Pet Portraits

Little artists joined me last weekend at the OKCMOA for Pet Portrait fun. We explored the works of George Rodrigue and got busy.

Using Rodrigue as our inspiration allowed the kids to have fun with their works instead of worrying and stressing about making it look exactly like their own pet.

To begin I had the children lightly draw their pet with pencil. We draw BIG and draw the front of our animals. I advised to keep it simple, details could be added later.



Next the students are allowed to choose one color of paint plus black and white (to shade and tint).

They begin filling in their pets and are encouraged to mix the paints to highlight one side and shade the other. Leave any white spots white.



They use a hairdryer to dry their work before outlining the pet with black paint. Now they can also add details.



The work need to be dry again before creating the background.

We broke the background into three parts. The bottom, left and right side. Here is where color comes in. They can use any color except the color of their pet. We use line and pattern to break up the three areas. So much fun.

You will need:
-Student grade watercolor paper
-Tempera paint
-Brushes
-Paint palette
-Wash bowl
-Pencils and erasers
-Hairdryer if you need to speed drying time

In Georgia's Garden

Creative little ones ages 2-5 joined me today at the OKCMOA to create bright beautiful flowers inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe.

First we looked at some examples from the books I brought with me.



We started by cutting one BIG flower and glued it down on white paper.



Cut or tear details like leaves and glue them down. We cut one more smaller flower and place it in the center.





Next crumple small bits of tissue paper and glue to the center of the flower. Add more details with crayons, torn or cut paper to make it special!



Finish by gluing the entire piece on top of a larger piece of construction paper to create a colorful mat.

You will need:
-White paper
-Construction paper (we used Spectra Fadeless art paper)
-Scrap paper
-Tissue paper
-Scissors
-Glue
-Crayons

Here are some of our creations!

In my neighborhood

Children enjoyed creating colorful neighborhoods and cities with me at the OKCMOA last weekend for Drop-in Art.

We talked about architecture and our neighborhoods and immediately began to get to work.

Think about what is in your neighborhood: houses, apartment buildings, sky scrapers, dog houses, schools, hospitals, museums, trees, parks, etc.

Cut your buildings from colorful cardstock.



Arrange cut buildings, trees, etc and glue down in three levels.





We use oil pastels to add details to our buildings. Oil pastels can be messy. Don't take too much paper off the pastel at a time and try to keep the back of your hand off the paper to avoid smearing.



So much fun. They are all so different, I love them all!

You will need:
-Cardstock
-Oil Pastels
-Scissors
-Glue sticks
-Pencils and erasers optional

Shape Stampede

Shapes and Stamping were all the rage last week at Tiny Tuesday at the OKCMOA. I had plenty of supplies for little ones ages 2-5 to stamp their hearts (or squares) out!

This is really simple and fun. I gave the children a few choices for paint color and we used paper plates as our palettes. Their workstations were set up with corrugated cardboard, stickerback foam shapes, big lids from laundry detergent, forks, q-tips and 14x11 white paper.

This was all about experimenting. I gave little instruction and let the kids have fun. First we peeled the paper off our foam shapes and stuck them on the flat side of our corrugated cardboard. We painted the foam shapes and stamped them on our paper. If you don't have cardboard use what you have. I have used wood blocks, floral foam, even gluesticks as stampers.







From here we keep stamping and use some of our other supplies to fill our page. We like to paint the cardboard too as it leaves us with cool stripes!



Laundry detergent lids are great for little hands. Stamp, stamp, stamp...





When one paper was full I replaced it with a new one. We had a great time creating a bright piece of artwork all while learning about shapes!

You will need:
-Heavy white paper
-Tempera paints
-Sticker back foam shapes
-Corrugated cardboard
-Paintbrushes
-Detergent lids
-Fork
-Q-tips
-Paper plate

So much fun! If you create this project feel free to share a photo of your finished piece with me on Facebook! Have a creative day!