My husband loves to watch Do-It-Yourself programs.  I think some of the most creative people in the world take one thing and use it to create something else entirely.  For example you can install beautiful counter tops made from recycled glass.  We watched a show where a man built his own company turning old composite shingles into driveways.

Last weekend my husband and I were on a mini-vacation, and my mom kept our children.  While she had her five grandchildren for days, she opted to do fun things with them.  They played Wii games, they began putting together a hard puzzle, they made masks, and they made popsicles.  But the most incredible activity that she did with my children was making beads.

Jake and Kyla love to make and design jewelry.  Both of them have an eye for design and have sold several pieces.  They wait for places like Hobby Lobby to hold sales so that they can stock up on supplies.  Now they know how to make their own beads from reusing #6 plastic and/or #6 styrofoam.  If you are wondering what #6 means, simply look at the bottom of plastic containers, bottles, etc.  There will be a triangular shape with a number inside.  For making beads, you need a “6″ to be in the triangle.

You need your #6 plastic/styrofoam, markers, a whole punch, scissors, parchment paper, and an oven preheated to 350 degrees.  Your first step is to cut the plastic into the desired shape.  Decide where you want the hole, and then punch it with a regular hole punch.  Using markers, color the entire area or make a design.  Use as many colors as you want.  Highlighters work, but permanent markers make a more opaque color.

Know that when you are cutting out your plastic you need to make a large version of it.  It is going to shrink in the heat of the oven.  For example the hole might seem too large, but when the bead is made, the hole is perfect for stringing on wire.

Place a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Space out your completed designs of plastic or styrofoam shapes onto the sheet.  Bake in the oven for exactly 5 minutes.  Then, they are ready to be used to make jewelry.

Not only is this a fun project for children, but it is reusing what would have been trash into something useful and beautiful.  Making beads is a great way to encourage recycling and creativity.  The possibilities are limited only to the extent of your imagination.

The Art for Homeschool February Show is impressive.  If you have not seen the entries, go to Art for Homeschool.  Talk about creativity!  Children from ages 5 – 13 have entered a wide variety of art projects.

If you want to be inspired to be more creative, simply look at their work.  Almost every genre of art is represented.  From photography to collage, pastel to watercolor, pencil sketch to colored pencil, young artists are fearlessly entering their best works of art.  I don’t know how the judge is going to choose one over another. 

Are you stuck in a rut?  Do you only work in one genre?  I challenge you to try a different medium in which to express your creativity.  If you prefer watercolor, try colored pencil.  If you are a great photographer, try a collage.  Step out of your comfort zone. 

Even if your first attempt is less than wonderful, at least have fun branching out and expanding your repertoire.  Since I try to practice what I preach, let me give you a specific example.  I am most interested in watercolor.  However, I have done several colored pencil paintings. 

The other day trying to inspire my own children to be creative, I grabbed an empty canvas I had in my closet.  I bought it years ago on sale and just never knew what to do with it.  I had no acrylic or oils paints.  Watercolors nor colored pencil were suitable.  However, I did have some leftover interior house paint.  I had blue, teal, and white.

What do you do with those colors?  I wasn’t exactly sure, but I went for it.  I picked a simple composition.  Then I let loose and had fun.  It was actually the most fun I have ever had painting.  The end result was better than I imagined.  The painting evolved as I worked on it.  Shading and highlights developed.  Nothing was planned but the outline of a horse. 

I felt such a sense of accomplishment as I stepped back to admire my creation.  My husband said, “Wow!,” when he laid eyes on the completed canvas.  As great as that was to hear, it was much more rewarding to know that I had given in to the creative process.

I had stepped way out of my comfort zone working with two things I had never used in art before: a canvas and interior house paint.  I did not start with a complete plan, but instead allowed myself to truly be creative. 

Today you have a chance to view the results of an online art show. The show is sponsored through Art For Homeschool. You may have seen the links to the blog on a widget or in the information about me. On Art For Homeschool I started an online art show for homeschool students.  I did this to give homeschool students a place to showcase their work as well as a way to encourage and inspire budding artists. The first art show has been judged and the results are in. I am very proud of the artwork, the students and the parents too.  Today I want to share the results with you.

So here is the article that was posted last Thursday. I want all of you to see the work and maybe take a moment to make a comment to the students. I know how much that can mean to a child.

