artsy insight

Crazy, Sticky Condensed Milk Painting

2012-01-27T22:26:00.001-05:00

So lately, I have become pretty addicted to Pinterest. I love that I can find loads of great ideas all in one place. Recently, I ran across this very creative idea for homemade paint. The recipe is quite simple - sweetened condensed milk and food coloring. I quickly picked up the ingredients from the grocery store and the experiment began. Now, I have a daughter who is up for anything creatively, so I knew this would be right up her alley.

Upon opening the condensed milk, I became somewhat skeptical. The milk was beige in color and extremely sticky. I wondered if I would be able to make pretty colors with this sticky, mess. I scooped out a bit of the condensed milk into a small bowl, added a bit of food coloring, and WOW! the color was bright and ready to go. We immediately mixed a variety of colors and prepared to create!

Painting with the milk paint proved to be a great time. My daughter & I loved the way the thick, sticky paint felt dragging across the paper. The colors were vibrant and very glossy.

I highly recommend giving this unusual paint recipe a try. It was a fun experiment that created some beautiful pictures! The only downside? The pictures are quite sticky and take a few days to dry.

Check out these fab Condensed Milk Paintings! I love the way they shine. Thanks for the great idea Pinterest!

Our World as Pizza!

2012-01-10T22:06:00.001-05:00

Only in homeschooling would you make a pizza to help you learn about the different layers of the Earth! That's exactly where our science lesson led us today. We used our dough to represent the crust of the earth, shredded mozzarella to represent the mantle, shredded cheddar stood in for the outer core, and a small circle of ham was our hot inner core. It was so much fun and very yummy as well!
Thanks to R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey Earth & Science Curriculum for this great idea.

A Touch of Impressionism

2011-04-08T10:58:00.010-04:00

Recently, Youth Art Month, which is in March, inspired me to add art history to our homeschool daily schedule. Our most recent lesson was on Impressionism. Impressionism is one of my favorite art styles to teach to kids. The bright colors and blurry images that are attributed to this style are easy and fun for kids to create. Gone is the stress of getting all the details of a face perfect. Fuzzy, unfocused images are perfect for Impressionist style paintings!

Impressionism is a style that began in France in the 19th century. It is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it. They paint the pictures with a lot of color and most of their pictures are outdoor scenes. Their pictures are very bright and vibrant. The artists like to capture their images without detail but with bold colors.

For my lesson, I chose to focus on the art of Monet. We looked at many of his images including the painting Jardin a Giverny.

Monet's - Jardin a Giverny

This particular Impressionism project for kids is a collage and painting combo. I found the idea at Edhelper.com. Edhelper is a subscription site, but as a homeschooling mom, I find myself using this site almost daily. If you are a subscriber, you can find the lesson under Major Art Movements (Art Styles) - Impressionism.

This lesson begins with 9" x 12" pieces of blue, purple, and green construction paper. Tear the top off the purple sheet in a jagged way as to look like the bumpy edge of mountains. Glue the purple sheet on top of the blue sheet, lining up the bottom straight edges. Next, tear the green sheet in half to create the edge of the ground. Glue the green sheet onto the purple, lining it up to the straight bottom edge.

Prepare a paint palatte (I use styrofoam plates) for the student with the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and white. Secondary colors (purple, orange, and green) can be mixed from their primary colors. White can be added to make tints, or lighter versions of their colors.

Once the colors have been prepared, the kids can paint clouds in the sky, ridges along the montains, flowers, and grass. Remind them that the details are fuzzy and unfocused, but bold and bright.

The results are colorful and fun Impressionism inspired mixed-media creations!

My kids enjoyed this project. Even my son, who is typically a non-painter, participated in this one.

Spring is a terrific time to give Impressionism a try. The nice weather provides a great opportunity to create art "en plein air" or "in the open air" as many of the Impressionists did so frequently. Grab your art supplies and head outdoors! That would be creating art in true Impressionistic style!

We Love Our Homeschool Cooking Class!

