Paul Klee's Red Balloon

Paul Klee
(1879-1940)
Swiss German painter

He was influenced by Expressionism, Cubism and Surrealism

"Color has taken hold of me...it will possess me always...color and I are one.   I am a painter."

I personally am a big fan.  His paintings are some of my favorites at the Art Institute of Chicago.

"Red Balloon", painted in 1920 is not at the Art Institute of Chicago, but rather at the Guggenheim.
I really like this one and thought I would give it a go with my students!

Materials needed:
- Bleeding tissue paper (not the same as regular tissue paper)
- White watercolor paper
- Scissors
- Brushes
- Water
- Glue sticks
- Black pencil
- Example of original painting of "Red Balloon" (optional)

Directions:

1.  Bleeding tissue paper is awesome!  Show the students how to overlap pieces of the tissue paper then paint on a little bit of water.  Watch how the colors run and how the colors bleed!

(I precut squares to save time and also, only gave them a few choices of colors for the background)

2.  Once your paper is covered and the pieces are wet through enough, students can peel away the wet tissue paper to reveal the color underneath!  Cool right?

3.  Once the paper is dry, then we took a few "pops" of color and glued them on to the background.  NO WATER.  just glue.
(Optional - precut red circles for the balloons)

4.  Draw on the basket and any other detail you would like!  Some of the students tried really hard to copy Paul Klee exactly and others had their own take on it.  Either way - it was fun!

Bikes by Joel

Great idea from ART with Mrs. Smith...

Joel Henriques
Artist and father living in Portland.
Author of "Made to Play, Handmade Toys and Crafts for Growing Imaginations"

Wants people to connect art and life...
"I want to give people something not only to look at, but to live with and be a part of."

Materials needed:
-Black construction paper
-White crayons
-Scissors
-Colored strips of construction paper (I pre-cut mine)

Directions:
1.  Have the students draw a line 3/4 of the way down on their paper.  Below the line will be where you glue the colored paper and above the line will be where you draw the bike.
2.  We drew the bike, step by step; circles for the wheels, triangles for the bike frame...
3.  Once the bike is drawn, then students can glue the colored strips at the bottom.

Cute!  Contemporary!  Cool!

Sunsets & Silhouettes

This project is simple and sweet...the kids always have fun and the results are always unique and wonderful!

Materials needed:
-Black construction paper
-White Watercolor paper
-Liquid watercolors in red, orange, yellow, purple
-Brushes
-White pencil
-Scissors
-Glue stick

The kids should first paint the sunsets.  While that is drying they can first draw, then cut out shapes they want out of the black construction paper.  I directed them to have one piece as the foreground and they can build from there.