The Art Results Are In!

Mrs. Parker judged the first Art For Homeschool Art Show. She is an artist and art teacher from Brenham with many years of experience teaching art classes for children.  Mrs. Parker allowed me to take notes as she judged.  I will send each participant an email with her comments.

The theme of the show was “My Favorite Things.”  We got quite a range of entries and subject matter.

Overall, Mrs. Parker was impressed by the artwork.  She felt the students and parents that entered the show were very brave to put their work on the internet for the world to see. She could see the time and effort all had put in their work.  She asked me to tell all the artists that everyone has their own opinion. What one person likes will not appeal to someone else. Some people will like your art and others will not. Plus, she said not everyone will agree with the way she judged the show. So, don’t give up. Keep trying and keep entering shows.

To read the rest of the post and see the artwork, click here.

What does it mean to be a patron of the arts? According to Dictionary.com a patron is “a person who supports with money, gifts, efforts, or endorsement an artist, writer, museum, cause, charity, institution, special event, or the like”.  You can be a patron in many different ways.  Giving money is not the only way to support the arts.  But, it sure doesn’t hurt.

Many artists are also patrons of the arts. Artists know how important it is to receive support.  Support can make an artist.  

Support can encourage an artist to continue producing art. Even something as simple as winning an award at an art show can encourage the making of art. Other forms of support can be awarding grants, studio space, or artist retreats. Purchasing artists work is a great way to be a patron as well as giving artists space to display their work. 

You may be wondering why I am writing about this. I have a plan. I want to be a patron of young artists.  I am looking for others that want to help. This is what I have in mind.

I am in the process of starting an online art show.  This show is something that has been on my mind for the past year. I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. The idea has been evolving.

The other day I took the first step to making the art show a reality. I started a flickr group for my other website, Art For Homeschool.  This flickr group is set up for K – 12 students that want to show their art work online. There are no fees or dues to join the group. I call it the Art For Homeschool Student Group. Pretty original don’t you think?  The only requirement is to be an email subscriber to the Art For Homeschool website. One email subscription will cover a whole family of children.

The plan is to let students upload one piece of artwork per week. The public will be able to view the work. Students in the group will be able to look at the work, make comments, etc.

Once I get members in the group I will start asking for entries for specific themed art shows. Remember this is all in the planning stages. Maybe once every three months or so, I will change the theme. It all depends on how many entries and how many students are interested in the art show. We could easily end up with a monthly themed show.  

Then the plan is to judge the entries and give out awards. Award winners will be showcased on the Art For Homeschool website.

So, here comes the pitch.

To make this show a reality, I need: 

• awards such as gift certificates and art supplies,
• postage for shipping awards,
• traffic and comments to the flickr group art show,
• ideas for art show themes,
• and judges for the art show.

Please spread the word about this art show. If you know someone that might be interested in supporting this cause email them the link to this article.

Even though the show is in the developing stages, students can still join the group and upload their work .  

I hope some of you can help with this activity. I look forward to working with many of you.  I think this could be a great way to support young artists.

Hi Everybody!

I am excited about a couple of new creative ventures I am working on. First of all I have started a new blog. It is Art For Homeschool.

Art for Homeschool is a website devoted to helping parents give their children art instruction through various ways.  You will probably notice that I have placed links to some of my articles from My Creativity Blog on this new blog.  They are on a page titled Articles of Interest.

On the site there will be a membership area in which parents/teachers/students can access my video series online as well as read teaching tips. The site will be evolving as I gather more and more information for my members. Right now a membership gives you the ability to watch my series of videos on the Elements of Art. You can access the videos online as many times as you wish. Cost for membership is $29.00.  In a few days I will have DVDs of the series for sale also. The DVDs will be 39.99 plus shipping.

The Elements of Art Video Series is over 5 hours long with 8 lessons.  In these lessons students get an in depth look at all 7 of the elements of art. Students will participate in activities such as drawing, painting, and weaving. Here are the titles of the lessons:

• Elements of Art Introduction
• Lesson One – Line
• Lesson Two – Value – Part I
• Lesson Two – Value – Part II
• Lesson Three – Shape and Form
• Lesson Four – Space
• Lesson Five – Texture
• Lesson Six – Color – Part I
• Lesson Six – Color – Part II

These video lessons came about when I moved thousands of miles away from my children and grandchildren. Before the move, I developed homeschool art lessons for my daughter, Lara DeHaven, to use with her children.

