Melted Bead Suncatchers in Embroidery Hoops

Unfortunately we didn't have time to do much art and craft around the house these holidays.  The one thing we did (apart from art in my holiday workshops) was produce some new melted bead sun catchers.

I've been wanting to do more of these ever since Jean over at The Artful Parent posted about her experiments with them.  I just love her ideas and the way she experiments,  it reminds me of myself and my constant need to experiment and try new things.  Thanks Jean!

These turned out really well.  We made the large embroidery hoop ones and some on bent wire.  There will definitely be a lot more experimenting going on in our household with these fun ideas...

Cheers
Fiona

Starry Night Owls and Rockets

These were produced as part of my Painting to Music workshop. I altered my rocket lesson (click here for that post) to include owls as well (for the girls who were not so keen on drawing rockets). Great work kids!

Cheers
Fiona

Splatter, bubble and ice painting workshop

It was forecast for 44 degrees....should I run the class or not I pondered....

I went and purchased extra water pistols and sprayers, I froze our fruit for morning tea, put lots of ice in the water and I put on the water sprinkler and hoped for the best.  We survived (some of my plants didn't)!  The children got wet and with all that water pistol and running under the sprinkler action it was definitely an "Action Painting" class.

Our feature artist was Jackson Pollock and we started by watching a short video about his work.  This was followed by some action painting or splatter painting.  Look at some of the great results...

Splatter painting in action

After lots of water play and morning tea we also did some bubble painting and some ice painting.  Lots of fun...

Bubble Painting

Ice Painting

Ice Painting

I have never done ice painting before.  Its really fun and easy.  Simply fill ice cube trays with water, add some food colouring, pop in some pop sticks and freeze.  Once frozen, pop out of trays,  place on a plate and paint away.  The results are very much like watercolours.  A great activity for a very HOT day.

Click below for previous posts and how to set them up:
splatter painting
bubble painting 

Cheers
Fiona

Chalk pastel Cats and Owls...,.

I had a lovely group of young girls (aged 6&7) here last Wednesday. They put up with the 40 degree heat (we keep cool with water sprayers) and look what they produced!! Cute!

Cheers Fiona 

Watercolour Flowers and Seahorses

Some of the wonderful flowers and seahorses produced in my watercolour class last week. Done by children aged 4 to 10.

 

Cheers Fiona

Ceramic Cupcakes

More beautiful pottery to look at - this time ceramic cupcakes.  They look nearly good enough to eat!

This idea came from the "draw the line at" blog which also has instructions on how to make them.  Thanks Jen! These are lots of fun to make and a lovely piece to put on a shelf to admire or use as a trinket box.

Cheers
Fiona

Mosaic Madness....

Check out some of the wonderful artworks that were produced in my mosaics workshop last week - stunning!  Can you believe the children were aged 5 to 10?

Mosaics ready for grouting session

Cheers
Fiona

Ceramic Leaf Bowls

 In my next few posts I'm going to be a woman of few words and just let the pictures speak for themselves.  That's what great art does - you only need to look at it to appreciate it.

First of all, here are some wonderful Ceramic Leaf Bowls that my students made last year.  They made it home just in time for Christmas.  They are simply brown clay with leaves rolled in, cut to shape (or not) and then left to dry in a bowl to give them some curve.  Glazed with green, red and clear glazes.  For some we wiped off the glaze to just leave it in the veins.  The children selected leaves from our garden.  I love the first picture - that's a cabbage leaf!

Cheers Fiona

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from our family to yours......

May you have a safe, healthy, happy and CREATIVE 2014!

Here is our "Wishing Wall for 2014" (we do this every year) with family and friends.  Make a wish...................I hope it comes true!

I got this idea a few years ago from reading that one of the big cities (London, New York?) did this on a massive scale.  We just use post it notes on our wall.  (warning - we used cheap post it notes this year and they kept falling off!).

Cheers
Fiona