Art

Since my last post, we’ve had enough rain to cause a power outage and we’ve enjoyed a cozy 3 day weekend to miss two Mondays of Art!!! Gasp! Not to mention we have had art class in the Tile room the past two weeks! As always, we make good use of our time and can make any space a good space to create! 

Hints of spring time are here! On cool colored watercolor paper, the 2nd graders created abstract images of plum blossom branches blooming with the first blossoms of the season. These creations were made with Sumi-e ink blown through straws. Once dried they were mounted on construction paper, making lovely book marks or seasonal art for your refrigerator.

The kids spent a class creating their own stencils out of cardstock and used chalk to rub on the edges. They layered the shapes and colors and enjoying using their fingers to create sweet tones.  

Since we’ve been in the Tile room during circus rehearsal/performance weeks, We have been enjoying an Intro to Sumi-e painting, the 2000 year old art form of Japanese brush strokes, deeply rooted in Zen Buddhism. I thought the kids could enjoy a meditative art project. First we started with making an accordion book out of brown parchment paper. We create pages by gluing squares of construction paper to establish where their paintings will be displayed. With only black ink,a brush,  paper and the “grey wash” they created little individual paintings of landscapes, plantlife, pandas and pigs, beautifully and with graceful simplicity. Last step will be creating their personal “Hanko Stamp”....I hope to do that next week! 

Uncut pages of Sumi-e paintings

Katha’s painting she completed as she waited for her pages to dry.