After I moved to Hawaii and then to Portland, I began producing video art lessons and mailing them to my grandchildren. As I made these lessons, I realized there was a need for art curriculum for homeschool parents and their children. I also saw a need for art curriculum for those in public schools that did not have the option of taking art classes.

The art lessons are aimed at junior high and high school students but can easily be modified to fit instructional needs for elementary students. Please look around the new site and let me know what you think. I will give more information about the video series later.

The Art For Homeschool motto is “Lessons for the Artist in Every Child.”

I found a website that will randomly generate “word clouds”.  The site is http:www.wordle.net.  You are given several ways to generate these interesting images. I had fun playing on the site.

I created a “word cloud” by giving Wordle the address of My Creativity Blog. The image above is the one I chose after generating a dozen or more. I saved it on their public gallery so I could show it to you.

Click on the image in order to see a larger version of the word cloud. Saving is not a requirement.  Printing the images is an option also.

So, go to this site and play around with it. Homeschool parents could us the site to give their child a more interesting spelling list, or a visual aide for all the states in the United States.  You could also make it a list of all the people in your family. There are many uses for “word clouds”. Use your imagination and have fun being creative with words. 

Would you like to see an example of a homeschool movie project?  I wrote two articles about making movies as a homeschool project and have them posted on my blog. If you have not read the articles, here are the links:

A Great Homeschool Project – Making a Movie
Part II of A Great Homeschool Project – Making a Movie

I thought it would be a good idea to let my readers see an example of a movie made as a project with a child. So, I am posting a movie that I helped my grandson, Jake, make for his blog. Jake is eight years old and is homeschooled by my daughter.  He also has a blog called Cross Creek Horsemanship that he works on as a school project. Jake tries to write an article once a week.

I filmed Jake at the barn as he explained about cleaning horse hooves.  When Jake could not think of things to say, I asked questions.  When we felt that we had enough video we went to the house to edit. Jake had not done any work with Movie Maker before, so I did most of the editing. I showed Jake things that could be done with the software and asked Jake to make editing decisions.

I am a visual person and it really helps me to watch someone work with software, so I tried the same technique with Jake. I went slowly, explaining all the steps we had to take to make a video. Through this process Jake learned about transitions, special effects, animations for text slides, etc.  He made choices, previewed the video and made changes until we were happy with the results.

By the time we finished, Jake had a good feel for the software and the video making process. I can’t say that he will remember it all. I know that I have to work with the software myself before I truly understand all the ins and outs.  I’m sure Jake will need to do a few more videos with help before he will feel confident in working on his own.

I feel this video is a great start. I hope you all enjoy.  If any of you do this type of project with your child and would like to share, let me know. I might be able to post the link on my website.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Last week I introduced A Great Homeschool Project – Making a Movie. If you haven’t read last week’s article, you can click here to see it.  When I started writing Part Two, I had a hard time deciding the direction I should take. I did not want the article to read like an instruction manual.  So, I have changed my strategy a bit.

Last week we ended with the student making a folder with their project name.  The student was also told to open a new project and save it to that same folder.  All the images, pictures, videos, music, audio, and script of the narration go in this folder. It helps your student stay organized when all the movie items are in one place.  Today I want to give some basic tips about Movie Maker for parents that are thinking about giving this type of project to their homeschool students.

Before going any further, I suggest having your student edit their photographs to a size that works well with Movie Maker. I use Adobe Photoshop Elements to crop my photographs, but any photo editing software will work. I crop all of my horizontal photographs to 810 pixels by 612 pixels with a resolution of 300.  Save these photographs with a different name from the original, because the original pictures might be needed for something else later. These newly saved photographs will be the ones used in the movie. Vertical photographs can be used but blank black space will appear on each side of the screen. Limit the use of vertical images.

Movie Maker is pretty easy to understand and gives you more than one way to complete a task.

What are the tasks that need to be done?

• Import all media items into Movie Maker.

• Preview and edit your imported video before dragging into the timeline/storyboard.

• Create Movie Title, Credits at movie end, and any text slides that need to go in between.