2010-10-15T10:19:00.010-04:00

My daughter loves all things creative. She has been asking me to add cooking and sewing to her homeschool day for a while now, so we decided to give it a try!

Halloween sugar cookies were our first project.

Mixing the dough....

Using our Halloween cookie cutters.......then off to the oven the cookies go!

Decorating the cookies with icing......and tasting them.........

And voila! Finished Halloween sugar cookies. Surprisingly, they actually tasted great!

Not sure what we'll make next. Thinking possibly muffins......

Turn Yourself Into a Comic Icon!

2010-09-07T10:17:00.009-04:00

Check out my husband's latest portrait style. Taaaa Daaaa................. It's "COMIC STYLE" !

This portrait style is perfect for all social media needs! Facebook pics, twitter, blog profile pics- anytime you want to give yourself a little pizazz!

The portraits can be ordered for $25.00 from his website - www.cpbstudios.com

What do ya think?

Georgia O'Keefe Creations

2010-08-06T14:53:00.022-04:00

Student Work

Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) was an American abstract painter born in Wisconsin. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Student's League in New York, and Colombia Teacher's College in New York. She was an art teacher before she became a full time artist. She was a leader in the development of the American Modernism Movement. O'Keeffe painted still lifes, massive flowers, the New York at Night series, southwestern landscapes and stark bones found in the desert. In 1939, she was selected as one of the twelve most outstanding women of the past fifty years by the New York World's Fair Committee. Her painting, Sunset-Long Island, was chosen to represent New York in an exhibition of the art of the United States at the World's Fair. In 1985, O'Keeffe was granted the Medal of Arts by President Ronald Reagan.

Red Poppy by Georgia O'Keefe

Pelvis With Distance by Georgia O'Keefe

In this lesson, students will be painting flowers or skulls in the style of O'Keefe. This can be accomplished quite easily by following these simple steps.

1. Find a picture of a flower or skull that you would like to paint. I usually find my samples on the internet.

2. Draw the flower or skull on your paper with a pencil. Draw it so large that it runs off the page. There should not be any empty background. The flower or skull should take up all of the paper.

3. Using paint, color the picture. Quite often, O'Keefe's paintings have either a warm or a cool feel. This can be accomplished by either using all warm colors (red, orange, and yellow), or all cool colors (blue, purple, and green.)

This picture below is being painted with cool colors.

This student has printed out pictures of flowers to use as a reference.

Here are some of our finished pictures! One warm and one cool - can you figure out which is which?

Good Luck with your O'Keefe creations! I know they will be beautiful - with such pretty subject matter and vivid colors they always are!

Discover Pointallism with Georges Seurat

2010-06-14T10:13:00.011-04:00

Georges Seurat was a French Post Impressionist painter that lived from 1859-1891. He is best known for his development of pointillism and his use of optical mixing. Here is a great biography sheet on Seurat - http://makingartfun.com/pdf/seurat-printit-biography.pdf . One of his most popular paintings is entitled "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." View this painting here - grande-jatte.jpg 750×501 pixels. Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. In this art lesson, students are going to create their own pointillism picture using optical mixing. Optical color mixing is created through our perception of color. When one looks at two small amounts of different colors laid down side by side the two appear to create a different color. For this project, I gave the students the three primary colors - red, yellow, and blue. By putting two different primary color dots side by side, the viewer's eyes will blend the colors and see a new secondary color (purple, orange, or green.) This is a great time to review how to make secondary colors from primary colors. This link will take you to a great page on color mixing - Color Mixing - Enchanted Learning Software . After a quick lesson on Seurat and color mixing, the kids began their paintings. They followed these simple steps -

1. Sketch the picture to be painted with a pencil to provide some guidelines. Keep the design simple - no small details.

2. Using dots, paint the picture using optical mixing to create secondary colors. The dots must be close together to mix properly.

3. The pictures are finished! Have someone hold your picture for you, step back a bit and let your eyes do the optical mixing! Do you see the secondary colors?

