I thought the play was phenomenal. Totally worth the trip! And as always– it’s so nice to travel back home to Cleveland!

After the play we headed to The West Side Market  and Ohio City for lunch.

Then we were off to The Great Lakes Science Center

Apparently there are people with a fear of knees. huh–who knew???!!

We did all of this in about 13 hours-including about 5 hrs in the car- start to finish. I’m going to bed now!!!

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Post tags: art, Artist, artist mark, broadway play, Cleveland, cleveland ohio, field trip, great lakes science, great lakes science center, homeschool, mark rothko, Market, Ohio, Play, Playhouse, playhouse theater, science, Theater, tony award, West Side, west side market

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I have been ooohing and aaahhing over Artsyvilles  drunken tiles for a while now. We finally bought some alcohol based inks (adirondack inks) and some 10 cent tiles from Lowe’s and went to town!

We started with  the alocohol blending solution squirted onto the tiles and spread it  around with a toothbrush.

Then we gently dripped small amounts of the colored dyes on to the tiles. As long as the alcohol is wet the dye spreads and runs.

We used straws to blow around some of the colors and q-tips to draw into the colors. If  you add alcohol on top of the dyes it takes the color away.

This was so fun. No two tiles turned out alike. We also learned that you can’t really control the outcome. You think you have it just the way you want it to look and then the dyes just keep spreading and combining into something else. But they all looked really great!

This is the same tile from the first photo–look how it changed.

These dyes are permanent and will stain so prepare accordingly!

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Post tags: adirondack, adirondack inks, alcohol, alocohol, art, class, color, colored dyes, colors, dye, Dyed, tile, Tiles

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Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday to celebrate the dead.

While I was away on vacation another Mom lead our art class at Co op. I left her with printed pictures of sugar skulls and masks created for the holiday to share with the kids. They used acrylic paints to paint the blank masks I bought at Michaels. Then used a hot glue gun to attach fake flowers and ribbons. They came out really great!!

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Post tags: art, art class, day of the dead, day of the dead masks, Dead, dia de los muertos, holiday, mexican holiday, Michaels, sugar, sugar skulls

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I started off this activity with a practice version so kids could see the importance of drawing and placement of the art. I made a simple picture of a pumpkin. It was like a puzzle.

This may be one of my favorite group projects so far! For the real activity– I took a poster of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers and cut it up into 12 pieces. Each student received a piece of the art work along with a blank piece of paper cut to the same size. I numbered the back of the poster and the corresponding papers along with an arrow pointing to the top.

We used oil pastels to fill our papers. Trying to copy what was on our piece of art work.

After everyone was finished we put both the original art work as well as the students art work back together.

I love it! I am planning on pasting the pieces on to a black matte board to hang up at The Rec Center.

I got the idea from TEACH KIDS ART —thanks!!

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Post tags: activity, art, art work, class, drawing, group, group projects, matte board, oil pastels, original art, picture, project, rec center, students art, sunflower, sunflowers, van gough

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Puffy Paint is super expensive to purchase–especially for a whole class. This DIY version is not meant for fabric but more for a paint that dries bumpy. It adds a little depth and texture to the work.

It’s cheap and easy to make. Equal parts salt, flour and hot water. Stir until dissolved. Add liquid or powder tempra. This potion is very forgiving. Add more water if too thick and add more salt and flour if it’s too thin –especially after adding the liquid tempra.

Pour or spoon mixture into squeeze bottles–I bought empty ketchup and mustard bottles. You want the consistency to be runny enough to squeeze out of the bottles with out splatting. Understand? You will once you start mixing. Think frosting–creamy frosting! You can even add a little glitter for some fabulous sparkle!

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Post tags: art, class, creamy frosting, dale chihuly, DIY, glitter, Homemade, mixture, Paint, Paints, puffy, puffy paint, recipe, squeeze bottles, tempra, texture

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Unschooling Co Op is back in session so that means I will have something to post other than updates on our remodel! We talked about the paintings of Dale Chihuly for our first class.

Chihuly is well know for his glass works but his paintings and his painting style is also impressive. Here is a link to a few google images of his paintings

http://www.google.com/search?q=chihuly+paintings&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Xlq&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=QuZxTuPUCKffsQKKvOXICQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBMQ_AUoAQ&biw=1035&bih=465

To mimic Chihuly’s style of painting we layered paint on to canvas through several steps. We used sheets from a canvas pad. Be sure to paint on the correct side so the edges don’t roll. We used acrylic paint.

The first layer of paint when on with a brayer

The second layer went on with a broom-allowing the first layer to show through

Next layer was splatter painting

And then we used “puffy paint” for the final layer  DIY puffy paint recipe here

Each one ended up so different and the kids really enjoyed applying each different layer. I did choose specific colors for each layer so that the darker colors went on first and and then in small amounts last, hoping to keep the layers visually separate.

