Paul Klee Project

While googling work by Paul Klee, I ran across a great blog 

filled with projects for kids related to well known artists. 

(artprojectsforkids.org)

I copied this image to show the group 

by Paul Klee

Then had them fill in the shapes. 

 They got busy right away and seemed \
happy just to be there.

It wasn't long before the brush was going in to that coffee! 

Oops.  

 This gal is so earnest and works very hard!

Barbara loves to use "dots" 

This woman is almost completely blind,

yet she enjoyed blending these colors on top of each other. 

Again, I worry that having them color in shapes may be a bit 

childish and demeaning to them, 

but I'm not sure what else I can have them do. 

At least they get to learn about work by well known artists.

And they seem happy.  

Crazy Quilt Project

I took the Kandinsky circle pieces the group did last week 

and put them together to make this fun mural. 

The patients got a big kick out of this.  

Then Judith came up with the idea of having them make a "quilt".

I got this Crazy Quilt pattern off the internet to show them. 

then drew these random lines for them to color in. 

Put together, 

we made this happy little 

"Crazy Quilt!" 

I think the patients enjoyed being a part of a 

"group project". 

Note: I've been trying to find paper that is a little thicker than copy paper, 

that can hold up to the paint and still go through my printer. 

The gal at Office Max gave me Card Stock.

It is thicker and does go through the printer,

but it sucks up the paint and "pills".

They couldn't get any good color on there! 

Soothing Circles

I read somewhere that Wassily Kandinski used a lot of circles

 in his work because he felt they were "soothing to the soul."

Yesterday we showed the patients this image of one of his paintings

and had them color in the circles we drew for them.

Now, THIS they LOVE to do! 

There wasn't a sound in the room while they got right to work. 

 Here are some of the end results! 

Who knew? 

Circles ARE soothing to the soul! 

Back to the Drawing Board

In the past, I found that some of the patients like to paint 

directly on the image I've given them to "copy" or use as a reference. 

So for our first class after vacation, 

I printed out a series of simple landscapes on copy paper 

and clued them on to a thicker paper. 

We offered to outline the shapes for them to color in. 

 This was the sample I showed them,

 encouraging them to change the colors they saw.  

 In general, this didn't work as planned. 

Many of them were confused and 

didn't like the idea of putting paint over the photo. 

 Eleanor added a sun and some clouds though! 

This gal seemed to enjoy it.

This woman decided to make a summer scene into a fall scene. 

I think we will go back to the drawing board 

and this project is going in the "don't do this again" pile. 

Again, I have to remember that 

it's not so much the product that results from this class,

as much as it is the process of them sitting and working on something 

together. 

Summer Daze

It was such beautiful day today, 

most of our "regulars" were outside when we arrived. 

The few that came to the class were a happy and quiet group.

Pat enjoys this so much and sits quietly the whole time 

just plugging away.

Janet just likes to do her own thing. 

And she talks the whole time! 

Josephine happily likes to just scrub the paint around. 

Another one from Pat.

Barbara hasn't come to the class in a long time, 

and she was very excited about this.

The "face" was an accident? 

Judith and I are taking the month of August off 

and will be back in September. 

Meanwhile, if anyone out there has any ideas 

about painting projects that may work for this class,

please feel free to e-mail me! 

saltydogstudio@comcast.net 

Thanks! 

Tough Going with Still Lives

This week, we thought we'd try painting "from life" again. 

Judith brought in 10 small vases 

filled with colorful flowers from her garden. 

We had to draw some guide lines for most of them,  

except this woman. 

She is deaf and smiles the whole time she paints. 

Look how she added the tiny holes in the "vase"! 

  (She did this totally on her own) 

Peg didn't believe she did this. 

Ten minutes after she did it. 

As eager as they are to come to this class,

 the idea of "painting" eludes most of them. 

They all have such unique personalities and needs, 

no matter what we come up with,

it works for some and not so much for others. 

This was a stretch for most of them. 

NOTE: 

I'm excited about the Alzheimers breakthrough in the news today! 

FIREWORKS

We thought we needed to change things up a bit today.

With July 4th around the corner, 

we talked about fireworks and showed them some images. 

We gave them black paper and 6 different colors of chalk and off they went!  

They were so enthusiastic and the work shows! 

Ironically, a half hour in to the class, the fire alarm went off!

We had to move all 15 patients down the hall 

to be behind fire doors.

 I was a bit panicked, but the staff was very cool. 

In the hallway the alarm was so loud, no one could speak. 

Many of them just held hands instead! 

I'm amazed. 

 

(Five minutes later, we all went back to "work" 

with a bit of happy chaos. 

Dessert was served and we all laughed about the 

FIRE alarm going off while we were painting FIRE works.)

Happy Birthday America!