Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The First Round of Art Classes Comes to a Close...

Today was the conclusion of my first round of art classes for kids offered through the Horizons Extension Program at Pine Grove Baptist Church.  I began by offering two classes to homeschoolers - Skill Builders Basic Drawing for ages 9+ and Skill Builders Jr. for ages 5-10.


My Jr. Skill Builders
 My Jr.'s rode on the "Art Express," exploring different types of artwork from abstract to realistic and discussed the work of key artists.  Along the way, we studied the portrait, landscape, still life, and multi-media collage, and we worked in a variety of media including pencil, ink, oil pastel, watercolor, and torn paper.



The big kids created a reference sketchbook of important basic concepts and skills in drawing.  Topics covered included basic lines and shapes, composition, sketching, contour and cross-contour, proportion, and positive and negative space.  Again, we discussed a variety of famous work by artists throughout the centuries.  The goal was to learn about and practice various skills - NOT to end up with a stack of frame-worthy art pieces.  However, I think there were definitely some pieces created by each of the students that have earned that honor.

The Skill Builder Basic Drawing Kids get Silly!








Sunday, October 24, 2010

About the Instructor...

My name is Diane Smith and I have been a doodler ever since I could hold a pencil. I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Specializing in Drawing and Painting, from California State University, Long Beach, and I have enjoyed many years of working with children in art.  Past experience includes several years as the Arts and Programs Director for the Long Beach Children’s Museum followed by three years as the K-8 art teacher at Westerly School of Long Beach.  It was at that point that I came home to be a homeschooling mother of 4, and that has been my primary focus for the past 10 years.

Recently, as the kids have gotten a little older, I have been building an illustration portfolio with children's book illustration in mind for when the homeschooling winds down.  In the meantime, I have been really motivated to get back into art with kids in the community - and so Doodlebird Studio was born.

My classes typically run in 5 to 8 week sessions and target different topics and different student age groups. Some classes zero in on basic technical skills such as those in my Skill-Builder Art Series. Others are based on a period in art history or on a new and different medium like the Linoleum Block Printing. Still, sometimes they’re just for crafty fun as with my recent Christmas Keepsakes. I am always developing new classes!



You can follow my journey toward a future in illustration at http://dianesmithillustration.blogspot.com/