Six Fall Leaves

It's was so nice to do something creative again! I divided the paper into six squares then used a pencil to sketch in some simple leaves. (I did an image search as a reference.) I especially like the leaves on the bottom right (ginkgo leaves?) As I was drawing I found it so easy to draw one side of the leaf and then such a challenge to get it symmetrical on the other side. I traced everything in black sharpie marker and then used water colors to fill in warm tone leaves and alternating cool tone backgrounds.

Here's the original idea at Art Projects for Kids.

Rorschach Animal

This one was done with a few small drops of red, yellow, and white acrylic paint squished between two sides of a folded paper. The first few "ink blots" I made were too dark and scary looking. This one took me a minute to see, but then it was clearly a lion with a butterfly on his head! If I do this again (which I might, because it's fun when you get an idea!) I will use lighter/brighter colors and a thinner medium. The lines were done with black sharpie after it dried.

Here's the original idea at Teach Kids Art.

Washable Marker Elephant

For this one you draw the elephant and then trace it in black washable marker. The wrinkles, eye, and toes are done with thin permanent marker so they won't bleed. Then you use a a wet paintbrush to draw the color out from the washable marker to make gray (and blue). When it dries you cut out the elephant. The background is a separate sheet done with watercolor and salt and then grass and trees added with chalk pastels. I love the process of making washable marker bleed with water!

Here's the original idea at Fun Art 4 Kids.

Adjective, Adjective, Noun

enourmous, red-headed flower pot

tough, blonde moose

A simple idea, but so fun and open-ended! Use a random word generator to pick two adjectives and a noun (you can keep on clicking till you find good ones.) You could also pair up with someone to pick the words for each other as a sort of fun challenge. I did the challenge with my brother and used water colors with black pen outlines.

Here's the original idea at kinderart.com.

Van Gogh Flowers

Oil pastels on light blue paper. I'm not so good at drawing out of my head, but I did enjoy mixing the colors for the table, vase and background.

Here's the original idea Deep Space Sparkle.

Sunset Silhouette

This is a watercolor sunset with a silhouette picture cut out from black paper. Deciding what to make was fun once I started brainstorming. I love how it came out!

Here's the original idea at Deep Space Sparkle.

O'Keefe Watercolor

This one was very simple. I just looked at a flower and drew a few sketchy lines with a black oil pastel and then painted with watercolors. I'd like to figure out how to keep a sharper edge for drawing the lines thinner. It's hard to keep a sharp point on such thick crayons! But I like the look of the white border that comes from taping it off with masking tape.

Here's the original idea at Deep Space Sparkle.