Anyone Can Kandinsky!

One of my favorite art books is The Usborne Children's Book of Art by Josie Dickins. 

We use this book as a starting point for many of our family art projects.

I read the pages about the artist that is our source of inspiration for the day...

...For example, the book says, "Kandinsky claimed that looking at colors made him hear musical sounds."

 While we create, we talk about this quote, what we think it means and what sounds different colors make to us. 

We talk about the color wheel, color harmony, complementary colors, how to choose colors to put next to each other and how that affects the feeling of the piece...

I am always surprised by what my kids say during these conversations.  It gives me insight into what is going on in their minds that they only have a chance to express while we are creating together. 

It's all just so unexpected and unpredictable, which is what I LOVE about the creative process.  We learn so much about ourselves and others.

Anyone Can Kandinsky.  This was one of the simplest projects we've ever done.

Supplies:

* Oil pastels, crayons or paint (we used oil pastels)

* Paper

* Image of Kandisky's artwork (Farbstudie Quadrate).  I printed one from the Internet.

Simple Steps:

1)  We read a little bit about Kandinsky and his work from the book I mentioned above.

2) We folded our paper until we had 6 even squares.  This alone was a nice challenge for the kids to solve.  We chose 6 circles instead of 12 (Kandisky's #) because of the size of our paper and their attention span.  I wanted them to really spend time on each circle rather than rush thru them to get all 12 done. Younger kids could do even 1 or 2 --OR--each person in your family could do one circle on the sheet, and you'd have a collaborative family piece of art.  How cool is that?

3) Start drawing, coloring and having fun!  Adults should participate too...you'll be surprised how much fun it is!

***These turned out beautiful and make great artwork to decorate your home.  Our baby stared at them for hours...so if you have a little one, use it to entertain and delight them too!  Nora loved the bright colors and contrasts.  We would prop it up with something while changing her diaper or while she was lying on the floor.

Remember, if you do any of these crafts...please send photos to me so I can post them on my blog.  Thanks!

And, don't forget to enter in the PILLOW GIVEAWAY from Monday's post.  Your odds are good-I think there are only 8 participants so far!