Rumriver Art Center - Art Projects and News

The students love to draw animals, especially birds, For this lesson we use Henri Rousseau Merry Jesters for inspiration. Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910) was a French artist did not start painting until he was in his 40’s. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. He tried to paint in the schooled manner of the traditional artists, but it was the innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of many avant-garde artists such as Paul Klee. Rousseau's loving attention to detail that made him an exceptional artist. We use Rousseau “The Merry Jesters” Jungle scene as basis for our lesson. We focus on the large bird sitting on its Jungle perch. The Raptor is surrounded by gigantic leaves. Materials: Heavyweight paper, sketching pencil, watercolor pencils Step #1: Draw light guidelines across the middle and down the center of the page. Draw a circle for the head and oval for the body. ...

We all have days where its difficult to get started drawing, so i have a number of exercises to get the pencil moving. A exercise I used with my teen art journal class was the three letter word. I have the students list a bunch of three letter words that have some action to them. They the choose one of them and do the following exercise.  Three letters, three patterns and three mediums. Materials: heavy weight sketching paper or watercolor paper, three different mediums (permanent marker, watercolor, pastel, acrylics ect). Step #1: Block print your three letter word across your paper. Step #2: Add three patterns to your letters. Step #3: Use three mediums to your work, be creative and have some fun..

One of my favorite pop artist is Jim Dine and he is perfect for Valentine's Day project. He loved to used hearts in everything from paintings to sculptures. Jim Dine (born June 16, 1935) is considered an important contemporary artist who helped to create the Pop Art movement. He was born in Cincinnati Ohio and was influenced by Van Gogh, Picasso and Matisse. In the early 1960s Dine produced pop art with items from everyday life. He used different popular imagery in his art, but hearts seemed to be his favorite. We learn about how an everyday object can be transformed into art. Our lesson works with line, color, shapes and space to create our pop art heart project. Materials: Watercolor paper or heavyweight paper, watercolor pencils and or oil pastels. Step #1: Draw a border around the paper. Step #2: Draw a large heart that needs to touch at least one side. Step #3: Draw three lines that go through and divide the heart. Step #4: Use watercolor pencils, water...

The Chinese New Year was just a few weeks ago and it was great excuse to draw some dragons. 2012 is the year of the water dragon in the Chinese horoscope. Water has a calming effect on the Dragon's fearless temperament. Water allows the Dragon to re-direct its enthusiasm, and makes him more perceptive of others. These Dragons are better equipped to take a step back to re-evaluate a situation because they understand the art of patience and do not desire the spotlight like other Dragons. We use the water dragon to learn a little about Chinese traditions and to create a benevolent mythical creature. In the Water dragon lesson we use line, shape and texture . Materials: heavyweight sketching paper, sketching pencil, sharpie, and your choice of materials to finish the dragon. Step #1: Draw light guidelines down the center and across the middle of the paper. Draw a circle for the dragon's head.  Step #2: Draw the eye and beak of the dragon. Step #3: Draw two double "...

I have always liked giraffes, i got sketch them last summer when visiting the LA Zoo. The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal , the tallest living terrestrial animal. Its specific name refers to its camel -like face and patches of color on a light background, which bear a vague resemblance to a leopard 's spots. The giraffe is also noted for its extremely long neck and legs and prominent horns. It stands 5–6 m (16–20 ft) tall and has an average weight of 1,200 kg (2,600 lb) for males and 830 kg (1,800 lb) for females. Giraffe's have very high blood pressure to facilitate sending blood to its head. Materials: Heavyweight drawing paper, sketching pencil, sharpie and your choice of materials to finish. I like to use chalk pastels when doing giraffes. Step #1, Draw light guidelines across the center of the page and down the middle of the page. Draw the head, eyes, eyelashes (very long), nose, ears and horns (horns are soft and fuzzy) Step #2: Draw the lon...