Apples and a Mouse - a lesson on cropping and neutrals

This week, I set up a lesson using a painting by terrific artist, Carol Marine (See her work at the link here)  Carol's work is strong and very accessible to my middle-school students.  I chose this painting by Carol for its color scheme, whimsy, and cropped subject matter. The students needed to make a thumbnail sketch, then paint it in watercolor, using no black nor brown.  On a couple of the paint sets, I had to use "caution tape" to cover the black and brown just in case they "forgot."  We talked about black, brown, tan, gray, etc, and how they need to make those tones using complements after naming the black, brown, tan, gray, etc, by using one of the primary or secondary colors as adjective.  "Green gray", "orange brown", "reddish tan".  They got the hang of it.  We'll finish this week. 

 

Thanks for looking!

Folk Tale Set - 8 feet by 9 feet acrylic on canvas

The completed set!

I work in a wonderful K-12 charter school where we find ways to collaborate between younger and older students on a regular basis. Along with teaching middle school math, I teach 4 hours of project-based learning each week.  My project is naturally an art project, and I have posted before about some of our lessons and activities.  One of the projects in our kindergarten is Folktales, where the students put on plays.  This year, they asked us to create a set for their play.

Three primed panels, ready to go.

We read the play, made a list of anything we thought should be included in the set, measured the wall, then had to sit on our ideas through snow day after snow day until we reconvened in project with only a few days left before the kindergarten's big day.  I love a deadline, and teach a week of theater camp each summer at our local art association so I am accustomed to short time frames.  (By the way, this summer we will be producing "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" during our summer art camp, so check the link above for dates and details).  

However, I have never had seventeen students painting an 8 x 9 foot tarp in the close quarters of my small classroom.  We divided the students into three teams, cut the tarp into three strips, listed the items to be included on the set, and divided them among the teams.  

They agreed that they would make some of the objects cross from one to another for continuity on the set, then they designed their pieces of the set, collaborating with the other teams.  I asked some students to stay after school one day so we could prime the tarps with tinted gesso... then off we went.  As you can see, they painted a house, barn, well, school bus, forest, firewood,  a variety of chickens, and even a teeny, tiny 6-inch chicken coop painted with a teeny tiny brush.  

 

Teeny Tiny Chicken Coop

I love watching these teams of students work together, figuring out color, placement, and how to dance around my room getting only a little paint on themselves and the floor.  Some students are very cautious, afraid to make a mistake.  I help them break that "surface tension" and they emerge proud and brave.  Some students dive right in, working group to group. Some are super-focused and can paint a teeny tiny chicken coop right in the middle of the panel while everyone else maneuvers around them.  What a blast.  The play was a huge success, and we're going to make our collaboration an annual, if not more frequent, event.  

File under "love my job".  Thanks for looking!

Kirigami Snowflake - Cat and Cupcake

 As you may remember, I like to cut paper. I like the challenge of cutting paper, mostly without drawing a design ahead of time, and I like the tactile feel of sharp scissors on good paper.  So, I taught my students a little Kirigami recently, using some math (naturally) to show them how to fold their paper into a cone shape with a couple of folds that create the 60 degree angles needed for a true 6-pointed snowflake.  Then, I show them how to turn anything into a snowflake!  Here are a couple of designs I came up with.... reclining cat, and a cupcake. I have included the original design for each, and the unfolded "snowflake", both the patterned side and the white side.  Personally, I like the cat a lot better... I'll be making a few more cupcakes before I hit the final design... will post the new design, and instructions shortly.

 Have any ideas for a snowflake motif?  Let me know and I'll give it a shot. As always, thanks for looking.

"Looking at Ewe" oil 8 x 10

 "Looking at Ewe" (sorry, Bogey), is my take on this month's painting challenge for Girls Just Wanna Paint.  The September theme is "expression".  When my husband and I were married 20+ years ago, we went to England for our wedding trip.  We took a number of hikes alongside pastures filled with sheep.  The expression on these sheep brought me right back; mildly curious, mildly wary, mildly interested, certainly focused.  See the rest of the group's take on "expression" here.

The painting was commissioned as a wedding gift for a young woman who is raising sheep, and making wool, and yarn.  Thoughtful gift, no?

Here's a link to Bogart and Bergman and their iconic moment from "Casablanca". 

As always, thanks for looking.  I love your comments.

Koi Pond 9 x 12 oil

The August theme for Girls Just Wanna Paint was "water".  Hmmm.  I love the water, salt and sea.  I decided to explore a different take by painting my friend's koi pond.  What an interesting puzzle.  The challenge of showing what's above, what's below, what's reflected, and what's next to.   
See the rest of our challenge paintings here.

As always, thanks for looking.  You know I love your comments.

"Creative Freedom" is in the house!

In January, I blogged about Maggie Price's new book, "Creative Freedom".  She asked me to be a contributor to her book about breaking the artist's block.  Well, I'm thrilled to say, I now have a copy of the book in hand.  It is a compilation of 52 artists' thoughts on moving beyond the block, however that artistic obstacle manifests itself.

The artists are arranged alphabetically. Naturally, I looked at my pages first, and I can attest to the fact that the colors are true to my original work. (Thank you, Liz Haywood-Sullivan for your patience and photographic expertise.)

I contributed two ideas for breaking your artist's block. Contributing meant painting the demo and writing the copy.  Really exciting and fun.  My first demo is about painting 30-minute studies.  Everyone can find a half hour.  Each of the four paintings at left was completed in thirty minutes or less.  I used an old-fashioned egg timer, and laid the brush down when the bell rang - no cheating.  It was tough for the first painting, but no problem at all for the rest.  (Which was the first?)

My other idea is painting in an unfamiliar size; even a small move outside your comfort zone provides a freshness to the painting. "Birds of a Feather", shown left, is 8" x 12" - a slight deviation from standard sizes.

Once I left my pages, I explored  "Creative Freedom" as a whole.  There are wonderful demonstrations, ideas and paintings in a variety of media.  Beautiful book, beautifully designed, packed with terrific information. I'm proud to be a part of this endeavor.  And, I made the back cover!
 
"Creative Freedom" is published by North Light Books, and is widely available.  Thanks for looking.

"Birds of a Feather" oil 8 x 12

Last fall, Maggie Price asked me to participate in a book she was editing.  Exciting!  The book's subject: strategies for breaking artists' block.  Would I like to participate, did I have any favorite strategies, could I meet deadlines with iterative demo photos, copy, and delivery according to North Light Book's specifications? This was new to me, but of course, I agreed to the challenge.  I learned a lot in short order, and, thanks to a couple of friends with the right photographic capabilities, it all came together.

"Birds of a Feather" is the result of my first painting demo.  My strategy was to paint in a different size than you're accustomed to.  The size needn't be drastically different, just different for you, which results in a different energy, different relationship to the edges, and the underlying diagonals.  I paired several vintage props from my studio with the Winslow Homer postcard including the pair of friends.  The complete demo, including photos from thumbnail sketches through completion will be available in the book  "Creative Freedom: 52 Art Projects, Exercises & Techniques to Overcome Your Artist's Block" available in spring, 2013.  More news when the release date gets closer.