This collage is made up of all the kids paintings

I can see why Chihuly is also well known for his splatter painted shoes after this class!! I loved both the process as well as the product of this project!

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Post tags: acrylic paint, art, art class, brayer, broom, canvas, class, collage, dale chihuly, DIY, google images, Kids, layer, Paint, painted shoes, Painting, paintings, process, project, puffy, puffy paint, splatter, unschool, unschooling

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I am in awe of my kid! She has abilities that seem to come to her so easily that I can’t hardly wrap my head around. This is her latest sewing creation.

It is a cosplay costume for an anime convention. She based her costume off of this Elizabeth ( Lizzie )Middleford  $400.00 costume.

Only she spent a mere  $5.00 on 2 sheets from the thrift store. Amazingly thrifty yes but the really amazing part of all of this is not only did she make this costume entirely by herself with no help from anyone but that she didn’t even use a stinkin’ pattern! She just looked at the picture and 2 bed sheets and created this amazing costume! Did I mention I am in awe??? Well let me say it again…I am in awe of this kid!

She and her friends have been waiting for months for this convention. They planned which characters from Black Butler they would be cosplaying so long ago. Everyone looked great!

I bet they are already planning for the next one!

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Post tags: anime, anime convention, bed sheets, black, Butler, cosplay, costume, creation, friend, friends, Lizzie, MiddlefordÂ, photo, photos, sewing, thrift, thrift store, thrifty

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Jake and I went to Kmart and stocked up on some pretty color spray paint and cupcakes.

Then my kids proceeded to lose a few brain cells all in the name of art, graffiti art. Even in the wide open air there were some serious fumes! It was great to watch how each kid tackled their blank wall so differently. Molly just grab the paint and started spraying.

Jake looked for some inspiration from a book we just happened to have checked out from the library

He was really methodical in his approach. Stepping back thinking about it–all while Molly worked furiously.

Ginger knew exactly what she wanted…This is a picture of our friend Chloe and her new boyfriend kissing. Awwwwwww

Then after consulting with the book, she found her inspiration too!

Of course things got a little out of hand!

If my neighbors didn’t blink at what they saw or grimace at the smell I am guessing they cringed when they heard me yelling “You may NOT spray paint your sister!!”

This window looks cool when lit from the inside

So let me ask you would you rather look at this?

Or this??!!!

I am glad we get to enjoy it for a few days…..it’s all coming down this weekend.

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Post tags: addition, art, Artist, Artists, color, demo, demolition, garage, Graffiti, graffiti artists, Kids, kmart, neighbors, Paint, photo, photos, recycling, Spray, spray paint

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Over the weekend my very nice, helpful and generous husband mixed up several buckets of plaster of paris and poured it into empty milk cartons. We let these dry or “cure” for a couple of days.

Most of the instructions I found for this included adding vermiculite to the plaster of paris to make the carving process easier but because of the health concerns over breathing in the vermiculite we decided to leave it out. You can also add sand or dirt but I was already way over budget and could not purchase another thing so straight plaster of paris it was.

I brought lots of different tools to class and we were lucky the weather allowed us to do this messy-dusty project outside. We looked at works of art of Barbara Hepworth, George Segal, Jean Arp and The Nana’s. We talked about abstract art vs realistic sculptures.

And then we got to work:

Hammers and mallets were pounding, flat head screw drivers were poking and lots of plaster was flying around. The kids really enjoyed this physical process but were definitely challenged by the material.

Once kids were happy with there work they sanded their sculpture and used tempra cakes to paint their pieces. The paint dried almost immediately on most pieces.

And I love the consideration of all sides and angles on this piece!

This was the final week of this session of our unschooler’s co op. I absolutely loved leading these classes. I learned so much along with the kids. Looking forward to doing it again!

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Post tags: abstract art, Additive, additive sculpture, art, art work, barbara hepworth, class, empty milk cartons, george segal, husband, jean arp, Messy, milk carton, nana, Outside, Paint, Paints, PepperPaints, photo, photos, plaster of paris, process, project, realistic sculptures, screw drivers, Sculpture, sculptures, scupture, tempra, unschool, unschooler, vermiculite, works of art

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Our unschooling co op is moving right along. Hard to believe we only have one more week of the session. This week during art class we looked at the works of Louise Nevelson and tried our hand at our own additive sculptures.

We used hot glue guns to build our pieces with various odds and ends and bits and pieces.

Next kids chose a color to paint their sculptures.

Next week subtractive sculpture.

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Post tags: Additive, additive sculpture, art, art class, Artist, class, color, glue, hot glue gun, hot glue guns, Kids, louise nevelson, Nevelson, Paint, Sculpture, sculptures, unschool, unschooling

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