A couple of weeks ago, After School Art Club dove into this fun and relaxing painting project.  (The inspiration for this project came from the Art Room Blog)

We started by reading The Dot by Peter Reynolds. 

​After reading the book aloud, we got out our tempera cake paints and painted some big colorful dots! Then we went around and around and around the dots until our paper was full of colors.

I didn’t  expect this, but we also got to learn some color theory. Layers of paint  overlapped and formed new colors!

After letting the paint dry, I got out some black liquid tempera paint and we added patterns to our dot painting. In each layer of color, I encouraged them to experiment with different lines and shapes. I explained that what we were making — this circular design with repeating patterns -- is called a mandala. People all over the world create mandalas to help them relax, meditate and pray. 

What started as a dot, turned into quite a lot!

I thought I’d pop in and share these stylish clay birds and nests we made in After School Art Club recently.  We used air dry clay to construct a simple pinch pot for the nests, and then created our birds with two smaller balls of clay, plus a little beak. (I got the project idea from this YouTube video.)

Then I set out some beads, sequins, and feathers and we  bedazzled our  birds!  Which is always the most fun part,

After the clay had a week to dry, I provided some Modge Podge for the kids to paint on their birds and nests (over everything except the feathers).  This made their projects smooth and glossy, and protected all their little piece from falling off.  

While they Modge-Podged (I guess i can make that a verb?), I read aloud Ruby’s Birds by Mya Thompson.  In the book, Ruby learns the value of staying quiet and still to notice with her eyes and ears the beautiful birds in her park.  Every page of the book has various birds hidden throughout, and we enjoyed pointing them out.

The first meeting of our Junior Art Club (4-6 year olds) for the spring session was last Wednesday.  I wanted to do a project that was more process than product-oriented, and that got kids comfortable creating and making mistakes.  

So we started by reading one of my favorites, Ish by Peter Reynolds, which I mentioned back in the post about my favorite picture books about art-making. In the book the main character, Ramon, gets discouraged and crumbles up all his attempts at drawing.  He then discovers the freedom of just drawing “ishly” aka, not aiming for prefection.  

After reading Ish together, we dove into our project.  We took some watercolor paper and cut it into 4 pieces (I got the idea for this activity from this blog post).  Nobody cut in a straight line, but they were straight-ish. Then we crumbled up our four pieces of paper, just like Ramon in the book did.

Next, we got a little messy. I passed out cups of liquid watercolor.  They chose one color to paint over their whole paper ball.

Then they flattened the paper to see how things were looking, crumbled the same paper again, and painted another color. I encouraged them to repeat this process about 2 times, for a total of 3 colors.  

It created such fun, colorful, and surprising results.  And something else fun and unexpected was that we got to discover how to make new colors — like noticing that when you paint blue on top of yellow, you get green!

And all our hands got covered with watercolors.  We all left the studio looking like artists for sure.

The mini paintings are fun on their own, or we could repurpose them into a collage project later in the session, I’m still thinking about it. 

And you know what else is cool?  In our second session, yesterday, I was leading the kids in making clay turtles, and when telling them to make their clay into kind-of-like-a-ball, one of the little  artists said “Ish!  A ball-ish!”  I was so pleased.

 Now we can talk about our art that way, and it’s so freeing.  

​Here are those turtles from yesterday.  Some of them are more turtle-ish, but they are all precious.

During every session of art clubs I try to tackle at least one sculpture project. For Winter ‘22 I dove into paper mache.  Confession — I myself had not done a paper mache project since high school (I made a paper mache panda, it was pretty darn cute if I remember correctly).  I knew it was messy and I also knew it was relatively simple. So I was a little intimidated, but also knew that we could do it.

I decided to focus on a simple bowl form, using a balloon as a base. ( I got the project idea from this blog. ). When the kids first walked into the art studio, they were super excited to see a bunch of balloons in bowls.   Then we mixed up some paper mache with 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water; they shared with their neighbor and mixed it all up with their hands. Some of the kids loved digging their hands in and getting all gooey, some not so much. 

This project is great for using up scraps of paper from old projects or junk mail. Cut the paper into strips,  dunk it in the flour + water mixture, and put it on half the balloon.  We tried putting on 2-3 layers, but it was kind of hard to keep track.

