Stones and Shells - still life by Maddie

Maddie has a distinct style --- strong, purposeful lines and bold colour.  Presented with some gravel and sea shells, she immediately created a still life arrangement and got down to painting, never stopping until she was finished.   Notice how she portrays gravel --- tiny spots of colour densely clustered in the center around the shells, becoming gradually larger and farther apart toward the edges of her paper.

Mini Daffodils -still life by Niah (grade 6)

Niah has remarkable "colour sense"!  Look at the way she places her bright yellow blooms against a vivid blue background, drawing immediate attention to her focal point.  She doesn't stop there either --- note the wrapping on the flower pot --- First she applies bright red to the top of the  wrapping, then she repeats the same colour on the table below, pulling the viewer's eye down and around her painting.   I also really like the shadow above and below the ribbon.   Nice work!

Sea Shells and Water - Still life - Mixed media - by Taylor (grade 6)

Taylor arranged this little scene of sand, gravel and sea shells on her drawing board, and then, viewing it through a picture frame, began to draw.  Done in pastel and watercolour, I particularly like the way she  conveys a sense of water shifting over and and around the shells, as though the viewer is right there with toes in the sand, looking down.  Holiday anyone?   

Strawberries - Still life by Ria

As this little piece demonstrates, a good painting does not require exotic subject matter; some of the best art centers on everyday subjects.   At first glance, a plastic box of strawberries on a white plastic table may seem rather uninspiring.  However, by angling the box so that it lies diagonal to her frame, and paying attention to the contours of clear plastic against the white background, Ria turns a seemingly  mundane subject into an interesting study.  And just look at those berries!  Doesn't this picture make you want to go out and buy a box?

Onions, garlic & fruit - still life by Ria (Cropped Version)

Would you believe that at one point Ria considered this beautiful little painting a failure?  While adding her finishing touches, she inadvertently applied a colour she didn't want just under the bowl.  The more she tried to adjust it, the muddier it became, until she finally declared the whole thing a loss and cast it aside. Months later, she rediscovered it and we looked at it again together.   The first thing that that hit me was how effectively she conveys texture in this picture --- her fruit appears positively succulent, the onions smooth and tender, the garlic,  crisp and papery.  The areas in light are well modelled and thrown into relief by the areas in shadow.  And the colours are clear and transparent --- except, Ria lamented, for that muddy area below the bowl.   And that area, she felt, basically ruined the picture.   Well, I said, why don't you crop it?   You could cut off  the bottom of the page, removing the base of the bowl along with the offending smudge below.  If you do this, you might want to balance it by cropping the right side of the paper as well.  The result will be a closer view of the subject (see  the picture above) but as a  composition, I think it works very well.   Have a look and tell us, what do you think?

Plush Turtle - Still life by Tess (grade 4)

When I mentioned to students that I would like them to create a still life arrangement of their own, Tess knew exactly what she wanted to do.  As luck would have it, she had brought a beautiful plush turtle to school that day;  after placing a sea shell beside it, she was soon busily drawing.  Notice how effectively she captured the plush texture of her subject!  When I asked Tess what she planned to do for her background, she told me the turtle would be pictured swimming free in the ocean --- hence the watery blue environment.  There is a real feeling of happiness in this picture.

Sea Shells and Gravel by Niah (grade 6)

Niah also created a still life arrangement this week out of sea shells and gravel  and then drew it looking through a picture frame.   I love her treatment of the stones, rendered in pale yellows, golds, browns and blacks.  Niah has a wonderful sense of colour, and decided take a little artistic licence with the colour of her shells, which in reality were rather bleached and faded.   Accordingly,  she painted  the one on the right, a bright blue, and made several others a pale pink ---  definitely an improvement! 

Still life arrangement - work in progress - Chloe (grade4)

Chloe created her still life out of a number of  items around her --- an apple, a ruler, a stapler and eraser.  I particularly like her treatment of the apple, which she rendered in a loose impressionistic style --- that is, until hunger overcame her and she ate it up!   No matter, we'll bring another apple next session!   The addition of a backgroundwill  unify the various elements of this picture, bringing the whole thing together.  Nice work Chloe!

Birds - Watercolours by Ria

Ria's bird studies, taken from magazine photos (Birds and Blooms) and cropped to her liking, reveal a keen awareness of proportion and anatomical detail.   Yet, for all her attention to detail, these compostions avoid the common pitfall of appearing overworked or "busy".    Notice how she keeps her colours clear and her backgrounds relatively simple and unified --- not an easy fete!  There is a lovely airiness to these little pictures; I'm not sure which one I like best --- I wonder, what do you think? 

