art ways.

2012-02-26T21:23:00.001-08:00

LIVE LIFE

Portrait Competition

Are you aged 15—21 yrs?

Submit a portrait of a

Blue Mountains senior to win!

1st Prize — E-reader

2nd Prize — iPod

3rd Prize — Book Voucher from

Turning Page bookstore, Springwood

Entry Details:

1. Artworks can be any medium, but are to be submitted as a digital file - JPEG or TIFF (at least 300 DPI). If you create a painting/drawing/collage etc., please scan or

photograph the work. The file can be handed in to any Blue Mountains library branch on DVD or CD, or emailed (along with your details) to:

competition@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

2. Each artwork must come with one paragraph about the senior chosen for

the portrait — e.g. who are they? / what did you talk about? /what made you

approach them for the artwork?

3. Entries are due by 5pm, 6th April, 2012

For more info, please contact: Naomi

Ph: 02 4739 4284 (Mon - Tues)

E: competition@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ENTRY FORM:

(Please print out and attach this form to your submitted CD/DVD OR email these details to: competition@bmcc.nsw.gov.au )

Name: __________________

Age: ____

Borrower

number:

________________________

Contact phone:

________________________

Email:

________________________

Artwork title:

________________________

Medium:

________________________

Artist statement (can be submitted typed, on a

separate piece of paper):

____________________________________________________

Springwood Pixel Art!

2012-02-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

Inspired by computer graphics, the class at Springwood created some wonderful pixel images this week.

Dot Drawings

2012-02-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

Blaxland art class learnt today about using dots and stamps to make up images, rather than lines.

Tie Dye (No Mess)

2012-02-02T04:18:00.000-08:00

No mess tie dye...? How?!

Answer: textas + tissue paper/coffee filters/paper towel.

After trying different materials last term, Blaxland art class decided that paper towels were definately most absorbant, and coffee filters also made for an interesting shape and effect. So this time around, I got the Springwood class to use only paper towel, knowing it to be the easiest and best to work with.

Folding paper towel squares a few times, into a square or triangle, textas were then held against the towel until it soaked right through to the other side. After adding a pattern, or the desired amount of colour, the folded papers were then opened up to reveal some amazing artworks! This project is a good introduction to symmetry, and working with absorbent paper and inks.

You can see some of the great results below:

Summer Self Portraits

2012-02-01T00:07:00.000-08:00

This art class was inspired by art teacher Kathy Barbro. Based on the idea of doodling in schoolbooks (we've all done it!), these drawings are meant to reflect upon the times had over the summer holidays.

Below are works created by the students of Blaxland art class today:

Alice’s beautiful new glitter lamp

Little Poppy Concert

2012-01-24T21:07:00.000-08:00

Last Friday marked the official launch of the National Year of Reading 2012 at Springwood Civic Centre. After the official proceedings, there was lots of fun in store for kids! Along with gorgeous face-painting and balloon swords/animals, musical duo Little Poppy put on a wonderful concert.

You can see a slideshow of the event below:

Term 1 starts next week, woohoo!

2012-01-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

Timetable For Term 1, 2012

BLAXLAND ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

February - April (TERM 1, 2012)

Week 1 – 1/2: Summer Self-Portrait

Week 2 – 8/2: 3D Art (and 3D Glasses!)

Week 3 – 15/2: Dot Pictures

Week 4 – 22/2: Babushka Dolls

Week 5 – 29/2: Painting Like Joan Miro

Week 6 – 7/3: Recycled Art

Week 7 – 14/3: Paper Puppets

Week 8 – 21/3: Finish This Picture…

Week 9 – 28/3: Glow In The Dark

Week 10 – 4/4: Fabric Painting

SPRINGWOOD ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

February - April (TERM 1, 2012)

Week 1 – 2/2: Tie-dye Art

Week 2 – 9/2: Where The Wild Things Are

Week 3 – 16/2: Pixel-style Art

Week 4 – 23/2: Make Your Own Flag / Coat of Arms

Week 5 – 1/2: Prehistoric Fish

Week 6 – 8/3: Glitter Art

Week 7 – 15/3: Artist Trading Cards

Week 8 – 22/3: Surreal Drawings

Week 9 – 29/3: Watercolour Painting

Week 10 – 5/4: Art Games

Look forward to seeing you there! :)

Summer Art Adventures - Fireworks!

