Turkey Sculptures

Gobble Gobble! We had a blast creating 3-D turkeys in my Little Gobblers class that was for ages 3-5 years old. It was a full class and we got busy right away.

We began by reading this funny book, 10 Fat Turkeys by Tony Johnson. The kids really LOVED this book!

I had turkey bodies prepared and ready for the kids to decorate. I hot glued a medium sized styrofoam ball to a small plate. Then used a small craft stick to attach a small styrofoam ball to make the turkey head.


I gave the kids a few basics to start applying to their bodies. I cut felt triangles, set out feathers and pom poms. Then to help encourage the kids to make choices, I let them go through a line with an empty plate to choose buttons, pipe cleaners, beads and more for their creations.

Here are a few more of our turkeys. Shame my camera ran out of room, they were all great. One even has glasses!











You will need:
-paper plate
-medium styrofoam ball
-small styrofoam ball
-hot glue (for adult to glue turkey body)
-small craft stick
-craft glue for children
-google eyes
-felt pieces
-pom poms, beads, sticky back foam, feathers, papers, pipe cleaners, etc.
-scissors

***note- I think if I do this again, I will pre-paint the styrofoam brown. It would probably take a while to dry, so I am not sure how much time you would need. :) I will do this with my boys this week and try it. I will update!

Happy Halloween!

Louise Bourgeois. Spider, 1997

Pumpkins are carved, costumes are ready. We are excited for Halloween! I have a fun class at the Museum tomorrow called, Spooky Spiders. Spiders in art you say?

Well, the first spider in art I saw (that I can remember) was at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City.
My son was terrified! That is the photo above. So, I started to research other spiders in art and here is some of what I found. Who knew?
Kuniyoshi Utagawa,Minamoto no Yorimitsu Battling an Earth Spider (Minamoto no Yorimitsu Tsuchigumo Taiji), c. 1818-1830

Franz Karl Basler-Kopp, Die Schwarze Spinne(1879(1879)–1937(1937)).

Paolo Veronese (1822-1881) - "The reward" Look close to see the spider and web in the hands of figure.

And sometimes a Spider is not so literal, but created through an artists eyes.



Alexander Calder(1898-1976), Spider.

This is at the MoMA. During our whirlwind tour of the MoMA last June I do not recall seeing this particular Calder piece. Maybe I have seen more spiders in art than originally thought!

Have a Happy Halloween!

Stay tuned.

I have a rather large idea that came to me last week and am trying to put the wheels in motion. I think writing this down will be some sort of incentive to make sure the wheels keep moving. I'm not trying to be mysterious, but I am excited. Stay tuned. :)

Right now I need to get busy making monster cupcakes for school tomorrow! Have a creative Day!

Little Dutch Italianates

If you have not been to the museum to check out the new exhibit, you are missing out! The Dutch Italianates: 17th-century Masterpieces from Dulwich Picture Gallery is at the Museum until Jan 3, 2010. These are extraordinary works by Dutch artists that painted Italian landscapes. You might recognize some of the artists, like Pynacker, Cuyp, and Vermeer. Allow yourself plenty of time to take in each painting as there are so many details to see. It's sort of like a game of I spy, which I play with my classes. I spy two boys fishing...I spy a cow... I spy a bridge... they love to play and everyone gets a turn to spy.

I had a hard time coming up with class ideas for this since the paintings are realistic and so detailed. From what I have seen, the toddler and pre-k classes don't seem to enjoy this style of artwork as much as they enjoy the modern art and Chihuly works on the 3rd floor.

What I decided to do was talk about landscapes. We payed special attention in the exhibit to the land, sky and objects in the landscapes which happened to be a lot of animals. The kids loved finding animals and toddlers made the animal sounds and were very pleased with themselves.



In the pre-k class we used watercolors to paint our land first. Ground for our animals to stand on and then a sky for them to look up at. Prior to the class I drew and cut out horses and sheep. They used watercolor pencils to add details to the animals and then glued them to the watercolor landscapes they painted. We added final details and they were finished!



You will need:
-50 lb water color paper
-watercolors
-water and brushes
-watercolor pencils
-glue
-animal shapes



The toddler class was a bit different. We used sponges and tempera paints to create our landscapes. First I gave them green and yellow to sponge their ground. Then I gave them blue to make a sky. We finished with some brown to add trees or mountains..or DIRT, one child yelled. :) We glued our animals on top and finished with an oval mat.

Music to paint by

I love music. I memorize lyrics better than multiplication tables. I like to listen to music while I get ready, cook, drive, run, and especially when I paint. I have been a long time U2 fan (mostly thanks to my sister who listened to them before they were cool) and was lucky enough to go with the most excellent neighbors and friends to this amazing concert. I have just about all the old stuff-except for the album Pop, but I was missing the new one, so I bought No Line On The Horizon and have been painting to it since!

Big Sky

My latest painting titled Big Sky is framed, finished and ready to make big money at my son's school auction tonight!

Roadside Cotton Candy

OVAC's big event 12x12 is long over but I never got around to posting about it. The event was another huge success and I was proud to be part of it once again. There are so many wonderful artists in Oklahoma that want to be in the show and I have been lucky enough to have been invited for the past 6 years. I have also been lucky enough for my piece to sell each year.

This year I did an acrylic titled Roadside Cotton Candy. It was inspired from a trip to Montana that my husband and I took together. It was one of the few trips we were able to make without the boys tagging along. My heart really belongs to the mountains of Colorado but Montana quickly started to win me over with it stillness, wildlife and big sky.

I have been busy in my kitchen studio working away on several projects...I'll keep you posted!

Here is a WIP primed, outlined and ready to be filled with paint!