More snowflakes!

First, I have to apologize for being a blogging slacker. Between a busy month in general, Christmas, sick kids, etc. etc. I never made the time in my schedule to update the blog. But for the viewing pleasure of my few precious followers out there ...

A couple more snowflakes from my older class! Doesn't everyone love snow??

Alyssa

Emma

And finally, here are a couple technical drawings. I have a set of very old encyclopedias with some very cool old renderings. We tore/burned the edges and added pastels and smudged charcoal to get an "aged" look. Fun!

Delaney

Alyssa

Let it Snow!

So it was appropriate that we had snow fall last week because we our art project was to create "snowflakes!" I had several winter and Christmas books with illustrations available for my students to browse through. I asked them to come up with a single image that made them think of snow or this holiday season.

They completed a drawing of a single image. We then rotated and duplicated the image six times in snowflake fashion. They experimented with pastels and added color. The results were very individual and darling snowflakes that we mounted on sparkling backgrounds.

PS - I apologize these poor snowflakes all got cut off around some of the edges. I suppose I need a bigger scanner!
Jocelyn's spectactular snowmen.

Mackenzie's elvish snowflake.

Rachel's Rudolf.

Tree snowflake by Tyler.

Create your own "Wild Thing"

Update!
Delaney was able to complete her wild thing, so I get to add him. He is very wild! Love it. Some things that make this painting successful: the use of complimentary colors, the use of foreground and background, the quality of her brushstrokes. It just makes me happy. I appreciate the time she puts into each piece she creates. This painting turned out beautifully!
Delaney



So I am totally sorry about this everyone, but blogger is telling me my "images are corrupt," and the only picture it will let me post is this "wild thing" of Alyssa's. I guess the other wild things were just to wild for you all to see!

After studying Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" illustrations and working on our scratchboard pictures with my older class, I challenged the students to create their own "wild thing." I encouraged them to base the idea of their character on a person, animal, mood, or some sort of a theme. Each of the four were very different.

First they sketched their ideas, then completed a pencil drawing. They then transferred their drawings to canvas board and painted their pictures with acrillics. Below is their artwork. I LOVE 'em!
Alyssa's ballerina elephant. I believe this one was dedicated to her little sister Jocelyn. Very sweet. I love the roses on stage.

Mikayla's was a very wild, one-eyed teacher wild thing. Emma's was a scary and very wild autumn tree. And like I said, both were "corrupt," so perhaps I can remedy the situation at a later date. Also, Delaney's is coming along beautifully, but she has missed a couple classes due to performances of Le Mis that she has been involved in. I will post her's later on as well once she has been able to complete it.

Boo!

Rachel -gorgeous colorful sky

Madi -love the contrasting blue and orange

Joslyn - the cutest ghosts I've ever seen

Tyler -great job creating a spooky mood

Arika (unfinished) - the most original pumpkin with glasses

Halloween Scene (above) -

Our last assignment for my "mini" class was to create a spooky Halloween scene. I had a pumpkin on the table as a model and everyone ended up drawing a pumpkin picture!

The assignment was to use both oil pastel and watercolors to create their picture. First, each student used pencil to sketch out their scene on colored artists paper. Then they used oil pastel to add color to the white and bright objects. Last, watercolors were used to fill in the dark spaces and skies. The watercolor does not penetrate areas where the oil pastel has been used - I like to call it magic painting.

I love the contrast of dark and light in their art. It was a fun project, and they are a fun group.

PS - I have one more picture to post after I have the official okay to do so. So check back soon for one more gorgeous pumpkin pic!

Welcome Wednesday Artists!

What a great class! Today was the first class for my new "mini" art class. We meet twice a month for class. I will get pictures up on the sidebar of my new artists once I take photos of them. My new students include: Rachel Beddes, Madison Cowart, Arika Hedrick, and Tyler Seitz. They were a lot of fun and energy. It's going to be a great class!

