Photo Texture Collage

Magazines with big glossy photos are best for this project. Landscape, travel and food magazines will generally get you the largest and prettiest images.

1. Pass out black construction paper and several magazines for each student. Instruct that they are to cut out as many images of texture as they can (i.e. grass, fabric, water, sky, etc.) Those cuttings will then be turned into a landscape collage.
2. Request that each student start with large squares and rectangles for the buildings, and then cut and glue smaller details such as windows and doors.
3. Lastly, landscaping and sky details may be added. Encourage unusual combinations.

Watercolor Painting at Angel Ministries

Today I traveled with Project Hope Art to Angel Ministries in Jacmel, as we had recently met the founder and were invited to work with 50 of the kids from his school. The age range was wide, maybe 6 to 16, but they all really enjoyed the chance to learn how to draw a parrot and paint it with watercolors. Such beautiful and eager learners! I later learned that many had never had an art lesson before. The things we take for granted...

The young man in the white shirt above is Caleb, the founder of Angel Ministries. He's twenty-four years old.

Textured Watercolor Painting

One of my favorite art books, The Usborne Book of Art Skills by Fiona Watt, has some really amazing watercolor projects, including this one using Saran Wrap. 

1. Dissolve watercolor tablets in water, about one square to 1/2 cup of water ahead of time so that the students can paint with liquid color. Give the students a large piece of watercolor paper (regular paper does not work!) and several cups of watercolor paint. Ask them to paint about 6 large spots that overlap just a bit, but do not go to the edge.

2. While the paint is still wet, cover with a large piece of saran wrap and press down, forming wrinkles - the more the better. Let dry at least an hour or until the paper does not feel wet. Remove the wrap.
3. Talk to the students about contrast, and how the colors currently have some contrast between the wrinkles, but not a lot. Show them how they can increase the contrast by painting the darkest areas again. If they paint carefully around the lightest areas of each color, the contrast is increased and the texture seems to jump off the page.

A Day in Jacmel

Tropical storm Emily delayed our plans by a day, but this morning we were off to visit Creation Foundation, a school that cares for 90 kids in the city of Jacmel. All the kids get 3 meals a day, and are schooled and trained so they can go on to become the next generation of Haitian artists. We did some drawing lessons with them, and got lots of hugs and kisses when we left.
Later we went back to the FOSAJ gallery, and were hosted by the director who wanted an impromptu art exchange with his (older) students. So we learned how to mix clay from scratch for paper mâché molds with his kids, and taught some quick drawing and photography lessons with them. Just another amazing day in Haiti!

Above is just one colorful corner of many at Creation Foundation.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo Mural

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527–1593) was an Italian painter famous for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruit, vegetables, flowers, etc. I colored my very detailed mural to keep the look of the original shown HERE, but you could color this randomly and still clearly see the clever portrait of this woman. 

This template contains 25 pages and measures 40"x 48" when complete. Click HERE to see a preview of the blank template pages. You can purchase my pdf file with instructions and color guide for just $5. Click the “Add to Cart” button to make your payment via Paypal and receive immediate download instructions. Warning: Download links will expire. Always save your pdf files immediately upon purchase.

 

Getting around in Haiti

I love these colorful "Tap Taps" that are one of the main forms of transportation in Haiti. Know why they're named that? Because people crowd on them and slap the metal roof with a "tap tap" when they want to get off. I'm trying to picture how to make these into an art project, of course.

Traveling from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel

Traveling from Port-au-Prince to the northern city of Jacmel is no small feat. It took about four hours of winding up and down the most hairpin road I have ever seen in my life. Why i difn't get seriously car sick, I have no idea. We arrived yesterday afternoon and met our host for the week, David Ames, the founder of "From Gainsville with Love". He took us to the most amazing gallery ever, the FOSAJ. Even with missing walls, it continues to host art shows and dance classes. There was even a class on Color Theory in progress. Tomorrow we will work with about 30 kids from a nearby tent city.

Kid’s Flag Art from San Diego

I adore this flag that comes from Janet, a volunteer art teacher at STEPS (San Diego Center for Children) school. I understand that 10 boys got to choose which media they wanted to use as they filled in this red, white and blue flag mural. The result is a work that has unity of color, but keeps a random quality at the same time. I think what makes it so successful is that each panel is different, but they all look like they were done with great purpose and care. I’m guessing that no one was in a rush to finish, which usually shows in the results. AND I love the large, proud signatures. Congrats boys – keep up the good work!

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Art

Today was a traveling day as we needed to visit a couple of different places that Hope Art connected with during their last trip to Haiti. Our adventure started with 6 people crammed into a small car that stalled at least once before we got out of the hotel driveway. About 1 mile later on a very narrow busy street we had a flat tire. So while the driver set out on foot to get a new one, we decided to make use of the time and install two large black and white photo prints we had made of kids from one of the orphanages. The original plan was to put them up at another location, but when an hour of your day is suddenly taken captive, it pays to improvise. So with some wheat paste and brushes, Jenni and Mimi got to work attaching our art to an abandoned gate. It was already getting some attention while we were there, I hope that grows with each day. The idea came from an organization called "Inside Out", which is committed to literally putting faces of its people, in its communities, all around the world.

This is Mimi with a little girl, Carolina, who has no family, has never been to school, and has been on oxygen in a hospital for 3 months. After Mimi drew hearts and stars all over her, Carolina in turn wrote on her hand the only two letters she knew, an S and a T, I think.

Art Journal Fireworks Drawing

This is an exercise in radial drawing, but it makes a nice fireworks image when you fill up the page. It would look great on black paper too.

1. You can use either a journal page or similar 6" x 9" drawing paper. Ask the students to place about 5 dots random dots on the page with a crayon or pencil crayon. Starting with one dot, they are to draw a squiggle lines around it which radiate outwards. It should look like a small flower.
2. Next they switch colors and draw a squiggle band around that center flower. They repeat this process until they have their flower / firework fairly large. At some point they are to stop and start on the next dot, continuing until they bump into each other. This is repeated with all the dots until the shapes overlap each other and fill up the page.

CA Visual Art Standard: Creative Expression, Grade Two
2.5 Use bilateral or radial symmetry to create visual balance.

Weaving Art with Haiti kids

Today our HOPE Art team went back to Nadine's Orphanage, down the street from our hotel. We got permission to work with the kids in our own courtyard, so we brought them back to make some art in a nice, cool location. I showed them how to pull threads from swatches of burlap and sew colorful thread back in. With our music box playing in the background, breezes flowing and a healthy snack in their belly, I think we gave these sweet kids a break from their dark and crowded lives. Actually, I know we did because at least a couple were really sad when they had to go home.

Art Trading Cards

Art Trading Cards, also known as ATC's, have been popping up everywhere as a means to create small-scale art that can easily be collected and traded.

1. Purchase many packets of 2.75" x 3.75" plastic trading card sleeves for each student. They generally cost just a penny each. Provide lots of construction paper that is already cut the same measurements.
2. Provide art symbol ideas for the particular country the students are to cover. This posted example is for Mexico, so the student drew cactus and other Mexican imagery. Good colored pencils are the best media for this as they are bright and allow for detail. 3. Have the students make two cards for each sleeve, one with an image, and one written with the country's name. Both can be placed in the sleeve, back sides together, to make a double-sided card.