mixed media « Art Classes in Virginia

Sun & Moon

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

This week’s drawing is of a SUN & MOON using OIL PASTELS as the medium.

In this picture, your child explored:

Southwestern symbolism
Using oil pastels
Mixing mediums
Designing a balanced composition

THE DRAWING:

Sun & Moon

This week’s drawing is of a symbolically represented sun and moon. While the sun and moon are symbolically representative of many different things in different cultures, we created this picture using symbols of the southwest. (Elements your child may have used include feathers, cactuses, flowers and fish, as well as many other Native American and even Aztec symbols.)

Interesting Facts About Aztec & Native American Beliefs About the Sun & Moon:

The Aztecs believed the sun fought the darkness every night and rose in the morning to save mankind.
They also believed that if they fed the sun blood, it would rise again in the morning.
The sun god was the Aztecs’ most worshipped god; they believed that without him there would be no world.
The moon, conversely, was seen as “envious” of the sun, and the loser of the constant battle when the sun rose each morning.
Many Native Americans celebrated Sundance, a religious festival celebrating renewal, spiritual rebirth, and regeneration of the living Earth with all its components.
Native Americans saw the sun as the Life giver, creating warmth, growth, and all that is good & well.

THE MEDIUM:

Mixed Media

Mixing mediums (the materials used to create a picture) is a fun technique to create contrast in a picture. Encourage your child to try more multimedia projects at home. Mixing mediums encourages children to think carefully about the effect created by different mediums – the contrast between the texture created by markers and that created by chalk, for example, can be better understood by children when the elements are presented side-by-side.

Oil Pastels

The primary medium used in this project was oil pastels. Oil pastels look similar to crayons and are made from pigment mixed with oil and wax. The most high quality brands are quite soft, and can yield stunning results when used carefully.

Oil pastels can be a difficult medium; they require patience and perseverance. Oil pastels should be applied in layers and carefully blended with a finger tip or q-tip between each layer. If you are interested in experimenting with oil pastels with your child, there are many different brands available both online and in most art and craft supply stores. You can read more helpful tips for using oil pastels here and in last week’s post.

We also experimented with using texture plates to add dimension and interest to the picture.

Ask Your Child:

· To describe the composition he created; ask about creative choices such as color, balance and symbols included.

· Talk to your child about Aztec and Native American symbolism in art.

Tags: KidzArt, mixed media, oil pastels, symbols
Posted in Drawings - in depth | No Comments »

Gecko & Hibiscus

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

This week’s project is of a FLOWER using MIXED MEDIA (including PRISMACOLOR MARKERS and CHALK PASTELS) as the medium.

In this picture, your child explored:

Mixed media
Warm & cool colors
Composition, including realistic drawing

THE DRAWING:

Gecko & Hibiscus

This week’s drawing is a picture of a gecko posing by a hibiscus flower. The hibiscus flower is a bright tropical flower which can be very fun to draw. The Hawaiian hibiscus is the state flower of Hawaii; these flowers bear blooms almost every day, but the blossoms last only for a day, even when on the bush. The flowers bloom from spring through the early summer.

Fun facts About Geckos:

Adult geckos can range in size anywhere from 3/4 inch to 14 inches long.
Most geckos are nocturnal; their large eyes see very well in the dark.
Geckos are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Most domesticated geckos are leopard geckos. They have an extremely long lifespan (usually 15-20 years – and some have lived up to 30 years!).
Geckos are the only reptiles who can use their “voice.” They can make barking, chirping or clicking noises when interacting socially with other geckos.
Some geckos can be fairly aggressive, and will bite when provoked. Some geckos eat other lizards and small rodents, and some species of geckos are able to spray an irritating liquid from the end of their tails.
One of the strangest geckos is the flying gecko (Ptychozoon kuhli), which is found the tropical rain forests of Malaysia. It has wide flaps of skin along its abdomen and webbed feet, legs and tail, which makes it able to glide through the air from tree to tree.
Teflon is the only known surface to which geckos cannot cling.

THE MEDIUM:

Mixed Media

Mixing mediums (the materials used to create a picture) is a fun technique to create contrast in a picture. Encourage your child to try more multimedia projects at home. Mixing mediums encourages children to think carefully about the effect created by different mediums – the contrast between the texture created by markers and that created by chalk, for example, can be better understood by children when the elements are presented side-by-side.

Using NuPastel Chalk Pastels

At KidzArt we use Prismacolor NuPastel color sticks. This form of chalk has a slightly varnished surface, which keeps it harder and cleaner than other varieties. They come in thin sticks which can be easily broken to be more manageable for small hands.

