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!

Little Blue Horse inspired by Franz Marc

Franz Marc was a German Expressionist painter who was also influenced by futurism and cubism.
He liked bold colors and often painted animals.  I was inspired by this painting "Little Blue Horse" and decided to have my students replicate the bold colors and they were so excited to learn how to draw a horse! (tutorial coming soon)

Materials needed:
- Circle templates for horse drawing (optional)
- Pencils
- Erasers
- Black Sharpie
- Watercolor paint
- Watercolor paper - one piece for the horse, one piece for the background
- Brushes
- Scissors
- Glue

Directions:
1.  I started with a simple tutorial on how to draw a horse, starting with only 4 circles.  (tutorial pics coming soon!)  We sketched the horse, outlined the outside edges with Sharpie and erased all the pencils lines.
2.  Once the horse is outlined, paint it blue, demonstrate how to get darker and/or lighter blue.  Encourage experimentation with getting different shades of blue.
3.  Once dry, cut out the horse
4.  Using Marc's Little Blue Horse as an example, paint the background landscape using bright watercolors to mimic the colors in the horizon, foreground, etc.
5.  Once background is dry, glue horse down.

 Take a look at what we made!  WOW!  They did a great job!

Black & White & Franz Kline

Franz Kline was an American abstract expressionist painter.

I really like the simplicity of his black and white paintings, like Mahoning, painted in 1956.

The students and I looked at his work together and discussed what we saw in them.  Some students said his paintings reminded them of Japanese writing, some thought his painting looked like train tracks.  I would say, all answers are correct!

So then we tried to recreate Kline's simple style using black tissue paper.

Materials needed:
-Black tissue paper (I pre-cut some into small squares)
-Big white watercolor paper (or any paper heavy enough to take a generous amount of Mod Podge)
-Mod Podge
-Scissors
-Pencils

Directions:
1.  Have the students draw with pencil a few lines on the white paper.  I directed them to do 2 horizontal, 2 vertical (all the entire length of their paper) then a shape or 2 of their choosing.
2.  Take one square of black tissue paper at a time, using Mod Podge to "glue' it down on the pencil line.  Repeat Mod Podging the squares, following all the lines.
3.  Once all the pencil lines are covered, apply a generous amount of Mod Podge all over the paper, sealing it and giving it a nice shine and texture.

Poems & Painting with Cy Twombly

Cy Twombly is an American artist who is know for his big, graffiti style paintings.
He often quoted poets and myths in his paintings too.
I personally love his style and wanted to replicate his "Rose" series.

First we constructed a poem together as a group.  I did it "mad lib style" where the kids filled in the blanks to create a more personalized poem.

Materials needed:
-Black construction paper, cut into long rectangles
-White pencils
-Colored construction paper for flowers
-Scissors
-Glue
-Red paint

Directions:
1.  Start by having the students write the poem on one side of the black paper in white pencil.
2.  Next have them cut out 3 flower shapes out of a colored construction paper.  You may choose to create a template that they trace for a more uniform flowers
3.  Glue the flowers in a row on the black paper
4.  Apply red paint over the flowers.  I demonstrated how to do this to create the illusion of flower petals.

Georgie O'Keefe's Flowers II

This is one of my most favorite projects... it never fails to get ooh's and ahh's from parents...and the kids have a blast.
For materials and directions see the April 2, 2010 entry but I wanted to share some photos of examples from this class.

Enjoy!

I used an old calendar that had great photos of flowers.  We took a piece of paper with a square cut out to frame the section of the flower we wanted to focus on.  Just like Georgia O'Keefe, painting the details of the flower, almost making it abstract.  Really awesome!

  

Magritte - The Banquet

After my last trip to The Art Institute of Chicago I fell in love with this Magritte painting called, "The Banquet".  I was mesmerized but that bright red sun in the middle.  I think I stood there and looked at this painting for 20 minutes.

Materials needed:
-Watercolor paper 11x14 and a smaller piece cut to about 2x14
-Watercolor paint
-Black & Gray paint
-Brushes
-Sponges
-Scissors
-Red felt

Directions:
(This was a 2 day project)
1.  Paint the sunset sky with water color, paint the entire piece of paper
2.  While that is drying on the smaller separate piece of paper paint the gray brick wall.  I gave the students the idea of painting the entire piece gray, then use the other end of the brush to "scratch" in the bricks...worked pretty good I think!

