A tribute to Louise Nevelson

This week in art class, we learned about the artist Louise Nevelson. According to our teacher, Louise was born in Russia but grew up in Maine. Her Father owned a lumber yard. She used to nail or glue wood pieces to create assemblages (art created from odds and ends). She also painted but it was her wood assemblages that made her famous.

Our teacher let us pick our own colors and the items we wanted to glue onto the paper. It's hard to tell from this picture but the item in the upper left corner is a cupcake holder, which is by far my favorite : )

Painting of my Ema

Our teacher gave us an opportunity yesterday to paint whatever we wanted and I decided to paint a picture of my Ema.

I used regular paint but watered it down to get more of a watercolor affect.

I wanted to add some grass, trees, flowers and sky and had planned to do that when I got home yesterday but after looking at picture again, I decided it was perfect the way it was.

How about you? Have you painted anything fun lately?

Animal Wednesday - Paperoni Art Project

During my recent snow days, I was digging through the closet where my Ema keeps potential presents and I came across this colorful Paperoni (paper and fun rolled into one!) box. It seemed like to perfect outlet for my snow-day boredom, and Ema was kind enough to let me have it.

The kit includes this very cool Paperoni cutter, lots of colorful sticks and some pre-cut pieces of Paperoni paper, and a few sticky molds that I could use to create things.

My favorite was the 3D mold that I could turn into an animal so I went to work on that one first. There were 600 Paperoni Pieces that were already cut into 1/2" sizes so I started sticking those on the animal's head. The pieces were tiny and although the kit came with these big tweezers, I found it was easier to just use my hands.

But it wasn't long before I noticed the big purple and red cutting machine and started trying to figure it out. I had to ask for some help, but I quickly discovered that cutting the sticks of Paperoni was a lot more fun than sticking the pieces on the animal mold. I cut piece after piece until there weren't any left to cut.

And then I didn't feel like sticking the pieces on the animal mold anymore. So I tried the flat molds but that really wasn't much fun either.

So I moved the tiny cut pieces into a big bowl and played with them instead. After I got the pieces all over the living room floor, my Ema made me pick them up and put the whole thing away. I'm sure I'll eventually get back to the Paperoni kit but it just wasn't my thing on that particular day.

Since I didn't finish my Paperoni animal, Happy "naked" Animal Wednesday to everyone!

My Belated Menorah

I know I'm a little past the season when it comes to talking about a Menorah, but I didn't have an art blog back then so I'm showing it off now. Ms. Lindsay, our teacher, glued the glass bottles to a wooden board and then gave us a bunch of different containers of colored sand to choose from. We scooped out the colors we wanted with a spoon to fill the bottles in rainbow layers. It took a really long time to complete. I can't remember exactly but I think we worked on filling the bottles during four different classes.

Next Ms. Lindsay glued a little metal ring on top of each bottle to seal it off and give us a place to stick the candles.

During the first night of Hanukkah, my Sabba wanted to know where we bought that beautiful Menorah. He had no idea I had made it myself. So far, it has been the funnest project in my art class, and I'm really proud of it.

A painting that is good enough to eat

A few weeks ago, my Ema went to a ladies night out at a place called Painting with a Twist in Dallas. The next morning, I walked into her office and saw the most beautiful picture hanging on the wall. I asked, "Ema, where did that beautiful picture come from?" She told me she had painted it the night before during her girls' night out.

Well, I was so excited that I asked when I could get in on that painting action and last week, she hooked me up at Painting with a Twist in Frisco, Texas.
A few days a month, they offer an after school painting class for kids who are six years and up but they were nice enough to allow me to come as long as my Ema stayed with me to help.

I can't tell you how much fun we had painting those yummy cupcakes and they even served us popcorn during the break. Best of all, our teacher was soooo nice and very patient with me. Even when I ate some of the green paint.

I'm not bragging but I think my cupcakes turned about pretty nice and I can't wait to go back to paint something else very soon.

If you live in the Dallas/Frisco area, check out Painting with a Twist's Web site and let me know if you'd like to join me for an afternoon of painting. Since I've been there before, I'm no longer a rookie, and I totally know the ropes. I can definitely help you get set up.

Have you painted anything fun lately? I can't wait to see your work!

Sleeping bags like my great great grandma used to make

My sweet Grandma sent me $50 for Valentine's day so My Ema let me spend a little bit of it to buy a Strawberry Shortcake camping set. The only problem is that the set only came with 2 sleeping bags and I have 4 Strawberry Shortcake dolls so I begged my Ema to help me make 2 more sleeping bags so all of my dolls could join in the camp-out fun.

Ema recently found a box of Barbies she had when she was a little girl, and they all had these very cool clothes that my great great grandmother made for them. My Ema doesn't sew much and neither do I but we decided to give it a whirl anyway and I think the result would make Lilly Helen (that's my great great grandmother's name) proud. 

We dug through the drawers in the sewing room and found 4 different pieces of fabric that we really liked. 3 of the pieces were thanks to Deb. She sent them to my Ema  a long time ago, and we just hadn't found the right use for them yet but sleeping bags for dolls turned out to be the perfect choice.

The 2 sleeping bags on the right came with my new Strawberry Shortcake camping set and the 2 on the left are the new ones Ema and I made. Ema folded down the light pink one just like the sleeping bags from the set but I decided that the 2nd one should go all the way to the top so if more than one doll wanted to share the same sleeping bag, everyone could be covered completely.

I love all 4 of my sleeping bags and so do my dolls. We're about to start our first camping trip right now.

Have you sewed any fun "art" lately that you'd like to share with me?

Welcome to my art blog

During a very fun experience at summer camp, I discovered that I really love art. I started painting and drawing and making all sorts of great things. And then my mom enrolled me in a "Little Piccaso" class at my school. I've having such a great time and want to share my art projects with you.

Thanks so much to Auntie Mim for suggesting this blog to my mom. The minute I heard the idea, I knew I had to make it happen and share my art with everyone.

Oh and did I mention ... I'm 4-years-old. My philosophy is that one can never get started creating art too early in life. Enjoy and I look forward to getting to know other artists out there and seeing your projects as well.

Happy Creating!

Love, Zoe D.