Painting with Middle School Kids

This is what happens when you have two dozen middle schoolers, happy attitudes, and some paint. Terrific art happens!

 

I needed a second small project to have enough to fill our allotted time, so I asked my brother about getting some little wood scraps to make little blocks they could paint to go along with their paintings.  Of course he had wood scraps.  But, he wondered why we wouldn't make something useful.  If we drilled holes in the top, they'd be pencil holders.  If we tacked a thin board on the bottom they'd be book ends.  Brilliant!

**On a funny note, kids asked, "What are book ends?"  Oh, my! I guess they can put their Kindles and iPads between them!!!

Their art made perfect decorations for their music performance at the end.

Original Acrylic Paintings on 16"x 20" Canvases
Their paints are priceless, of course.  If you'd to purchase my example, send me a note.

Willowing Arts: A Year of Light (June)

My Willowing Arts: A Year of Light lessons from June.

Drawing...watercolor... collage... two-page journal page spread...  splatter... image transfer...

All art fun.

Every Sunday night around 7:00, I love to hear my phone ping to let me know that there are new lessons posted and ready!

I Like...

Thank you to Leeanne of Not Afraid of Color for reminding me to notice things I like. 

I like getting to visit a Blick Art store.

I like Monet's waterlilies.

I like looking out the window and seeing forest friends.

I like Buff. Buff likes a box with the lid off.

I like Buff... but sometimes...
"If I could just pretend to stretch... just enough... to knock... that onion off..."

I like having friends who share flower bulbs. 
What a surprise I discovered this year!

I like picking a basketful of vegetables from my garden.

I like squirrels... okay... that's a lie.
True, they are cute. But, that's it for the positive column for squirrels.

I like my back deck in summer...my pot garden...
herbs, tomatoes, peppers. & marigolds...

I like having chicks. Fancy-like had been broody for days on end, so we got her six babies. We waited until after dark and slipped them under her.

I like how proud (and fiercely protective) of her new family she was the next morning.

It's worth getting pecked on the arm to pick up a little fluffy chick.

LeeAnne's  conversation starter topics this month:

Do you like picnics? I can't answer this on the grounds that I don't have all the information. I have questions... Does someone else plan, set up, and clean up and I just bring a dish to share? Or am I in charge of all that? Next question: What's the weather like? Hot, cold, windy, or just right? Are you a sit on a blanket on the ground person or a table outside? Table, please. 

 Would you rather spend outdoor time resting in a hammock or digging in a garden? While the idea of lying in a hammock seems lovely, the truth of getting in and climbing out is not as easy as it used to be. I spend time in my garden every day in the summer months. There's always something... watering, weeding, pruning... I love filling my little bucket with whatever is ripe each morning or evening.  I find it very satisfying to harvest, prepare, and enjoy the fruits of my labors.

Do you like shopping at garage sales? Occasionally we'll stop and walk through one. I have plenty of my own junk and don't need any one else's... but sometimes... there's the just right thing!  Flea markets?  We do enjoy walking through a flea market. It's not so much about buying things as seeing things that bring back memories. Thrift stores? Not really. What is a really good one?   Estate sales are our favorite.  They're different. You walk through someone's home, see how they lived, what they collected, how they spent their time. We always feel a respectful and quiet as we walk through the left-overs of someone's life. We like to go on Sunday afternoons about an hour before they're planning to close.  That's when they want to get rid of the stuff and mark it way down. Again, we refrain from buying much, but so often there's a special find!

Remember summer breaks when you were a kid? When I was a kid? Forget that! How about when I was a teacher! How did it feel to have so much free time?  Hurry up and relax! Did you help the family business when you were a kid? My parents were both teachers. As you got into high school and college did you have summer jobs, take special trips, or take special courses.?  I think my summers were pretty typical... Part time job at the county department of education... church youth camp... band camp... started college courses after my junior year... always went to summer school in college.

Do you like particular foods for summer dinners? Yes. I can be very specific to describe the perfect summer meal. It's more than a meal... it's an event. Do you use a recipe or combine whatever ingredients you have on hand?  

Sandwich made with:

Two pieces of white bread, toasted, cut into fourths.

Six slices of bacon, Black Label, original, not too crisp

Eight slices of fresh garden tomatoes

Scrambled egg, optional 

Sides:

Cucumber, fresh from the garden, sliced

French onion dip

Ruffles potato chips

Drink:

Coke, Rt 44 from Sonic

Willowing Arts: Mastering Mixed Media (#1-10)

I can't claim to have "mastered mixed media," but I sure do enjoy getting better and better at it.  There are 39 lessons in the Mastering Mixed Media course, and I look forward to giving all... or most... of them a go.

... drawing... watercolor... paint pens... collage... stencils... acrylic... watercolor pencils... colored pencils... fabric... embroidery thread... pastels... glue... gesso... stamps... and imagination...

Here are my first 10:

Lily Pond

I had to paint them. 

I've done so many small mixed media projects, I wanted to get back to my first love, oil on canvas. And to my newer addition to that first love, the palette knife.

I did this acrylic lily pond as one of the Sketchbook Revival Binge Fest lessons a few weeks ago. Landscape paintings usually aren't on a vertical page/canvas.  I liked that.

Waterlilies... so pretty to see in real life... so intriguing as seen and put on canvas through Monet's eyes and brushes. This was in the St. Louis Art Museum. His works are huge, and they're just daubs of color, but... ahhh.. No, of course, I didn't touch it... but I wanted to!

Not only will I enjoy seeing my lily pond on my wall, I'll occasionally run my fingers across the textures on the canvas... because I can!

Click Lily Pond if you'd like to purchase this painting... so that you can see it and run your fingers across the textures...

Sketchbook Revival 2025 Binge Fest (Part 2)

Sketchbook Revival was different this year.  Instead of having all new lessons, there was access to 5 years of past lessons.  With about 140 lessons to choose from and only 2-3 weeks to have them available, I had to choose. I picked the 14 that I most wanted to do and have done lots of art in the past couple of weeks!

Draw a + then an x, not connect with arcs... It's a flower!
Then an asterisk, connect... Another flower!
(Pen, Stabilo all pencil, watercolor pencils - Lesson from Melinda Barlow)

Draw a bunch of big circles... Fill each intersecting shape... Doodle
It should be a mess, but it's something I want to look at again and again.
(Book page, scrapbook paper, gelli-print paper, paint, marker - Lesson from Mary Beth Shaw)

If not "embracing" watercolor, at least I'm trying not to be afraid to try again.
(Watercolor, pen - Lesson from Shari Blaukopf)

I've never been one who doodles constantly, but how fun it can be.
(Paint Pens, colored pencil - Lesson from Jessica Swift)

Using "real" watercolor paper does make a difference.
Either way... watercolor requires an artist with different personality than I have.
(Watercolor - Lesson from Susan Chiang)

Just two colors, use your finger... start with the nose...
a line here... to curves there... and oval... and it's a face
Melanie has such a calm patient demeanor that gently guides you.
(Acrylic paint, pen - Lesson from Melanie Rivers)

It's always a pleasure to paint alongside Tam
(Watercolor, colored pencils, paint pens, Stabilo All pencil - Lesson from Tamara La Porte)