-next day-
1.  Paint with black paint the tree trunks only
2.  Then take a sponge dipped in black paint to make the tree tops.
3.  Glue the brick all at the bottom
4.  Cut out a circle out of the red felt then glue it in the middle.

I heart Jim Dine

Jim Dine
American artist, liked to use familiar objects in his work, like hearts!  I thought this would be a great artist to talk about around Valentines Day! 


Materials needed:
-Black construction paper
-Pink and White crayons
-Watercolor paper
-Watercolor paint in red, orange, purple
-Glue
-Scissors

Directions:
1.  First have the kids fill up their entire sheet of black paper with rows of little x's and o's
2.  Next have them fold a piece of watercolor paper and draw half of a heart, then cut it out.  I did a demo then step by step we drew the heart then cut.  You could also opt to use a template.
3.  Using watercolors, paint the entire heart
4.  Glue heart to black paper

What a sweet piece of artwork!  Just in time for Valentines Day!  Would make a great gift!

Monet's Waterlillies

Inspired by Monet's Waterlillies paintings, we wanted to create our own!

Materials needed:

-Heavy weight water color paper

-Tempera paint, only blues, greens, and white for mixing

-Paint brushes

-Green construction paper

-Tissue paper

-Pencils

-Glue

Directions:

1.  Show examples of Monet's Waterlillies.  Talk about the softness of the paintings, soft edges, soft colors.

2.  Have the students paint the water first.  Encourage color mixing; shades of blues, greens.

3.  While the paper is drying, have students draw and cut out 3 lily pads.  You can offer them a template to trace, if needed. 

4.  For the lily pad flowers, have little scraps of tissue paper that students can wrap around the eraser end of a pencil, dip in a little glue and then stick it to the middle of the lily pad.   A few tissue paper flowers per lily pad is perfect.

5.  Once painting is dry, then glue the lily pads to the painting and voila!   A mini-masterpiece!

Hundertwasser's Neigborhood

This great idea I got from -
http://mrspicassosartroom.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the idea!  It turned out great!

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was an Austrian painter and architect.  He was influenced by Kilmt, Gaudi, nature, spirals, metals and colors!  

Chicago has so many awesome neighborhoods and we have students from all over the city.  This was a fun project for the kids and the parents LOVED it too!  I encouraged them to draw specific buildings near them, include Lake Michigan, playgrounds, their school, and each drawing featured their home, whether it's a house or an apartment building or a high-rise, in the middle.

Dubuffet - Art Brut Cow

Jean Dubuffet is a French painter and sculpture.
1901-1985
He has a very cool sculpture right here in Chicago!

His paintings have an interesting TEXTURE.  He would often take sand, tar and straw and mix it in the paint!
This project is based on his "The Cow with a Subtile Nose" 1954

I snagged this great lesson idea from Art Projects for Kids and I wanted to share our result!
http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/2010/07/dubuffet-cow-painting.html

Material Needed:
- White drawing paper
- Pencils
- Black Sharpie
- Crayons (white, yellow, orange, brown)
- Black Watercolor paint
- Paintbrushes

Directions:
1.  We drew the cow, in pencil, as a group, step by step, breaking it down to basic shapes.  (Follow the Art Projects for Kids link to an example)
2.  Trace the pencil lines with a black Sharpie
3.  Color the cow, pressing pretty hard with crayons (avoid using dark colored crayons)
4.  Background is colored green
5.  Have the students crumple up their drawing 3 or 4 times.  Make sure they crumple it up real good!  The kids always get a kick out the this part!
6.  Uncrumple the drawing and paint over the entire thing with black water color paint and let dry.

Get Smart, Make Art!

In one of my searches for inspiration online I came across an American painter and ceramic artist named Fred Babb.  He believed art is supposed to be cheerful and bright.  He encouraged unbridled creativity and unfiltered self-expression.  His art always had a message.

"It flows because it is the natural expression of who you are.  If what you makes happens to please someone else, that's great.  But always make art to please yourself first."

Well I wanted the kids to understand his messages.  Some kids, when they get a certain age can be overly concerned with doing it right, staying in the lines, not "messing up".  I cringe a little every time a student says, "I messed up."  Partially because art supplies are costly and I can't give everyone a new piece of paper every time they "mess up" but mostly because I believe THERE ARE NO MISTAKES IN ART...sometimes things don't go according to plan, sometimes there are happy accidents, sometimes things work, and sometimes they don't but no matter what, just go with it.   Just the act of making art can be a wonderful time of expression and exploration.

