art masterpiece: kandinsky

Improvisation 35 by Wassily Kandinsky, 1914

Last year I became an Art Masterpiece guide at my son's school. Art Masterpiece is an art appreciation program offered to elementary students by parent volunteers. Basically, art history for kids ... awesome! The goal is to help students look, think and talk about great works of art. As a guide, I lead 20 minute discussions about assigned prints of famous paintings once every two weeks.

Friday was my first day in Ethan's 1st grade class .We discussed Kandinsky! What a great artist to start with. We had such a good time looking at the artwork and expressing our thoughts and feelings. I told them a little about the artist but, mostly I ask open ended questions and let the kids speak. 

Improvisation 35 by Wassily Kandinsky

About the Artist
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter. He was fascinated and excited by color as a child. He is the first artist to create art that doesn’t look like real life.

What feeling do you get when you look at it?  Happy and weird where the two biggest responses. I think they felt a bit weird seeing something that didn't appear to be anything … there is no right answer and it is different for everyone.

The name of the artwork is Improvisation 35, what does the word “improvise” mean? To create something without thinking about it, spontaneous. This idea baffled some kids. Most thought it would be fun to create art like this but, a couple thought it would be hard to create art without thinking about it first.

What do we call art that doesn’t look like real life? Abstract.  

What do you see in this painting?  They kids really had fun with this one.  They saw fish, dragons, clouds, storms and the list went on.  We turned the artwork in all directions to see how it looked upside down and sideways.  They loved giving their input and seeing it from different angles.

Then I held up these words and we talked a bit about each one ...

Abstract - Art that does not look like real life.  Kandinsky was the first abstract painter.

Color - Kandinsky used color to describe what he was feeling and to make his viewers feel emotion. He has said "Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with its many chords. The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically." 

Music - Kandinsky was a musician, he played cello and piano. He was trying to create the same effect on a viewer of his paintings as a beautiful piece of music has on a listener. He has said "I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a palette knife, and I made them sing with all the intensity I could ..."

What do you think Kandinsky's painting is about? Color, music and feelings.

Because I think this program is so cool, I enjoy learning about artists and their work and am amazed by the kids insight and what they express I'll be sharing my experience with you all, my lovely readers.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

painting in progress, tree of life

 

This painting is LONG overdue and it feels so nice to finally be working on it.  My husband and I made a cast of my belly bump when I was 8 months pregnant with my now 6 year old son Ethan.  I always knew I wanted to paint it but, it is such an important piece of art to me that I was afraid to start it. Unclear of what I wanted to create I hung the plain plaster cast our wall for 6 years.

In 2010, I completed my belly bump painting of my second son, Hudson who is now 4 years old.  After finishing Hudson's painting, Ethan was a little sad that his belly bump art had yet to be painted and I knew that it was time to give it some thought.  I wanted something that represented life, and I love trees and tree art so, the tree of life symbol just felt right.  I finally started working on the painting today.  I was a little fearful getting started (that really is the hardest part isn't it?) but, once I got going the painting flowed and this is where I left off after today's painting session ...

Have you commemorated something special in your life through your art? If so, I'd love to hear about it, feel free to add a link to it on your blog or website too!

2011 printable calendar

I created a sweet little free 2011 Calendar over at Soft Flex Company's website for you to download, print and display. Each month features a beautiful free beading project idea by Jamie Hogsett. Project instructions for each design can be found in their free beading project ideas section online.

Calendar is a printable PDF file optimized to print onto 8.5 x 11 inch card stock and is for personal use only, not intended for commercial use. Click to download your free 2011 Calendar..

Many wishes for a very Happy New Year!

a creative odyssey

This post is my contribution to the Creative Odyssey Blog Hop. During December, over 40 bloggers will be sharing their creative dreams and goals for 2011 and today, along with The Personal Blog of Tracey Sawatzky and PeachHoneyLove, I am sharing mine.

For those new here, welcome! I'm Kristen, wife to a very supportive husband and mother of two energetic little boys ages 4 and 6. I work from home full-time as a graphic designer, teach drawing to elementary kids twice a week and spend the rest of my time at Creative Stash where I freelance small business graphics, design wedding invitations and create as a mixed media artist.  Life is bursting at the seams but, I love it, I really do.

This quote resonates with me as 2010 comes to a close.  It has been a wonderful year of creating, exploring, blogging and growing! Almost too good really, this quote helps me think that 2011 will, in fact, be better!

My Goals for 2011 ...

Keep an Open Mind

I love to learn and grow and change.  This year however, I struggled with whether I wanted to do one thing really well or whether I wanted to keep the creative path open. I know deep down that I want that path open. So this year, I want to work on be comfortable with the fact that I may never be "one great thing" and to stop beating myself up over it. Just do what feels right and you'll be fine, better then fine even.

