Week Three of Art Class: Sorta Stained Glass Pets and more.....

For the third week of art class, the kids painted in their crazy backgrounds for "What Color's the Sky in YOUR World?"

and then began our next two new projects. 
We started by doing a few patterns in the sketchbooks and then filling in the letters of their names with assorted patterns....they colored in  the patterns using warm colors in oil pastels and watercolor. 

This Thursday, they'll finish by creating a background with rows of patterns in cool colors to show how warm colors create an illusion of "floating" in front of cool colors.

And, I've been promising to create a project where they could feature their pets- I LOVE the project where you create a stained glass effect using a black background, glue and chalk....don't have any good black paper?  Paint your own like we did- it's all about using what you've got ;)

I had them practice drawing pets- it had to be simple enough to trace with glue, then they drew their pets sitting on a rug with a patterned wall in the background.  We'll finish these also this Thursday, so be sure to check back in soon!
Have a great day,
Stephanie

Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue: "Sunflowers"

Here's my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue- the theme was "Sunflowers" which I love.  I had fun flinging paint onto this canvas trying to keep it loose and free flowing.  I'm not sure it's finished and would welcome any suggestions that would make it complete :)

 I'm also using this as my entry for this weeks Paint Party Friday.  If you get a chance, be sure to visit both blogs- there's so much eye candy on these sites, you'll be sure to have a blast!
Happy Friday!
Stephanie

Week 2 of Art Classes- "Up, up and Awaaay......"

Sorry I'm belated in posting this (I know I also promised a garden update and that will be coming soon too, I swear ;))  In art class last week, we talked about all the different colors that the sky can come in and then each child chose a two color combo to paint a resist over white oil pastel clouds..... these turned out even more beautiful than I'd hoped- I loved them all! 
Then we talked about why things that are further away look smaller and things that are close seem bigger, I was so impressed that one of the kids knew the term before I'd told them; "depth of perception".  Once their backgrounds were dry, we glued the hot air balloons they made last week into place to end with a beautiful work of art!

 Lots and lots of clouds......

 Sunrise....sunset

 Spraying water helps make the paint spread....

 Beautiful blue sky

  For our other project of the day, each child drew a sun with detailed facial features; eyes, nose and mouth.  To finish them, today they'll paint in wild and crazy background colors!
And then we'll begin our new project based on pets and inspired by Matisse.
It's gonna be a blast!
Stephanie

Simple Woman's Daybook; August 21, 2011

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...The sun is shining- it's gonna be a beautiful (if a little hot ;)) day!

I am thinking...that I should go for a walk before it gets too hot

I am thankful...so many things but mostly right now, I'm thankful for my family who is wonderful

In the kitchen...the coffee is brewing- yum

I am wearing...  tank top and boxers

I am creating...a painting that represents how I feel while I am quitting smoking- I read somewhere that it's a bit like a grieving process, which I thought was an interesting take...the painting is called "Preparing to Thaw" and it's about the good stuff that will come after the hard parts of quitting.

I am going...to clean my supply shelves today

I am wondering...what I want to do for our next project in art class.....one last Summer project and then on to Autumn- one of my favorite themes!

I am reading... Re-reading Practical Magic- Alice Hoffman rocks

I am hoping...to start a second art class for kindergarteners- they are so much fun to work with!

I am looking forward to...being past the hard part of quitting smoking

I am hearing...cicadas- told you it was gonna be a hot one!

Around the house...only my hubby and I are awake....

I am pondering...what to have for breakfast......

One of my favorite things...I LOVE birthday cake for breakfast!

