….this week’s WP weekly photo challenge is Vivid
Weekly Photo Challenge – Vivid
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Category Archives: Art
An Artful Sunday
….I stayed home to work on samples for tomorrow’s art workshop
I started mid morning. K drove to Hamilton to help our daughter put in her garden. Normally I would have gone with him but I knew that if I didn’t get an early start on my samples they wouldn’t get done or I would be staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish them.
In our workshop tomorrow the children will be making their own journals from scratch. All the materials for the books are already laid out and ready to go. The focus of this year’s hand made book is decorating the cover with photographs, artwork and fancy paper. The collage should have some personal message on the cover. I’ve encouraged the boys and girls to bring in photocopies of family photos. At school I’ve have lots of papers, magazines and covers that the kids can play with. Thanks to Lynn Whipple for this fabulous idea. Here are my samples that I will share with the classes tomorrow.
After I finished the covers I went back to a project that I started a couple of months ago but stopped mid-stream. It’s a technique where you glue photos to the back of a piece of glass or plexiglass facing the front and then you paint the background on the back of the glass. It’s called reverse painting and requires that you turn your work over periodically so that you can see how it looks on the front. I actually enjoyed the process more than I thought I would. This was also an assignment from Lynn Whipple from Year of the Spark.
I choose a photograph of my great great grandparents and aunts and uncles. I learned that they periodically vacationed in Africa so I decided to add some large ferns from a Geli print that I had done last year and I drew a sketch of an elephant and placed it behind the ferns. I always associate orange skies with Africa but I’m not sure what the castle in the sky signifies. Freud would probably have a hay day analyzing this piece; well to do Germans, early 1900s, vacationing in Africa, castle in the sky, elephants, etc..
After finishing the books and the reverse painting I drove to three different places looking for a place to trim or buy a new mat for a painting that I’m donating to the silent auction next Saturday at the school’s Fun Fair. I have a great frame but the mat that came with it covered too much of the painting. Unfortunately I didn’t find anyone to help me. I did however get a name of a place, close to work, that I’m going to try tomorrow.
When I returned home I put the reverse painting into its frame and then I opened my art journal and decided to start this week’s assignment. I’m suppose to play with colours and come up with different palettes with five colour combinations that appeal to me. Once I’ve finished that I’m suppose to create a self portrait (very open ended) using my favourite. palette.
So far I’ve created several palettes. Most of them were done using acrylic paint and one uses pan pastels. Do you have a favourite?
Mother’s Day Cards – Kindergarten Style
….there were plenty of gifts made for moms in the kindergarten classes last week
I wanted to come up with a nice piece of art to put on a card that the children would be excited to give to their moms. I decided to to teach the children how to draw simple hearts and flower line drawings using paint. When the paint dried they could add more interesting detail using black (or coloured) markers.
When the children were happy with their creation they could use the entire piece and glue it down onto a sheet of card stock or they could have their favourite section trimmed to fit onto a card. Some of them took it a step further and actually cut up their shapes and then glued them down individually.
We wrote a message on the board for the children to copy in their own hand to add to their cards to create their original Mother’s Day Card. What do you think? Of course I’m biased but I think they’re fabulous.
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Share Your World – 2015, Week 19
….this week’s questions are all about the home
Thanks Cee for hosting this challenge.
Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
I currently live in a two story house. I think climbing stairs for the last 35 years has kept me fitter than many people my age but I do know people over 60 who would definitely prefer a one floor house. Arthritis, bad knees, hip replacements and poor circulation make stair climbing difficult. Fortunately I don’t suffer from any of these ailments. As I get older I often wonder if I’m going to have to give this place up because of the stairs.
If you have a TV, would you prefer the TV in the living room or another room?
We have purposely put the TV in a room other than the living room. When we have company we don’t want a TV to distract from stimulating conversation. I also like having a room where I can work or read in a quiet space without the noise from a TV.
When you leave a room, do you turn the lights off behind you or keep the lights on throughout your house most of the time? Explain your answer.
More and more I turn the lights off. When the kids lived at home we kept them on because everyone was on a different level of the house. Now we turn the lights off to save energy and money.
What’s your favorite room in your home?
My favourite room in the house is the living room. It’s the one room that’s always tidy and it’s where I like to read and work on my laptop. When we have company everyone gravitates to the kitchen. It’s the room most difficult to keep tidy because my husband loves to cook and bake and if I’m not right behind him cleaning it can get messy in a hurry. Luckily my girls are pretty good at cleaning when they come to visit but I like to make sure that the kitchen is somewhat presentable before they get here.
Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
It’s been a tough week. We were over the moon with the news that my husband didn’t need the radioactive iodine treatment but a week later we found out that he needed to go for a biopsy on his lungs. The procedure took place today and I’m grateful that it went smoothly and without any complications. Now we wait again for the results.
This week I’m looking forward to a less stressful working environment and some down time at home. It’s definitely time for some art therapy and reading.
Owls, Owls and More Owls – Part 2
…..after printing several owls each child had to choose one for the library wall and another for their chalk pastel tree
From the beginning of this assignment I told the children that they had to have at least two good owls; one for the Forest of Reading wall in front of the library and another one to glue to another piece of art.
I wanted each student to experience using chalk pastels. After a quick lesson on how to blend the colours and how to draw a somewhat realistic branch I gave the children a choice of black or dark blue construction paper. The concept of creating a realistic looking branch was a little foreign to some students and I had to encourage them to look out the window and study the trees outside.
