E is for Educator

I am an educator. I love to teach (art, writing, photography, image editing .....)

 I love to inspire students to be creative, and most of all, I love the moment when they create something that makes them feel successful. This is when I know I am succeeding as their teacher.

My students are 5 years old, or 12 or 87, or 94. With such a wide range of ages and abilities (and disabilities) in my various classes, a constant concern for me is coming up with interesting, challenging (but not too) lesson ideas to meet the array of needs I see, teach techniques and skills in an unthreatening way, and result in beautiful images that bring joy and satisfaction to the artist.

To find ideas, I take classes, search library shelves, websites and Pinterest. Also, and primarily, I do what I tell any student of art to do, I keep my eyes open for possibilities. And I keep my camera handy at all times.

Wikiup Reservoir

This summer, I arrived at a campsite on the edge of Wikiup Reservoir in Oregon - a stretch of blue and gold, light, sky and water.

Instantly, I saw a landscape project - simple lines, gorgeous colors and strong lights and darks. This scene would be perfect for both my youngest and oldest students. I photographed it over and over - at different times in different light, and from different angles, seeking the simplest image to use as an example.

When I brought the photos home, I did several sketches until I found the best medium to draw in - dry pastels were the clear winner. The effort was worth it. Students young and old were all successful in creating vibrant scapes of sky and water and light.

E is for Effects

Foggy Day

One of the things I most enjoy about my life as an artist is looking at the work of other painters. I had some work in our annual Festival of the Arts this summer. The weather was horrible, which meant that I had lots of time to wander the show and really study the paintings that appealed to me. One of the things that really struck me was the use of fabulous and fascinating textures as backgrounds for images. How do they do that?

I asked. When I saw a painting that impressed me, it was not hard to strike up a conversation with the artist - to offer compliments, and ask questions. One artist in particular was especially gracious - and shared some of her secrets to her luminous colors and awesome textures. So, I went home to play.

The more I experiment, with solvents, with sprays, with laying textured materials on the canvas and painting over, with scraping, scratching and pouring, the more fun I have, and the more interesting the results. Suddenly the central image takes a back seat to the feeling of the whole, created by messing around until I get the effect I am looking for. This image, Foggy Day, is 9x12, a mixture of mediums on canvas, was completely fun to create ...

So, I knew my kid students would love to create their own effects as well. (This process is too messy for my more finicky seniors). I provided bottles of thinned paints, sponges, brushes, and water color paper, as well as pans for letting paint drip into - and everyone poured paint until they "saw a picture." Then, there were crayons and markers for enhancing anything that popped out.  It was a great lesson in color, contrast and creativity.

Creative Kids Create Beauty

Elly

The results of the spring break abstract painting workshop are impressive. The rainy days were perfect for painting and learning about artists and the ways they used color and line to express their ideas and feelings. One class focused on Kandinsky and the other on Georgia O'Keefe. Her flowing lines and blending colors were especially inspiring. This lesson was a great way to explore warm and cool colors, and to experiment with color mixing, on the palette and on the page.  This work by Elly is a great  example of the beautiful results. (These were hard to photograph because the heavy paint curled the still damp pages or I would have added more.)

Alison

You can't talk about Georgia O'Keefe without talking about giant flowers. The kids chose their own images to draw and paint from a collection of macro flower images. Here again, the paintings were impressive in their detail and color.

Among the resources I had available for exploration was a book that got a lot of attention - What's the Big Idea? Activities and Adventures in ABSTRACT ART by Joyce Raimondo  is filled with ideas for projects for and by kids. I recommend it (and so do your kids.) Here is the link to it on Amazon.

Please follow this site for upcoming class information ... and thank you all for attending.

REGISTER NOW for Spring Break Art Workshop for Creative Kids

Painting in Abstract

               A workshop for creative kids who love to paint, or want to learn how

Painting • Creative Thinking • Art History

• Paint
• Consider how abstract artists combine line, shape, texture, design and vibrant color to bring their work to life.
• Discover how we can put these elements together to create works of art that are as much fun to makes as they are to look at.

WHERE:  Multnomah Art Center
7688 SW Capitol Hway,  Portland, OR 97219   

WHEN: Tuesday March 27 and Thursday March 29,  9:30 am - noon

COST: $59 (includes all materials)

To Register or for more information, please,  Email tobi@synergenii.com

Space is limited so please sign up early

K is for Klee

"Paul Klee’s personal style spanned an astounding range, blending primitive art, Surrealism, Cubism, and children's art. Extremely inventive, Klee created imaginative works filled with wit and references to dreams, music, and poetry ..."

From the synchronicity department this morning, just as I was getting ready to post about one of my favorite artists, Paul Klee, the website Art.com decided to do the same. The quote about Klee is from the site, which includes this link to a full gallery of his images. 

It was because I just love looking at his work, that I had a major inspiration this summer, one that has been 'coloring' all of my art since. It all started as a search for ideas for projects to inspire my young students. Klee, with his simple forms and vibrant colors, and especially his scribble drawings is a natural way to help kids see the many ways that they can create art and beauty. So, I went to the gallery for a virtual stroll and happened upon this delightful image. My first thought

L'arrivée Du Marié, 1933 by Paul Klee

was that even a child could draw this. Then I noticed the name of the piece - which translated means The Groom Arrives. 