Finch - by Ria

chickadee by Ria

Seagull - by Ria

Robin by Ria

Squirrel - Acryilic painting in progress - by Katherine (grade 9)

Some people love the lightness and transparency of watercolour, others prefer the heavier, opaque qualities of acrylic and oil.  It's all a matter of personal taste, and Katherine, leaning toward the latter group, has decided to paint her squirrel with acrylics.  She's made a great start here, blocking in her background with solid colour and moving carefully around the edges of her center of interest, bringing it into focus even before it is painted.   Even at this early stage, there's a nice feeling of unity to this picture.  Looks promising!   

Katherine (grade 9) "Drawing and Quartering"

Here we see Katherine using a photo from a wildlife magazine as she sketches a squirrel.  To aid the process, she has placed a transparent sheet of  plastic over her image and drawn horizontal and vertical lines on it, dividing the image into quarters.   She has likewise divided her drawing paper with light pencil lines.   Quartering an image this way can make it easier to determine the position, size and relationships between various elements in the picture.  As Katherine is already proficient at drawing, I am certain she would have produced a very good rendition of a squirrel with or without this exercise.  However, she  claims it made the process easier and faster, and within a short time she had a remarkably accurate sketch, ready to paint!  

Cardinal -Watercolour by Clara (grade 2)

Clara drew her cardinal using a reference photo, and it's clear she has a very good eye for proportion and detail.  She also has a real feel for watercolour --- note the exceptional delicacy of her background wash and blossoms, not to mention the little red bird!  Lovely work, Clara! 

Maddie - (grade 2) two paintings

Maddie doesn't fool around ---Give her some space and a few art supplies, and she gets right down to business!  Here, you can see she's  been drawing as well as experimenting with washes of colour.     I find the composition on the left particularly interesting from a creative standpoint:  Using a reference picture,  Maddie began by drawing a rot iron fence in the foreground.  She then disgarded her reference photo and began  working purely  from her imagination, creating         a complex background of buildings and sky!  Great work!

Cat by Tess (grade 4)

Tess has a great sense of colour and design, as illustrated by this striking composition in bright orange, blue and black (yes, black can be bright!)  I love the big, bold shapes that go past the edges of her paper --- very nice work, Tess! 

Cat - watercolour by Julia

Love this cat, Julia! 

Julia's 2 birds - finished!

These two birds look great in their black makeup, Julia!

Julia putting finishing touches on 2 birds

Julia's butterfly, ready to paint

Julia took her time carefully drawing this butterfly  using a photo from a wildlife calendar.

Penguins - work in progress by Katherine

Although this painting appears to be done in water colour, Katherine is actually using acrylics thinned with warter.   She  with began with a simple pencil sketch of the iceberg and penguins.  Then, using a square brush, she applied water to her background area,  followed by a wash of ultramarine blue.  Note the swirls light and dark blue where the paint spread across the damp surface of her paper.  This effect was partly achieved by picking up the drawing board (to which her paper was taped) and  tipping it this way and that so that the paint flowed in interesting patterns.
When her background was dry, she dampened the ice berg, and applied a touch of yellow and blue to capture the faint greenish tint of the ice.  Now only the penguins await her finishing touch --- they'll get their little black jackets next time!.  Looks promising, Katherine!

Lily - water colour by Julia

Great Lily, Julia!

Still life studies in water colour - by Julia

I  like the loose, relaxed style of these little studies.   Julia painted them fairly quickly, using a limited pallet of only three or fours colours for each.  Luscious looking fruit, too! 

Flowers and Butterfly - by Leah (grade 5)

Leah spent several  classes working on this piece, and I think it's safe to say her efforts paid off!  This is a lovely, delicate drawing with gorgeous colour.  I also like the way she balances the positive shapes of the flower and butterfly with the negative shapes of her background.  Take a look at those background shapes, for example, the space enclosed between  the flower stem on the left and the flower petals on the right, or the three spaces between the petals in the lower right hand corner.  Each space forms an interesting abstract shape, adding interest  to the overall composition.  

Bison at Sunset by Chloe (grade 4)

Emboldened by her success painting seals and ice, Chloe now moves on to bisons and sunsets.  For this picture, she sketched the bison and land in pencil.  She then went to work on the sky, using a square brush to wet the entire area with water. Then starting at the top of her page, she applied a wash of crimson, moving her brush horizontally, and gradually working down.  Because the paint was wet and the paper was wet, much of the colour moved on it's own; near the middle and bottom of her sky, she added some yellow and orange as well.  Next, she added some purple and blue to the top, thereby deepening the colour to create the feeling of oncoming night.  Once satisfied with her sky, she let it dry before applying black to the bison and land.   Great job, Chloe!

