Thursday, April 28, 2011

Start at ART Egg Coloring during Easter week!! So GREAT!

Share

During the week of Easter I ran an art session so we decided to color eggs. I taught the kids a technique to color the egg with white (or color) crayon first, then the wax on the crayon rejects the die liquid and it leaves the colored pattern.






 We also worked with textured paint and created stucco-type look on the egg like the pink one below.


Then the kids put on cute bunny ears and went on an outdoor egg hunt! So much fun!





I love all of the great egg coloring that we did.


Share

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Acrylic painting a Cityscape referencing a photograph.

Share

Today we worked with Acrylics. Using different brush sizes I taught a few ways to mix the colors to create new shades of color. Adding white or black to several colors we learned how to create shades of color. We then learned a bit about complimentary colors and looked at the color wheel.

I then instructed that many famous painters would first photograph a scene and then use it as a reference to paint the scene. I had a photograph of a cityscape to display and the kids painted their own cityscape from it.

I think this was one of my favorite projects.









Share

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Working with Oil Pastels on black paper

Share

Kids just love Oil Pastels. We start the class by looking at some works of Rita Naras-Kreitz. Her earlier work was entirely in colored pencil. Now she is using a technique in which 90% of the work is completed in oil pastel and detail is then sharpened and enhanced by colored pencil. Rita's style aims for a classical, realistic representation of various scenes. You can find some of her work here. http://www.mcs.ca/rnk_studio/g10_still_life/g10_still_life.html

Oil pastels like crayons are used in their dry forms and produce a crayon like effect.







Awesome Oil Pastel Butterfly


Share

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Working with Clay - Ages 3 and up

Share

I like to work with PEARL CREATIVE PAPERCLAY because it is safe for children, easy to work with, easy to paint, and it either air dries or you can bake it to speed it up. You can find it online or in your local draft store. If you are in the New Paltz area Manny's is a great place to find it.

Some of the molded pieces that age 3 was able to do very easily.

Age 5 was able to sculpt an igloo. Using some tools she created the blocks of ice.


Great way to develop hand motor skills.

Age 3 working with the molds.

Final works after baking.

Share

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Henri Matisse inspired Paper Cut-outs

Share

Henri Matisse inspired Paper Cut-outs was such a great lesson. What fun it was to cut, paste, and create using colored construction paper.

Henri Matisse (1869 – 1954), was considered to be the 20th century’s most important French painter. He communicated art with expressive colors and compelling bold patterns. Influenced by Impressionism and Japanese art, Matisse made color a crucial element of his work, and also experimented with abstract art. Following illness Matisse explored with cut-outs for 14 years. Here is a fantastic link with detailed information on his cut-outs and images of his work.
http://www.henri-matisse.net/cut_outs.html

After discussing some of Matisse's work, we took a look at some of his paper cut-outs. One of the books that I referenced was



You can purchase it here or go to your local library to find it. You can also refer to the above link and find all of the info you need there.


Below are some of images of the work in progress and one of my students final project!





Share

Monday, February 28, 2011

Kids Winter ART classes were a blast!

Share

Wow, what a week!!! Wall art, City Murals, Finger painting, Acrylics, Origami, Spray painting... the list goes on. It was a fantastic week here at Start at ART. I loved seeing new faces and reuniting with existing. I am overwhelmed with such wonderful art students and their ability to learn and bring in their own artistic dreams to our art environment. They seemed to enjoy the opportunity to explore and create with fellow friends. So exhilarating for me! I love ART!


Some images to share from the week:


Images from the finger painting wall mural. We also did some acrylic brush work on this piece.









Our City Mural. Each child contributed a part of the city mural. We had clouds, birds, trees, firehouses, police stations and a school. This was so fun. They just let their imagination go!!

 Can you tell which one is my son? LOL



 Intense stuff here. :)


We did a little abstract painting.


Below is a picture of the kids assemblage work. I had them pick from a ton of materials, buttons, odd and ends and had them create a work of art with it.


Finally comes the Origami. This was so much fun for them. Thanks to my assistant, Cedee for the help with running this! They loved her.





Monday, December 20, 2010

Valentines Day Pop-UP Cards

Wanted to share a cute Valentines Day Card option. Good ole handmade fun!!

1. Any printer paper or card stock will work. I like the card stock because it is more sturdy but we didn't have any around so the kids grabbed printer paper.
2. Decide what you want to make. Using any size envelope cut out the shape for the mouth to open and close. Then create your animal around the mouth, cut, color, paste whatever you like.


 My son's dracula




My daughters mouse and 3D cheese she pasted.