Painting Flowers Like Georgia O'Keeffe

Bear Paw Studio - Betsy Bear Creations

Art Mini-Camp - June 4 - 7, 2012

painting by Cinnamon, 10.5 yrs

I'm happy to have six wonderful young artists in my first art mini-camp this week, and the fun has already started!  First the studio had to be reconfigured and materials organized so that we could work easily together.

The camp includes all the art materials and a light snack each day.  

Today we had strawberries, nectarines, animal crackers, and a juice drink.  That should give us plenty of energy to learn and paint!

Our schedule and sample wall shows that we will study Georgia O'Keeffe on Monday, using tempera paints to make "Ginormous Fowers" in her large, bold style.  Tuesday we will learn about Andy Warhol and the pop art movement.  Our project will be some "Popping Art" designs done with marker in four different colors schemes.

Wednesday we will use chalk pastels to do our self-portraits in Pablo Picasso's cubist style.  We'll have fun looking at some of his other portraits, admiring his unique art style of using two different perspectives at once.  Thursday will be focused on Vincent Van Gogh and his art.  We'll use oil pastels to make our very own "Starry Night" painting.  Maybe it will be worth millions someday too.

And, the painting fun begins!

Cinammon, 10.5 yrs

Emma, 7 yrs

Kaylee, 8 yrs

Melody, 8 yrs

Gretchen, 8 yrs

Hailey, 8 yrs

And all the artists and flowers together make a beautiful bouquet!

Here's the second batch of flowers we painted, to refine our styles a bit more.  They turned out fantastic, and Georgia O'Keeffe would be proud, I'm very sure, of these young artists!

Emma

Gretchen

Hailey

Kaylee

Melody

Cinammon

We'll be back soon with another report on our next lesson!  Please check back to see what we've accomplished.

Betsy

Chalk Flowers: The Smearing Truth

The snow has gone and mud is here, but flowers won't be out for a few weeks yet in North Pole. During this drab time of year, we just have to get down and dirty and smear a few of our own flowers.  Surprisingly, this rather messy, fingers-in-the-chalk method results in a delicate and lovely painting.

For inspiration, we looked at paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe, who captured the beautiful forms and intense colors of flowers in her work.

Red Poppy, by Georgia O'Keeffe

To start, we tore some paper to make an oval shaped stencil, chalked the outside edges,

placed the chalked stencil over the paper, and smeared the chalk into the center with our fingers.

Viola!  A bloom appeared.

After doing several blooms we tore a vase shape, chalked those edges, and smeared more chalk to make a vase on the paper.

Next, we added a few stems,

and leaves to make a nice composition.

To finish up, a coating of fixative was sprayed on the painting to keep the chalk from smearing more, and a backing paper was added.

Our artists have smeared up some beautiful paintings to be proud of:

Amy

Gretchen

Hailey

Madyson

Melody

Next week, our final lesson, will be a barrel of fun!  Stay tuned for more details, coming soon.