You ARE an Artist!
Do you remember lying on your back in the summer grass and staring at the clouds overhead? Do your students do this? Let me share a few ways you can train your students to see nature. When I was growing up, before frantic carpools, piano lessons, sports, dance and a packed schedule year-round, we had endless, hot and humid afternoons to play dress-up and to
In hopes that pastel chalks will be painting a broad swath of color in your lives after Christmas (or any special occasion!), we offer these gift suggestions to be wrapped and waiting for you and your students! Today I will share Great Gifts for Chalk Artists from chalk pastels to paper to storage. Each of these suggestions I have added over years of growing my
Back in the spring I shared an Ultimate List of Favorite Art Resources in my You CAN Be an Artist! 10 day series. Today I am expanding on that list to include more favorites and encouragement for you! (Plus, don’t miss the surprise at the end!) I think this is a fitting conclusion to this 10 day series. And I hope these will spur you
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” ~ Pablo Picasso “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.” ~Vincent Van Gogh These quotes speak to me of freedom. Of permission. And of a child-like joy. These days when I share an
This painting can be done with either pastels or acrylic paints. Our painting comes from a well-loved book by Eric Carle called A House for Hermit Crab. You will need the following colors: red, brown, blue, green, black and yellow. Our hermit needs a house to live in so let’s start there. Take your blue and starting in the center of your paper draw a
“Skumble” is a funny word. It is a made-up word for the way an artist can add texture to a picture. In our video, below, we share how we turned our brown pastel on its side and very lightly and carefully brushed it across the sand color to show the grainy texture of the sandy beach. The key to skumbling is to use a very
Now just go ahead and rub your hands with glee! Here is your chance to really be messy with permission! Painting with pastels is such fun; you are painting with pure paint pigment…and a little goes a long, long way! If you look at the history of pastel painters, you will see that most works are almost impressionistic. That means the finished painting could just
What is fistin’? Some of you may think that I have dug deep into my Southern vernacular, but this is a term that I have coined in teaching pastel art. The fistin’ chalk pastel art technique. Fistin’ Chalk Pastel Art Technique What FISTIN’ is…is balling up your fist, turning your fist down so that your thumb is up in the air and lightly smudging
