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3/27/2020

Week 2 of Art Activities for Young Artists

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STUDENTS' RESPONSES TO WEEK 2 

Leah, age 11
Madelyn, age 9 & Anna Kate, age 14
Emika, age 8
Kou
Anna
Check this out! Maria, age 16, recently painted this on her bedroom wall!
Camden, age 10
A Magnolia, by Camille, age 16.
Welcome back for a second week of art activities to do at home! 
This week's lesson plan is a continuation of what we did last week, which was a value drawing, done with a pencil.  This kind of value drawing is a foundation of art and helps us become better at making our drawings and paintings look as though they are more 3-D - not just flat looking, like a cartoon.  It is fine to draw cartoons, but showing how light hits objects and where shadows fall, can give our drawings a more dramatic look, even if we love drawing cartoons.  It also helps us with painting.  This activity builds upon last week's activity.  This time we get to add color.  You can use any material you may want, in order to add color to your drawing of an object from nature.  Choosing an object from nature, is just a way to get you up and out of the house.  It is healthy for your mind and body to move around outside and it helps us to learn to appreciate the world around us.  Sunshine and fresh air are things we have not had a lot of lately, having been shut in during winter and rains.  Now we are finally able to warm ourselves  in the light.  What could be a more inspiring way to get ready to do some art!  
I used crayons for this art activity.  I never use crayons and it would be difficult to even find crayons in the Art Matters studio.  I probably try to provide everything, except crayons, as I want artists to experiment with a wide variety of materials they have never used before.  But this time, I am challenging you to do something with crayons that perhaps you have never tried before!  The challenge is to add thick waxy layers upon layers to your drawing and to build these layers, so that every bit of your paper is covered with thick wax from crayons.  Leave no part of the paper white or unfinished.  Use white crayon if you want something to be white.  Experiment with putting different colors on top of one another, seeing how darker layers of color glow through the lighter colors you put on top of them.  Show the darkest parts of your object.  Show the lightest parts.
If you will choose to do this week's project- especially the part about the building up of wax on your paper- I will show you something else you can do with your waxy crayon painting next week!  Give it a try and send a picture of your art to me!  I will post it here!  Not inspired by this crayon project?  Another choice is drawing pictures of your friends.  You may want to share these drawings you make with your friends.  They can also be value drawings, done with pencil.  Or they can be simple line cartoons of your friends. Maybe you will use them to inspire you to make up stories that star some of your friends as main characters.  Need photos of your friends to help you get a likeness?  Perhaps your grownups can help you obtain a photo of your friend from social media.  This is the age of the selfie.  There really is a photo of almost everyone on social media and chances are your grown ups at your house can help you find just the face you are looking for!  I hope to hear from you about how your art is going, no matter what you decide to do.  Check back again with me next week, when I will have something very different to share with you.  Take care until then!  

P.S.  We have continued with this O'Keeffe theme for the month of March, however, just because I chose to draw and paint flowers, this month, does not mean you have to do so.  I am showing in the gallery below how O'Keeffe painted lots of objects she found in nature:  rocks, shells, leaves, even trees.  Sometimes she would hold an object up to the sky and often painted the sky in the background.  Sometimes she just painted the sky.  The challenge is to go outside and draw what you see.  This time add color!

Rock on top of rock.
Value drawing of a shell.
Leaf on top of leaf.
Succulent plant.
A bone or other object held up to the sky.
Is this how a tree looks to you? How about if you lie down under a tree and look up at it?
Lots of folks do have an animal skull after all. It is more common to find these out west, where folks live in the desert. But today, it's even more common to find them in homes, because of O'Keeffe...
Unusual view of clouds. How do they look when you view them?

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3/18/2020

Week 1 of Art Activities for Young Artists

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STUDENTS' RESPONSES TO WEEK 1 ART ACTIVITY:
Thanks so much, talented artists!  I hope to hear from more of you soon!
Want to respond to this activity too? 
​Instructions and 2 art videos are posted below.  

Emika, age 7
Stella Jane, age 9
Natalie, age 15
Lylah, age 10
Camille, age 16
Brooklyn, age 16
THE AMAZING NOPO! AGE 14
Averi, age 10
Emma, age 15
Albert, age 9
Albert, age 9
Jenny, age 8
Emma, age 10
Butterfly by Aurora
Rock by Camden
Banana by Miles

Dear Young Artist, I hope this weekly blog can give you something fun and challenging to do while you are at home for a while.  I miss you and hope you will share with me some art you make each week.  I would love to post it here for other art students to see!  I would also just like to hear how you are doing and how are you spending your time.  It would be wonderful if we could stay in touch, until we return to our weekly visits at Art Matters.  ABOUT THIS ACTIVITY:  I  have posted two sample pictures, one is the object from nature I found outside.  (I hope you go out into the sun today and find something too!)  The other image is my pencil value drawing I made (by using the side of my pencil lead) shading in the line drawing, making the darkest things I saw very dark and leaving the lightest things the white of the paper.  Plus I added a few more-light to dark- shades in between.  I have posted a video about the famous American artist, Georgia O'Keeffe, that I hope you enjoy.  Plus I posted a video where I just talk to you.  In this video, there is a grisaille painting that shows light to dark value, which I hope shows that this pencil and paper activity you are doing is very important- it is the foundation of art- and it will make you a better painter, to practice seeing and showing what are the darkest parts of a picture and what are the lightest parts.  If you still have trouble showing this in your own drawing, perhaps you can take a black and white photo of the object from nature that you find. Looking at that photo, might help you with your value drawing.  I can't wait to hear from you!  P.S.  I know the quality of my home-made video is not great.  I have never done this before!  I never really made a blog before either.  This took me almost all week!  I was so busy that I forgot to put my bird Kiwi in the video, but next week, I intend to do so!  

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    "Still — in a way — nobody sees a flower — really — it is so small — we haven't time — and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time..." -Georgia O'Keeffe

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    Teresa Christmas is an artist and art educator.  She is the owner of Art Matters, a mother and a GrandMaMa'.

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  • Home
  • Summer Art Sessions 2023
    • 2022 Summertime Blog
    • 2021 SUMMERTIME BLOG @ ART MATTERS
    • Memories of Past Summers
  • After-School Program 2022/23
  • Syllabus 2022-2023 School Year
  • More Photos of The New School 2021-22
  • World's Greatest Studio Tour
    • The Art Teacher's Art
  • ART ACTIVITIES TO DO AT HOME
  • Student Art Show 2020
  • This is Art Matters
    • Great Memories at Art Matters
  • The Art Teacher
  • BG Gallery Hop at Art Matters
  • Past Exhibits