4. Show your beautiful art to your friends and family. Teach them about Seurat, pointillism, and optical mixing. Find a special spot for your new picture in your home and enjoy!

Self-Guided Art Projects

2010-05-08T21:39:00.006-04:00

Every now and then, my daughter secretly digs through my art cabinet and drags out a bunch of random supplies. I usually find her on the floor or at the table creating her own masterpiece, free from direction or expectations. These are the art projects she loves the most. They are totally her own, from the selection of the supplies to the execution of the composition. Quite often, she will sit for a long time playing with her creation. They are often cities, or houses, or as the case this time, a baby's nursery.

My daughter's self-guided art moments remind me to let go sometimes and let her be in control of her own creations, from start to finish - no directions and no expectations.

Give it a try sometime - set out a variety of arts & crafts supplies for your child and then just let them be. See what they come up with. I guarantee it will be a creative masterpiece!

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Tissue Paper Forsythia

2010-04-28T20:21:00.013-04:00

While perusing my favorite blogs recently, I came across a must do art activity. Pink and Green Mama posted a fantastic art project using paint and tissue paper to recreate the flowering plant, Forsythia. I love to see Forsythia in the spring, and the thought of a classroom full of painted Forsythia sounded exciting! I decided to have my small art class give this project a try. We followed the directions listed on Pink and Green Mama's blog. Here is a link to the activity on her blog - Pink and Green Mama: Easy Kid Spring Art Craft: Tissue Paper Forsythia

1. The kids used a straw to blow very watered down tempera paint into the shape of Forsythia branches.

2. Next, they painted small green leaves around the branches.

3. Then the kids glued on crinkled pieces of yellow tissue paper to represent the Forsythia blooms.

4. Voila!! The finished Forsythia plants! Hang these in your home and it can look like springtime all year round!

Thanks Pink and Green Mama for the wonderful and fun Forsythia activity!!

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Joan Miro

2010-04-23T20:05:00.007-04:00

Joan Miro was a Spanish artist who developed a very whimsical style back in the 1930’s. His painting called “People and Dog in Sun” is a fun one to imitate by drawing stick figures and stars.

1. Give each student a 9" x 12" piece of watercolor paper and pencil. They are to draw one large stick figure in the middle, preferably in some action pose. Miro often repeated shapes in his work so ask the students to add more shapes to their art but ONLY by using lines and dots. At least two of the shapes need to intersect (overlap) to make more shapes to color.

2. After the pencil drawing is done, the students need to trace it heavily with a black crayon.

3. Have the students fill in all the shapes they have made with a different color.

Have a super time creating your own Miro's! Check back next week for a new lesson based on a different artist. See you then!

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Japanese Folding Screens

2010-04-09T08:40:00.012-04:00

Japanese artists make the loveliest folding screens, carved with designs and painted black. Some are made from wood frames and have hand-painted silk stretched in each panel. The paintings are often of flowers or landscapes. The Japanese also have a love for things that are very small, so miniature table top screens are a popular decoration. This week my art class made their own miniature paper folding screens to hold their favorite photos.

For this project, I asked each child to bring in four photos that they would like to have on their screen. I also had magazines on hand the day of the lesson for those kids who forgot to bring in their photos. Those kids were able to cut out pictures from the magazines to use on their screen.

The first step in this project is to fold construction paper to make their screens. Each child needs 2 pieces of 9"x12" paper. Both papers need to be folded in fourths in a fan type of fold. On one of the pieces, cut a small photo window at the top of each folded section. I did this step for the kids with an exacto knife. Next, tape one photo behind each photo window. Glue the second 9"x12"piece of paper to the back of the first to create the backside of the screen and to give the screen strength.

It is now time to paint the designs. We used black watercolor paint to simulate the black india ink that would be used by real Japanese screen artists. Black marker could be used as well. I printed out pictures of flowers for the kids to look at for ideas.

I also printed out some simple Japanese words in case they wanted to put some Japanese writing on their screen. They really seemed to enjoy painting the real Japanese characters.