A few plans for the rest of the week: our daughters Senior advisory meeting, art class, painting and a little cleaning

Here are a couple of pictures for thought I am sharing...my "baby's" 12th birthday was yesterday....we were joking with him that if he'd turned 12 in 2012- his birthday would be on August 20, at 12:20pm in the year 2012- that would have been kinda cool, but he decided to go ahead and be 12 now ;)

 Stop by the Simple Woman's Daybook to see what other folks are thankful for, or better yet, create your own gratitude entry!
x
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- August 19, 2011

Yay, I'm back on a roll; haven't missed a PPF since getting back from vacation!  It's really good for me to have weekly challenges like PPF and Inspiration Avenue- I'm one of those people who NEED deadlines!  So here's my WIP for this week's challenge at IA- the theme was "Icy" and I'm calling it "Beginning to Thaw"....

 I'm hoping to get the impression of ice crystals in her eyelashes, but don't know if I can pull it off or if it would be one thing to much and mess it up!
Update: .I ended up not doing anything else to this- I can't decide if it's finished or not, so I'm going to leave it for a few days until I decide.  And I didn't say before that the inspiration behind this was my quitting smoking and how the process feels- "Preparing to Thaw" represents the good things that come after the hard part.

And  here's what I ended up doing to finish my August page for my Creative Sistah; Priti Lisa:

Thanks for all the suggestions; and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Now that sketchbooks have had several months of travel; they're getting even  more and more beautiful I am so loving this project and thanks again for ya'lls input!  Be sure to check out Inspiration Avenue and  Paint Party Friday to see what everyone else has been working on this week, it's always an incredibly inspiring trip!
Have a great day,
Stephanie

Back in the swing of things with art classes!

So my art classes started up again last week, but I've only just loaded the pictures to share....
We started with a little color theory playing with warm and cool colors and began with choosing three squares to create any design they wanted using warm colors......

 

And then they filled the remaining squares with cool colors, again playing with design and patterns.

For the second half of class, they traced 5 templates of hot air balloons in varying sizes and painted them with any colors/patterns of their choice.  I got so busy, I forgot to take any pictures!

For our next class, we'll be painting a background with water color resist clouds, gluing in the balloons and talking about perspective- how things that are farther away appear to be smaller while things that are closer seem bigger.....  Also, they'll doing sun faces emphasizing eyes, nose & lips and finishing with "any-color-but-blue" backgrounds; a little project I like to call "What Color is the Sky in Your World"
It's so good to be teaching again, I've really missed it!
Cheers,
Stephanie

More on my August page for the sistahs.....

For this week's Paint Party Friday, I'm sharing a little more of my August journal page for the Traveling Sketchbooks.  I'm almost done but now, I need some input....
I found a quote I want to incorporate into the design:
"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory onto rioutous Autumn
Michelle L. Thieme~ August's Crown

I'm definitely using the quote somewhere in here- but, this is where I need help!  I originally had planned on writing it in the solid areas- but, now, I like then the way they are....then I thought I could glue some ribbon in and tie a scroll onto the page with the quote or make an envelope be part of the page?
Which would you do?
I seriously need help here!

 Oh and, once again, I'm double dipping- this is my entry for this week's challenge at Inspiration Avenue!  Be sure to stop by both Paint Party Friday and IA- there is always so much great stuff to see!
Happy Friday,
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- August 5th & Weekly Challenge at Inspiration Avenue

Better late than never!  It's been a crazy week around here; with the birthday art party on Monday and then school starting on Tuesday....I feel like I've been running to catch up all week!  But here I am for Paint Party Friday, a little out of breath, but here nevertheless!
I just started working on my August page for Lisa's sketchbook- er box.  I'll take pictures of he box later, because it is VERY worth sharing, a work of art in itself!
I must admit, that August is not my favorite month- even with my son's birth being in there.....I don't like being hot, and in Georgia, August is HOT!  Though not nearly as bad as the folks in the midwest have had it!
Anyway, I decided to do a fragmented page with a sun goddess, landscape and some painted lettering.
The landscape portion is all I have done now (and it may not be done yet, I haven't decided!) But here it is:

I'm also using it for my Inspiration Avenue submission since the challenge this week was "trees".

Be sure to check out both links- tons of cool art to admire!
Toodles,
Stephanie