In The Paint

The final week of summer camp has passed; the clean-up is complete and I’ve had a week to relax before I have to think about my adult classes that begin in the fall.
The last week my 8-10 year olds focussed on landscapes. We did painting, printmaking, and photography, and went outside to do some sketching. The kids really focussed on their first painting which was an acrylic on masonite board after Tom Thomson. After the ground was covered with a burnt orange, the kids were restricted to using only a palette knife.
Here are a couple of results:

The next piece that the group did was an acrylic on canvas after artist Dorothy Knowles. I was attempting to get the kids to understand the different paint applications that artists use. While Tom Thomson applied the paint in thick short brush strokes, Dorothy Knowles layers washes.
Here are two of the final pieces:

This week my group of 8 to 10 year olds focussed on sculpture. We used paper clay, papiér maché, and plasticene for various projects. However, my favourite project was making monsters out of air dry clay. The monsters turned out great! Here are some monsters before and after they were painted with acrylic paint:

This past weekend I participated in a local Art In The Park.  It was the first time I have done one of these art shows in a long time and while it was a disappointing weekend (low traffic) I would like to do more in the future. My talented husband built the walls that the paintings are hung on.  They were very sturdy during the windy weekend. Here are some photos of my set-up:

Click on the thumbnails to see the entire photo.

Last week at camp our theme for the 8 to 10 year olds was Urban Art.  The irony of course is that we were in a suburban setting neighboring on conservation land.

For our first project we gave the kids “street names” and they had to create a graffiti tag.  Then they did canvas paintings using these tags.  Here are two examples:

For the next project we created stencils and used fabric spray paint to transfer them onto t-shirts.  Check these out:

And last but not least, we spent a morning doing printmaking.  The first image is my example.  On the right is matte board with foam glued onto it creating the stamp and on the left is the print.  Below are two examples by two different students.  The kids were told to create a robot, monster, or an alien.  At first the girls whined and tried to claim that these were “boy” things, but they got into it pretty quickly.  (The middle one was done by a girl and the bottom one was done by a boy.)

If you have any great ideas on this topic, please share!

This week my students/campers (8-10 yrs old) learned a little about photography. It wasn’t the main focus for the week but part of all the other art that they created. We learned how to use the cameras, about the rule of thirds, and about light. I found that the biggest challenge for them was capturing the focal point in focus. We also manipulated the photos a little bit in iphoto. Here are some results:

About ten years ago I bought my first SLR camera. I had my budget but walked into the camera shop not really knowing what I wanted. I had always used my dad’s fully manual Pentax that I think is older than I am and was very comfortable using it.

I had trouble deciding whether or not to buy an old used camera similar to my dad’s, buy a new one that could switch from automatic to manual, or try out this new digital trend.

I ended up with a new SLR deciding that I was not ready to give in to digital (traditionalist!) and liked that I could use it as a point-and-shoot when I was not in the mood to think about aperture and shutter speed.
For nine years this was my camera and I was happy with it. I took great photos but didn’t use it too often because of the cost of film.

Fast forward to last year. It was time go digital. My husband and I saved up every extra penny, researched cameras, and decided on a Pentax K20D. Before this I had never even owned a cheap point-and-shoot digital camera and I couldn’t figure out why all my photos turned out pinkish or I had trouble with lighting. In general my photos sucked.

I knew that the problem was not my pretty new camera but my fear of all the buttons that I didn’t even know belonged on a camera. So my solution was to take a digital photography course at a nearby college.
Well my last class is next week and I finally feel like I’ve figured out this digital thing. I’ve even improved my Photoshop skills.

I took these photos recently at the Distillery District, a nice area in Toronto with shops and galleries.  Stay tuned for more photos.

My first blog post!

This painting is from a hill by the water in Port-Bruce, Ontario. My DH and I have some friends who bought a house in the area and we were invited last fall for a visit. I took lots of photos but this hill caught my attention.

Port Bruce, Ontartio