ArtDiego

One of the last lessons of the school year: lively and lovely watercolor koi fish compositions by 5-9 year-old students. Only the 5-6 year-olds used Sharpies. Well done!

Colorful Giraffe portraits by my three 5-6 year old students. The teacher sample is in the upper left. First, we drew the giraffe on brown construction paper and colored it with chalk pastel. It was outlined with a Sharpie and cut out. Then, the background was painted on a separate paper with acrylic paint. The goal was to make the background soft to bring the focus to the giraffe. (Sort of happened😊). A fun fact is that none of the students wanted to color the giraffe with realistic colors. It was obvious to them that the giraffe must have spots other than yellow and brown, and most definitely a red heart! Drawing and cutting out the giraffe were challenging but doable with strategic help. These little fingers need strengthening.

On March 13th, with a broken foot and an orthopedic boot on, I 'hopped' into our former elementary school to lead a Family Art Night for 75+ participants. I chose a universal spring theme, a bird nest. We used painted cardboard pieces for the base, real twigs for the nest, Model Magic for the bird and eggs, acrylic paint, and glue. It was fun and engaging - a joy to see the enthusiasm and imagination of the participants. Their diligent work resulted in lovely art pieces. Look at the beautiful colors, the house-shaped and painted nests, or the snake getting the bird eggs!

Let’s create beauty!
Have fun this summer while learning something new! Sign your kids up today! Small groups for 6-12 years old. Open spots on week of July 13 and July 27.

More students (mixed age group from K-6th grade) finished their Jeff Koons’ Ballon Dog collage paying attention to atmospheric perspective (ballon dog should be relatively big compare to the far away skyscrapers) and highlighting and shading on the balloon dog.

Vibrant Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog collages by Kinder-6th grade students. I always resonate with Britt Curley's art project and have long admired her ideas. I thought her take on “Balloon Dog” was phenomenal, so I decided to try it with my students. This is a complex project that helps students realize how important it is to work on each part of the project equally well to result in an aesthetically pleasing final piece. Instead of old book pages, we used coffee-stained music sheets for the New York skyscrapers and painted paper for the grass. Here they are!

Watercolor Lily Pad paintings by my 85+ year-old students at Westmont and Pacifica Assisted Living. Some of the participants used watercolor crayons as well. I was glad to see that they were open to trying new things for the first time.😊

Mother’s Day Project- 2026. Now I can share my 5-12 year-old students’ Model Magic Mother Day’s portraits, trusting that they already celebrated their moms. 🙂
We began this project by adding paint into white Model Magic. Instead of applying paint on the surface, we kneaded the colors in.
During the kneading process, we discussed favorite colors, hair, eye, and skin colors, hairdos, glasses, etc. to depict our moms - all the key “ingredients” for the best representation. At the end, we added a protective layer of white Elmer’s glue on top of the finished portraits.
The students were enthusiastic and worked diligently to achieve outstanding results! I really hope that their mothers felt appreciated and were genuinely surprised in a positive way. 🥰

Revisiting Mother's Day's dessert from 2024.
I still recall the excitement of the students as they created something extraordinary for their mothers. Students from TK-1st grade crafted cupcake-looking pinch pots with lids, painted with vibrant colors and adorned with glitter berries, cherries, flowers, or butterflies on top. Students from 2nd-6th grade formed realistic-looking cheesecakes, sponge cakes, and strawberry cakes, packaged in beautifully decorated boxes with glittering golden letters and bows. Look at all these wonderful treats, layered cake slices with lemon on top! While younger students used air-dry clay, older students worked with Model Magic.

Two more exceptional pieces of “UP”artwork have been completed by talented students in grade 6 and 2.🎈🎈🎈