2012-01-01T19:29:00.000-08:00

2012 is here! Why not make this fireworks artwork to celebrate :)

Glitter fireworks art
What you need:
*A few colours of glitter
*Black paper or cardboard
*PVA/craft glue
*A straw (optional)
*Old newspapers

Click here for the instructions!

If you want to show your art to the world, email me a photo of your art at: noliver@bmcc.nsw.gov.au and I'll feature it on the blog! Please include your name and age, and any info about the work you'd like to share.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Summer Art Adventures: Art Competitions

2011-12-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

Art competitions are a fun way to get your artwork seen and you might even win a prize! Here are a couple of Summer art comps you may like to enter:

*Comic Strip Competition (click here for more info and the entry forms)

Entries due: 31st Jan 2012

Above comic is by: momo81

*Waste To Art Competition - making art from recycled materials. (Click here for more info, and visit your nearest Blue Mountains library branch for an entry form)

Entries due: 10th Febuary 2012

The Above scultpure was made by Millbank Primary School

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Art Adventures - Summer Holidays

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

During the holidays, each week I'll post an art activity that you might like to try.

For the first Summer Art Adventure, how about making your own snow globe?

What you'll need:

A jar with a lid (it could small, like a baby food jar, or large like a peanut butter jar)
A plastic figurine / plastic greenery etc. to put inside your snowdome scene
Glitter
Water
Modelling clay (optional)
Hot glue gun (and an adult to help!)

Check out instructions here - and remember, only put waterproof materials in your globe! For a waterless version, click here.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

A Pop Art Christmas

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Have a look at these pop art-inspired Christmas artworks that Springwood art class did today, using oil pastels. Awesome work everyone!

Flash-mob At Springwood Library!

2011-12-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Do you know what a 'flash-mob' is?

At the last Storytime for kids before Christmas this year, some of the librarians decided to surprise everyone with their own flash-mob! Check it out:

Timetable For Term 1, 2012

2011-12-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, it's almost 2012! It's going to be a fun first term back at art class. Here are the timetables for Blaxland and Springwood:

BLAXLAND ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

February - April (TERM 1, 2012)

Week 1 – 1/2: Summer Self-Portrait

Week 2 – 8/2: 3D Art (and 3D Glasses!)

Week 3 – 15/2: Dot Pictures

Week 4 – 22/2: Babushka Dolls

Week 5 – 29/2: Painting Like Joan Miro

Week 6 – 7/3: Recycled Art

Week 7 – 14/3: Paper Puppets

Week 8 – 21/3: Finish This Picture…

Week 9 – 28/3: Glow In The Dark

Week 10 – 4/4: Fabric Painting

SPRINGWOOD ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

February - April (TERM 1, 2012)

Week 1 – 2/2: Tie-dye Art

Week 2 – 9/2: Where The Wild Things Are

Week 3 – 16/2: Pixel-style Art

Week 4 – 23/2: Make Your Own Flag / Coat of Arms

Week 5 – 1/2: Prehistoric Fish

Week 6 – 8/3: Glitter Art

Week 7 – 15/3: Artist Trading Cards

Week 8 – 22/3: Surreal Drawings

Week 9 – 29/3: Watercolour Painting

Week 10 – 5/4: Art Games

Look forward to seeing you there! :)

Snakes In The Grass

2011-12-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

Images from Deep Space Sparkle

Last Thursday Springwood art class created some excellect snake in the grass images, by cutting out jagged grass (from photos of grass), pasting them to a photographic sky background, and then weaving a slithering snake through the blades of grass.

I took some splendid shots of all the work but was dismayed when I put them on my computer and the computer crashed. I haven't been able to retrieve the files, it looks like they have been lost :'(

I'm very sorry to all the artists who were wanting to see their work online! If you would like to send me a photo or scan of your artwork, please send the file to: noliver@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

I'll be sure to take pics of the work we make next week, at the last class for the term.

Glitter Art - with special guest Liam Benson!

2011-11-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

We had a special guest speaker this week at Blaxland - artist Liam Benson. He gave a great talk about how and why he uses glitter in his photography artworks, and even brought in some of his glitter art pieces to show to the class.

Check out the wonderful glitter art made during this class:

Above: A glittering rainbow fairy cave, being guarded by enchanted creatures.

Submit Your Art to the Blog!

