Leaves are Falling all Around

This week in Introduction to Watercolor we found our inspiration from the fall leaves. Finally after two weeks of learning the color wheel and painting techniques we were able to see the kids' individual creativity shine through. We learned about warm and cool colors by drawing our leaves in oil pastel with only warm colors and then painting in the background with cool colors. We were able to use two of our new watercolor techniques-- wax/oil resist and wet on wet. We also talked about composition and how we can make choices about size, shape, color, and space to make our composition more interesting.

Everyone works at such a different speed that some finished and others will continue working next week. The paintings that were completed have been added to the "Gallery" so make sure you check them out.

Watercolor Week Two

This week in Introduction to Watercolor the kids were able to finish up their color wheels from week one. This may look simple, but the children had to mix many of the colors using their primary colors. I was pleased at how well they all did not only mixing secondary colors but also the tertiary colors. We also spent some time experimenting with different watercolor techniques. The students each made a booklet showing 6-8 different painting techniques.

This week we had a new addition to our class. Mariam is a Mountain View High school student who is currently working at an elementary school teaching art as part of one of her classes. She has volunteered to come in and help the kids. She is so great with the kids and we are lucky to have her. The kids can now get twice the attention during their class time. We are also happy to have Mrs. Linda Hess, an LHE teacher, joining the class. I think it is wonderful for teachers to brush up on their art knowledge so that it can spill over into the classroom. I am so happy to have them both.

Next week we will talk about some principles of design and put them to use in a mixed media Leaf Painting. It will be fun for the kids to apply the knowledge they have gained in an actual painting.

October Art with Bounce

Don't forget that you can still register for the October-December Art with Bounce classes up until a week before each class! We had tons of fun last month. For the October class we will be learning about warm and cool colors. We will create some fall leaf mixed-media art work using oil pastels and watercolors.

October: Leaves are Falling All Around
November: "Stained-glass Windows"
December: Once there was a Snowman

Wonderful Watercolors

This week we started our Introduction to Watercolor class after school at Lake Hazel Elementary as well as the Adult Watercolor Class. The first session in both classes was mostly getting familiar with the color wheel and using the watercolors.

It is so fun to see the kids as well as adults experiment and explore color. Next week in both classes we will learn some specific watercolor painting techniques and put them to good use in some mini-landscapes. Students, make sure you are starting to collect some photos that you can work from for your upcoming paintings.