Know-it-all in NJ: Budding Picasso

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Budding Picasso

One semester down, already into the next. I haven't had a chance to write about E's art stuff for awhile because I always want to include pictures. I have so many pictures and they were all unorganized. So I just didn't get to it. But here I am now, to brag about my kid.

It was actually a very long "semester". I remember thinking, when E was really little, that I was getting hosed on tuition costs for classes because they called a semester like ten weeks. This art class started the first week of September and just ended the last week of January. So you're really getting the best bang for your buck. It's the intensity though, of a two hour class, that is what I feel I'm really paying for. You can see it in his projects. He's really learning stuff! It all just gets better and better.

They've been using cray-pas, watercolors, acrylics, clay, pencil. They've been shown different artists work and been asked to recreate it in their own interpretation. They've learned to use space, dimension, and shading. E is excited every week for whatever new thing they're doing. I'm so happy I found this for him. So thank you Jaci, for walking into my store with your flyer over a year ago.

I'm going to show all the weeks I didn't get to write about separately. I'll try to interpret them the best I can but he's the one taking the class.

Clay on Canvas:

First they made some kind of clay figures or object that they want to fit into a scene. Then, they had to paint a scene on a canvas, leaving spaces for their clay figures. When the clay was dry, they painted it, let that dry, then affixed the clay to the canvas. E made some kind of superhero. His own, not a "known" one.

Gingerbread House:

They first had to draw the gingerbread house they wanted to copy. Apparently, a lot of the kids like to trace it from a light box first. They said E likes to just do his stuff free hand. I can appreciate that. He just wants to do his own thing. This was one of his best, and our favorite paintings. They used pencil, cray-pas and then watercolors. His really was spectacular, if I do say so myself.

Penguins

They picked a penguin to copy from the pictures on the wall. This one also came out really well. These were done with acrylic paint I believe.

Cats (inspired by Laurel Birch)

These were interesting. They were to make cats like the Laurel Birch pictures. They were using cray-pas. When I came back I thought E messed his up. There was a giant white rectangle over the whole mid-section and most of his cat's face. Well, of course there was a whole story with it. Basically, the cat was reading a newspaper and hiding as he was watching/keeping an eye on someone. Alrighty! Great imagination and creativity.

What I thought his cat would look like

Paper Mache

They used pictures of Muppets and such as inspiration to make these paper mache puppet heads. These came out so nice. Very creative. E's teacher said he decided on his own to give the nose a hook. I think it looks like Gonzo.

A few of the finished puppets

Valentine's Day Clay

They were making hearts for Valentine's Day made out of clay and what looked like sea glass to me. I saw the original one they were using as a "template". When I came back to pick him up, I asked where his was because all I saw was the original. That one WAS his. He copied it so well, I thought it was the one I saw when I first walked in. I was super impressed. He gave it to me as my Valentine's gift. It was the best gift ever!