CartaBella

l'Artista Blog

September 4, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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TABLEAUX. Children in my art classes respond well to this type of drawing exercise, the portrayal of a specific famous painting. The very act of preparing the model and the setting to reflect the painting being studied serves to help re-create the Master Artist’s painting in the minds of the participants. Using props, and placing them as accurately as possible, each child becomes actively involved in the setting-up process. Young artists become more intimately involved with the painting and, consequently, they become more motivated to recreate on paper the “live” enactment right there in their art studio environment, be it a traditional classroom or a home school setting.

September 1, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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“The work of children is play.” Using long strips of colorful paper, each KinderArt Home School student creatively constructed a playground. This project involves lots of cutting, taping and paper folding. One idea usually led to another and soon their baseboards were covered with imaginative playground elements.

August 31, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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LEARNING BY PLAYING. Retired teachers and professional women are lifelong learners. In our Beginner Watercolor classes it’s stimulating to participate in such an enthusiastic learning environment. . . . Similar to the energy generated in an art classroom full of Kindergartners or First Graders!

August 23, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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KINDERART Home School classes are underway. I had a Full House this week since there was “no child left behind”! Usually at least one family cannot attend or a few children are sick. With 100% attendance we were packed tight around the long table. All of the boys and girls were so well behaved that we accomplished several projects. We did not complete the Parthenon project, but we were able to draw the fundamental components of the ancient building. They also learned the distinctive differences among the three different capitals at the top of Greek columns: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.

August 13, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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INTERMEZZO LADIES WATERCOLOR CLASS. Our neighborhood group is brimming with creativity, beyond watercolor painting! Fabric arts, quilting, and cooking talents, combined with a passion for reading. Today was a summer reunion session, peppered with stories of travels, celebrations, serious illnesses, and family history. Lessons from life. Just as all art is rooted in real life.
One member’s current interest in wool felting, roving, etc. was truly inspirational. She introduced us to the unique techniques and labor intensive process. We marveled at her mastery of the medium—as evidenced in the painterly style of her lighthouse “landscape painting” executed on a secondhand wool sweater as her canvas.

August 1, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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Speaking of Girls….it’s so much fun to have granddaughters who share my enthusiasm for Art. Their Mom is always abounding with creativity and hands-on projects, too, so it’s part of their heritage. These girls enjoy doing “sample” art projects for Grandma. And the oldest one, now 12, is my right-hand Assistant during summer art camps.