Recent student artwork - Printmaking

These are some examples of artwork from some of my adult students in a recent printmaking class.  The students made woodcuts and then used acrylic paint as the ink to make their prints

Painting sale for art student Barbara Viola!

Another congratulations is in order for Barbara Viola who sold her watercolor painting "Blushing Rose" to a Livermore collector recently.  Well done Barbara!

"Blushing Rose"

Watercolor on archival paper

by Barbara Viola

Another of my students won First Prize in the "Grandmothers Who Help" Art and Poetry contest

Congratulations to my 13 year student Kaycee Bilke who won First Prize in the "Grandmothers Who Help" Art, Poetry and Essay writing contest!  Her oil painting "Sparkles the Unicorn" won the prize and is now on a 10 month US touring exhibition with the 2nd and 3rd place winners from the same competition.  You can view the competition winners here: "Grandmothers Who Help" Art, Poetry and Essay Writing competition

"Sparkles the Unicorn"

Oil painting

by Kaycee Bilke

A third student wins 1st place at the Alameda County Fair

A 10 year-old student from my homeschool classes, has also won First Place at the Alameda County Fair Art Contest this year.  Her drawing of a garden is the prize-winning work.

Congratulations!

"Garden"

Pencil on Paper

by 10 year old student

Art and Piano News July 2012

ANOTHER OF MY STUDENTS WINS FOUR TOP AWARDS IN THE ALAMEDA COUNTY FAIR ART CONTEST!

Congratulations to 8 year old Rachel Mattison won four 1st place awards at the Fair's Art Contest as well. Her painting of The Cat in the Hat, inspired by the Dr. Seuss character, is pictured below.

"Painting of The Cat in the Hat"

(after the character by Dr. Seuss)

by Rachel Mattison

(8 years old)

Piano Recital planned for late October

I will be holding a small piano recital for my piano students in late October. It will be a very friendly and easy-going recital as the students are just beginning to learn the piano, and most are in elementary school or younger. I would love all the students to show off one or two of their pieces and hear what the other students are doing. We will have refreshments after the recital. I will announce more details in September.

 

Caricature Sketching for Parties & Events

I recently did a Caricature Sketching Event at a graduation party. It proved to be a lot of fun, especially with the children!.

If you are having a party or event in the coming months and need an extra activity I am available to do caricature sketching again. In addition I can give a caricature workshop & guests can draw each other afterwards. if you are interested please call or email.

Congratulations to 6 year old Tatyahna Munoz for winning the "Judges Favorite" award at the Alameda County Fair Art Contest!

"Painting of Peacocks in a Park"
(inspired by a 1968 painting "Peacock in the Park" by British artist, Margaret Baird)

by Tatyahna Munoz

(6 years old)

Oil on Canvas

Tatyahna entered this painting in the Alameda County Fair Art Show and won the "Judges Favorite" award!

Congratulations Tatyahna!

Upcoming exhibition of instructor's paintings and drawings

I will be showing a number of my drawings and paintings in an exhibition at the Figurehead Gallery in Livermore in August 2012.   The show is entitled "Figures and Faces" and includes 4 -5 nationally and internationally respected artists.  Please plan to stop by in August to see the show.  I will post further details about the exhibition closer to the time. 

Taekwondo sculpture by a 6 year old student

Taekwondo Self-Portrait

by a 6 year old student

Air-dry clay, Acrylic paint and Markers

Art school and Instructor News

Art and art history classes have started at the Robert Livermore Community Center and run until the end of July 2012.  We had a good turnout for the class - almost completely full.  The classes are for younger school-aged students, and teach various styles and techniques as well as famous artists from the history of art.  Students make an artwork in the style they have learned about.  So far we have done Egyptian art and Impressionism.

Instructor, Thomasin Dewhurst's work published in prestigious art book

The instructor, Thomasin Dewhurst, has had her work published in a prestigious book INDA6 from Cincinnati's MANIFEST Gallery .  The publication presents some of the finest examples of contemporary drawings from the USA and worldwide. INDA6 is available for purchase from the MANIFEST Gallery or Amazon.com and various other sources. 

"about the INDA

The International Drawing Annual publication was conceived as an extension of Manifest's Drawing Center mission to promote, feature, and explore drawing as a rich and culturally significant art form.

The goal of the International Drawing Annual is to support the recognition, documentation, and publication of excellent, current, and relevant works of drawing from around the world.

This supplemental resource website offers biographical information and artist's statements for each of the artists included in each annual volume of the exhibition-in-print. One detail image from each artist is also provided for reference relative to their information."  from ManifestGallery.org

Fish-Kite project

The kites were made from two pieces of tissue paper in the shapes of fish.  The two pieces were glued together along the long sides, leaving the mouth and the tail end open.

The kites were decorated with tissue paper fins and scales.

Streamers were glued to the tail end.

The string was attached to the mouth end.

 

Kite by an 8 Year old

The mouth is reinforced with a ring made of paper to which the string is attached.  The ring is important as it opens the mouth to let the air through when the kite flies

Kite by an 8 year old

Kite by an 8 year old

New student work - May 2012

 

"Bicycle"

watercolor 

6 year old student

"Apple still-life"
watercolor

Elementary school student

 "Apple still-life"
watercolor

Elementary school student

"Apple still-life"
watercolor

Elementary school student

Brush & Ink line drawings by my Elementary School Class

New student artwork May 2012

16 year old student

 14 year old student

  14 year old student

  9 year old student

  4 year old student

  6 year old student

  6 year old student

  14 year old student

  9 year old student

  14 year old student

 16 year old student

Children's Summer Art Classes

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 - July 25th, 2012, 1:30 pm - 2:45pm

Robert Livermore Community Center

4444 East Ave, Livermore, CA | 

$125.00 for 6 classes

Art For Children: Paint, Draw & Sculpt
Children's summer art classes are offered in June and July at the Robert Livermore Community Center in Livermore.  These classes are for children ages 5 and up and cover a variety of techniques and mediums.
The classes also introduce styles from the history of art such as Impressionism, Expressionism, Renaissance Art and more, and look at artists such as van Gogh, Rembrandt, Seurat and others.
Students learn painting, drawing and sculpting.
For further information, please visit:
http://childrensartclassesprojects.blogspot.com/

From my Art History for children classes: Celtic-style art

In my Art History for Children classes we learn a variety of styles and art movements from the history of art.  In this class, the students look at Celtic Art and the stylized designs of overlapping, rhythmical patterns.  This is a dragon's head and ribbon pattern, copied from Celtic images seen.

 Dragon's Head and ribbon pattern

(inspired by Celtic Art)

pen and watercolor on paper

7 year-old student

Creation from recycled / found materials

We do a lot of work with found materials in my art classes.  The students love it and are so creative with what they find to use.  Here is a Leprechaun Trap made of a breakfast cereal box, pipe-cleaners, tape, cardboard tubes and some coins (to entice the leprechaun!)

Leprechaun Trap

Found materials

7 year-old student

New studio work form my art students

 

Mixed media collage

by 14 year-old student

Rabbit with Wolf

Oil on canvas

by an 8 year-old student

Egg with chick's beak

pencil on paper

by a 7 year-old student

 
 

Tonal drawing in blue

colored pencil and pencil on paper

by a 7 year-old student

 

Seated man with tv and tv stand

Clay and acrylic paint

by a 7 year-old student

Some work from my Art History for Children classes: Ancient Egyptian Art

 A pyramid made out of a cardboard box with a clay ring to keep it closed 

(taken from an idea from classroom projects by DickBlick)

by a 6 year-old student

Ancient Egyptian-style mummy and staff

Clay

by a 7 year-old student