2011-11-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

If you would like to show your art on the blog, email a picture of it, along with your name, age and the artwork title to: noliver@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

ABOVE:

Artwork 1 (top) - ‘Silly World’ by Arid McCusker-Monk. The silliness comes from the fact that this world has an igloo, but it also tropical, with palm trees and a very hot sun!

Artwork 2 - ‘Scary Harbour Bridge’ by Arid McCusker-Monk. With huge spiders making webs, and people shouting “Help!”, this would be a bad day to go on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Artwork 3 - ‘Garden’ by Arid McCusker-Monk. A beautiful twisty, curly garden.

Above: ‘Fantastic Zoo’ by Joni Gersbach. What a wonderful drawing! Look for all the fantastic animals in this work: can you see spiders, a snake, fish? What else can you spot?

Thank you for submitting your wonderful drawings Arid and Joni! Love your style!

Creative Collage!

2011-11-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

Springwood art class goes wild with collage! Have a look at their fantastic work:

PiXeL ArT

2011-11-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

                                
______ |__|__  ___ ____ |  |   _____ ________/  |_ 
\____ \|  \  \/  // __ \|  |   \__  \\_  __ \   __\
|  |_> >  |>    <\  ___/|  |__  / __ \|  | \/|  |  
|   __/|__/__/\_ \\___  >____/ (____  /__|   |__|  
|__|            \/    \/            \/

Today’s class was a winner. The works all looked awesome. Based on 8-bit / pixel images (think Mario Bros., Nyan Cat etc), the class used graph paper, and crayons to create their own self-portraits, characters, vehicles and more!

_  ____    ____    ____    ______  ______

/\  _`\ /\  _`\ /\  _`\ /\  _  \/\__  _\  
\ \ \L\_\ \ \L\ \ \ \L\_\ \ \L\ \/_/\ \/  
 \ \ \L_L\ \ ,  /\ \  _\L\ \  __ \ \ \ \  
  \ \ \/, \ \ \\ \\ \ \L\ \ \ \/\ \ \ \ \ 
   \ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \ \_\
    \/___/  \/_/\/ /\/___/  \/_/\/_/  \/_/
                                          
                                          
 __      __  _____   ____    __  __     
/\ \  __/\ \/\  __`\/\  _`\ /\ \/\ \    
\ \ \/\ \ \ \ \ \/\ \ \ \L\ \ \ \/'/'   
 \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ ,  /\ \ , <    
  \ \ \_/ \_\ \ \ \_\ \ \ \\ \\ \ \\`\  
   \ `\___x___/\ \_____\ \_\ \_\ \_\ \_\
    '\/__//__/  \/_____/\/_/\/ /\/_/\/_/
                                        
                                        
  _                    _        _ ___   _       __ __

|_)|  /\ \/|  /\ |\ || \   /\ |_) |   / |  /\ (_ (_ |
|_)|_/--\/\|_/--\| \||_/  /--\| \ |   \_|_/--\__)__)o

Exhibiting at The Lock-up

2011-09-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here’s the link to The Lock-up website, with the details of my exhibition that’s on now until 6th of October!

Locked-Up at Newcastle!

2011-09-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Well, I’m back in Australia, but now I’m in sunny Newcastle for the month! I’m a short stroll from the beach, and have been taking lots of video of the hang-gliders there. I’m staying above an old prison, which is now a museum and art gallery. At the end of my residency I’ll be having a big solo art exhibition, which I’m very excited about.

Take a look at some of the photos I’ve been taking around town, there’s lots of public art here:

Estonia

2011-07-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

I had a very nice trip last week to Tallinn in Estonia for a couple of nights, to do an artist talk at a gallery called Ptarmigan. Tallinn looks medieval, and I stayed within the old citadel. The main art gallery there was very inspirational. It was nice to spend time with my friend Sari as well. I definitely want to go back there some day, there is a lot of art festivals and events during the year and it’s a great place for artists to be at the moment. Another plus was that the food was so, so much cheaper than in Finland!

