I am so excited to share our Backyard ART Project with you today!
Have you been inspired so far by the picture books, art project books and Melissa's found art project?!
We certainly have! Not to mention, all of the lovely artists you've been mentioning in your comments. (Ps...don't forget, one more day for the giveaway!)
We have also been quite inspired by our recent trip to the art museum! It was so hard to for us to decide just who we wanted to paint like and what kind of art we wanted to do.
So, to get our BAC project started we first headed to our nearby art supply store and wandered around...We brought home a little bit of everything. New watercolors, a new pad of art paper, soft pastels, and more.
But, if we thought the art supply store was going to help us make a decision, it didn't! HA! In fact, it made us want to try them all out. Oh, how wonderful new supplies are, right?
But, we finally did make a decision. Pointillism.
After we saw the painting Seascape at Port en Bessin Normandy, by Georges Seurat at the museum we were amazed by those tiny dots...
And how they all come together and somehow, when you take a step back...they turn into a painting!
Very cool!
So, we thought we'd give it a try as well.
I started out drawing two simple picture outlines on a piece of paper. One a sailboat in the ocean and a sun, the other, a tree base, hills, and a barn. I set out some crayola washable paints (which we always have around) along with a little cup filled with q-tips and had Violet and Henry dot, dot, dot to fill in the outlines.
We noted that pointillism takes a lot longer than painting with a brush.
Henry, used his q-tip more like a paint brush. Dotting did not interest him much (he's three, he has his own ideas). But he surprised me by really getting into it...
and then he veered out of the lines a bit...
To make more sailboats...
And, in the end, he had an entire "sailboat family"...
After his sailboat family he continued to use the q-tips to paint, but went much more abstract out on his own...
This is our family...
Violet, our "resident artist", was more deliberate with her dots...
And we have the close up shot...
And then the step back to take in the whole painting...
They both did such an amazing job! I love how each of the paintings turned out. And, especially how each artist's paintings turned out differently despite using a similar approach. Just like it is in the real world!
This was such a fun experiment. And, it kept them occupied and happy for nearly two hours! But, I must admit, that those two hours were not only spent on pointillism...Because, you see, we didn't actually settle on one art project. We were also inspired by a few other pieces of art/artists that we saw on our trip to the museum...
Degas with soft pastels and learning about blending of colors. Louise Bourgeois and sculpture where we used modeling clay and pipe cleaners to make our own "Spider". And Monet in which we used craypas, oil pastels, instead of oil paints and Violet remarked that she was particularly proud of the way her weeping willow tree turned out.
And so, we ended up having our own mini camp one day! The kids loved the process so much. They enjoyed the different mediums. And the end results are beautiful! I think we might just need to have an art show at the end of the summer after all!
One last thing I'd like to note before ending today...One of my favorite things about having the kids paint, or bringing out the art supplies is to not only see their creativity, but also to hear it. I often overhear them telling stories or talking about their paintings as it is unfolding. Much like the story, I suspect, is unfolding within an artist's mind as he or she creates!
I hope you've been inspired by our art today. On Wednesday we catch up with Danielle and Andrea from Crafting Connections.
Oh and don’t forget to join the flickr group and check out the Pinterest board to follow all things backyard art camp! We are so eager to see the projects happening in your backyard. There might even be a giveaway for everyone who shares their projects with us. Wink.
- danielle and andrea from crafting connections
- deborah from my life at playtime
- stephanie from the crafty kitty
- miranda from miranda makes
- dawn suzette from simple things notebook
- stephinie from gypsy forest
- courtney from mon petit lyons
- carla from small + friendly
- sanae from sanae ishdia
- jennet from feathered nest studio
- tara from girl like the sea
Have a great day!
