Goodbye Fall

I had a painting workshop Monday and had the sweetest group of little girls. I was a little disappointed though when I woke up to a gloomy sky, rain and a lot of brown leaves left on the trees since we were supposed to be painting "Fall Leaves". Regardless of the circumstances, we used some good photos of leaves and our imaginations to paint some beautiful pictures. These were painted by 5-7 years olds-amazing!

Scribble Art

This is a fun lesson that I usually do at the first of the year. I got the idea out of an art education book--the only problem is that I made a copy of the page thinking the title was at the bottom, but it wasn't. Anyway, this is a great little lesson to your creative brain warmed up, or a good time filler/killer. The kids always seem to get into it once they get started. First, I give a short lesson on "lines" and we practice drawing them curvy, straight, wavy, etc... Give each student a large piece of white construction paper and a pencil. Instruct them to make all types of lines on their paper without ever lifting up their pencil. When they have filled up their paper then have them start looking for things--I always ask them first if they have ever played the game where they look at the clouds and find things. I encourage them to work together to "see" things. (Be sure and don't tell them what they will be doing before they make their lines because then as they scribble, they will "try" to make it look like something.) When they have identified a few things, ask them to pick their favorite and outline it with a black sharpie. Let them use markers, crayons or oil pastels to color it in.

Van Gogh Clay Plaques

Here's another great lesson that I got from Dick Blick Lesson Plans online. I've done this project with students(ages 2-6th grade) several times and I always get great results. It's a great lesson to introduce Vincent Van Gogh and landscapes, basic clay and painting techniques and texture.

The above pictures are actual photos of Vincent Van Gogh's work-I show several of his landscapes to the students and let them pic their favorite to create. I'll let the pics explain and you can refer to the lesson plan on Dick Blick for more details. One tip is that I do encourage them to work on one small section of the picture at a time.

I thought their art turned out amazing!

Pattern Cats

I have seen this lesson on several sites, but the one that inspired me first was from Techy Teacher (formerly the Art Kids). I break my lesson down into two, one hour sessions. I introduce lines, patterns and shapes, basic watercolor techniques, complementary colors and the American artist Laurel Burch. I have had success with this project from ages 5 all the way up to 12.

In our first session, we meet the artist and talk about how she uses patterns to make her art interesting. Using lines and shapes, I teach them two to three different ways to draw cats. I let them practice first on newsprint, and then have them use a pencil to lightly draw onto their watercolor paper (I encourage them to draw "big"). Then I let them "decorate" their cats and background. Lastly, we trace over the pencil with Sharpie and erase all our pencil lines that still show.

In our second session I let them add more pattern and color accents with oil pastels-I try to limit them to three accent colors. At this point I talk about complementary colors and encourage them to pick a "color scheme" before they start, trying to use complements by each other. Lastly, we go over basic watercolor technique and they paint their cats. I love seeing how unique each one turns out---don't they make you smile!

Mommy & Me

Can I say I'm an expert in "pre-school" art since I have a four-year old?? Fortunately, she LOVES art and is always willing to be my guinea pig for any new project. I started doing "Mommy & Me" classes once a month this fall so we could have some fun together with our friends. We had a blast in our first session painting landscapes without traditional brushes. Here's what we did, and below I've also listed some things that I've discovered work well with younger children.

Supplies: I used the back of paper grocery bags for our paper-they are free, a great size and durable. Just cut out the side that isn't printed, or you can use the back of the printed side if you like. Tempera paint in various colors. Cut sponges, sponge rollers, sea sponges, foam brushes.

Have fun with it, but be specific (I was working with 3 & 4 year olds)-For example, I started off by asking what they see when they go outside and look up? They answered "the sky". What color is the sky? "blue" Let's find the blue on your paint plate and paint the sky on your paper. Point to where the sky will be--will it be at the top or the bottom of your paper? "the top". Then I instructed the moms to show their child where to draw a blue line (for the horizon line) with the foam brush. Next they need to have the child paint everything above it blue. I continued this questioning process with the clouds, the sun, the grass, trees, flowers and the house. Ask questions about colors, shapes, lines and directions. The painting above was done by my 4-year old daughter during class. She did it all by herself-love the pink roof! They all turned out really cute, and I was impressed how well they all followed instructions and stayed engaged in the project.

My tips for painting with young kids (ages 3-6):

1.Focus on shapes and color, not on skills or outcome (it's about the process)
2. Don't present a sample before hand-it can discourage or want to make it "just like that one"- demos as you are explaining work well-I have my little one demo for me.
3. Go with the flow-if they really want to paint a cow and you're painting cats, let them.
4. Use big brushes, crayons, pencils, etc., so they won't get bogged down in the details.
5. Let them mix colors on the paper
6. Have everything prepared and ready to go for project-no waiting for next steps
7. Use smocks or aprons and have lots of baby wipes for messy hands
8. Don't paint or draw things for them, just specific give instructions (draw a circle, now, where do the ears go? Draw triangles where you just pointed.....etc.)
9. Limit session to around 30 minutes.
10. Lots of praise on the process-"You've done great covering your paper with this pretty blue", "What nice, big brush strokes".
11. Don't ever try to "guess" what something is. For example, "I love how you used the pink here", (Hopefully they will tell you it's a pig).
12.Keep your groups small (I did 4 kid/mom pairs)

Painting without brushes

This is a simple, but fun lesson that I got from 123 I Can Paint, by Irene Luxbacher. This book has some excellent lessons for younger students. I use this specific lesson to teach primary and secondary colors, as well as complimentary colors. It takes about thirty minutes, but if you want to let them actually mix their own secondary colors, you can stretch it out a bit. It's a great time filler and easy enough for 3-5 year old students. You will need color construction paper or I like the color railroad board, tempera paint, paper towels and a lot of 3 x 3 (or various sized) cardboard squares. Place a small blob of paint to the far left side of the paper (as high up as you want your building to be). I always demo this process once for the students---with the cardboard square, have the students pull the paint downward, off the edge of the paper. I usually put the complimentary colors beside each other so I can introduce this concept. Repeat this process across your paper, varying the colors and the "heights" or placement of the paint blobs-they can even overlap some to add perspective. Next, do a black blob of paint at the bottom and pull it across horizontally to make the road. Now with a wadded up piece of paper towel and some white paint, dab some clouds across the sky-they can even go over the tops of some of the buildings to make the sky scrapers seem "in the clouds". With the end of a paint brush, I have the students use yellow or white paint to add windows to the buildings, black paint for birds in the sky, and yellow for the lines on the road.