Some tips I want to remember for next time: when the kids are done, have them clean up their little drips on the floor with a damp rag themselves. With the first art club, I cleaned the floor myself after everyone had gone home (and we had eaten dinner and put Ransom to bed). The drippings had dried, and I had to use a LOT of elbow grease. The next day the kids cleaned up their drops themselves (4-5 year olds) and it was so easy! Also, when walking to the bathroom to wash hands, have kids hold their hands together so there are less drips.  Sensing a theme?  Paper mache is messy!  But that’s why you have an art studio — a safe place to make a mess!

Anywho, the next week we had the joy of popping the balloons and painting our bowls.   They had a blast mixing the paints and adding color to their creations.

Another tip I’d like to remember for next time: painting the bowls completely white first makes the other colors much more vibrant.  I might insist on that next time. 

Either way, these young artists did a fanstastic job and really dove into this messy project.

As a parent and art teacher, I’ve grown to love children’s literature.  I’ve spent many, MANY hours cozied up on the couch reading picture books with my son, and I also love to connect art projects to books. We take weekly trips to the library, and I’m always finding new treasures.  Today, I’m going to share with you a few picture books that I find particularly inspiring for art-making.  Reading them aloud encourages my own artistic soul, and I hope my students feel inspired as well.

Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzber
This book holds a special place in my heart.  I first encountered it when I was student teaching back in 2011. My mentor teacher would always read it to her elementary aged students at the beginning of the school year.I think it  sets such a great tone for the art room — and for life!  Any oops can turn be turned into something beautiful.  I love being able to use that vocabulary with my students — and myself — “Let’s turn it into a beautiful oops!”

It’s Okay by Shiow-Miin Thai
This book is a similar theme to Beautiful Oops. In it, a child’s drawing keeps turning out in ways the little artist doesn’t intend, but his mom encourages him that it’s okay, and the art takes new directions.  Our artworks rarely turn out just like we imagine, but it’s ok, it can become something we new!

How to Spot and Artist by Danielle Krysa 
This book is one of my new favorites. I recently found it at the library and just loved the message and charming illustrations.  It’s emphasizes how artists can come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities.  And speaks to how all artists deal with “art bullies”, or discouraging thoughts and words about their artwork.  And the solution? Make even more art! Which reminds me of one of my favorites quotes:  “Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” -Andy Warhol

Ish by Peter H Reynolds
This picture book is one of many that Peter Reynolds has written that speak to the creative process.  It’s about a young artist who discovers the freedom to live “ishfully.” In other words, to ditch striving for perfection and just make stuff!  We’re not robots, we’re artists.   I honestly have to remind myself of this a lot when drawing.

I love discovering new picture books.  If you have any suggestions I’d love to hear them!

There is snow outside and has been all week, which is not the norm here in Portland, OR.  It’s making me admire, even more, these snowy, northern lights landscapes made by our Mini Makers a few weeks ago.

In planning this project, I was inspired by two blog posts — Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists and Projects with Kids. First we talked about the Northern Lights aka Aurora Borealis, and looked at some pictures of them in a book I picked up from the library —> Auroras: Behind the Northern and Southern Lights. 

(This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)

After that, we got to work.  First we drew two snowy hills and some trees using black permanent markers. We talked about how objects appear bigger when they are closer, and smaller when they are further away. I also had a handout with different kinds of trees, which I got from Art with Mrs. E, to show them there are so many fun ways to draw trees. 

Next, we got out some liquid watercolors and, with the Northern Lights in mind, created colorful winter skies. I taught them that the colors mixed together really well if you first painted plain water on the paper, and then added in the watercolor. The technique is called wet-on-wet watercolor painting. For that reason, I chose to tape the watercolor paper down onto piece of cardboard, otherwise the wet paper wants to curl.  We also sprinkled on salt to create some interesting texture in the sky.  (When the paper is dry you brush it off))

Finally, we used watercolor crayons to add some footprints.  They are bigger on the first hill, and get smaller as they travel further away.  

After this step, a lot of the kids were inspired to add more details to their winter landscapes, such as snowmen and bunnies.  Such sweet and cozy artworks!

A couple of weeks ago, our Mini Makers dove into this fun, open-ended sculpture project (the inspiration for this project came from the Art Bar blog).  When they walked into the room, there were cardboard pieces in various shapes and sizes all over the table, pre-hole-punched.  With tempera paint sticks and bright-colored dotters, the young artists filled those shapes with colors.

This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)

While they were working, I read them the book Sandy’s Circus by Tanya Lee Stone. The book is about American artist Alexander Calder, who is known for making colorful, playful sculptures that moved.  That’s pretty much where we were headed as well.