Art Adventures

2011-07-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

Where's Wally

I hope you get to have a go at doing this one, or maybe we'll do it in a future art class when I get back. Inspired by the 'Where's Wally' books by Martin Handford, this Art Adventure is about making your own 'Where's (insert your name here!)' artwork.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

*Paper

*Lead pencil

*Eraser

*Colour pencils

*Felt-tip black pen for outlines (optional)

Tips on how to draw your own 'Where's (insert you name here!)':

- first, think of the setting. Here's some ideas: a museum, train station, beach, your school

- fill the WHOLE page up with action, people, buildings, animals, hidden items

- hide yourself in the picture, wearing red and white stripes if you want!

- trick the people looking for you by putting other characters in red and white stripes here and there

- what are some other hidden items you can scatter in your picture for people to find? Martin Handford hides things like a scroll or a key.

Here’s a weird one I did, based on geeky things:

Remember:

If you want to show your art to the world, email me a photo of your art at: daisiesn@yahoo.com.au and I might feature it on the blog! Please include your name and age, and any info about the work you'd like to share.

Art Adventures

2011-07-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've been on a lot of planes lately! Planes are great to practice drawing. They may look very hard to draw (so detailed!), but remember: the best way to tackle a difficult drawing is to break the image into shapes and add bits one by one.

Drawing Planes

WHAT YOU NEED:
*Lead pencil
*Paper
*Eraser

Click here for a great step-by-step tutorial about drawing a plane by breaking it into shapes first and adding the details later.

If you want to show your art to the world, email me a photo of your art at: daisiesn@yahoo.com.au and I might feature it on the blog! Please include your name and age, and any info about the work you'd like to share.

Finnish Countryside

2011-07-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

This art residency is in the countryside, with beautiful forests, fields and lakes are all around. Magical!

Arteles Cats

2011-07-12T02:04:00.000-07:00

There are two playful black and white cats at the residency, I took this video of one of them when he greeted me one morning at the gate.

Arteles Art Residency!

2011-07-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

I’ve been very busy during the last week taking photos and videos, now that I’m at Arteles (www.arteles.org). The other artists here are American, French and Finnish and they all make really interesting artwork. Below are a few pics of the residency:

Lots more to come soon!

Art Adventures

2011-07-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

Art idea for today: Marimekko designs
Marimekko is a Finnish company that has been around since the 1950s, and is famous for bright, eye-catching designs like the ones here.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Paper or cardboard for the base
Coloured paper or crepe paper
Glue

1. Cut out big, bold flower shapes in one or two colours and paste them all over the base page. Don't be afraid to go over the edges, it looks great! Just cut off any extra bits.

2. Cut out circle shapes in a different colour and paste those in the centre of the flowers, and then do the same with smaller circles (in another colour still).

3. Add some small cutouts here and there for the stems, and - voilà!

Remember:

More of Hong Kong

2011-06-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong was amazing - so busy and vibrant. It was a steamy 30+ degrees each day and every time I left an air-conditioned building my sunglasses fogged up!

I visited lots of markets and got some art supplies, and learnt to haggle. On the last day I caught a very long cable car to the giant Buddha, which was stunningly beautiful.

Art Adventures

2011-06-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Welcome to week 2! This Art Adventure is inspired by Hong Kong, where I stayed for two days on my way to Finland.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Dark-coloured paper (black, blue, purple etc)
White or coloured chalk - or - chalk pastels

Using dots and lines only, no colouring-in, can you make a scene of Hong Kong at night (like the photo above)? Think about adding lines or swiggles for reflections in the water, the outlines of boats and all of the different-shaped lights of the city skyline.

If you want to show your art to the world, email me a photo of your art at: daisiesn@yahoo.com.au and I might feature it on the blog! Please include your name and age, and any info about the work you'd like to share.

Hong Kong at High-speed!

2011-06-29T01:54:00.000-07:00

Art Adventures

2011-06-24T23:54:00.000-07:00

While I'm overseas I'm going to post some ideas for art projects each week - have a look, and if it sounds fun to you, you might like to have a go at it. This is the first one!

TEXTA NAME DESIGNS
What you need:
*Textas/coloured pencils
*paper

Swirling, bubble-writing, patterns and perspective - the ideas are endless. What about making each letter of your name into a picture of something else? Here are some examples:

^^MIRROR-IMAGE

- Remember our class on symmetry? Can you see how the pic above is symmetrical?

LINE ART^^

^^PSYCHADELIC! - Swirling, wild patterns and colours.

3D^^ - Add shadow to add dimension to your letters.

^^DRAW THE THINGS YOU LOVE,

AS PART OF YOUR NAME - Do you have a favorite hobbie, sport, book, pet?

