Animals and Cosmic Art!

We ended our June Summer Art Adventures session with Animal Art.

First we decided what animals to include in our animal menagerie.

Then we drew them and colored them in.

Next, we created a colorful background by rubbing soft pastels into the area around the animals.

See more animal art like this on our previous weblog post, Amazing Animals.

These artists created out-of-this-world Cosmic Art!

First they sponged on a galaxy of colors and splattered everything with stars! 

Then they glued on planets, space ships, aliens, UFOs, and even a dog-astronaut taking a space walk!

The last step was to add details, like rings around planets and such, using metallic pens for added awesomeness!

Find more amazing cosmic art on our original weblog post, Outer Space Art.

Butterfly Gardens - Part 2

Our 3D flowers are complete, so now it's time to create butterflies to visit our gardens.

These butterflies are painted on heavy black paper using liquid temperas. 

This was a great lesson in symmetry! 

We folded the paper in half and cut out one side of the butterfly. Then we painted one wing of the butterfly with very thick wet tempera paint, folded the other wing over the paint, and pressed all over. 

We opened them up for a mirror image on the other wing. We repeated this process once or twice again, then proceeded to add final details to the opened butterfly until it was complete. 

After they were dry, we stapled them closed in the center, folded the wings outward, and inserted pipe cleaner antennae.

As in the past, our younger artists made giant butterflies! 

It's fun to put on the sticker dots, and the wings can flap when you run around; did you know that?

Butterfly Gardens - Part 1

Our first Art Camp theme of the summer was Butterfly Gardens, so we made these amazing 3-D layered flowers. 

Then we made beautiful butterflies to visit our garden flowers!

To get started, we taped a piece of watercolor paper to a painting board. Then we painted a very blurry watery background (using cake temperas) and allowed it to dry.

Next, artists traced three of four circles, from large to small, and painted them. Then they cut them out and created any type of petals desired along the edges of the circles.   

Then they layered and glued them onto their backgrounds. 

The next step was to scrunch up a few bits of tissue paper and glue to the flower center for added texture and realism. 

Some artists added some implied texture and detail to their flowers using Sharpies. 

Everyone had fun and looked forward to creating their butterfly visitors! 

You can see how we made our butterflies in the next post, right here!

Nature Studies

This summer, our first classes and camps focused on nature studies and scientific illustration. Our 'outdoor studio' made this theme an obvious choice for us! 

For example, we often meet under a very large evergreen tree, so our first scientific illustration subject was pine cones, of course! We examined a variety of pinecones, including tiny ones and a few that are almost a foot long! 

We focused on color and texture while using different types of painting techniques to complete our artwork. This artist added a crow, which is commonly seen in the tree we were studying. 

Next, we explored our green space and selected additional objects for our nature studies.  

Artists could choose from markers, temperas, watercolors, pastels, or colored pencils for their illustrations. 

This artist labeled all of her carefully rendered illustrations.  

The artist below used oil pastels to paint similarly colored objects - a rose and cherries) for an interesting piece of art.

 

Our thanks to Painted Paper Art for the pinecone nature study lesson idea.

Springtime Artmaking Ideas!

When considering spring, two things come immediately to mind: wind and rain. So how can these two seasonal weather events translate into artmaking? Consider shape, color, and a good assortment of art supplies. Kites? Rainbows? Umbrellas? Puddles? 

Here are some of our favorite Springtime art ideas that you can make at home:

Kite Festival Collage

This colorful painted kite collage is created from recycled painted paper (scraps left over from previous painting projects) or bits and pieces of other types of decorative papers, like scrapbooking paper or wrapping paper. You'll also need tempera paint for the background, scissors, glue, and a Sharpie.

Learn more about how to create this fun on our previous weblog post. You can also download our printable pdf instructions right here.

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

These little Dutch kites are made from nothing more than a sheet of paper, glue, scissors, string, and a plastic grocery bag (cut into a long tail). Surprisingly great flyers!