This lessons is also a great time to teach the kids about the art of calligraphic line painting. Based on oriental calligraphy or "beautiful writing," calligraphic line is characterized by variations of line width and the power of a simple line to convey a complex feeling. I encouraged the students to use black ink with various sizes of brushes and sticks, practice making marks with different widths, directions and pressure.

Here is a finished miniature folding screen. This will make a terrific table decoration!

The kids seemed to really enjoy this project. They liked exploring the art of a different culture, and anytime they can include photos of their loved ones in an art project, it is a big hit!

Spunky Jack Russell

2010-04-07T08:17:00.005-04:00

My husband just completed this digital portrait of our energetic puppy in a rare inquisitive moment. She is usually burning a trail in the backyard.

This image is painstakingly drawn/painted digitally with no photo manipulation.

It is essential to him that the process mimic traditional drawing and painting techniques.

He is currently using a Intuos 3 Wacom tablet with Corel Painter X.

Portraits make great gifts for friends and family - know anyone with a birthday coming up? Check out my husband's website - we have a quick and easy way to order that special portrait.

cpbstudios.com

An Unusual Way to Store Coal

2010-03-16T23:32:00.008-04:00

Visit our webpage to find out what unusual item is storing coal in this free desktop wallpaper image (we have only shown you a bit of a teaser here.) Those of you that have ever lived in or traveled to Appalachia will recognize this scene.

Special edition prints of this image are available as well.

cpbstudios.com - gallery of work

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Van Gogh's Sunflowers

2010-03-12T22:26:00.010-05:00

Warm weather is here, spring is in the air, let's paint flowers! In honor of Vincent Van Gogh's March 30th birthday, we learned a bit about still lifes and tried our hand at painting sunflowers. We began our lesson by exploring the art of the famous Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890.) We paid special attention to Van Gogh's Sunflowers series. A large sample of these paintings can be found at http://www.vggallery.com/misc/sunflowers.htm .

I also took this opportunity to introduce the kids to the concept of the still life. A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects. Flowers in a vase definitely qualify as a still life. Because Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting are mostly yellow, we also discussed the term monochromatic, which means all of the colors in the artwork are tints (light versions) or shades (dark versions) of a single hue.

The kids began this project by drawing their own still life of sunflowers in a vase with a pencil. Ideally, it is best if the kids have actual sunflowers to look at when drawing their pictures, however since I did not have any, I printed out pictures of sunflowers for them to look at. Here is a website that has a lot of pictures of real sunflowers - www.sunflowers.com .

Begin painting - we used washable tempera paint.

Here is one of the most colorful finished pieces. This one happens to be created by my daughter who absolutely loves lots of color. She followed the guidelines of the project initially, but eventually went her own creative way, and that is OK. Monochromatic painting is not her thing. For me, art is all about creativity. As long as the kids are expressing themselves and creating, it doesn't matter if the finished product is a little different than expected. Originality is actually a good thing!

Well, that's it for this Fantastic Friday. As the spring flowers start popping up in your yard this spring, remember Van Gogh's sunflowers and try a still life of your own!

My Sweet Girl

2010-03-11T09:26:00.005-05:00

Meet my sweet daughter - she is 7 yrs. old now, but this adorable portrait takes me back to her first ballet recital when she was only 3. My husband is a portrait artist - this is his latest creation. We have recently started an online portrait business. If you happen to be looking for a gift for that hard to buy for person, consider a portrait. We have any easy to use website that allows you to quickly order the perfect portrait for you or someone you know. Take a look!

Our business can be found at - www.cpbstudios.com

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Snowy Scenes

2010-03-05T21:10:00.010-05:00

It seems winter may finally be nearing an end in Kentucky, so we decided to create one last snowy scene for the season. This project is one of my favorite winter art lessons. It is very easy to create, and the strong contrast between the black, white, and blue makes for a very dramatic and eye catching scene. It is popular with the kids, and the parents always seem impressed by the results.