So, here is what we painted, just using Tempera paints, inspired by Fred Babb...

Op Art Paper Weaving

Op Art - meaning Optical Art
The idea is when the viewer looks at this art it almost seems like the piece is moving or vibrating.  There can be patterns, hidden images and lines that look like they are warping, bending or swelling.  Kinda makes you dizzy right?

Famous Op Artists are Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely

I was thinking about how I could recreate Bridget Riley's "Movement in Squares" with my kids.  The idea of drawing, coloring and painting the very precise lines seemed a little hard, then I thought of paper weaving and it came out great!

Materials needed:
- Extra large construction paper in Black and White
- A big paper cutter is great if you have one!
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencils
- Glue

Ahead of time, cut the white paper into 3 or 4 different sized strips

Directions: (Picture tutorial coming soon!)
1.  Fold the big black piece of paper in half.
2.  Take the ruler and trace it across the open ended side of the paper
3.  Then use the ruler to trace vertical lines from the top line you just drew all the way down to the bottom folded edge
4.  Cut the lines you just drew
5.  Open it up and start arranging your white strips into piles by their size.
6.  The idea is to start weaving the white strips in, varying the size of the strips to mimic Riley's painting.
7.  Push the strips tight together and once they are all in and you are happy with the way it looks, glue the edges down to the black paper.

Van Gogh Sunflowers

April showers bring May flowers!
And sunflowers were on sale at Trader Joes!

Many artists used sunflowers in their work.  I showed the kids 2 examples, Van Gogh and Diego Rivera.

Materials needed:
- Pencils
- Oil Pastels
- Vase full of real sunflowers!
- 11x14 brightly colored construction paper

Directions:
1.  First talk about the basic shape of a flower.  We practiced drawing flower middles and flower petals on scrap paper.  We examined the shape and color of the sunflower petals...long and skinny with pointy tips as opposed to wide and round.
2.  Look at the example of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting, note that the flowers are together in a vase, on a table, now look at the vase on your table, tell the kids that we will draw what we see on our table.
3.  Start by lightly sketching the flower middles, petals, stems and vase.
4.  Add color with oil pastels.
5.  Don't forget to draw the table line.

I helped the littler ones with the basic flower shape.  I would draw 2-3 petals around a flower middle and have them finish drawing the petals, going all the way around.  Then I would draw one side of the vase and have them draw a mirror image on the other side finishing the vase shape.

Everyone's sunflowers were so bright, happy and colorful!  I sent each kid home with their own real sunflower.

Georgia O'Keefe's flowers

Georgia O'Keefe
American
1887-1986

Mainly known for paintings of flowers, rocks, shells and landscapes.  She often transformed her subjects into powerful ABSTRACT images.

She uses bold colors in her often huge paintings.  She tends to concentrated on just the little details, like the inside of the flower or just the petals.

"Filling a space in a beautiful way.  That is what art means to me."
-Georgia O'Keefe

Materials needed:
- Large watercolor paper
- Examples of Georgia O'Keefe's work
- Pencils
- Watercolor paints (or Tempera or acrylic paint if you prefer)
- Brushes
- Fresh flowers or photos of flowers (optional)
- Magnifying glasses (optional)

Directions:
1.  This part is optional, but I brought in an old calendar that had wonderful photographs of flowers.  The kids took magnifying glasses and we studying the photos, concentrating on the details.  We talked about how O'Keefe painted her flowers, up close and almost abstract.
2.  We started by lighting drawing in pencil our flowers shapes, stress the importance of really filling up the page, don't be afraid to let the petal "fall off the page", remind them that we are trying to draw a flower as if we were looking at it through our magnifying glass.
3.  Once they are happy with their sketch, add color!  Try to not leave any white space on your paper.

Rothko

Mark Rothko
1903-1970
Born in Latvia!  My parents are from Latvia so I get very excited when I hear about any fellow Latvians making contributions to the world!

Rothko went to Yale University thinking he wold become an engineer or attorney.  He eventually moved to NYC and began taking art classes.  He fell in love with painting.
He thought simple shapes were the best for showing feelings.  The large scale of his paintings are intended to pull you in and make you FEEL the color and emotion that is in front of you.  He wanted you to stand real close to them and be consumed by the feelings.

