Rumriver Art Center - Art Projects and News

Animal drawing is a favorite of kids and Koala bear with baby is always a hit. The koala is found in coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia, from Adelaide to the southern part of Cape York Peninsula . Populations also extend for considerable distances inland in regions with enough moisture to support suitable woodlands . The koalas of South Australia were largely exterminated during the early part of the 20th century, but the state has since been repopulated with Victorian stock. The koala is not found in Tasmania or Western Australia. Materials: Heavyweight paper, sketching pencil, thin tip sharpie, colored or watercolor pencils. Step #1: Draw light guidelines across the middle and down the center of the page. Draw a circle for the head, add eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Step #2: Draw an oval for the body, draw the koala arm and hand, then a hand and foot. Step #3: Draw the tree trunk behind the koala. Draw a circle for baby koala head, add the eyes, nose, mouth and ea

The Rumriver Art Center is having a Dragon drawing workshop on Friday December 30th from 9:30am to 12:30pm. The Wyrm dragon will be one of the many we will be drawing. Wyrms resemble gigantic serpents, crawling on their bellies without legs or wings. Their lack of limbs should not lead to underestimation, as their snapping jaws and powerful tails are more than adequate to dispatch all but the strongest. Wyrms are of European origin. Found mainly in England and the Northern territories. Have a layer of hard, protective scales. Wyrms like to live in watery depths. They also like to coil around things, like hills. Step #1: Draw a circle for the head. Draw a small circle for the eye, with triangles next to it as shown below. Step #2: Draw a oval off the right side of the head, attach a line in the shape of a backward "J" for the body. Step #3: Draw the dragons tail as shown below. Step #4: Finish the dragons head by drawing lines off circle. Draw a side way "C" s

I was lucky to be able to visit Hawaii in 2012 and was inspired by their culture and art. I was especially drawn to their tiki statues. Ancient Hawaiian Mythology has 4 major gods, or tiki gods as they are commonly known, and many minor tiki gods, heroes and mystical creatures. The ancient Hawaiians even had inanimate objects like ropes or weapons as magical characters in their myths. Ancient Hawaiian priests, or Kahunas, worshipped tiki gods through chants, prayer and even human sacrifice. The ancient Hawaiians carved scowling carvings of their tiki gods and used the idols in their rituals We Use the Happy Tiki for our project. Materials: Heavyweight paper, sketching pencil, sharpie, colored pencils or watercolor pencils. Step #1: Draw light guidelines down the center of the page and across the middle, the center guidelines is important because we will try to make each side of the Tiki symmetrical. Draw a large rectangle in the center of page as shown below. We are going to carve

There are over 100 different kinds of goldfish. They can live up to 25 years and have a memory of 3 seconds. In our goldfish drawing we used the oval shape, repeating lines and patterns to show texture. The scallops and curved parallel lines suggest the texture of skin and scales. The plants in the background form a vertical force that keeps the goldfish on the page and breaks the oval shapes of the fish. Their curviness suggest motion in the water. Step #1: Draw light guidelines across the middle and down the center. Draw a circle for the head and a oval for the body as shown below. Step #2: Draw eyes, and mouth. Notice that one eye is at the very right edge of the circle, while the other is in the middle. Step #3: Draw fins and the goldfish tail. Step #4: Draw the fish details by using a "c" texture for the fish scales. Add lines for the veins of the fins. Step #5: Draw seaweed and plants or rocks in the water. Add your own detail and have fun being creative.

Gimme a Break Holiday Workshops 12/27 through 12/30.  We will offering Holiday Workshops the week of December 26th. The workshops will be daily from 9:30am to 12:30pm.      Times: 9:30 am to 12:30pm 12/27 through 12/30  Cost: $25 - includes materials and a snack   Click Here to Register       The Rum River Art Center is the perfect place for kids to explore their creativity. Holiday Workshop Schedule - Dec. 26 through Dec. 30 Tuesday December 27 Acrylic Painting Workshop: 9:30am to 1:30pmWednesday December 28 Mixed Media: 9:30am to 12:30pm Thursday December 29 Animal Drawing Workshop: 9:30am to 12:30pm -Pending Friday December 30 Mythical Beasts Workshop: 9:30am to 12:30pm - Pending (Pending - minimum of 5 students for workshops to run) Click Here to register for the Holiday workshops

At the beginning of each year I like to welcome the New Year with a seasonal planner spread in my journal. Its  a fun project looking at 2012 and drawing our favorite items for each season. Materials: Art Journal, Sketching pencil, Sharpie, and your choice of pencils, markers, watercolors and more. Step #1: Open your journal to two empty pages. Draw a line down the center of each page. Now add some more lines that come across as shown below. Step #2: Draw the year 2012 somewhere on the page. Then add Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall onto the spread. Step #3: Draw your favorite items for each of the seasons listed. The items do not have to stay in just one box. Choose your materials to finish the spread and let your creativity go.

THE NUTCRACKER – A Christmas Tradition, the Nutcracker ballet has long since been a festive tradition in cities all over the world. Children and adults alike look forward to attending a performance of this delightful ballet; often as a yearly Christmas tradition. The Nutcracker was used as the inspiration for our lesson. We used of shapes, symmetry and color to compose our project. Materials: This project can be done with oil pastel, chalk pastel, pencil or watercolor. Step #1: Draw light guidelines across the middle and down the center. Draw a border around the edge of your paper. Draw a rectangle near center of the page as shown below for the body. Step #2: Draw a rectangle for the head and another rectangle for his hat. Draw eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, mustache and beard. Step #3: Draw his hair and his hat. Draw half circle for the shoulders, rectangles for the arms and circle for hands. Step #4: Draw rectangles for the legs, add the boots. Step #5: Draw in the details of the

A fun artist for the holidays is Charles Wysocki (1928 - 2002) his whimsical animal painting and drawings are a "purrfect" subject. Charles Wysocki, was born in Detroit, Michigan. From the time he was a little tot, he always wanted to be an artist. He loved using cats and other critters in his whimsical paintings and prints. Wysocki is known for his primitive folk art style. In our lesson we use Wysocki 1995 painting “Shall We” as our inspiration. We focus on the cats looking at the fish bowl. We use a combination of watercolor pencils and pastel chalk to create texture and dimension. Step #1: Draw some light guidelines across center and down the middle of the paper. Draw two circles through the center guideline for the cats heads. Step #2: Draw eyes, snout, ears and whiskers. Remember the cats eyes should be looking up. Step #2: Draw the cats legs with skinny ovals. Draw the paws and use the "U" for the cats toes. Step #3: Draw the bodies with a large oval