I always begin this lesson by showing paintings of wintry scenes by famous artists. I usually choose Pieter Bruegel's The Hunters in Snow -The Hunters in the Snow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , as well as any winter scene from Hendrick Avercamp -WebMuseum: Avercamp, Hendrick . Both men were Dutch, and lived during the 16th century. They both created wonderful winter scenes.

After viewing the work of the two artists, the kids began to draw their own winter scene. They used black marker on blue paper. I explained to them that these scenes are "twilight scenes." Scenes taking place just as the day is coming to an end, therefor showing everything in a dark silhouette only. We also looked again very closely at Bruegel's The Hunters in Snow. I wanted them to notice the depth and perspective found in this work. We discussed the concept of foreground, middleground, and background. Anything they wanted to be far away (or in the background) should be smaller than what they have drawn in the foreground. I encouraged them to try to have an item, such as a fence, span all three space levels. The item should start off large, and gradually diminish in size until it disappears into the background.

The next step is super easy. Paint the snow! Many times I have used white chalk for this step instead. It creates a bit of a softer look. I reminded the kids to paint the snow anywhere it would naturally land in real life - branches, fence posts, or roofs.

That's it! Pretty snowy scenes! Let's hope these cute pictures don't evoke any more snowy weather in Kentucky. This is the last bit of snow we all want to see until next winter!!! Have fun creating!

Ants on a Log!

2010-02-28T22:32:00.005-05:00

This past Saturday was the Pinewood Derby for our cub scout pack. Being artsy people, my husband and I always shoot for the design award. This year's car was fashioned after the yummy and healthy snack ants on a log! The little raisons looked so cute steering their peanut butter filled celery stalk to the finish line. We didn't win any awards for speed, but we did take home the trophy for best design! Yeah!

The Art of Oaxacan Wood Carvings

2010-02-22T10:59:00.016-05:00

Alebrijes are carved wooden figures created by artists in Oaxaca, Mexico. These sculptures are a fabulous expression of Mexican folk art. The talented carvers of Oaxaca create, entirely by hand, wonderful creatures made from copal wood. They decorate these with amazing patterns and colors. These wooden sculptures have captivated collectors worldwide. Some examples of these fantastic carvings can be found at Oaxacan Wood Carvings Gallery El Caracol Zapoteca.

In honor of Mexico's participation in the 2010 Winter Olympics, we decided to make our own version of Oaxaca wood carvings. Traditionally, the animals are carved out of wood, but in order to simplify the process, we went outside and found some snakey-looking sticks. The kids then painted them a solid color with acrylic paint.

After the paint dried, we added patterns. For this step, we used acrylic paint pens instead of paint brushes. It was much easier to make small detailed patterns with these. One of the things that make Alebrijes so unique is their intense, unusual use of pattern. I had the kids work quite a while on this step in order to really create the Alebrijes feel. I encouraged them to use contrasting colors, meaning colors that are very different from the background color. Choosing complementary colors can also provide excellent contrast. Complementary colors are located across from each other on the color wheel, and stand out very well against each other. There are three complimentary pairs. They are red and green, orange and blue, and purple and yellow.

When the paint was dry, we stuck an unbent paperclip in the mouth for a tongue, and turned them loose! Here is my daughter's finished snake, Pinky.

Our finished snakes enjoying the cool grass.

I have always loved the fabulous Mexican Oaxacan wood carvings, and really enjoy teaching kids about this art form. Children enjoy the bright colors and fun whimsical feel of these critters.

Give these colorful, fun creatures a try. It is a great opportunity to create an exciting piece of art and learn about Mexican culture.

Fantastic Friday with the Olympics!!

2010-02-12T18:05:00.006-05:00

He everyone! For the next few Fridays, I am going to be planning most of my activities around the Olympics. The Olympics provide an excellent opportunity to teach about the geography and culture of the many countries involved in the games. We started our Olympics unit by learning about the history of the games (Greece) and about the hosting country of Canada. I found a lot of really good information about the origins of the Olympics at Olympics - EnchantedLearning.com. Enchanted Learning is a pay site (not too much), but I have found it to be well worth the money. After learning about the background of the games, the kids colored their own Olympic flags. We put them on sticks so we could wave them around a bit.

