

Our Paint Your Art Out class celebrated International Polar Bear Day by creating this mixed media artwork. 



These polar bears are wandering the arctic beneath the Northern Lights. This artwork consists of drawing, pastel work, painting, and collage. 

First we studied resource photos of polar bears and observed the shape of the body and head, the colors (natural and reflected), and textures in the fur.

We sketched the polar bear in pencil, then we added soft pastels in varying shades of yellow and blue, smearing them with our fingers for softness. 

Then we outlined the bear with charcoal pencil and added facial details and furry shadows. We also added a bit of black soft pastel for deeper shadows, and we cut him out.

Next we created our background. We tore long pieces of scrap paper and laid it across the top of a piece of black paper. We then rubbed soft pastels along the edge and smeared the pastels upward from the paper. 

We did this again until we had several "ribbons" of Northern Lights. 

We splattered white tempera paint over the lights and painted in the snowy ground. We rubbed in a blue pastel shadow for our bear, and then we glued him on.

Great Big Polar Bears!

To celebrate International Polar Bear Day, our Little Artists painted really BIG polar bears!


For this processed-based painting project, these boys painted the face of a polar bear on blue poster board, and added lots of snow. After the bear dried, they added facial features and fashion accessories. 

FACT: Boys love BIG things.  

Benson's Polar Bear (with sunglasses and sun screen!)

Elijah's Polar Bear (just plain cute!) 

Georgie's Polar Bear (caught in a snow storm!)

Grant's Polar Bear (wears glasses to see)

Let Them Draw Cake!

Drew's Fancy White Cake

Who doesn't love cake???

This week's Wednesday open studio artists created these lovely slices of cake. 

First we examined a few of contemporary artist Wayne Thiebaud's paintings of cakes, pies, and sandwiches as they would be displayed or served in a restaurant. 


We found that he painted a lot of cakes, so we decided to paint cake too.


We sketched the cake lightly in pencil on a piece of black sulphite paper, making sure that the cake wedge was large enough and the perspective looked right.

Then we created our palette by choosing oil pastels to match the colors in our subject. We filled in the color, remembering to add shadows, highlights, and light reflections.

Lastly, we added a plate for our cake to live on.

Kevin's Red Velvet Cake

Charlee's Strawberry Cheese Cake

Pumpkin Pie

Carrot Cake

Cora's Rainbow Cake with Roses (age 6)

Margie's Chocolate Cake with Raspberries