Today we had introductions, then we talked about some basic tools of drawing - pencils, erasers, and blending tools. We experimented with hard and soft lead pencils, three types of erasers, and tried using our fingers and blending stumps for blending and smudging. We also talked about composition of a subject, perspective, and adding detail. Then we drew our shoes, and I asked the kids to implement some of the things we had talked about. Here are their drawings:

Arika (8) - Great attention to the details. Madi (8) Beautiful blending on her flip flop.

Rachel (8) Great job creating an interesting composition.

Tyler (7) Careful attention to the contour of his croc.

As an early finisher assignment the kids worked on sketching three dimensional objects. Here are a couple cubes below.

Rachel (8) Tyler (7)

Painting teaser

Delaney's sketch.
Just a teaser for the paintings that I hope to post soon! The girls are working on an assignment I am calling "Create Your Own Wild Thing." They are painting acrillic on canvas board. I think they are going to turn out great.

Above is Delaney's sketch of her very own wild thing. Pretty frightening if you ask me! Stay tuned for their finished paintings.

Scratchboard Art

Ohhhh ... scratchboard! Don't we just love it and we hate it. It's so fun to work with and experiment with. But such a challenge using the knife to scrape away, remembering to work backwards - subtracting the ink rather than applying it.

We used "wild things" from the book, "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak as our subjects. They have a lot of character and a lot of texture, making them perfect models for the look of the scratchboard art.

Here are the girls work, let the wild rumpus begin! Alyssa Emma Delaney Mikayla

Class now in session!

Here it is! My first post for my new class. Check out my thursday class students (pictured here and to the right) Alyssa Harper, Emma Patton, Mikayla Simon, and Delaney Bigelow. It's going to be a great class!

Above they are working on "Wild Thing" scratchbook pictures. They may be finished these this thursday, then I can post them.

The previous week -


The first class of a new session, I like to do some sort of a straight-forward drawing assignment. I think it helps get us "in the groove," get our pencils warm, and our artistic eyes open. We did an observational drawing assignment - a still life of a vase of assorted fresh flowers.

Here are a couple examples of the girls' work.

Delaney

Mikayla

Alyssa

Definitely just a rough start to this drawing!! Here I am showing the girls a few drawing techniques - starting with large shapes, finding the gesture of the subject before filling in details and value. I like to work alongside my students at least a few moments here and there (it seems like I rarely finish with them!) I think it helps me share the secrets I have learned in school and from experience, and it feels more comfortable for them than having me hovering over their shoulders I think.

Calling all artists!

Just a reminder that I am accepting students for the fall session of our art class. There will be a class held on thursdays from 4:30-5:30. I may also be able to offer a class on wednesdays as well if I can recruit a couple more students. So far, I have ages between 7-15, both girls and a boy this year.

Help keep our little class alive! Leave me a comment, write me an email, or give me a call and I can provide you with the details.

Thanks!

Much Belated!

So after an extended break from art classes and this blog, I am BACK! The last class ended, a few of the girls and I had planned to have one last hurrah together and put the finishing touches on their paintings ... and then ... my baby decided to come almost 2 weeks early and throw a kink in our plans! And that has been 5 months ago now. Wow!

I am SO very excited to be able to begin classes again. Welcome to my "old" and "new" students for this fall session!!

I must post these pictures though. They are the two that completed their final assignment. They are long overdue for posting ...

Okay, I hate to brag - but PLEASE would you look at this painting by Kylee.
Kylee's fabulous painting. I can't say enough about it. She mixed these colors with skill beyond her years. Our assignment was to duplicate a master's painting. Kylee did a fantastic job imitating Van Gogh's painterly brushstrokes and color palate. I hope you framed it Kylee!
This is a copy of the original that Kylie fashioned her painting after. It is titled, "Wheatfield Under Threatening Skies with Crows" by Vincent Van Gogh.