See our original weblog post to learn more about these kites or check out how to make a Dutch Kite from Margaret Greger's book Kites for Everyone. Another one-sheet kite is this easy-peasy delta kite. We've made many of these and they fly like a dream!

Painted Kites

This is an old fashioned diamond kite, like the kind I had as a kid, but with a twist!  This basic paper kite is painted with a realistic animal face in the style of Jim Thompson. (He uses acrylic paint on brown paper.) We painted these on white butcher paper with tempera paint, like this.  

Here's how to assemble your painted paper kite.  

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

Here's how to can create your own April showers and storm clouds and puddles and even lightening - or a rainbow! This uses a wet-on-wet watercolor and wax (or oil) resist technique. And a ruler. You can see more about this fun project at Elementary Art Fun. 

If you like, you can download out a printable step-by-step instructional pdf right here. 

Walking in the Rain

One of the best ways to celebrate spring with young children is to take a walk in the rain! Wouldn’t you agree? Children love feeling ‘safe’ under a big umbrella! This simple art project lets them enjoy a walk in the rain with drawing, watercolor, and a little imagination!

Here is a downloadable pdf with full instructions for this cute project. Super fun for pre-K through 3rd grade (or so).

Our Favorite Art for Easter & Spring

Here are a few of our Favorite Easter/Spring art projects.  You might want to try them too!

Easter Egg Hunt!

This is a mixed media project for all ages, even preschoolers! The secret is a cardboard egg template. Trace as many as your like, then decorate the eggs at will! Try to do something different with each one. Then hide your eggs in the grass by painting the background green, green, green!

Busy Easter Bunny 
Here's a fun painting of the Easter Bunny busily getting ready for Easter! We painted these on a large piece of blue poster board using tempera paint and LOTS of imagination! Include a vase of spring flowers and lots of spilled paint! Added various collage elements, like wrapping paper, scrapbooking papers, and newspaper make this a really fun Easter art project!!! 

You can find more details and see lots more  busy Easter Bunnies on our previous weblog post. 

A Wild Rabbit! 
This is a tempera painting of a rabbit amid tasty dandelions and sweet grasses. He is wary and watchful as he fills his tummy with yumminess! 

Our bunny is painted on 12" x 18" paper, starting first with a simple guided drawing. 

You can see more examples our wild rabbit painting here and here.

Pysanky Egg Pastel Resist Painting

This is a very large Pysanky-style Easter Egg painting that is created first with oil pastels and then painted with watercolor. The more detailed the drawing, the more stunning the results!

Visit That Artist Woman for step-by-step instructions.

Cheery Cherry Blossoms 
This beautiful spring-like tempera painting inspires happiness! Created in the style of Russian painter Natalia Goncharova, beautiful bright colors are painted on colored paper using simple and quick strokes of the brush! See our previous post for more details and samples of student work.

You can also download a pdf of detailed step-by-step printable instructions from Painted Paper Art.

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with ART!

 Leprechauns! Rainbows! Shamrocks! Good luck! GOLD! 

What do these things all have in common?   St. Patrick's Day, of course. But also - fantastic incentives and ideas for ART-MAKING! Here are a few of our favorites.

Build a Leprechaun Trap! This *STEAM project involves the designing and hands-on crafting of a working trap, then decorating it so as to entice a leprechaun to enter the trap! This is a great project for any age - even the youngest makers can build a leprechaun trap with an assistant's help. This printable pdf guide will help you design and build your own Leprechaun Trap!

 

* STEAM = Science + Technology + Engineering + ART + Math

Draw a Leprechaun!  Any child who loves art and has Internet access is likely familiar with Art Hub for Kids - a series of fun follow-along drawing lessons for children on Youtube and Youtube for Kids.

Rob, the art teacher, is dad to four kids of his own, one of whom draws right alongside him in each episode. This Leprechaun Folding Surprise is just one of many leprechauns you can draw along with Rob. If you want to draw lots of Leprechauns, you can also draw a Folded Leprechaun Puppet,  a Cartoon Leprechaun,  a Leprechaun Puppy, a Cute Girl Leprechaun, and more!   

