Inspiration

I stumbled upon the artist Kimmy Cantrell as I was bloghopping one morning. I found his sculptures very inspiring, so I drew out a few ATCs from his inspiration. I love getting inspired by other artists. I was talking to my friend Sarah who does a mommy and me class with her daughter, and she was complaining about how the craft section of the class never had a sample of the completed project for them to go by. It made me think of the debate as art teachers to give the kids a sample or not. Some art teachers swear by not giving the kids a sample to look at. I disagree. I say, give them inspiration, but...... be clear that it's inspiration and their end result should not look exactly the same. I think it's important to inspire them, not frustrate them. Give them a jumping off place and see where their creativity takes them. Those who are not creative won't be frustrated and those who are creative will take the inspiration and run.

Art Camp Take 2

Looks like we are going to have another exciting week of art camp. Back by popular demand, camp will be Aug. 8th thru the 12th from 9 to noon, with an art show on the final day. We need artists going into grades 1-3 in the fall. Please scroll down to see examples from our last camp. Email me if you need more details and a registration flyer, jlee@ccschool.org

Art Camp is officially over. We had a really great time and cranked out the art. We had a show today to end the week. We displayed our amazing work, before it was taken down and taken home. Hopefully it will be displayed on refrigerators across the county.

Art Camp Collages

At art camp this week, I drew a square on the concrete with chalk for each student. Then, I had them collect 15 pieces of plants from the yard. They could be leaves, stems, flowers, etc. Then each artist made a figure from the greenery. I then took a picture with my camera. I put it on the close up setting. I had each figure printed 8x10. They came out really cute. Can't wait to display them, tomorrow.

Art Camp

Well we are half way through the week and art camp is going well. We have made mobiles, paintings, weavings, drawings and even some plant collages. Friday we will have an art show and display all our creativity throughout the week.

Flag Cookie

I saw this flag cookie somewhere online and thought it would be fun to make for the block party we are going to today. It's a sugar cookie rolled out on a cookie sheet, white frosting and then blue berries, strawberries and mini marshmallows. Can't wait to try it.

Free Style Embroidery

So, I"ve been wanting to try my hand at embroidery, but haven't ever taken the leap and jumped into that medium. I especially wanted to try something new over the summer. So I saw this sampler class online and decided to try it. It's at Paper Bella Studios by Teresa Mcfayden. It's turned out to be pretty easy and fun. And her instruction is a little loose which allows for some creativity, which I like. Her style is similar to mine, so I'm excited. This is what I've done so far. I think I might end up making it into a pillow. What are you doing this summer?

Art Camp

Summer Art Camp is almost here and I'm getting excited. We are going to draw portraits of the sun at the beach. My sun is a girl and she likes building sand castles and boogie boarding. I got the sun faces from the Tru-Ray construction paper packets. I've been saving them all year.

Earlier I posted, my thrill with popsicle craft sticks, and how there are so many uses for them. We are going to color them in interesting patterns and then create a house on black contruction paper. I added a few recycled pencil stubs and some smaller colored sticks.

Here is a weaving practice. It's good to start with paper strips and then try your hand at yarn weaving. We will try and do both in art camp.

And, a recycled item mobile. I still haven't been to see the Calder exhibit, but we are going to create these whimsical pieces anyway. I can't wait for this one.