PAINTING, DRAWING AND SCULPTING: SOME GREAT PROJECTS

In the past few weeks we made some real nice projects, including painting, drawing and sculpting.

We decorated wooden stars with paint and glitter (visit artfulparent.com for this pretty idea); I prepared the stars from five wooden craft sticks glued together and each kid got two to decorate. Hang them from a string for a nice decoration.

Another project was sticker art and drawing on black paper. Projects like these can easily be done at home with black paper and neon stickers. Then, I brought out metallic oil pastels, which have a beautiful effect on the black paper.

Our birthday kids always get to chose their favorite project and well, most of them ask for playdough! So, this time we made it with googly eyes, wooden sticks and lots of golden and blue pins!

BACK WITH PASTEL DRAWINGS AND SNOWMEN

Finally, the blog is up running again after some technical problems (thanks, Amir!).

The art group is deep into winterprojects (even if it's mild winter).

This week, we painted with watercolor on thick paper and then added pastel to the paintings, which get very bright mixed with watercolor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then mixed playdough (flour, cornflour, salt and water) and made snowmen, or as we looked at them later snowgirls or cakes. We used pipecleaners and beads to decorate.

 

 

 

 



DEGAS MOVEMENT STUDIES AND THE BLUE PERIOD

 Edgar Degas created many paintings, in which the subjects are moving, like horses running and his famous ballet dancers. This week, we drew horses running to show movement on the page. I cut out simple stencils of a horse and each kid outlined it a few times on the drawing paper, moving always a little forward. Then, they filled them in or around with crayons.

 



Here is a photo of a Degas sculpture...

Then, I showed the kids also a painting by Picasso from his Blue Period.

Each kid got a small tray to mix a shade of blue: aqua (mix with green), light blue (mix with white), grey blue (with black) and the regular blue. They all mixed with a popsicle stick and then we all shared all the blue shades to create paintings.
We talked about the family in Picasso's painting and that blue in the painting expresses cold and sadness. But at our painting session we had lots of fun even when using blue!

 

 

Note: The ideas for these projects come from a great book I just got by MaryAnn F. Kohl called 'Discovering Great Artists', very recommended for art teachers.



SUNSETS IN WATERCOLOR

The beautiful Tel Avivian sunset from last weekend inspired this week's creations (thanks, Anat!). I taped white paper to the work surface so there would be a frame to the paintings when taken off. First, the kids used pencil to sketch their sunsets. Some did with the sea in front, others with fields and trees. Then, they used watercolor to create their sunsets.



 

When they were finished, I wanted to take the tape off carefully to show them the effect the frame gives to the painting. But, how else, the kids really wanted to take the tape off by themselves! So some edges ripped and tore, but how fun is it for a kid to rip off tape!
The second half of the session was spent with clay. We used long barbeque sticks to create standing sculptures and the younger ones used the sticks to stick into the clay to make 'cakes'.