Make More Art
Like many of us, I want to make the time to create more art for myself and with my children. An art journal to channel ideas and create without expectations will no doubt help me cultivate my style and my story. I also want to use my current mix of supplies and recycled items to create beautiful things. I want to expand upon my current product lines, market my graphic design services and create with canvas in new ways.

Stay Involved
Through joining an Etsy team, social media sites, the Creative Every Day challenge and The Meetup goal sharing group,  I have made wonderful friendships with many talented and passionate people.  I want to continue to connect and support this amazing creative community!


Overall Well Being
Well, an important issue for me to address is that I tend to work for the sake of working. My work is my passion and  I am most happiest when I'm making things, but there are times when I get swept up in working and I cannot concentrate on anything else and that has to change. I need to keep my life in balance. I must be present with my family, have more fun, enjoy the moment and ease up on worrying about my to do list. Taking care of my overall well being through creative fun, yoga, dance, eating and sleeping well will all help me achieve a calmer, happier existence. 

Cheers to a very Happy and Creative New Year!

christmas greetings

Wishing you the Merriest of Christmas's and the Happiest of New Years!

A big THANK YOU to my wonderful readers and friends for helping to make 2010 an extraordinary year! Your visits, comments and support are greatly appreciated and mean a lot to me. It has been amazing to meet so many new friends. I just love this bloggy blog world and feel blessed to be a part of it!  May your holiday season be magical! xoxo

kids art holiday card

I tried something new with our cards this year.  I asked my kids, ages 4 and 6,  to each draw a snowman and then I used their art to create our family holiday card. It turned out really cute!  I love that we were able to share their artwork with our friends and families, many of whom we don't get to see often.

My only itty bitty change for next year is to make the card bigger.  I created it this size because I had a bunch of A2 envelopes on hand and this size fit.  However, once hung up with our other holiday cards though it looks pretty itty bitty. It's still cute though!

peace - joy - love holiday card

Paper art projects are not my strong suit so, I tend to shy away from them but, around the holidays a handmade card is just begging to be made!

This year, I reserved my only hand made holiday card for our bosses at Soft Flex Company. Our boss Mike suffered a spinal cord injury earlier this year.  Needless to say, it has been a difficult time for him, his family and his loved ones.  My husband and I decided to make a donation in his honor to Christopher Reeve's Foundation for Christmas.  Naturally, I wanted to send them a card with holiday wishes and felt only hand made would do.  

While looking over my paper stash, I remembered that I designed some free printable holiday paper for Soft Flex's website.  The Peace, Joy, Love paper design matched an old Christmas card, ribbon and foam snowflakes I had in my stash so, I downloaded it and printed on card stock.

First, I tried cutting a small piece of the Peace, Joy, Love paper, leaving a border the outside and using only text.  But it wasn't working for me, I didn't feel it had enough warmth.

 

So, I cut a new bigger piece of the Peace, Joy, Love paper and glued it to the entire background of the card, glued the snowflake foam pieces to the back of the tree I cut out from the old card to give it some dimension, topped the tree with a shiny star (that I took from another old card) and I'm done ... or was I?

 

The empty space in the top middle was bugging me so, I glued on a red & white checkered bow.  It feels like I may have crossed the crafty line a bit, since it's pretty busy but, it's fun to go a little over the top during  the holidays, right? I hope they enjoy it and know that I created their card with extra special care.

my 2010 ornaments

I love ornaments, I can't say it enough.  One look at our tree and it's pretty obvious - I have that sucker jammed packed!  Each year I create a new handmade ornament.  I give a couple as gifts and keep one or two for our tree.  It's become my creative tradition.

Trying to decide what to make each year is challenging and that's what makes it fun. This year I played around with modpodge.  This was my first experience with it and I see why so many people like to use it.  So, which decoupage star is your favorite?

Check out my 2009 vintage figurine ornaments and my handmade ornament roundup through the years.

recycled paper bow

Photo from The Spotted Sparrow

The Spotted Sparrow has a great tutorial on how to make a recycled paper bow. The construction is so simple, I love it!

I had some odd shaped gifts that needed a little pizazz so, I whipped up 2 bows using an old Christmas card based on their tutorial. You can make a cute bow from old paper - magazines, books, wrapping paper, newspaper, maps, music sheets, anything!.

beading inspired gift wrap

Photo from  Soft Flex Company - Econoflex Wire Decorated Box

Hi! I'm guest blogging on Soft Flex Company's blog. Today, I am sharing some of my favorite beading inspired holiday gift wrapping ideas, won't you join me? Click to see today's post.