Love is Everywhere

Using empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls and a little paint and ribbon, we created these hanging sculptures to enjoy for Valentines Day. There was a huge amount of variety and vivaciousness to each sculpture, although they were very hard to capture with the camera lens. Here are just a few;

Beau's piece above turned out very close to his initial sketch. Hearts and spirals!

Katie above, wearing her project like a giant necklace.

Each artist also wrote on a heart about something they love, pinned it to the dress form and that itself became a work of art and love! By the end of the week the dress form was covered.

"Grandma & Grandpa"  "My Dog," "Star Wars," "Music," "Magic The Gathering," "Money," "Iggy, my dog," " My cats, my fish, my hermit crab," "Chocolate," "Mama & Dada," "Candy," "Halo 4," "My dog Foxy," "World of Tanks," "Life," "My friends," "Turkey Bacon," etc.

 Way to go Chaney (above)! Cool the way the flower seems to be bursting with hearts!

I love the way AiLi added a pig face, above!

Amelia created a wonderful bunny, then decided to keep it separate from her piece.

 Topher (piece above) can always pull of an amazing piece, and do a whole bunch of playing and running during break and have a full snack. How can he fit it all in?

Introducing the fabulous Zeah. A natural artist and so much zest and personality!

Love is everywhere!

Zarinah perfectly dressed for Valentine's Day!

 Lukas is a innovative builder, always finding a new way to construct and create! This piece had a lot of movement too (above).

 Aoife created a unique 'window to the soul' with hearts and a spray of flowers! See the heart on the right? I love the way it's bursting out of the frame!



I love Jesse's colors, style and enthusiasm!

 Ellie created in an Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party theme. Wow! Love it!

 The studio wall with my samples and plenty of hearts!



Raziah with her masterpiece. Love her style! See her details below?

 I like the way Johnny added words to his layered flower and heart motif, above.



Charlotte finished hers in time to leave a little early! Have fun at Disneyland!

AiLi and Leah and I waiting for paint to dry.

Amelia B. tops hers off with a pretty bow, above.

"F" for  Faith! Or is the "F" for fabulous?  (Detail below)

Maya with her colorful "Hearts & Flowers."



I'm such a lucky Mom to receive this piece! Thank you my darling Annie!

Amity rocks the design and pushes the envelope with all the materials! Above and below.

Clara above, covered in hearts!

Sumayyah with her finished piece. No fear of glue gun's for this little gal!

Hady's piece was full of fun. A flying cat, her families initials and so much more. Hady, below, showing off her work!

Bene enjoying the sunshine at pick-up time. What a fabulous week.

Realism, Shading & Blending

It's always exciting for me to create a project, set the parameters and see where the kids go with it! I have basic goals for them to work towards, and the rest is up to them. While they all depicted a bird in the parrot family, just look at the variation of method, personality and results! 

We talked about warm and cool color palates, realism, blending and scale.

 I loved the critiques when we finished this piece! The kids were able to step back and talk about what they enjoyed, what was challenging and what they might do differently now that they had done the project. 

Many pointed out how the size of the eyes and the beak changed the personality of their birds. 

 Using oil pastels then brushing on mineral oil helped some of the kids blend colors, remove color and create more of a painting effect. 

I encouraged the kids to use black in their piece for contrast, drama or shading. Wow!