Try and fit them into the letters of your name.

Art Class Timetables for Term 4

2011-06-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Term 4 is when the summery art classes will start up. Look below to see what we're up to!

BLAXLAND ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

OCTOBER – DECEMBER (TERM 4)

Week 1 – 12/10: Where the Wild Things Are – Drawing Monsters

Week 2 – 19/10: Artist Trading Cards

Week 3 – 26/10: Make Your Own Flag / Coat of Arms

Week 4 – 02/11: Drawing well: Using Grids

Week 5 – 09/11: Tie Die Art

Week 6 – 16/11: Pixel-style Art

Week 7 – 23/11: Glitter Art

Week 8 – 30/11: Surreal Drawings

Week 9 – 07/12: Prehistoric Fish

Week 10 – 14/12: Art Games!

SPRINGWOOD ART CLASS WITH NAOMI

OCTOBER – DECEMBER (TERM 4)

Week 1 – 13/10: Eric Carle Insects

Week 2 – 20/10: Camouflage chameleons

Week 3 – 27/10: Sock Monkey portraits

Week 4 – 03/11: Symmetrical Aliens

Week 5 – 10/11: Hot Air Balloon drawings

Week 6 – 17/11: Abstract paper portraits

Week 7 – 24/11: Chinese vases

Week 8 – 01/12: Sombreros

Week 9 – 08/12: Grass snake drawings

Week 10 – 15/12: Andy Warhol – Pop Art

2011-06-17T17:16:00.000-07:00

~ J* ART CLASS NEWS *J ~

In case you don't know yet, I will be in Europe during July - at an artist-residency in Finland, where I’ll make art, meet other artists and talk to students about my artworks. The place I'll be staying at is called Arteles - click here to have a look!

In September I will be at another artist-residency in Newcastle, NSW – an art gallery called ‘The Lock-up’, which used to be an old jail! www.thelockup.info

I won’t be back to teach art classes at the library until October, but if you want to follow my journey and maybe get some art ideas for yourself, check out my blog from time to time.

Music Collage

2011-06-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

Today, Springwood students drew their favourite musical instruments on coloured paper in crayon, and then added a collage made from printed-out musical notation.

PS - Thanks for all the kind wishes from everyone for my upcoming trip, I really appreciate it!

PPS: I look forward to term 4 - there are some fun classes coming your way! :)

¡Fiesta!

2011-06-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

This wednesday at Blaxland, the last class for the term, saw the class designing their own vibrantly-coloured Mexican Sombreros. Awesome work everyone :) :)

Starry, Starry Nights

2011-06-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

Today Springwood art class students interpreted Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ painting, using oil pastels on paper. Check out the perfectly wintery scenes below:

Chinese Vase Portraits

2011-06-08T02:17:00.000-07:00

Today's class was a variation on the class in this blog - in our case we used coloured oil pastels on paper, instead of paint. To make the vase shapes, the kids folded a white piece of paper in half and cut an outline to make a symmetrical vase when unfolded again. They added detail (mainly in blue), pasted the vase to the coloured background paper (a choice of light blue, yellow or green) and drew some vibrant flowers coming out of it.

Coloured Paper Self-portraits

2011-06-01T01:33:00.000-07:00

Today at Blaxland the students cut out coloured paper and made an abstract collage self-portrait. It’s trickier than it appears, especially with the hair fitting around the face just so. No pencils allowed - it was just carefully cut and paste - a great way to train your drawing eye/hand coordination. Here are some of the works - they look great, so colourful!

Beautiful Autumn Leaves Watercolour Art!

2011-05-26T01:27:00.000-07:00

Today in Springwood Library Art Class we drew overlapping Autumn leaves in oil pastel, across a large piece of paper, and then added a multicoloured, watercolour wash over the top. The results are very pretty!

Hot Air Balloon Art Class @ Blaxland

2011-05-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

For this class, I handed out white paper with a light circle printed on about half of it. The class came up with fantastic designs for hot air balloons, using the faint circle as a starting point for the balloon shape. They used lead pencil to draw in the details first, then decorated the balloons with colour pencils and textas to make the designs really pop. The class was one hour long, but I think with extra time this project would also look great with bright blue skies or landscape backgrounds added behind the balloons.

Click HERE to see more videos from this class!