• Arrange all media items in correct order in the timeline/storyboard.

• Record audio for narration using recorder in Movie Maker or a separate sound recording software. If audio is recorded outside of Movie Maker, it will need to be imported into the project also.

• Choose animations that will be used on text slides. My personal favorites are Basic Title, Moving Titles Layered, and Fade In and Out.  I also use the Basic Scrolling Stacked Credits at the end of the movie.

• Choose transitions that will occur between images or video such as fade in from black, dissolve, or flip.

• Determine the length images and text slides need to be when previewed with audio.

• Preview whole video to make sure that all images, video, text and narration flow together properly. Make adjustments.

• Check flow of movie one more time!  You will be amazed how things shift when you move one thing. Check and recheck!

• Last step: Publish the movie. Once you have put all the pieces together, you are not done. You have to publish the move. Movie Maker takes the project and produces a movie that can be played on a media player.

Now let’s talk briefly about the layout of Movie Maker:

Importing Media- Figure 1

The upper left hand side of the computer screen shows all the task bar links. (Figure 1) Media (images, video audio and music) is imported using these links. Titles, credits and slides including text are placed in the movie through the links under Edit.  Transitions and effects can also be opened and placed in the movie in this left hand area.

Preview Screen - Figure 2

The upper right hand side of the computer screen houses the preview screen. (Figure 2) This is where you can see your images, text slides and imported videos. The preview screen allows you to watch the whole video or just a single clip. The preview screen is where you edit your videos if they need to be split or trimmed.  You can change the preview screen size by going to View on the taskbar.

Switch from Timeline to Storyboard - Figure 3

The lower part of the computer screen houses the timeline and storyboard. This is where the movie items are placed and the movie is created. Switching back and forth from Timeline to Storyboard is easy. It just takes one click. (Figure 3) I usually work in the Timeline work space, but that is just my personal preference.  The timeline gives more detail than the storyboard view. The storyboard view is the default view with Movie Maker.

You can see that there is a lot to learn if you are going to make a movie as a homeschool project. My advice is to start small.  Limit the number of animations, transitions and effects the student can use in their movie.  Allow your student some time to play with the buttons, effects, animations, and transitions to see what everything does.  Once they get the feel of the software then they can get to work putting their movie together.

I hope this article has inspired homeschool parents to challenge their children to make a movie as a project. I would love to hear how things go. I will answer questions or write more on the subject if there is enough interest. Plus, I would love to see any videos that your students produce. Let me hear from you. I can’t wait to see some projects!

Lights! Camera! Action!

Making a video is fun!  I enjoy the creative process of putting the video project together. I also love the feeling of satisfaction when the project is completed.

Making a video can be a great homeschool project. You are limited only by your imagination. Since I am an art teacher, I have assigned my students to make hand drawn animations, biographies of famous artists, and “how to” videos on various art techniques.

Think of all the history a student could learn making a video about an historical figure, war or time period.  Imagine your child making a video about photosynthesis or how to solve an algebra equation.  Maybe your child could make a video teaching how to make a sandwich in Spanish or first aid techniques.  If your child is a sports fan, they might enjoy making a video about the history and rules of baseball. They could even demonstrate basic skills needed to play the sport.  Your child can make a video about anything!

Not only will your child learn about the subject the video is about, but they will also learn about organization, computer technology and photography skills.  Students will begin to understand what is involved in putting together a video.  They will find that there are many things to do before getting to the movie-making part.  They will find that in order to make a video, research on the subject needs to be done and a basic script needs to be written.  Students will also become more observant of filming techniques.  You will be amazed how your child will notice transitions and special effects as they watch television and movies.

If you are going to give your child a video project assignment make sure you have the equipment needed.  You will need the following:

• Digital Camera, Camcorder, or Scanner
• Computer
• Movie Making Software
• Microphone
• Ability to download photographs or video to computer.

The movie making software that I use came with my computer. It is Windows Movie Maker.  I think most computers come with this software. I know it comes with Windows XP and Windows Vista. The software is pretty easy to understand.  The way I have learned the software is by trial and error. I push buttons to see what happens, but I know that may not be for everyone. Windows Movie Maker has many websites that give tutorials.  Click here to see one of those sites.