Zendoodle a Shamrock!  Learn to Zendoodle any object on our previous post right here. 

Tip: Shamrocks are the perfect object to Zendoodle! You can even cut them out and attach to a beautiful rainbow background. 

Create a Romero Britto Patterned Shamrock! Romero Britto is a Brazilian artist who enjoys adding bold patterns and colors to ordinary objects. Learn how to make a Britto-style Shamrock at Deep Space Sparkle for a step-by-step video and a drawing guide. You can also download our printable pdf Britto lesson guide for this art project.

Younger artists will want to Paint a Rainbow, of course! Visit our our previous post to see more student samples. 

To get your young artist started, download this printable pdf lesson as well as our rainbow paintbox handout.

 

Next up, our favorite Easter & Spring Art ideas!

Our Favorite 'Heart Art'

During the month of February we enjoy exploring new ways to create HEART artwork. Here are four of our favorite HEART ART projects:

'Follow Your Heart' painting

This is a "free painting" art project using tempera paint on small sheets of white poster board. Young artists will practice color mixing, brushwork, and pattern design, while creating a fun and interesting painting!

See more about Painted Hearts in our previous post.

You can also download our printable step-by-step pdf.

Paper Mosaic Heart

Make a beautiful mosaic heart using cut paper and glitter tape on black paper hearts. It really is easier than it looks, and a fun project for working with fine motor skills. Here is our previous post of the full lesson.  

Here is a downloadable printable lesson pdf for this project. 

Floating Heart

Kids love unusual art media and processes, so these mixed media Jim Dine-style hearts are extra enjoyable to create. In fact, they are so much fun, we have done them several times at the art studio! You can see all of our creations and how we made them here, here, and here.

We also have a downloadable step-by-step instructional pdf that you can print out, too.

Painted Heart collages

This is another Jim Dine inspired 'heart art' project that's all about open-ended art processes. Paint, draw, stamp, scribble, using just about any media. Let everything dry, then cut out your hearts and glue, combining positive and negative heart shapes in each piece. See our previous weblog post for more student samples. 

NEXT: Learn how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with ART!

Our Favorite Winter-themed Art Ideas

We've created so many amazing, snowy frosty wintery artworks at the Blackfoot Art Center! It wasn't easy to pick just the right ones for our artists-in-residence. We've selected six of our favorites for you to create at home, each with complete instructions. Have fun!

Winter Alpine Trees

These lovely alpine trees are created with torn painted paper, collage, and tempera paint on a black substrate. Click here for our previous project post. You can also download a printable step-by-step pdf for this project. 

Hint: Keep your project printouts in an art project idea binder for future reference.

Downtown Snow Storm!

You'll will have a great time creating this awesome wintertime art project: a downtown snowstorm!

This is a mixed media painted collage. You'll paint the tall buildings, cut them out, glue them down, then finish with more details and lots of SNOW! Take a look at our earlier post to see how it's done. You can also print out our step-by-step pdf instructions for this fun project.

Winter Cardinals

These sweet little cardinals snuggle up on a snowy branch in this frosty winter landscape. You can learn more about this watercolor/tempera painting right here. You can also download a printable step-by-step pdf for this fun project. 

Steamy Hot Cocoa Mugs

Paint a steamy hot mug of cocoa while creating colorful designs and patterns for--well--everything! You can also add fun foam marshmallows and tracing paper steam... Click here to see our earlier weblog post. 

You can download a printable step-by-step pdf too.

Animals in Snugly Sweaters

These forest animals are snugly warm in their colorful sweaters! The entire project is created using Sharpies and markers (after the basic animal shape is lightly penciled in).  

Learn how here, or download our printable step-by-step pdf. 

Winter Tree Silhouettes

These winter tree silhouettes are unusual because we used warm instead of cool colors to create them. They are painted on watercolor paper using both liquid and pan watercolors. You can use both or either type for your painting. 

Learn more on our original post or watch a video and get step-by-step instructions at Deep Space Sparkle, which includes a free printable Winter Tree drawing guide.

Next up: Our favorite 'Heart Art' project ideas!