Once our pieces were all full of color, we were ready for the next step. I passed out wooden skewers and a handful of air-dry clay.  They created a ball out of the clay, and then planted the wooden skewer inside.  From there, the young artists could build and stack their sculptures as they saw fit, using the cardboard pieces and small balls of clay..

Lastly, I had liquid tempera paint available to add even more color to their creations.

And here are some of the fun finished products!

Recently I created a foxy, fall project with a fun crew of 5-7 year olds. Before drawing and painting, we read How to Find a Fox by Kate Gardner, featuring stunning photographs taken by Ossi Saarinen.  We learned a lot about foxes, laughed a little, and noticed what colors foxes had on them.

Then we drew foxes together with black oil pastels. I used this great step-by-step guide from Art Projects for Kids. They have so many great drawing tutorials.

((This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)

After drawing, I let the artists tell me what colors of liquid tempera paint they would like to use for their fox.  Many of them chose to mix their own version of red-orange or yellow-orange, with small areas of black and white.

In our next class, we tackled the background.  We used a square of cardboard to paint tree trunks onto blue paper.  Scraping the cardboard creates a rough, bark-like texture.  We used white paint, with a bit of black for shading/texture.   I then showed them how to stamp with a large flat brush to create fall leaves.  We painted a canopy of leaves on the trunks, and piles of fallen leaves on the ground.

Then on to the finishing touches.  The artists cut out their foxes and glued them onto their backgrounds.  They then had a chance to use oil pastels to add any final touches and details.

I also did this project with a younger group of 4-5 year olds.  We changed up the background, drawing brown trees with oil pastels, and fingerpainting on the leaves (though some weren’t excited about the mess of finger-painting, and so I also offered q-tips.). I also simplified it by just giving them orange paint for the foxes instead of having them mix their own.

(This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)
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​Our focus yesterday in the Mini Makers class was Lines.  We were inspired by the book Lines That Wiggle by Candace Whitman.  It’s super charming and has lovely illustrations. 

After reading the book, my 4-5 year olds were eager to look around the room and point out all the different kinds of lines they could find — wavy, straight, zig-zag, dotted, curly . . .

Now for the project that was inspired by the book.  Our materials were . . .

• 8x10 black cardstock
• scraps of painted paper and construction paper
• scissors
• glue
• oil pastels

First, they filled their black paper with as many different kinds of lines as they could manage. I encouraged them to use a variety of colors, and even to overlap lines.

Then we made 3-D lines (and we discussed 2-D vs. 3-D, and that 3-D artworks are called sculptures).  One key step is to count to 10 slowly every time you glue a side down, otherwise it will pop right off when you attempt to glue the other side.

The kids really got into these paper sculptures.  It was a bit of an engineering puzzle for them to figure out different ways they wanted their lines to go.

(Project inspiration came from this blog post)

(This blog post contains affiliate links. If you purchase an item from one of those links, it helps support what we do at Bright Art Studio.  I will only link to products that I would buy myself.)
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Stuck indoors on a rainy Saturday in October?  I feel you.  Here’s a fun and simple project that the whole family can be apart of — Boo Bunting!  Bonus: the finished product makes for a cute and classy Halloween decoration.

I got the idea from this blog post, which includes a free ghost printable.  I knew it would be much more fun for my family to draw our own ghosts, but the printable is there for you if that’s what you’d prefer.

Here are the materials we used . . .

• white cardstock
• black cardstock
• twine
• Black Sharpies
• Silver sharpie
• Scissors
• Tape

First, I assigned Ryan and Ransom to draw ghosts with black sharpies, while I measured our mantle to see how long our garland should be. (As an art teacher, I have to point out that drawing ghosts uses organic shapes, rather than geometric shapes).  

I laid the measured twine on the floor, so we could plan our pattern and make sure we made enough ghosts.  I also cut out some triangles from the black cardstock and wrote “BOO!” on them with a silver sharpie, while the guys cut out their ghosts, to give our bunting a little variety.

We laid out all the ghosts and triangles along the twine to make sure we had enough, and then taped the twine to the back of each piece. (Originally we tried to use clothespins, but found that they covered up the ghosts faces.)

​Viola, easy and fun Halloween Boo Bunting!

It’s super satisfying to create something all together that we are all proud of. 

A fun book to pair with this project? How to Make Friends with a Ghost by Rebecca Green.