This is one more moment when the advice from my teacher about naming an image comes in handy - as soon as a read the name, I saw, not a bright colored scribble drawing, but an Eastern European groom from a past century (what my grandfather might have work to his wedding) -  hat, boots, pantaloons. A question floated up. "What would the bride wear?" 

The answer practically flowed from my pen as I scribbled the lady above. Not only do I love her - (she hardly feels like my own creation - just a gift from the art heavens) - but she is amazingly like the drawings I obsessively created as a young girl - girls in dresses. This drawing is sharpie marker and oil pastel on heavy textured paper.

I taught several wonderful Klee related lessons to my students this summer - with amazing results - but in this instance, it was the teacher who gained the most from this lesson. As you can see from some of my recent posts, the abstract art I am almost compelled to create has a lot of roots in Klee's work. My sketchbook overflows with scribble drawings just waiting to be painted.

So, who inspired you? In what way? Please share.

See You in the Funny Pages: Summer Idea for Cartooning Kids

The school year is coming to an end, and so are our weekly art classes. Parents are asking for ideas to keep kids creating and growing their art skills over the summer. There are lots of classes and camps (including some of my own) available. However a week long class is not enough for some kids - you know the ones - the kids who wants to draw all the time. These are the kids who would rather hold a crayon than a ball, rather draw than read (or sleep).

When I see kids like this, kids bubbling with creative energy, I try to give them ideas for things to do to build their skills. This term I have been inspired by the joy, energy and creativity my students are bringing to cartooning, so to keep these kids involved and growing artistically over the summer, I will share an idea I learned from one of own art teachers.

This man, whose ability to draw figures is simply awesome, surprised all the students in the studio by announcing that he learned to draw by copying comic books! It surely worked for him, and it is working for me, as I now find myself copying comic pages to understand what the artist is doing. I am often surprised at how easy it is, once I understand the basic shapes and style.

So, parents, to encourage creative cartooning, provide your kids with drawing inspiration, and build thinking skills at the same time, give your kids the Sunday comics, or a favorite comic book, some paper, pencils, sharpies, color pens and crayons, and invite them to learn how to draw a favorite comics character. Look at the comics together. Which do you like? Which looks too hard to draw? Which looks easy?

Once you have chosen a character or strip to try, talk to your kids about what they see. Ask about the shapes, (what shape is Charlie Brown's head?) How does the artist ensure that we always recognize Charlie Brown? This video is a great way to help kids understand how to show a character from different angles. Are some things always the same? What changes?

How does the artist show emotions? We've talked about this a lot in our classes this term, so your kids will have ideas on the subject. Encourage them to tell you how we know that characters are happy, sad, scared, etc. (Hint: check the eyebrows for clues.)

Of course a key element of a cartoon is the scene. What do we see in the backgrounds to let us know where this is taking place? How does the artist show motion? How does motion combine with background elements to help tell the story?

In my classes I am always delighted to see kids adding their own touches to the drawings we do, and cracking up as they work. They know what they think is funny, and are completely able to express their humor by adding words and/or pictures. Of course the laughter of their table-mates is a definite clue that they are on the right track.

So, one more thing - whether your kids are drawing cartoons of their own, or analyzing the work in the comics pages, ask WHAT MAKES THIS FUNNY? Their answers may surprise (and amuse) you.

Parents, please share your kids work. You can post them directly to this blog, or contact me for information on how to get show their work on this blog.

Personal Creativity Comes from Considering How to Stimulate Creative Kids

I am getting ready to teach a Young Artist's Studio over Spring Break. I want to have really fun and interesting projects to offer my students, and I want them to be grounded in the work of famous artists.

One of the things I am always struck by in my Young Rembrandt's classes, is how much young kids love to look at fine art books. Even tiny kids ooh and ahh over Monet and Salvador Dali. So, with this in mind, I've been scouring the library for art books written for young readers. I've noticed that Paul Klee, with his vibrant colors, simple shapes and imaginative images is a very popular subject for these book. I've now spent several hours looking at his work, seeking ideas for the art classroom.

My study has resulted in what I hope will be a totally lively and engaging curriculum, and it has also resulted in a spate of creative production for me. One of Klee's pictures that absolutely grabbed my attention is called, The Groom's Arrival. It is essentially a doodle of overlapping lines loaded with color - that creates the image of a man in a hat - a groom. I knew I had an idea for a lesson - but then, a question popped to mind ... What Would the Bride Wear?

This picture is my answer. WHAT FUN! She seemed to just pour out of my pen. She is colored in oil pastel (a nice medium for kids) on heavyweight drawing paper.

BLOG RECOMMENDATION One outstanding source of inspiration I have found is a blog called Art Projects for Kids . The creativity and sheer artisticness of the projects offered and described are wonderful.

For more info or to Register for my upcoming class:

REGISTER NOW for Spring Break Young Artists' Studio