A few students decided to have a family of owls sitting in their tree. One student accidentally glued his owl upside down on the branch and decided to call him an owl bat. I love the variety of owls that were created, from very realistic to very whimsical. Enjoy!
Owls, Owls and More Owls (part 1)
…..a real ‘hoot’ of an art lesson
About a month ago I introduced a print making lesson using styrofoam boards. The grades 2 and 3 classes were introduced to a variety of owls and were instructed to sketch several different styles of owl. Then they had to choose their favourite sketch and transfer the pattern onto the styrofoam plate. Once the design was impressed into the foam the children were given water based markers and they filled in the owl shape with lots of colour.
I showed the students a variety of owl prints that I had done using the same pattern but different colours and different papers. Here are some of my examples:
When the students finished colouring their plates they brought them to me and selected the paper they wanted to print on. I sprayed the paper and wiped off the excess water and then laid the plate on the paper. We used a roller to press the paper down onto the plate and finished off by using our fingers to push on the details like the eyes, beaks and feet to transfer the marker onto the paper.
There was a lot of trial and error but we quickly figured out what worked and what didn’t. Too much water and the colours all ran together, not enough and the print was too faint. A plain solid colour worked better than a busy print but newsprint with text on it was quite effective. The paper that worked best was card stock and water colour paper.
In front of the library I put up a forest of birch trees for our Forest of Reading Book Club and the leaves represent all the books that have been read by the members of the club. I asked each student in my art classes to donate one of their owls to place on the trees.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this lesson. I’ll post that in a day or two.
Kindergarteners Rock When Painting to Music
….painting to music is energizing and allows you to be loose and free with your lines and application of paint
Last week’s assignment for the http://www.carlasonheim.com/yearofthespark/ was presented by Lynn Whipple. We were instructed to draw and paint a floral arrangement using a variety of pens, pencils, markers and watercolour paints while listening to music. Here is my finished piece after listening to Astor Piazzola’s El Tango.
I decided to try and re-created this assignment for my kindergarten class. I chose five varied pieces of music and did up a quick sample before heading to the kindergarten class. I had a stuffed rabbit in the library so I did a quick drawing to music and left some of the painting to do later with the children. Here is my finished sample:
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In class I reminded the children how colour can affect our moods and that music does the same. I demonstrated how music can affect how you draw and make marks on paper. I told them that they could draw anything that they wanted (there were flowers in the centre of each table) or they could simply make marks and shapes to the music they heard. They were given pencils, coloured pencils, crayons, chalk pastels and markers.
They each chose one tool and when the music started they began drawing. After one minute I changed the music and told them to change their tool. We did this for five different pieces of music. When they were happy with their drawing we added watercolour to the mix. Some of the children saw shapes and animals in their pictures and added colour accordingly. I put on a quieter piece of music for this last part. It was fascinating to watch them. Some children clearly picked up on the concept and moved their brushes to the beat of the music and some actually stopped when there was a pause in the music and continued when the music started again.
There was so much joy in the room. Not one student wanted to stop early and many of them wanted to experiment with the dripping paint. I love these pieces so much that I am going to frame them and put them up in the main foyer of the school. Here is a sizeable sample of work done by four and five year olds.
I sincerely hope that some of the parents will mat and frame these pieces of art. If any piece of art work is worthy of saving this is it.
Architects Do Design Cities and Curvy Buildings
…..the book, Young Frank, Architect, inspired our art lesson in Kindergarten
Two weeks ago I reminded my kindergarten class of the book we read in the library. The book was Young Frank, Architect by Frank Viva and published by MOMA.
The story is about a young boy named Frank and his grandfather, also named Frank. Both Franks are architects. Young Frank builds chairs, curvy buildings and models of entire cities. His grandfather tells him that architects don’t design chairs, buildings should be straight and architects design one building at a time and cities take a hundred years to develop. Young Frank is discouraged and he doesn’t want to be an architect any longer. Old Frank decides to take Young Frank to the museum, the MOMA, so that he can show his grandson the buildings that architects design. In the end it is Old Frank who learns that he was mistaken and he apologizes to Young Frank. The book ends with briefs bios about Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry.
The art lesson introduced the kindergarteners to collage and city landscapes. They were reminded about foreground and background and were taught how to create a night sky with stars and a moon. Students were encouraged to cut out at least three high rise buildings and make windows and doors in different shapes. It was up to them whether they wanted to create straight or curvy ‘Frank’ buildings. The shapes of some of the buildings are delightful. It’s amazing how much their scissor skills have improved since last September. Enjoy!
Too Tired to Write
….so I’ll post a few photos of my weekend
It was a somewhat busy weekend with running to clinics, grocery shopping (twice), painting, reading (but not enough), walking and running (yeah, I can still do it), blogging, laundry and helping a friend sort through 40 years of paperwork. I’m exhausted and need to get to bed before 11:00. Here is a gallery of my weekend.
Put a Beak on it!
…..another great art idea from Carla Sonheim that I introduced to my kindergarten art class
You may recall a post where I shared some art that I did with scraps of paper. By simply adding a beak, eyes and feet you can make fun bird shapes. I turned them into cards and small framed gifts that I gave to friends and family.
A couple of weeks ago I introduced this concept to my kindergarten art class. They made a very simple tree shape with 5 to 6 branches and then on each branch they glued a scrap piece of paper and then drew on the details to create their birds. Here are some of their creations.
