Carol Peters
With over 30 years experience in art education , Carol is an award winning artist , actress , executive producer and star of “ Carol on Creativity ” Named 2021 Poppy Jasper International Film Festival ’ s Art Icon . Her passion is to bring art alive for young and young at heart . Contact Carol at : caroljp @ garlic . com
KIDS corner
Warm and Cool Trees
Guest Artists ... Aleidi Lopez 10 , Quetzaly Lopez 8 , Nico Corvi 13 , Jake Corvi 11
Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky . — Kahlil Gibran
Providing media options along with the element of surprise , let kids be free to experiment and not be afraid to try and see what happens next ! Here are two versions creating trees the same media . The boys had more time to measure the squares and color them in with crayon and add permanent marker designs to the inside of the tree trunks , so their results are more complex . Both versions are beautiful . This gives you a choice !
Before you begin ask your child to tell you what they think warm colors are . Ask them to pick out color crayons they think are warm …. Tell them to think of hot , fire , the sun etc . and what it looks like . Praise them when they pick the right colors like red , yellow , and orange . Then , ask them to pick out cool colors , think of water , sky , and ice . Praise them when they pick out blue , green , purple . In this project we are separating areas with warm and cool colors to create impact .
Supplies Needed : May be laying around the house or in the garage . Other supplies are available at the Dollar Store or other discount store . Shop local !
In some parts of the country , the seasons are clearly seen with the changes of the trees . Talk with your children about trees when taking a walk . What color are the leaves in the fall ? Are the branches bare in the winter ? What happens in the spring ? The trees may have buds and flowers . These visuals can provide children with a beautiful example of the cycle of life .
I love giving children different tools and skills to create art so they can use them in combination with other media they have mastered . It gives them the power to have options in their artistic choices when creating and they have more tools to use in their mental toolbox . This project may look hard , but it is super simple and teaches ways to mix media . It also has the surprise of the unknown when you peel off the tape . They will learn crayon resist , masking , measuring , using marker , crayon , and watercolor all together to create a tree that is unique and beautiful !
Option # 1 : Use heavy watercolor paper . Overlap painter ’ s blue tape to make tree trunk . Make the trunk bigger on the bottom . Rip blue painter ’ s tape to make the branches … tell your child to think of the letter W or the letter Y when adding branches . Explain this process is called masking and will keep the area under the tape clean . After the tree is masked out , color wavy horizontal lines with crayon … cool on top and warm on bottom .
72 WINTER 2022 gmhTODAY Magazine gmhtoday . com