Cartabella Art Notes

2012-01-30T22:33:00.001-05:00

ACRYLICS Painting Class

Painting Kandinsky-Style Circles

keeps us alert

Kandinsky-style "movement" created with

"imperfect" circles + same colors never touching each other

2012-01-30T22:20:00.002-05:00

KinderArt PAINT DAY

another Modern Art

color-filled

Kandinsky Day!

concentric circles within a grid

2012-01-13T17:03:00.001-05:00

KinderART. First Lessons of Exploring Modern Art.

Introduction to "Masters of Deception",

Op Art & Pop Art

MASTER WORKS ON CANVAS!

2012-01-03T19:15:00.001-05:00

Advanced KinderArt students give their full attention to their current project.

Each one selected an image they wanted to paint on canvas.

I am so pleased with their application of the techniques we've been practicing

in previous lessons.

2011-12-12T10:26:00.001-05:00

KINDERART. Drawing from Life. Setting up a tableaux of Carl Larsson painting of his son, Pontus, finding a quiet place to read and plan his shipbuilding projects.

Matisse's Pillbox Hat Lady

2011-11-01T20:08:00.001-04:00

Our Intermezzo Ladies class continues to add to our series of Ladies in Hats by Master Artists. Painting with the Masters proves to be a good exercise.

Seurat Pointillism Trees

2011-11-01T19:53:00.001-04:00

2011-10-04T21:29:00.004-04:00

Color Blending with Origami Star. With a limited palette, students mixed paints and discovered how tint and mix for specific hues.

2011-09-04T15:00:00.000-04:00

PET DAY IN THE STUDIO

For this particular class, our guests included a rabbit, a turtle and a hamster. We found it challenging to draw from life. We had to work fast to sketch our pets. It helped to have library books about these same kids of pets because they included good photographs which we could use as reference photos for our drawings.

2011-08-08T22:23:00.019-04:00

PET DAY, part two

2011-07-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

it's not too late to register: openings for AG Dolls fine art camps Summer 2011. More info and 0nline registration on CartaBella Classes page.

2011-05-13T22:00:00.000-04:00

STRIPS OF PAPER
PIPE CLEANERS
TAPE
GLUE

+ A DASH OF INSPIRATION AND CREATIVITY!

PLAYMOBILE MEN CAN SCALE A ROCK WALL!

JUST KEEP CUTTING AND

EXPERIMENTING

UNTIL YOU FINALLY FINISH YOUR PAPER PLAYGROUND PROJECT!

WANT TO MAKE ANOTHER ONE? GOT A BETTER IDEA?

DID YOU REMEMBER TO EXPLAIN HOW THEY WORK?

MAYBE YOU'LL WANT TO TRY A MORE ADVANCED ENGINEERING PROJECT!

2011-04-01T09:00:00.002-04:00

KinderArt Paper Sculpture Project

a playground? a castle? a waterpark?

construction stage

finished project---rock climbing wall, monkey bars, etc.

Each child started with a sheet of 140# watercolor paper as a support base. After mapping out a plan, crayon rubbings gave their foundation some texture. Next, strips of colored paper and other scrap papers, chenille stems, foil, brads, etc. were put to good use with imaginative creations. Challenged to create a park and/or playground, swings and slides started emerging, just the right size for Lego people! What did they use to "attach" their creations? Stapler, scotch tape, brads, and glue. Fan folding was a popular approach to creating stairs.

2011-03-26T09:00:00.001-04:00

MASTER ARTISTS STUDY:

Girl with a Pearl Earring

by Vermeer

Intermezzo Ladies class tackles the challenge

using watercolor techniques

2011-03-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

PAPER MACHE DAY #2. Our animals have been air-dryed and are waiting to be painted!

2011-03-05T21:47:00.006-05:00

PAPER MACHE DAY#1. Newspaper balls taking shape. Then "molding" with masking tape, completely covering our animals. Finally, making a paste with flour and water to "cast" our animals with strips of newspaper.

2011-03-05T21:40:00.013-05:00

COLOR STUDIES

with Legos Photos iPhone app

2011-02-23T10:25:00.011-05:00

WELCOME TO MY WORLD!

Curious to know what my studio looks like?

ie., . . . when it is not being used as a classroom,

or as a dining room!

MySpace

a constantly changing collage

full of good cheer.

Thank you God for my sun dappled

cottage on the pond

and my tolerant and creative husband

who shares my love of art.

2011-02-05T22:45:00.000-05:00

COLORFUL CASTLES.
Brian Wildsmith's colorful "puzzle" book inspired this project. We observed all of the different geometric shapes he used to "construct" his towers and castles. Then we went through a basket of children's building blocks and picked out the shapes we would need to construct similar buildings on sketchbook paper.

A few of the young artists chose to use a ruler to draw 1 in. squares, but it worked just as well to trace the wooden blocks. We found triangles and other shapes for adorning the top of the towers.

Final step. A bright and colorful pattern was selected and then everyone set to work painting their creations with markers.

2011-01-01T13:04:00.023-05:00

STUDIO HOURS. One afternoon of winter solitude and free to paint for personal pleasure. Not a commission. Not a lesson plan project.
   For a long time I've wanted to sketch and paint this 1800's Canadian woman. It's my acrylic/watercolor style interpretation of an oil painting which a pioneer artist did at a time when women in the arts were going against the current.
   Thus the quotation I included on the canvas: "Let the excellence of your work be your protest."
   My friend Diana and I named her Francesca because she strikes us as a woman of Italian descent.

Our cottage during the snow and . . . .

my studio/classroom transformed into a dining room for our family Christmas dinner. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

2011-01-01T12:45:00.005-05:00

ART & MUSIC DAY. KinderArt students brought their instruments to our music in the studio session. After studying the shapes and sizes, we concentrated on doing a contour line drawing of a guitar, paying attention to the instrument's symmetry.

2010-12-30T18:17:00.005-05:00

SHAPES. We've been on the lookout for shapes. A Christmas clementine skin, for example, took shape as a "S" on the table! Crafty letters are fun to paint and collage with bright colors, especially on grey indoor days. Use your digital camera to take pictures of the alphabet shapes you see everyday---I see an "X" at the base of my office chair and I spy an "O" when I glance at my clock.

2010-12-17T19:53:00.012-05:00

KINDERART CHRISTMAS PARTY. After reading John 1:1 and 14 in English, we learned how to write the word for "Word" in Greek. "Logos" was not too difficult to write since we practiced copying the lettering several times. Then we cut out the best one we had colored and attached it to a music sheet of JOY TO THE WORLD. For a drawing exercise we walked around Mrs. Porter's house and each one of us found a nativity scene to sketch. For our fest we frosted Christmas tree cookies before everyone came to our party.

2010-12-02T17:01:00.003-05:00

INTERMEZZO LADIES. This cardinal theme wreath was a group-effort projects. It represents our love and concern for one of our members. A tribute to her loss and her indomitable spirit.
This beginners watercolor class began about 18 months ago.
We have become more than a painting class.
We talk. A lot.
We have become a support group, an art therapy class, a network of a wealth of information and believers in the philosophy that "laughter is the best medicine"!
Our personal challenges and demands on our time and energies abound. Yet week after week we manage to come together to be stimulated, uplifted and re-energized for the week ahead.
And in between times we paint!

2010-12-02T17:01:00.002-05:00

MORE CEZANNE FRUIT BOWLS. Remember doing this wax resist technique in elementary school?
In KinderArt we added a new twist to it by crumbling up the paper in our fists before painting over the crayon colored "painting" with dark blue or purple Tempera paint. Finished product closely resembles a canvas painting.