I have an artist crush on Carla Sonheim.
I absolutely love her project ideas.
They are warm, inviting and make even the most wary artist feel at ease.
I have presented blob animal projects in the past, inspired by her, with great success to both children and to adults. Everyone has enjoyed doing them and most ask for an encore performance.
So I didn't think twice about signing up for a free "Kids Art Week" online course she organized when I discovered it. http://www.carlasonheim.com/free-kids-online-art-class-6-lessons/
It must of been meant to be as I was just getting ready for the "Magic and Myth"camp and projects that jumpstarted imaginations was just the ticket.
I presented several cubist works by Picasso and together with the kids, we found all the different type eyes, noses and mouths he painted in the works. To say the kids had fun doing this would be an understatement.
Then I told them we were going to play a game and to pick out some of the favorite features they liked from Picasso's work (or come up with some of their own fun facial features inspired by his work) to use while we played.
Then I asked them to draw one eye.
8 year old
"Just one eye? Not two?"
"Can it be any kind of eye"
"Anywhere on the page?"
Sometimes letting go of the norm is hard!
8 year old
After they drew any kind of eye, anywhere on the page, I asked them to turn the paper once.
"What!"
"But what about my picture? My eye will be facing the wrong way"
7 year old
And before they had time to exclaim, "Jeri, you're crazy!" I told them to now draw another eye at least three times the size of the first eye.
And to really make their brains short circuit, I told them it had to be different than the first eye.
8 year old
About now they were looking for the guys with the straight jacket.
In for a penny, in for a pound kids, I asked them to turn the paper again.
We did this several times as they added a nose, an ear, and a tongue.
8 year old
I let them know they could connect parts as we went to start creating an animal. Which some of them did and others having embraced the crazy, just continued to add body parts around the paper willy nilly.
6 year old
Then I asked them to take all the parts and create an animal. And just when they thought I might not be completely certifiable, I told them the ear no longer had to be an ear and a tongue no longer a tongue. In fact, nothing had to be what it was originally drawn to be anymore. They could manipulate the drawing to create the imaginary animal they saw on the paper however they saw fit.
7 year old
When they were happy with their creations and no longer thought I was mad, they went over their pencil marks with a permanent marker.
7 year old
7 year old
I then gave them liquid watercolor to use for painting. Believe it or not, all the kids had the same bright primary colors in red, yellow and blue to create all the work you see here. Isn't it incredible the different colors they can create?
10 year old
10 year old
And if this project wasn't fun enough, I put out salt for them to use with the watercolor. I have never met a child who does not embrace the joy of throwing salt on wet watercolor.
9 year old
8 year old
9 year old
They had so much fun creating animals as crazy as their art instructor. I know I was not the only fan of Carla Sonheim by the end of the day.
9 year old
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