Thanksgiving Acrylic Painting Session with the Kids

Once Thanksgiving lunch was over, what better way to spend the afternoon than experimenting with acrylic paints.

I used my Liquitex paint markers to make some underdrawings on some canvas boards for the kids to color with Liquitex Soft Body and Daler Rowney Simply acrylics.

Just make sure to have plenty of tubs with water for rinsing and diluting paints to the desired flow consistency. Having the right size of brushes that match the size of the canvas boards available makes for a more efficient painting session.

Smaller round brushes worked well for smaller surfaces.

Large wash brushes are the more efficient choice for covering larger canvas boards, and acrylic paint markers came in handy again to restore some of the linear sketch marks on top of large areas of homogeneous color like the dragon body above.

New Crayola Ultra-clean ColorMax Washable Markers and Impromptu Drawing session

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Found these markers on clearance at Target, and they are pretty bold and bright as their label claims. You can never have too many fresh markers when you got lil' artists around eager to explore their creativity.

Just before dinner, this group decided to sketch and paint. Having the art supplies always ready in the playroom and introducing a couple of waterbrushes for painting made set up quick and easy. While we got a glass of water for cleaning the waterbrushes, they can be cleaned by simply wiping them on a paper towel.

Some of them even tried my new Winsor & Newton Watercolor markers.

Kid Made Modern Crayon Gems

Found these uniquely shaped crayons at Target. They might make a nice treat for the the little artists at home.

These polyhedrons of solid colored wax offer plenty of points and edges for creating linear and broad marks. Compact and easy to hold by little hands, they expand the creative potential of kids crayons. Nice change of pace the from the traditional stick format though their marks actually look rather pale on the paper surface.

Kid Made Modern Art Supplies found on clearance at Target

Found this Kid Made Modern set of 12 double ended permanent markers with a stand in the arts and crafts section of a local Target. Also noticed that they had marked down the crayon jewels by 50% off.  So it might be a good time to shop for some art treats for the kids.

Made this quick color reference chart to test both nibs of each marker, fine and chisel tip.

Their barrels are color coded and with a triangular shape that is easy to grip. The colors are labeled as permanent and might stain. This set would make a colorful and stylish addition to the desk of a budding artist or designer.

Spending quality "Art" time with Mateo

Have been spending some quality time and sharing a few art materials with my nephew Mateo.
Following tradition, I lent my nephew one of my watercolor kits: the Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box.
With a bit of guidance hand over hand and a trusty waterbrush we managed to sketch a simple landscape on his first visual journal.
While I had originally planned on giving him a larger first sketchbook, this compact journal proved quite practical and portable.Thus using waterproof pens, I drew a few coloring outlines and partial doodles to create a custom coloring and doodling book for Mateo.Dry watercolor pencil stage. Actually colored a few samples on the initial pages at his request. After blending the dry pencil marks with a waterbrush. Actually it was quite simple to create a sturdy custom activity book for a toddler out of the 3.5" X 5" Strathmore Visual Journal loaded with 140 lb (300 gsm) watercolor sheets. Just take a look at this video to browse through the pages of the journal shown above.
Quite happy with his first set of Faber Castell watercolor crayons.
Coloring on his new Kumon Let's Color! activity book.
Dexterity test: doodling with both hands at the same time.
Trying out his new set of Crayola brush pens.
Grandma helping restore the ink flow on a Crayola triangular brush pen.
Already sharing his over-size Taro Gomi doodling book with the little girl next door.
Baby brother might still be too little to join in on the coloring fun, but give him time and I'm pretty sure he'll soon join the rank of budding artists featured in this blog.

Art Time with the kids during 4th of July Weekend gallery

For our last large family gathering at the W hotel in Ft. Lauderdale Beach, I made certain to bring plenty of kids art supplies just in case they were needed to amuse them on rainy afternoons.Coloring with Faber Castell watercolor crayons.Good thing the watercolor crayon marks washed off skin quite easily with soap and water.Barely 2 years old and already enjoying fine leadholders and Rhodia notepads.The Post-it® Self-Stick Sketch Pad was a big hit, for the kids were able to easily put their own art show on the balcony glass door in no time thanks to their self-adhesive sheets. Easy to use even for the little one.
Artists roster.Not even the rain could keep them from having a fun time.
Guess the kids really appreciated my bringing along the art supplies that entertained them when the rain kept us indoors during this past holiday weekend.

Good time to shop for bargains on School Art Supplies

Now that the school year is well on its way, most big box retailers have begun discounting the remaining stock in their Back-to-School supplies sections as the stores are rearranged for the next seasonal shopping event. Many quality supplies can be had with various discounts ranging from 30-90% off. Most of the stuff shown above was a buck or less each.
Found this neat Brazilian 24 colored pencils with sharpener set just for 50 cents + tax in the East coast. According to the manufacturer's website, these pencils are manufactured with reforested wood from their own managed plantations keeping in mind the protection of the local flora and fauna.
Can't help finding it a bit odd to discover a Faber Castell pencil set at an American big box retailer with all the descriptive text printed just in Spanish and Portuguese.
24 nicely colored coded long pencils with gold lettering plus a sharpener for under a buck was a pretty good deal if I ever saw one.
These pencil sets would make pretty good stocking stuffers, birthday party favors, or Halloween giveaways for those with storage room to spare.
The color chart shows that this school pencil set can produce some fairly bright color swatches. I wouldn't bet on their longevity and lightfastness, but they feel quite smooth on the paper and would provide adequate performance for a spot of coloring fun for any kid artist.

Review of the Barnes & Noble Wacky Birds Colored Pencil Block in Acetate Box Set of 13

On a recent trip to a Barnes & Noble bookstore, I found this neat set of colored pencils.
Their original block pencil set presentation resembles a pencil "sandwich" before it is cut into individual pencils, so it could easily be used as a visual aid when explaining to kids how pencils are made.
Despite their natural interest in coloring and drawing activities, younger kids might grow bored with the limitations of the same old materials (mostly crayons) available to them for their artistic pursuits. To keep them motivated, it is a good idea to introduce new drawing and coloring tools from time to time.

Both of my pre-school age nieces enjoyed folding and rolling the flexible pencil block set while the 12 colored pencils were still attached to each other. The oldest one quickly pointed out that this colored pencil set was"clearly" designed for kids and shrewdly talked me into letting her take them home after promising that she would share them with her little sister.
The rectangular profile of each pencil is rather unique and comfortable enough for doodling with the added advantage that they won't roll off an inclined drawing surface.
The pencils can be easily sharpened with standard sharpeners.
Freshly sharpened set. Top side of the pencil block features the picture of whimsical birds while the bottom and sides are painted white.Since each colored pencil is decorated only one one side, they can also function as an easily solvable puzzle by memorizing the color sequence of the set.
For an inexpensive gift set, these Wacky Birds Colored Pencils laid down fairly bright colors on the white card stock. After completing this color chart, I used a few colors on the apple sketch as an example for Nicole that she could use more than the red pencil to render the apple surface. Thus, she promptly sketched the falling apple with the red, orange, green, and purple pencils underneath and even saved some white to convey its reflective surface. These 13 pencils make for a nice portable sketching gift set.