To begin your child will need to collect images for the video and download them to the computer. Make a folder with your child’s project name.  This is where the script, all the images, audio, and video will be saved.  For your child’s first project, I suggest keeping the project small, maybe two or three minutes long. You will be amazed how long it takes to put together a 5 minute video.

When your child opens Movie Maker they will click File/New Project. This is where they will name their project.  They need to remember to save their project every minute or so as they are working. There is nothing more frustrating than to work on something for a long time and lose it because the computer freezes or the power goes off.

I have to say that movie making software is notorious for freezing up. So, if it happens, don’t think it is something you did. I know that Movie Maker doesn’t respond well if you tell it to do things too quickly. When computer software doesn’t react immediately, most people have a habit of clicking again to hurry it up. That will not work with Movie Maker. You will cause the software to freeze. It is better to go slowly with patience.

Slowly with patience is a good mantra. The process of learning how to make a video might seem a little overwhelming. For that reason, I will close my article today at this point.

Next Monday, I will post Part Two of A Great Homeschool Project – Making a Video. Please come back. Also, don’t hesitate to ask questions or make comments. I am definitely not an expert, but I am pretty good about finding the answers to things.

If your child is interested in drawing, buy them a sketchbook. Any size will work.  They don’t need special pencils, a #2 pencil will work just fine. A #2 pencil can be used for shading. They can press harder with the lead when they want a darker value.

If you want to splurge, you can purchase a set of drawing pencils with hard and soft leads for shading and a kneaded eraser. It all depends on your budget.  You can buy crayons, markers, pastels, whatever you desire to make their sketchbook more interesting.

Having your child keep a sketchbook will provide a record of drawing improvement. Naturally, the more your child draws the greater the improvement.

When I was teaching Art in Junior High and High School, I required my students to do five sketches per six week grading period. If you homeschool, you can ask your child to do whatever number of sketches you feel they are capable of doing.

I allowed my students a certain number of free sketches. Free sketches are sketches of anything they want to draw. I also gave my students a list of required drawings.  These required drawings forced the student to plan, to do some research, to think about how they wanted to capture the subject.

Some of the required sketches were put on the list to get the child’s imagination going.  The imaginary sketches had to come from their own visualization of the subject.  A few sketches on the list required the student make choices; like drawing their favorite cartoon character.

I also mixed things up a bit and asked students to use colored pencil or marker on a few of the sketches in their sketchbook. My goal was to keep the sketchbook assignment fun, so that the students would look forward to the list each grading period.

Quite a few of my students would knock out the sketchbook drawings in a few weeks and would beg me for the next list. They couldn’t wait to show me their work. I usually gave those students extra credit drawings to do or I took a moment to look at their work and give suggestions on how to make their work better.

Sometimes I let the students as a group make up their own sketchbook list. This gave them a sense of ownership. It was interesting to hear the ideas the students came up with. We wrote all the suggestions on the chalkboard and the students voted for five of the ideas.

I kept a list of the required sketches for each class posted in the classroom. I handed out a list to each student at the beginning of the six weeks. I even emailed the list to parents that requested I do so.

Here are some examples of sketches my students were required to draw:

1. a free sketch
2. a zebra
3. their hand holding a pair of scissors
4. an imaginary pizza with all their favorite foods as topping (ex: Could be candy and ice cream cones as toppings.)
5. a horse running in a field
6. a pile of dirty clothes
7. a corner of their bedroom
8. their bare feet
9. favorite cartoon character
10. a tree
11. a still life of five things from the kitchen
12. a dog
13. a self-portrait
14. a page full of different types of sea shells
15. a spider in a web
16. a family pet
17. a beach scene
18. close up of a wildflower
19. a page full of human eyes
20. sports equipment

The high school students’ sketchbook list was a little more complicated. At times, I asked the students to use one point or two point perspective. Sometimes I asked for a sketch of a famous artist’s work, like a drawing of one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s inventions. I tried to make the sketchbook list fit the students experience.  Each year I asked a little more from my students.

All parents, whether homeschooling or not, can use any of the ideas above. Adapt the sketchbook assignment  to fit your child’s needs and interests. Do what you can to help your child develop his interest in drawing. You will be surprised when you see your child’s progress.  Happy Drawing!

You also might enjoy reading: Grading Sketchbooks