We show the kids how to use their fingers or a tissue to blend the chalk pastels; q-tips blend well in smaller areas. Because of the medium’s texture, the pictures can smear easily; you may want to spray the finished artwork with hairspray to help the chalk adhere to the page. When coloring with chalk pastels, it is important for right handed kids to start coloring on the left side of their paper, and vice-versa for left-handed students. This minimizes smearing with the hand as it moves across the page. Start with lighter colors and then add darker colors on top.

Using Prismacolor Markers:

Prismacolor Markers are fun and easy to use. These artist quality markers have two tips: a fine tip for coloring small spaces, and a broad, flat tip for coloring larger areas. These markers provide rich color saturation and smooth ink coverage.

Ask Your Child:

· What he learned about geckos.

· To explain various design elements (symmetry, color, etc) within her flower.

· To discuss the techniques he used while mixing prismacolor markers and chalk pastels in his drawing.

Tags: animal drawings, chalk, flower, KidzArt, mixed media, prismacolor markers
Posted in Drawings - in depth | 2 Comments »

Flower Collage

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

This week’s project is of a FLOWER using MIXED MEDIA (including COLLAGE) as the medium.

In this picture, your child explored:

Collage and mixed media
Choices in art
Composition, including symmetry and design

THE PROJECT:

Flower

In preparation for Valentine’s Day, your child created a card featuring a lovely flower. Typically during a class session the teacher and all students will create together a specific drawing. This class was somewhat different; instead of the entire class creating the same flower, children were given wide latitude in creating their own, unique flower.

For some children, this is exciting; for others, who are hesitant of creativity and enjoy the structure of following the teacher’s work, this may have been more challenging. This project encouraged children to carefully consider their composition before beginning, as well as emphasizing lessons in symmetry and design, complementary color schemes, and even motor skills (cutting paper to create collage elements).

THE MEDIUM:

Collage & Mixed Media

Most children enjoy creating collages because of the myriad of possibilities and options for unique compositions. Collage is the perfect mixture of messiness and creativity to engage a child’s interest. In this picture, the primary collage element was paper, in varying colors and textures, but the possibilities for collage are endless. Mixing many elements – anything from feathers and buttons to paper and string – will keep children intrigued and entertained for hours! Collage can often be a very “green” form of art, as well, and was one of the many art styles we highlighted in our 2009 Save the Earth with Art summer camp.

One famous collage artist of the early 20^th century was Henri Matisse. Matisse was a French painter who turned to collage when his health began to fail. Matisse wrote, “The paper cutouts allow me to draw with color. For me, it is a simplification. Instead of drawing an outline and then filling in with color - with one modifying the other - I draw directly in color … It is not a starting point, it is a completion.” Mattise’s final and most works evolved into a collection of mixed-media collages. Matisse arranged brightly colored paper cutouts into intense compositions, and added text in his own handwriting to produce a book entitled Jazz, a powerful visual representation of jazz music.

If your child enjoyed this week’s collage project, enjoy this Matisse-inspired project with them.

Mixing mediums (the materials used to create a picture) is a fun technique to create contrast in a picture. Encourage your child to try more multimedia projects at home. Mixing mediums encourages children to think carefully about the effect created by different mediums – the contrast between the texture created by markers and that created by chalk, for example, can be better understood by children when the elements are presented side-by-side.

Ask Your Child:

· To explain how he planned his flower before creating it.

· To explain various design elements (symmetry, color, etc) within her flower.

· To discuss other elements (besides paper) which could be effectively introduced into his collage. (For example, buttons make great flower centers.)

Tags: collage, flower, KidzArt, mixed media
Posted in Drawings - in depth | 3 Comments »

Winter Landscape

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

This week’s picture is a chilly WINTER LANDSCAPE, using PRISMACOLOR MARKERS as the medium.

In this picture, your child explored:

Using positive and negative space in drawing.
Using cool colors to create a winter landscape.
Adding shadows to create realism.
The concept of a focal point in a landscape drawing.

THE DRAWING

Winter Landscape

This week we shifted away to animal drawings and focused on a realistic winter landscape. Winter drawings can be difficult; these pictures often feature large amounts of white space and require subtle shading in blues and grays to appear cool.

For some interesting ideas, read this article about drawing winter scenes, and examine these pictures of mountains in wintertime with your child. Look carefully at the different shades of white, gray, and blue see, as well as any other colors your child may point out. If your child notices colors such as pinks and yellows, talk about the different between warm and cool tones in different colors.

Winter landscape in the Berkshires.

Kjalarnes, Iceland

Mt. Shuksan, Cascades, Washington

Whistler, Canada

Winter sun on a mountain in Norway.