Next, we pulled out our atlas and found Canada (Vancouver) on our map. Then we made our own Canadian flags. I found a good maple leaf template at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/Maple%20leaf%20template.PDF. We of course had to listen to the Canadian national anthem while we made them. I found lots of good versions on YouTube.

Here the kids are making their own maple leaf paper quilt squares. I found a great paper template for it at Maple Leaf Quilt Block Coloring Page - EnchantedLearning.com. I printed one out and colored it as a guide for them. I also pre-cut one blue 6" x 6" square, and nine 2" x 2" red squares for each child. The kids arranged them in the maple leaf pattern, cutting them diagonally in half when needed.

Here are our finished maple leaf quilt squares. This activity really worked the kids' observational skills. They had to make sure all the pieces were in the right places, turned the right way.

Next week we'll start learning about some of the countries participating in the games. Check back for more activities!

Go USA!!!

How We Spent Our Snowy Day

2010-02-10T17:53:00.013-05:00

Well, It was a very snowy day in Eastern Kentucky and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out our new microscope - on snowflakes of course! We sprayed some microscope slides with lacquer and set them outside to catch some flakes. Once we were sure we had some, we brought them in and gave the lacquer time to dry. The snowflakes melted, but the lacquer was imprinted with the shape of the snowflakes! Too cool! Here are the kids checking out the flakes. The kids drew pictures of the magnified snowflakes in their nature journal. Thanks Papa for the new microscope!!!

After our snowy science lesson, Abbey moved on to a recycled materials art project. When we received our fabulous new microscope in the mail, it came packed in lots and lots of packing peanuts. Abbey created a terrific picture for her daddy by gluing them down to construction paper and coloring them with paint pens.

The final product!

Last, but not least, we brought some snow inside for the little dollies to play in. It was really too cold to play outside today, so we brought a bit of the fun indoors! Abbey loved this - I refilled her snow many, many times.

Anybody have any new snow day ideas for me? I am always looking for fun ideas. Let me hear your thoughts. Apparently, the weatherman says we may get more snow, so I am gonna need them!

Thanks for reading!!

Art in the Family

2010-02-09T12:51:00.003-05:00

Doesn't this baby look like it should be in a Gerber commercial?

This is a portrait of my niece, Macey.

My husband is a portrait painter (we met in art school), and I think this portrait is one of my favorites.

Meet Garcia - a family dog. He passed a few years ago, but this special portrait reminds us of his happy personality.

Check out some more of his work at www.cpbstudios.com

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Rockwell/Big Band

2010-02-05T16:46:00.012-05:00

Welcome everyone!

On this fantastic Friday, we are studying the American Artist and Illustrator Norman Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978). We began this lesson by learning a bit about his life. I found a wonderful bio sheet on him at teachervision. It is a pay site, but they will let you print out a few for free. Here is the link - Norman Rockwell Printable (5th - 8th Grade) - TeacherVision.com

Next, we looked at a Norman Rockwell book from the library. My kids loved his work. They could really identify with the everyday situations in his paintings. I also found a great packet of activities online at The Norman Rockwell Museum. The packet can be downloaded as a pdf and printed from this link -http://www.nrm.org/pdfs/family-guide.pdf. It was just full of fun activities that helped the kids really explore the paintings. The last page of the packet is a blank Saturday Evening Post cover template. As Rockwell was most known for his covers of this popular magazine, I thought it only proper that we try our own Saturday Evening Post covers. We discussed the fact that Rockwell was an illustrator portraying endearing scenes of everyday life. That they are in fact a good example of narrative art - artwork created to tell a story. I then set the kids off on their mission - to create their own magazine cover telling a story about their own life. My son's picture is all about his dog - his best friend.

My daughter decided to draw about her favorite time of day - reading in bed at bedtime with her daddy.

