Weekly Tumblr Roundup #1

Since my good friend Marty Davis moved his brushpen blog over to Tumblr, I decided to go ahead and start an account in order to follow along more easily. I'd been avoiding it for quite some time, as I'm not a big fan of collecting, then ditching, several social media obligations.

I actually think it might be a better format for me, but for now, let's put it on a trial basis, while saving this blog for a weekly roundup.

Thursday Art Club: New Chalk Pastels

My original plan for this Thursday was, admittedly, pretty lame. Let's not speak of it.

That's why I love it when little miracles come into the picture. Imagine my surprise on Monday when I discovered that someone had donated a gigantic bin full of chalk pastels!

Thursday Art Club: You Can't Go Wrong with Kittens.

I had some heavy competitors today. The kids got to choose between ball games, a movie, Legos, iPads, and Art. Yet somehow I still got a crowd of fifteen! How did I compete? 

I just told them we were painting a kitten. They just couldn't resist.

Thursday Art Club: It's All in the Details!

Spring Break is over, and Thursday Art Club resumed with a group of eighteen. Today we explored the difference a little extra detail can make!

Thursday Art Club: Adventures in Storyboards

Yesterday's art club was all about my favorite subject: sequential art! The last time we used the blank comic pages, we focused on character & story development. This time I had different parameters: The story/character was totally their choice, but they had to include at least one closeup, one wide shot, and one irregular angle.

Thursday Art Club: Free-for-all Watercolors

"Yay, Miss Emily is letting us paint whatever we want!" 

Translation: Miss Emily completely forgot to plan a project.

Thursday Art Club: Tabletop Drawing

I decided to dig some of my dusty toys out of their box and put them to good use: giving the kids their first experience drawing human (and mutant) figures from a tabletop model.

Thursday Art Club: More fashion!

Thursday Art Club is back in full swing! My average number of kids came crawling back to me when they heard that we would be making fashion design books. After giving them a sufficient guilt trip for ditching me last week, (not really), the fun began.

Thursday Art Club: Ghost Town/Muppets

Today I had a little step-by-step about "drawing light" planned, using colored pencils, chalk, and black construction paper; a repeat project that was fairly successful the first time around.

Thursday Art Club: Happy Valentines Day!

Love and creativity are in the air in Thursday Art Club! Valentine's Day has never been my favorite holiday, but it's fun to celebrate with kids...you know, when it's all about the candy.

I had a pretty flimsy project planned, but I decided instead to improvise. I got some pink, red, and white paper, some scissors and glue, and some coloring stuff. Then I pointed everything out, and gave them free reign. This was a bit of a gamble, because without enough structure to our art time, they can get restless and bored. The result?

Thursday Art Club: Watercolor Fish

Back to basics. With almost every group of kids that have been in my art clubs over the years, there's one activity that they always get excited about: painting.

Photo by Sofia Han

Thursday Art Club: Super Stories!

For art club today, I borrowed the "Mad Libs" method of story writing from the LUX event we were invited to last week. But because my kids are a bit younger, and seem to be partial to fashion design, I altered the project considerably to please the crowd.

Thursday Art Club Returns: Speed Drawing and Sketchbooks

Thursday Art Club is back! Today I decided to challenge the kids a bit. We did an activity called "speed drawing," the result of which was five small sketches, all taking different amounts of time.

Thursday Art Club: Winter Birch Trees

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today I tried (for the first time) a watercolor project that I've seen on the first page many, many times while Google searching for a winter watercolor project for children. It seemed almost cliché after seeing it so often, and in so many variations. But somehow the cold weather just made it suddenly feel so appropriate.

Thursday Art Club: Nighttime Tree Lot

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today we made, more than anything, a giant mess.

Thursday Art Club: Rorschach Art

Every Thursday I have an art club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn a little something every time.

Today we learned how to create a Rorschach (of sorts), which was fun to watch them make, and hilarious to hear them try to say.

Friday Art Club?

No, I'm not dead. This week has been an interesting one to say the least. Even my Thursday Art Club had to be moved to Friday to accommodate the kids' wonky school schedule.

Today we started with simple, expressionless shapes of animals...

Thursday Art Club #3: Beneath the Autumn Tree

Every Thursday I have an Art Club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn something every time.

Today we made a perspective drawing of a tree in the fall, with yellow, orange, and red leaves.

Tree by Amanda, age 8

Thursday Art Club #2: Halloween

Today we're taking a break from doing a "lesson". I knew kids would disappear fast to go trick-or-treating, so we just did a fun seasonal craft: mini jack-o-lantern candle holders!

Thursday Art Club #1

Every Thursday I have an Art Club with a crazy group of about twenty 1st-5th grade kids. It's definitely not an art "class," but I think they learn something every time.

Today we messed around with oil pastels and construction paper, and the kiddos followed along while I talked them through a quick sketch of an owl.