Studio Still Lifes

This week I did a still life painting workshop. Students painted on a 16 x 20 canvas with acrylics. These students ranged in age from 2nd grade to 5th grade (amazing!)- and completed their paintings in 2-1/2 hours.

  

Here's our set up that they were painting.

I teach as we go, and do some demo, but I try to never paint on the students canvas. These were done all on their own.

I have baby wipes for the students to use for mess ups-work great for removing paint from the canvas.

I really encourage them to paint loose and have fun with it-not to get to bogged down in a lot of details. I emphasize basic shapes and color/values.

I'm in the process of setting up a Facebook page for my art studio. If you are a Facebook user I'd love for you to "follow" me so you will know about my blog posts and other artsy crafty things as soon I they happen ; ) I'm trying to figure out how to get a button on my blog, but for now, just click HERE and it will take you directly to my page. Please share with all your friends, especially if you're local. I'll be posting any upcoming workshops on Facebook too.

Painting Butterflies

I had a fun little group of girls getting ready to enter kindergarten in class last week. I had planned to do folk art style houses, but they vetoed me and collectively rallied for butterflies...so glad I went with their suggestion because we had some beautiful butterflies!

I always try to incorporate in all my lessons how wonderful it is that God gave us so many beautiful things in creation alone that can inspire us to create art. Butterflies are a great example.

I also like to talk about what an awesome creator God is-the best artist that ever existed-and the Bible says that we are created in His image. We all have the ability to be creative!

God gave us each a unique ability to create, just like he made us each unique in the way we look, in our talents and our personalities

It's wonderful that we each have a unique and different way to express ourselves...

just like these butterfly paintings. No two are the same!

In one of my classes, as I was explaining about what an awesome artist God is, one little girl interrupted and said, "but this isn't Sunday school class, this is art class." 

Nothing makes my heart happier than to share just how much God is involved in the creative process, and a part of everything that inspires us as an artist. 

Her comment made my day, and reminded me why I love teaching art to kids!

In this lesson we also learned about the color wheel and patterns in art. Paintings were done in acrylic on a 16 x 20 canvas in a 2-1/2 hour workshop.

More Razorback Paintings

More Razorback Paintings! In this painting lesson students painted a close up of a Razorback. It was a younger age group so this was a little less detailed than the last Razorback lesson I posted. Basically the steps are the same.

Paintings were done in acrylic on a 16 x 20 canvas and took 2-1/2 hours to complete. Several of the students painted this especially for their Dads as a Father's Day gift. 

Painting Razorbacks

Week two of art painting workshops got me ready for Razorback football! I did two art lessons for painting a Razorback. This lesson posted here is was geared for 4th-6th grade students.  This lesson was just in time to make great Father's Day gifts for Dad Hog fans.

First we looked at several hog pictures, paintings and cartoons from the internet for inspiration. I taught a short drawing lesson on four different "hogs" and showed the students how to break it down into your most basic shapes first. I let students practice their drawings and then select one of the four hogs they drew on their practice paper.

Next I instructed students to paint out their design with a light colored wash, focusing on shapes, not detail.

After students got their basic shapes, I instructed them to go over them with more detail in black.

Painting in the back ground and edges came next.

Now some color for the Hogs.

Since this was an older group, I let them have a little more freedom with their artistic expression-I let them choose their design, style and color schemes.

Students were also encouraged to paint their edges with a decorative design. We did these in acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 canvas. We completed this painting in a 2-1/2 hour workshop.

Painting Flags....

I've started my painting workshops for the summer and so far I've been amazed at the talented artists I've seen! I'm doing three painting classes per week, each one 2-1/2 hours. Students complete a painting in acrylics on a 16 x 20 canvas during the class. I give instruction and provide a demo as we paint together. We also learn about different elements and principles of art, art styles and basic painting techniques. Last week we painted Folk Art Houses, Peacocks and American Flags. This is the first painting lesson I've done on American Flags and I thought they turned out so cute! These paintings were all done by 1st-4th graders.

Starting out looking at a flag and talking about how many stripes and stars. We also talked about different painting styles. Then we sketched out our design with black paint.

Time to add our color.

We talked about proportion and scale to decide how large to make the blue part.

We did have a little drying time before we applied the white. It was so hot outside all we had to do was sit their canvases out in the sun while we took a bathroom break.

The tricky part of the whole painting was lining up the stars correctly.

Some students cut out a star stamp from cardboard and stamped over their dots.

Some decided just to go with the dots for a more impressionistic feel.

God Bless America!

I was inspired to do a few flag paintings myself while preparing for this lesson. Here's what I came up with. I decided to try out several different styles.

8 x 10 Oil on canvas board.

 

8 x 10 acrylic on canvas board 

8 x 10 oil on stretched canvas

This was my favorite. 8 x 10 oil on canvas board