THE MEDIUM:

Using Prismacolor Markers & Mixing Mediums

Prismacolor Markers are fun and easy to use. These artist quality markers have two tips: a fine tip for coloring small spaces, and a broad, flat tip for coloring larger areas. These markers provide rich color saturation and smooth ink coverage.

Some classes may have added details and texture to their pictures with chalk or colored pencil. Mixing mediums (the materials used to create a picture) is a fun technique to create contrast in a picture. At KidzArt we use Prismacolor NuPastel color sticks. This form of chalk has a slightly varnished surface, which keeps it harder and cleaner than other varieties. They come in thin sticks which can be easily broken to be more manageable for small hands. Encourage your child to try more multimedia projects at home.

Ask Your Child …

To describe how the use of cool colors makes the winter landscape appear chilly.
To point out the focal point of the drawing.
To point out and describe the negative and positive spaces in the drawing.
To point out details that make her drawing unique and/or realistic.

Tags: KidzArt, landscape, mixed media, prismacolor markers
Posted in Drawings - in depth | No Comments »

Owl

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

This week’s picture is a wise OWL, using PRISMACOLOR MARKERS as the medium.

In this picture, your child explored:

Creating depth and realism by layering color and shading with markers
Using repetition of shape and pattern
Creating pattern and texture with lines and shading

Fun Facts about Owls:

Throughout history, owls have been a part of human folklore and legend. They have been found depicted in cave paintings in France dating back as far as 20,000 years ago. They were also used in Egyptian hieroglyphics. They have represented a wide variety of symbols, ranging from misfortune and death to prosperity and wisdom.
Owls’ eyes are fixed in their sockets. To look around they have to move their entire head. They have extra vertebrate in their spines that allow them to turn their head three-quarters of the way around.
The color of owl eyes indicate what time of day the owl hunts in; owls with dark eyes hunt at night; orange eyes indicate dawn or dusk hunters, and yellow-eyed owls hunt during the day.
Owls can make a wide variety of sounds. The owl uses its familiar “hoot” noise to declare its territory, though not all species can actually hoot. Other sounds include screeches, hisses, and screams.
Many owls have special flight feathers which enable them to fly in almost complete silence.
Most owls don’t make their own nests; instead they often “squat” in tree cavities or old crow, raven, or hawk nests. The tiny Elf Owl usually nests in woodpecker holes dug into large cactus plants.
The smallest owl is the Elf Owl; it is 5-6 inches tall and weighs about 1.5 ounces. The Great Horned Owls weigh about 4 pounds. Its eyes weigh almost an ounce – more than the eyes of a 200 pound human!
Owls lack the senses of smell and taste – which allows the Great Horned Owl to regularly make a meal of skunk.
Owls possess acute sense of hearing; their unevenly aligned ears augment their ability to receive sound. Most owls can hunt in complete darkness, and are even able to hear and catch small animals moving beneath snow.
Owls mate for life, but because they have an innate fear of one another, it takes a lot of time and courage to proceed through courtship.

Look at these pictures of various representations of owls in art:

This owl was drawn with just two lines, similar to the owls often represented in hieroglyps.

This owl was drawn with just two lines, similar to the owls often represented in hieroglyphs.

This owl depicts a familiar modern representation of owls as wise and scholarly.

: This humorous drawing also reflects the popular impression of owls as wise leaders. (Drawing by Andreas Bloch.)

This drawing portrays another concept of the owl: cute and whimsical.This stone owl represents bravery, strength, and wisdom.

Using Prismacolor Markers:

Prismacolor Markers are fun and easy to use. These artist quality markers have two tips: a fine tip for coloring small spaces, and a broad, flat tip for coloring larger areas. These markers provide rich color saturation and smooth ink coverage.

Mixing mediums (the materials used to create a picture) is a fun technique to create contrast in a picture. Some classes may have added details and texture to their pictures with chalk or colored pencil. At KidzArt we use Prismacolor NuPastel color sticks. This form of chalk has a slightly varnished surface, which keeps it harder and cleaner than other varieties. They come in thin sticks which can be easily broken to be more manageable for small hands.

Ask Your Child …

To explain the techniques he used to make his owl look realistic.
How she used lines, pattern, and repetition to make her tree realistic and textured.
To explain any unusual background or scenery details.
If your child used mixed media, ask him to explain how the picture was enhanced by the addition of chalk or colored pencils.

Art Classes in Virginia

Posts Tagged ‘mixed media’

Sun & Moon

Gecko & Hibiscus

Flower Collage

Winter Landscape

Owl

Teepee

Pages

Archives

Categories