He said "...You paint a larger picture, you are in it."

What feelings do you think this student artist was having?

Magritte's Eye

Rene Magritte
(1898-1967)
Belgian

Magritte believed that all things are mysterious.  He took the ordinary and made them not-so-ordinary.  His paintings were unusual and sometimes strange.  He loved to paint right after having a bizarre dream! 


We had a blast sharing stories of some of the weird dreams we have had while we worked on this project.

Inspired by "The False Mirror", painted in 1928, this lesson was taken from Art Projects for Kids blog.

Here are our results!

POP ART with Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol
(1928-1987)

Warhol was an American painter, printmaker and filmmaker.  He was a key figure in the POP Art movement which began in the 1950's.  POP Art explores themes and ideas from popular culture. 

Warhol created many of his pieces using a silkscreen process.  This project is an adaptation of that process inspired by his images of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Jackie O. 

BEFOREHAND - take a digital photo of each child.  Using Photoshop or any other similar software turn the photo Grayscale and then increase the contrast making the image purely black and white, no grays.

Materials:
- 8 copies of a black and white photo of each child (on plain copy paper is fine)
- Watercolor paints
- Gluesticks
- 16x20 Black contruction paper
- Examples of Andy Warhol's paintings

Directions:
1.  Each child will get all 8 copies of a photo of themselves that they will paint with watercolor.  Emphasize that each one should be different, altering the colors and/or color placement.  Refer to the examples of Warhol's paintings.
2.  Glue each image next to one another into a grid like pattern (4 on the top, 4 on the bottom) onto the big black construction paper.

Van Gogh Starry Night Crayon Resist

Van Gogh loved bright, contrasting colors.  His favorite color was yellow.  

Materials needed:

- Example of the "Starry Night" painting

- Yellow, white and silver crayons

- Black crayon for the cyprus tree

- Watercolor paint (blues and greens)

- Watercolor paper

- Brushes

Directions:

1.  Color with crayon the stars, moon and swirls with the yellow, white and silver crayons.  PRESS HARD!

2.  Color the cyprus tree it the foreground with black.  Kids may also want to draw in the village.

3.  Paint a wash of watercolor over the entire picture.

Claude Monet Sponge Painting

Claude Monet
French Impressionist painter
1840-1926


Materials -
- White paper
- Various pastel colored paints
- Sponges (I used regular kitchen sponges from the dollar store and cut them into smaller 1"x2" pieces
- Examples of Monet's paintings
- Pencils (optional)
- Real flowers for inspiration (optional)

Directions -
1.  Show examples of Monet's paintings, (Water Lilies, Bridge at Giverny) and discuss his painting style.  Monet's paintings have a softer feel.  The paintings look fuzzy upclose but you can really tell what the picture is when you hold it farther away.
2.  Demonstrate how to paint using only the sponges, and not dragging the sponge, just "dip and dab" the sponge onto your paper.  (Children may want to sketch their painting in pencil first)
3.  Encourage the children only paint organic shapes and images - flowers, trees, etc.  Talk about how Monet would go outdoors to paint and was very inspired by nature!

"The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration."  - Claude Monet

DaDa project with Mona Lisa!

The Dada art movement only had one rule - Never follow any rules!
Marcel Duchamp is one of the most famous Dada artists.
He asks the question - What is ART?  He hoped to challenge people's perceptions of what art could be.
His famous painting is of Mona Lisa with a moustache.

I thought it would fun to take the infamous painting of Mona Lisa, that kids of all ages will most likely recognize, and see what happens when we give her a new identity.

Materials - 
- Color copies of the Mona Lisa, can be found online
- 8x10 or 11x14 white paper
- Glue sticks
- Pencils, markers or paints - your choice!

Directions -

1.  Each child will get a color copy of the Mona Lisa.  We discuss the original painting first then I begin to talk about DaDa, explaining that there are no rules and show Duchamp's example.  We talk about creating a new Mona Lisa, giving her a new body or new environment...maybe she's a butterfly, maybe a firefighter....whatever their little hearts desire!
2.  The children begin by cutting out Mona Lisa's face, using her hair too is optional.
3.  Each child then glues down her face on their white paper and begins to sketch their idea for the new Mona Lisa
4.  Once their sketch is complete they add color.
Remember - there are no rules...so if they ask, can Mona Lisa have 2 heads instead of one?
You simply say YES!