Through the eyes of a seven year old! This is Arika's rendition of the Mona Lisa. I adore this painting. It actually looks very much like Matisse version of the classic Da Vinci. Arika is one of the boldest little artists I know. I always am pleasantly surprised by her interpretations!

An image of Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa."

I am excited to see the works of art that emerge in the class this session!

Under Water Watercolors

We have been working on these painting for a couple weeks now. These are the ones that the girls have completed and are dried. As we have been concentrating a lot on color and color schemes, I thought it would be fun to create paintings of bright tropical fish.

This also was our first assignment in class that the girls used watercolors. They are a challenging medium. I was suprised as I worked with the girls at how much fun I had working in watercolor as I most often opt for acrillic or oils when in my own work. I really must pull these out more often. We also experimented with the chemical reaction of adding salt to wet watercolor paints to create the really cool textures and effects you see in the girls pictures below.

I think they are bold and beautiful paintings! Nice work, ladies.

Kylee's Laker-colored fishies. Her painting is beautiful, and although you cannot see it , I have to tell you, her contour drawing underneath turned out really impressive.
Kylas fish. Beautiful complimentary colors, and check out that gorgeous water. I am super impressed. I love this painting.

Arika. Check out those bold colors - I always admire the way Arika is not afraid to dig right in and lay down that paint strong.

This one is mine. Not exactly a masterpiece, but like I said, it was good for me to pull out the watercolors again! I am motivated now to brush up my skills with this medium.

Funny

I have to share this cute comment made by my sweet Kylee. We have been talking a lot about color and color schemes in our class the last few weeks. For our current assignment we are working on watercolor paintings of tropical fish.

Kylee was showing me the fish that she had chosen for her painting and I excitedly asked, "Oh that's perfect, do you know what kind of color combination that is?" It was a purple and yellow fish - complimentary colors. So she took me by surprise when she, just as excited as I was, replied back, "Yes, it's the Lakers!!"

I love these girls. They are great students and are always surprising me.

Tribute to Piet Mondrian

For this assignment, we first talked about Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. His non-representational paintings are composed of lines and primary colors. We studied and imitated his designs using straight lines and bold blocks of color. They are completed in acrillic paint. The girls worked on two compositions, concentrating on the aspect of creating color schemes. The first using complimentary colors, and the second using tertiary colors. The girls used their color wheels which were previously completed to choose the colors for their pictures. They definitely are getting their practice in mixing colors and painting. Here are their finished pieces:
Alyssa


Arika

Delaney

Color Wheels

January 21, 2010

Oooh La La!


This month I want to help my students focus on color. To help them brush up on their color knowlege, as well as painting and paint mixing skills, we each created our own 12 step color wheel. We will refer to this as we work on future projects.



I think the girls did a great job, they did a great job mixing and painting. We talked about primary, secondary, tertiary colors and how to mix each of them. There was only three tubes of paint on the table and look what came out!


Alyssa



Arika

Delaney

Kylee
Erin

I miss snow!

These snowflakes were a couple that the girls did before the break, but I hadn't posted them. I thought they deserved a little peek! I didn't get a chance to scan in one for each of the girls, but here are examples of the little project. The first flake with the gold and purples was done by Delaney, the red/pink/green by Arika.


We painted these as a quick, fun last class together before Christmas break. They are inspired by a snowflake illustration that a college illustrator friend, Shawna J. C. Tenney did a few years ago for a fundraising event called Robert's Snow.

We're Back!

January 14, 2010
Study in shape and form

Our first day of class after the holidays. I missed my girls! To get us warmed up after the long break we had, we started with a common exercise that artists practice again and again. We worked with a single light source and sketched with pencil these three-dimensional shapes. Some of the challenges include: dimensional perspective, scale, light, reflective light, shadow ... you get the idea. They did a great job.

Here are the girls' drawings.

Delaney.

Kylee.

Arika. (Check out the wood grain!)

Alyssa.