Seals on ice - by Chloe (grade 4)

Chloe decided to try water colour for this picture of two seals. After drawing her animals, she used a large brush to cover her background with water, taking care to  go around the seals so that they would remain dry.   She then mixed a puddle of ice blue colour, applied it to the wet paper, letting the wet paint roll around and spread out.  When satisfied with her background, she let it dry before moving on to paint the seals.  I think she effectively captured frozen landscape these two little guys inhabit!

Arabian horse - pastel - by Guin (grade 5)

Would anyone guess that Guin knows and loves horses?  Having meticulously worked out her  plan (see previous post), she finishes up with colour.  This is a very nice portrait on several levels --- note how her composition comprises 3 main shapes  ---  the light, positive shape of the horse's head and neck in the middle,  the darker green shape of the stable door to the left and bottom, and the black negative space to the top and right.  There's a  unity to these shapes,  like the pieces of a puzzle.    As well, she uses subtle colour on the white horse to convey the surface contours on its head and neck.  She also captures the lovely soft expression of the animal's eye.

Horse - work in progress by Guin

Guin kindly provided us with some photo references of horses, and selected one for her pastel drawing.  Here you can see she has blocked out her drawing, taking care to get the general proportions accurate.  Great start!

Blue Jay in pastel - by Taylor (grade 6)

Taylore selected the reference photo for this one from a stack of calender pictures, got out her pastels, a piece of blue construction paper and began to draw.  She worked swiftly and confidently in the way of someone who knows exactly where they are going.  Note the strong sure lines she uses to convey the pine needles and her creative and very convincing use of light and dark on the branch to convey the rough texture of bark!

Pastel Rabbits - Tess

Love these bunnies in clover!

Chipmunk - pastel drawing by Niah

Great use of colour in the background leaves!

Elephants by Niah (grade 5)

Niah's first picture in pastel shows her good eye for proportion and a real flair for colour!  In her original reference photo, two grey elephants stood against a background of faded greys, ochers and browns.  Such lack of  contrast and colour can add up to a rather dull painting.   In response to this problem, Niah positioned some dark vegetation next to the light coloured animals.  She then filled her background with a combination of  warm yellow and orange, which contrasts nicely with the pale tones of the elephants,  and captures the feeling of intense sunlight and  heat.   Nice use of cool tones in the shadow areas too!    

Chloe`s Muskrat

Chloe (in grade four) did a muskrat for her first picture.  Using a reference photo and working with oil pastels on coloured paper,  she produced this remarkably delicate drawing.  I particularly like the way she captured the reflections in the water. 

Martin - Pastel by Tess (grade 4)

Tess used a photo from a wildlife calander as her reference when drawing a martin on orange construction paper.   Rendered in oil pastels, this is her first drawing with our group, and it demonstrates her good eye for proportion!  I also like the way she caught the expression of the animal`s face and filled her frame with colour!

Maddie's Peacock

Maddie, aged 8, uses a reference photo to draw a peacock.   This rendition is done in oil pastel on  black construction paper.  Maddie is a real dynamo with pastel; I am impressed by how quickly and confidently she draws, and her choice of strong, vibrant colour in her work.  Great job!

Julia's two birds --- Painted!

Having completed her drawing, Julia is ready to paint.  She begins by wetting her background with water and adding a wash of blue.  She then gives the two birds a wash of yellow and adds a touch of colour to the eyes.  She says the black details around the eyes and beak will be next.  Nice work, Julia!

detail of Two Birds - by Julia

Two birds by Julia

Two birds by Julia

A  wildlife calendar provided the inspiration for Julia's bird drawings.  Birds are complex creatures to draw, so in order to simplify the task, we taped her chosen photo onto a drawing board beside a piece of drawing paper.  Then we drew a same size frame on the drawing paper.  Next, we took a large sheet of paper and placed it over the bottom 3/4 of the photo and the drawing paper, so that only the upward pointing beak of the one bird was visable.   This gave Julia an isolated view of the beak, a relatively simple shape.   Holding the "cover paper" in place, she began drawing that shape, taking into account where it was situated on the page, it's length, width, angle, etc.  When finished, she moved the cover sheet down, exposing the head and part of the neck below.  She proceeded to draw that section, continuing gradually down the page, completing section by section, until both birds were completed.   As a beginner, she found the exercise challenging, but I think you'll agree, she did a great job! 

Julia with drawing of a blue jay, copied from a calendar photo