Skaters in Dutch landschape

Made by Brittany, 11 years old

You need:

1. light blue construction paper
2. dark transperant glossy paper
3. glue
4. flour
5. colour pencils
6. scissors

Beautiful photographs of Dutch landscapes and skaters on frozen water, are the inspiration for this lesson. There are many of these pictures on the internet (search for 'hollands landschap schaatsen'). Show some of these pictures and discuss them.
Take a light blue sheet (or paint one) and paste and paste in the middle transparent dark, glossy paper on it; this is the ice. Cut a circle from a white sheet and paste in on the light blue sheet. Make the white streaks on the ice by drawing lines with a glue stick and sprinkling flour over it; shake the rest of. Draw a windmill or a landscape. Draw some skating people on another sheet and colour them with bright colours. Cut those skaters and paste them on the ice.

Made by students from 10-11 years old

Winter scene

Made by Veerle, 10 years old

You need:

1. black paper A4 size
2. chalk pastels
3. hairspray
4. scissors
5. glitter
6. glue

Students draw a winter forest with snowy pine trees on a black background. The trees on the foreground must be lighter than those on the background.

When ready, put a flower pot on the drawing and draw a circle. Cut this circle. Fix your artwork with hairspray and let it dry for a few seconds. Then lay the circle face down on the table. Colour along the outer edge of the back of the circle a circle of about one centimeter. Put the circle in the middle of a new sheet of black paper. Smudge the chalk with your fingers on the new sheet, taking care the work won't move. Finally turn the circle and paste it in the black circle of your latest sheet. Sprinkle a little glitter in small dots of glue.

Splattering fireworks

You need:

1. black construction paper
2. toothbrush
3. tempera paint
4. spoon
5. straw
6. photo of a building or skyline
7. scissors

Choose an internet photograph of a famous building or skyline. Print it and cut it out carefully. Put the picture or a black sheet of paper. Dilute white tempera paint with water so it is fluid. Dip the toothbrush in the paint and knock the adhering drops off. Take a teaspoon in your writing hand and the toothbrush in the other. Scrape with the spoon on the hairs of the toothbrush in your own direction. This way the hairs of the toothbrush will spring back, while they release splashes of paint. Practice this first on a scrap sheet. Now splash around your image. Near the image you splash closer, further away you splash thinner.

When you are finished, gently take the image away. You'll see the silhouette of the building.Let your work dry before you do the second step.
Dilute some tempera paint on a saucer with water so it is thinner. Leave one or two drops of diluted tempera on your artwork, but not on the silhouette. drupjes verf op je werkstuk vallen, maar niet op het silhouet (put your image back to the sheet if necessary). Blow through the straw at the paint drops in different directions, so you'll get fireworks. Do this as often as you like. Be careful, there should not be coloured paint on your silhouette. Paste your work finally on a coloured background.

This lesson is origanally from Art Attack.

Fireworks over the city

Made by Oscar, 11 years old

You need:

1. white drawing paper A3 size
2. oil pastels
3. liquid water colour
4. brushes
5. coloured paper for background

Children draw a New Years eve in three sections: foreground, middleground and background. At the bottom of the sheet they draw a lot of backs of human heads; these are the people looking to the fireworks. In the middle they draw a street with houses. People are standing in front of those houses, so think about overlapping! The third section is above the houses: beautiful fireworks. Colour everything with oil pastels. Use bright colours for the fireworks, including white. Don't draw too many details, that isn't easy to colour because of the oilpastels.

Whey ready, paint the whole drawing with dark liquid watercolour, because new years fireworks are at night! The oil pastels will resist the watercolour.

Merry Christmas window

You need:

1. pattern (click on the picture of it)
2. carbon paper
3. cutter and cutting mat
4. green cardboard
5. tissue paper

Pattern (click and enlarge)

Print the pattern and enlarge if you wish till A4 size. Copy the pattern with carbon paper on the cardboard and cut out the grey parts carefully. Be sure the letters will be stuck to the window. Paste tissue paper on the back.
You might prefer to let children draw their own letters. If you let them, give them the exact sizes of the window and tell them to be sure the letters have to be stuck to the window on at least every edge. This can be done with pencil and paper, but also on computer (Wordart).

Snowman close ups

Made by Charmaine, 11 years old

You need:

1. grey drawing paper cut in pieces from 15 by 15 cm


2. oil pastels


3. glue


4. scissors


5. coloured cardboard

Children get three pieces of grey drawing paper. They have to draw the same snowmen face or part of the face from different points of view: frontal, of the side, from above, from the bottom, upside down etc. The snowmen must be coloured with oil pastels. Of course the colours of all drawings have to be the same. Outline everything with black oil pastel.

Glue the three snowmen close ups on a matching coloured cardboard.

Snowman close ups, by children of 11-12 years old

kristina klarin : artists who blog

Kris' blog: www.color-stripes.blogspot.com
Kris' shops: www.kriswonderroom.bigcartel.com, www.KrissColorStripes.etsy.com

Why did you decide to start a blog?

It was 3 years ago and at that time I was working pretty hard in the fashion industry. I really needed a kind of vent when I discovered the blogosphere. I was so fascinated with all the support, friendship and generosity I saw in the blogs and I just wanted to be a part of that.



How did you come up with the name of your blog?

The favorite part of my job as fashion designer was choosing the colors for collections. I always loved to cut the stripes from hundreds of fabric samples, and making combinations for the outfits, so somehow kris’s color stripes sounded good to me.



How has blogging affected your work as an artist/designer?

Oh, in an incredible way. Having always immediate feedback made me produce more and more quickly, it also made me feel more positive about what I was doing, particularly because working from home can be hard since you are your own critic all the time.



What are your favorite artist/designer blogs? Why?

There are so many…
…Helen Dardik - Orange you lucky- I love her illustrations, colors and joy she transmit through her work.

Elisabeth Dunker - fine little day- I love her versatility and how she moves from one project to another while staying always true to herself.



Do you have any advice for artists/designers who are starting a blog?

Do it! Don't be afraid to show your art, ideas, and passions.



What has been the most positive and inspirational aspect of having a blog for you?

Connecting with people, immediate feedback, incredible support.



What do you find the most difficult/most rewarding part of having a creative profession?

I spent whole my life visiting only creative schools and doing creative jobs, so honestly I can not imagine doing something else. I would never change my work for any other career…one of the aspects I like most is flexible office hours- I like to start my day at 6 am and finish everithing by 4 pm.



Other than your blog, what has been the most effective way for you to promote your art/design?

Actually I’m probably the worst promoter of my work, so I must say I did literally nothing.



How do you maintain a healthy work/life balance?

I don’t…When I’m absorbed by my ideas I just can’t focus on enything else. I do have dinner with my boyfriend and I do laundry but I spend the most of my time in my studio-room obsessed with my ideas or projects I’m working on for my clients.



What would you like to accomplish in 2010?

I would love to get better in promoting my work…It’s something I’m really not good at.

Thanks so much Kris! Be sure to check out Kris' 2010 calendar here. It is beautiful!