K is for Kitchen

K is an easy letter for me. Some of my favorite artists have K names - Kandinsky, Klee and Kibel.

But K is also the letter for my favorite room. I frequently find inspiration in the kitchen. I love to cook and I love all the lovely objects that are part of cooking and presenting good things to eat.

My teapot series began as a project for my senior students - and just grew from there. I loved the idea of encouraging my "ladies" to create a party on a table. I demonstrated several ways to draw and paint the teapot and let them go on from there. Lots of wine bottles and glasses appeared ;-)

But, I started a teapot in the lesson and brought it home, where I found I could not stop working on it. The teapot and then all the other objects became a palette for designs and patterns, and my favorite cookies. This is done is color pencil - prismacolor - my favorites because they yield such rich color.

This is one of my favorite pieces from the series. The others are getting ready to go into a show.

Aa is for Art Accomplished

Today was a busy day. Art class in the morning resulted in three monotypes.

This one was created in class two weeks ago and I just got it home. It is the second print, created on the ghost of another. It carries the background greens and yellows, which I enhanced and then added the imprints of the flowers I carved and a butterfly stencil I altered to add more round shapes. This is a very interesting process - I have so much to learn ... yay.

Art class for my seniors this afternoon resulted in some "gourdgeous" work as we created patterned pumpkins and squash. I am always fascinated by the variety of images created, and how, once we get started, past the initial confusion and lost looks, silence and focus descends, and art is made.

I love this one by Betty.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

PLEASE VOTE for YOUR FAVORITE ART BY SENIOR ARTISTS

Frances Nishimura

My wonderful senior artists have boldly entered samples of their beautiful art work into the 2013 ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase. 

"The ALFA Senior Living Art Showcase, open to all residents of senior living communities, celebrates seniors’ overwhelming zeal for life and community. Through 2013’s theme, Celebrating The Beauty Of Life, this year’s showcase aims to honor the many way seniors add beauty to our world"

This year's collection is huge and impressive; true and inspiring proof that creativity, productivity and learning do not end at retirement, or even well into your nineties. 

To make it easy for you to vote for MY TEAM, I have created a lists of links to our art. Each of these links goes directly to art submitted by Leisure Care Resident Artists. Please vote by LIKING any or all of these, and please take the time to look through this incredible collection of art created by seniors in care around the country.

The three submissions earning the highest number of likes will be named Fan Favorite Winners. Three Grand Prize Winners will also be selected. One Grand Prize Winner will be an assisted living resident, one will be an independent living resident, and one will be a memory care resident. Winners will be chosen based on how well their artwork demonstrates the theme: Celebrating The Beauty Of Life. 

Each of the six winners will receive a painting party (valued at $500*) for their community and an official art showcase t-shirt. All winning pieces of art will receive recognition on ALFA’s website and at the ALFA 2013 Conference & Expo

The image that wins the most votes gets 

Frances flowers

Frances pears side 

Irene pear

Irene Poppy

Frances pastel pears

Rosemary Apples

Lillian Pear

Marguerite faces

Marguerite apples

Rosemary Pear

Carol Landscape

Carol Fish

Carol Lotus

M is for Many

Carnations

Last week the senior class painted in the style of Georgia O"Keeffe. One single flower to fill the page.

Tomorrow the topic will be many. We will draw  a bunch of flowers, real or imagined, to fill the space, using oil pastel on black paper. The challenge will be to draw big,  draw many, not too many details, and use lots of color.. There will be flower pictures for inspiration.

Each of the artists in my class has a distinct style. I look forward to the variety of bouquets that will appear tomorrow.

Carnations was drawn in oil pastels on black sandpaper.

C is for Crazy for Caran D'ache Crayons

Caran DAche Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayons

As an art teacher, I try to introduce my students to new and interesting materials that are easy to work with and produce great results. I also strive to find inexpensive ways to provide great materials to try out at a the lowest cost possible. So - I go to garage sales and look for art supplies. Last summer I found a great stash of brushes, a cool collapsible easel, tons of crayons, an assortment of interesting papers (I am always amazed at the things people get rid of), and lots more. Then, I hit the mother lode. For just a few dollars, I found a shopping bag filled with all kinds of art related odds and ends. Several canvases, half dozen drawing pads, a painter's apron, and at the very bottom, several tins of pastels and what looked like weird crayons.

I spent several lovely summer afternoons trying out all the new things I'd found - fat oil pastels, unusual (to me) soft pastels from France, and finally, those weird crayons. Caran DAche Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayons. The very first time I played with them - drawing little boxes to test each color, and adding water to see the results - I knew I had found my new favorite art toy. You can draw with them just like crayons, you can blend the colors with ease, and when you add water, the colors become as vivid as the rainbow.

I knew these were the perfect way to encourage my senior art students to get comfortable with color mixing and painting. As I have mentioned, working with (very) senior artists presents many challenges. Several have trouble seeing, others have limited ability in their hands. But, the thick crayons are easy to handle, and the amazing colors that appear when water is added is bright enough for even dimming eyesight to see. Most of all, these water soluble crayons offer tremendous opportunities for creativity, and surprisingly beautiful results in a the span of a single class. (see the beautiful paintings in yesterday's post)

I could not wait to see what my young students could do with them, and designed a landscape project (image above) to take advantage of the crayon's ability to make drawing easy, and allow the kids to use brushes to dissolve the pigment into soft, vibrant, almost water color backgrounds. Once this dries, you can go back and add more crayon, blend in another layer of color wet or dry, or, draw on top with markers or pencils. As you can see from these paintings below - results are lovely.

Aurora

Elly

One more thing. These crayons are not inexpensive - but, I believe that good quality materials are worth the investment because the results are often improved by the more vibrant color, especially when used with good quality water color paper, or interesting texture. These crayons combine the ease of a crayon with the beauty of watercolor. They are a great substitute for color pencils or pan paints. Most of all, they are a huge hit with students of all ages and levels of ability. I recommend them highly.