Trying out the Colorations Jumbo Tempera Cakes 8 Tropical colors tray set

Came across this set of tempera cakes in a box of donated art supplies, so I recruited my nieces to give them a try. They look like the type of product that you might encounter in a teacher's catalog. The generously-sized cakes adequately released the color washes after moistening them with a wet brush, but using larger diameter brushes and adding a few drops of water to each cake seemed to work more efficiently. Nicole and Camila both chose still life themes for their afternoon experiments. Stray paint wiped off easily enough with a wet paper towel. Color mixing was limited as you might expect for economy paints, but the kids had fun boldly "drawing" with their tempera paints.
Will add this tempera paint tray set to my classroom tool kit for upcoming classes. They might come in handy for experimenting and larger scale work for younger students.

Happiness = Big Box of Markers

After seeing the batch of custom name plates I drew for my ARTScool Cartoon Sketching class (currently running from July 11 to July 15), my nieces decided to make their own.
Camila drawing her own name plate with a Sakura Pigma Sensei 06 mm pen.
Nicole with her name plate ready for coloring.
Penciling with a Worther Shorty 3.15 mm leadholder. This short and stubby pencil is quite easy to control for little hands, so I often share mine with my nephew and nieces.
Nicole's "Cat Girl" mini comic. A popular subject among my current students as well.
Mateo "drawing" with sparklers on 4th of July.
Look mom, with 2 hands!
I'm a strong believer that markers should be made readily available to toddlers as soon as they show the interest and adequate eye-hand coordination to color and doodle.
With appropriate supervision, the large set of 50 Crayola Super Tip Markers makes for a treasure trove of nice creative possibilities even for budding artists fond of coloring with a single color.
Ok maybe 6 moths old might be too soon to be introduced to markers, but their bright colors already catch his attention. Make the most of the summer and make sure the little ones have a nice big box of markers ready for when inspiration (or a rainy afternoon) strikes.

Creative Workshop with the Kids: Sharing art supplies with the nieces

It had been a while since we had a chance to visit with my star art students, so I brought a fairly large selection of art supplies to share with them this past Sunday.
Camila coloring with Sakura Koi watercolors and a waterbrush.
Drawing with a full set Prismacolor Art Stix woodless colored pencils.
The ever popular fairy motifs.
Camila loading a Sofft knife with Burnt Sienna. Their similarity to make-up tools made PanPastel jars and their applicator tools quite appealing to the girls.
Added some extra colors with Crayola watercolor pencils.
Nicole using an Art sponge for broad color application.Using a mini applicator for more delicate coloring.
The PanPastel and Sofft tools were a big hit with the girls that used them to color small trading card-size pieces and 8.5" X 11" sheets of card stock. The erasability of PanPastel layers was a great feature that allowed the kids to make quick corrections with regular erasers when the coloring got outside the lines by accident. The low dusting properties of these soft pastels made them fairly easy to clean afterward with a wet rag and a vacuum cleaner. Always keep a close eye on your budding artists when allowing them to explore the creative potential of artist grade art supplies.

Caricature Practice and Drawing Lessons over X-mas family gatherings

Found that the holidays presented a lot of opportunities to get some caricature drawing practice done and to share some of my core sketching kits and newly acquired drawing tools with the kids.
Having an adult hold the baby improves the chances of capturing a likeness when drawing very young kids.
Stephanie was quite happy with her caricature.
Manga-style caricature of Uncle Roque drawn with a 5.6 mm Cretacolor Nero lead.
Since Cuti just returned from an African safari.
Caro being so fond of the Assassins Brotherhood games made the theme easy.
Camila coloring the back cover of her Moche Notebook.
Getting some drawing practice before midnight.
Clipboards allowed drawing and coloring activities almost anywhere.
The girls did a couple of colored drawings with Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils.
Doodling with my new Pilot Croquis 6B leadholder.
Camila's juggling clown drawing.
Sketching some coloring outlines.
Coloring with Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils used dry.
The kids managed to create quite a few drawings during the holiday gatherings.
Santa and Elf drawings done by Nicole as she followed my step-by-step demo.
Boris also got into the drawing activities with his gator and dinosaur battle entries.
Remember to always bring your art supplies to family gatherings, so the kids can get a chance to try some new sketching and drawing tools and get some drawing practice in a pressure-free fun environment.

Spending an afternoon doing art with my Nieces

Had the chance to conduct a few art activities with my nieces during the weekend.
Reference shot.
While using dry media, the girls drew and colored in the living room.
Finished butterfly drawing.
Tackling the Sketchbook Scavenger Hunt Project that I have been using in November with 6-8 grade students.
Also wanted to see what Nicole might do with the references I have been using at the Middle School After School program this past week.
Quite impressed that a second grader could draw this illustrations at the first try by simply studying the reference materials that we had on hand.
Fashion design has been a popular subject lately.
We moved to the kitchen, so the girls could use the potentially messier watercolor kits
Picking some color from the pre-moistened Faber Castell Aquarelle Sticks.
Doodling a puppy in a Cachet watercolor sketchbook.
Just finished replicating the coloring pattern of the sample turtle.
Both girls were quite happy to try my newest watercolor kit.
Camila making another happy heart.
Ta-da! it's finished.
One happy Tulip girl.
Drawing additional coloring outlines with a Staedtler Mars Technico 780 2 mm leadholder.
Wiping the waterbrush clean on a paper towel.
Doing watercolor pieces is always a big hit with the girls. Just make sure you protect the table from accidental spills and remind the kids to properly wash and rinse their brushes. The Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box proved to be quite efficient and a likable coloring kit for both of them. Colors were quite bright and pans readily release saturated washes.