Here is Abbey's finished masterpiece - ready for publication!

Our music connection this week is big band/swing music. It was a popular style of music during Rockwell's time. I found a bio sheet for him at teachervision as well. Here it is - Swing Was the Thing Printable (5th - 8th Grade) - TeacherVision.com. We talked a bit about Benny Goodman and listened to his big band music while working on our magazine covers. I found great videos of his music on youtube.

Well guys - that 's it for this week! Have fun creating!

Upcycled Valentine Crayon Hearts: HeARTs full of Art

2010-02-02T09:51:00.002-05:00

Here is a link to a fun and easy Valentine's activity. My daughter and I made them yesterday and they turned out absolutely adorable. This is such a great way to give those old, broken crayons a fresh new start! Pink and Green Mama: Upcycled Valentine Crayon Hearts: HeARTs full of Art

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Pollock/Jazz

2010-01-29T16:25:00.006-05:00

Hi there fellow art lovers! It's time for our weekly art activity! This week I chose the American artist Jackson Pollock (January 28, 1912 – August 11, 1956.) His birthday was just yesterday! Studying this artist gives us the perfect opportunity to learn about action painting and abstract expressionism. Pollock called his paintings action paintings because it took a lot of action to make them, and because they have a lot of eye movement and action in them. The paintings were later given the official title of abstract expressionism, meaning they are non-figurative and painted with intense emotions.

While planning this lesson, I really wanted the kids to be able experience "action painting." However, because my art class is inside in a room where mess must be kept to a minimum, I ruled out splatter and drip painting. I did though, find this very cool activity using marbles as a way to apply the paint to paper. The paper is put in a pan or box (something with sides), a marble is dipped in paint, and then the student simply rolls (here's the action part) the marble back and forth on the paper. This action is repeated using different colors. The result is an action painting created with very little mess! I loved it and so did the kids! Here is the link where I found this great lesson - Jackson Pollock Lesson Plan: Introduction to Abstract Expressionism. This website also has some cute little paper frames the kids can put around their paintings when they are done.

As for music during Pollock's time period, I went with jazz. We used one of my favorite music for kid websites, Classics for Kids. There you can find a description of the genre and many great links to jazz sites. I especially liked the link to pbskids Jazz | PBS KIDS GO!.

Kids love creating abstract expressionism. Anytime I give a class of kids free time to paint anything, there are always a few splattering and dripping the paint, creating "action painting" without even knowing it!

Have fun creating! See you next week for a new exciting art activity!

Fantastic Friday with the Arts - Cezanne/Debussy

2010-01-22T09:48:00.005-05:00

This week our fantastic Friday began with a fun lesson about Paul Cezanne. A French artist born on January 12th, 1839. Cezanne is most known for his still life paintings, which makes this a great opportunity to have your students give this subject matter a try. We began our lesson by looking at quite a few of Cezanne's paintings. The one entitiled "Apples and Oranges" is a great example of his still life painting. We discussed his biographical information as well. I printed off the info from this website -Apples and Oranges by Paul Cezanne, and reviewed it with the kids. I especially liked the way this website mentioned the fact that Cezanne did not think he was good at portraiture. This revelation caused him to steer away from portraiture, and focus more on still life, for which he is most known today. My kids found it reasurring that just because they are not skilled in one area, it doesn't mean that they won't be gifted in another. Next, I set up a still life for them to paint. My still life included oranges in a basket, a pitcher, and a mug. The kids used tempera paint. I gave them the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow), and had them mix their own secondary colors (orange, purple, and green). This was also a great time to show the kids how to achieve a more 3D look when painting something round. I suggested shading on one side to achieve a more realistic look.

Our music connection this week was Claude Debussy (one of my personal favorites), born in France in 1862. He was an impressionistic musician composing music during the same period that Cezanne was painting. We listened to his fabulous music while creating our still life paintings. I used this website to discuss his biographical info with the kids -Classics for Kids. Samples of his music can be found there also.

See ya next week for more "Fantastic Friday with the Arts"!