Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

This is a fantastic holiday that embraces everyone's creativity.  My grandson is two and he is just getting the concept of halloween.  The pumpkins were on the counter for a week and we kept telling him on Sunday we would turn them into jack-o-lanterns.  He just didn't get it...in fact he kept calling them apples.

Be safe and enjoy the memories you will be creating tonight!

Happy Birthday NC Wyeth!!

Treasure Island, c1911

Newell Convers Wyeth was born today in 1882.  NC is an American artist and illustrator born in Needham Massachusetts.  He studied with a famous illustrator Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators.  You might not recognize his name but his illustrations are recognizable in great books such as Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe.

Over his lifetime (10/22/82 - 10/19/45) he created over 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books.  NC Wyeth considered himself a "realist" artist.  He wanted his illustrations to be understood quickly.

His mother encouraged his early interest in art.  By the age of 12 he was doing excellent watercolor paintings by the age of twelve.  He went to many art schools to train and grow as an artist.  Wyeth had an outgoing personality and natural talent that made him standout as a student.  He loved great literature, music and drama.  His love of the arts is reflected in his work.

He married Carolyn Bockius in 1908 and raised their family on 18 acres.  His household, with five children, was filled with frequent visitors such as F. Scott Fitgerald and Lillian Gish.

The Boys of King Arthur, c1914

All his children were encouraged to pursue their artistic and scientific pursuits.  His career included illustrations for classic literature such as Robin Hood, The Last of the Mohicans, Rip Van Winkle and The Yearling.  He also did posters, calendars and advertisements for Lucky Strike, Cream of Wheat and Coca-Cola.

Sadly, in 1945 NC Wyeth and his grandson passed away in an accident at a railway crossing near his Chadds Ford home.  At the time of his death, Wyeth was working on an ambitious series of murals for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company depicting the Pilgrims at Plymouth.  His son Adnrew Wyeth and artist John McCoy finished the murals.

Be Your Own Illustrator
Fill in the blank spaces on the poem below and then illustrate your own story.  What is so much fun is to see the many different ways this story can be written plus you will be giving your story vision with your own illustration.  Have fun!

My Invisible Friend

Everyone has an invisible friend, someone to talk to and share special moments with.  But when I see my friend, my friend is not invisible to me.

My friends is as tall as ______________________

When my friend smiles it reminds me of _____________________

Going out to dinner is always fun because our favorite foods are ____________________

Once we climbed a tree and when we looked down we saw________________________

At times we get the giggles.  My laugh is ____________________ but my friend's laugh is ______________________________________.

My friend reminds me of ___________________

If I close my eyes, my friends smells like______________________

Our favorite place to play is _______________________________

At times we get filled with energy.  I like to _____________________ but my friend likes to ___________________________________________.

Have fun with your imagination!!  Draw your friend, bring him, her or it to life through illustration.

Casa Project - Canvas Art

In your casa there is always a need to keep the kiddos entertained.  Canvas items can be found at your local craft store or even at Walmart or Target.  They are pretty inexpensive.  Canvas items are already stretched and attached to a wood frame for easy handling and hanging.  The ready to paint canvases are sold individually or in bundles of four to six.  Pretty much any type of paint can be used on them.  Acrylic paints are the least expensive and are great to have on hand for home projects.

This is my kiddo...21 year-old Alyssa.  She led a group of kids to paint a canvas but she led by example and put together her own masterpiece.  She has loved giraffes all of her life, since her first trip to the zoo.  I have always called my kids monkeys.  I got a kick out of her giraffe with a family of monkeys climbing it.

Project Breakdown:
PLUS:
1) Anyone can do it with a canvas and paint.
2) Captures your child's current interest and thoughts.
3) Super easy to display and show off to others.
4) Your kiddo can be proud over and over again of what they made.

CONS:
1) Can be a little messy.  Be prepared for spillage.
2) If doing it in a group of kiddos if someone is doing the painting easily but another kid is struggling a little, feelings can be hurt.  Be prepared to encourage all paintings and highlight images that are unique and wonderful.

RECOMMENDATIONS:
1) Have the kiddo sign the painting.
2) Write the date and kiddos age on the back of the canvas.
3) Feel free to use the 97 cent paints from Walmart but spend a little bit more to have different size paint brushes.  Using large and narrow ones helps teach the child perspective and makes a big difference in the finished project.

Happy Crafting,
Adriana

Woo-Hoo Post #1...Here We Go

Time flies when you are having fun....the reality of the calendar is that Paper Vineyard will be five years old in January.  One of the original items on my "wish list" for the vision of PV was an art studio for kids.  It has taken a long time to finally get this wish list item on our radar screen.  However, it is absolutely in our sites right now.

Art Bootcamp was held over Chandler's Fall Break and sixteen kids had a fantastic time.  About four of the kids asked me why I called it bootcamp.  Here are my thoughts.  Bootcamp is a place that conjures up images of high energy, vast learning in a short period of time and learning new things about yourself.  Art is for everyone, particularly children.  I love to see them each take a simple art lesson and take it in the direction that their curiosity, interests and imagination takes them.  Here is a taste of what the worked on.

Chloe painted a water color of her friend Lindsay.  Lindsay was standing in the parking lot when she took the picture but Chloe used her imagination and she opted for the background to be sunny and more of a vacation setting.

It took me approximately one day to figure out for a four-day bootcamp I needed to incorporate a Food Art project almost every day.  Cash made a 3-dimensional structure out of marshmallows and pretzel sticks.

 After a discussion on Vincent van Gogh painting images that showed emotion, Ray enjoyed painting a self portrait that captured his humor and as he put it "fun times."

The kiddos ate a piece of fruit and drew the fruit whole, half way eaten and almost all gone.  The task was to practice shading and adding detail highlights to a pencil drawing.  Carter finished his pretty quickly and did a great job.  While others were finishing up he went back to his original whole orange picture and added his own spin and bling to it.  Genius!

Welcome to our Kiddo Art Bootcamp blog.  I hope you choose to follow us or check in for great art ideas for the little hands in your household.