Gourds in Watercolor

With the arrival of fall, we turned our thoughts to things harvest this week in the atelier. The children were introduced to gourds and colorful corn as inspiration for small watercolor paintings. They were asked to attempt painting a gourd on their paper, and they each chose the one they wanted to reference. We worked with the colors of the subject matter – light and dark orange, green and brown. One gourd stood out amongst the children as being a “small pumpkin”, which seemed to be a favorite. They also loved the “special” corn. They really enjoyed this project!

When introduced to the gourds and corn:

“Do you see this orange pumpkin? Juice comes out of them….but not a lot. And this corn is not the corn you eat, it’s special corn. You can peel it!” ~Anika

When asked what one of the larger gourds smelled like:

“It smells like pumpkin!” ~Sophia

“It doesn’t smell.” ~Alaira

“It smells like grayish.” ~Jalie

When asked what the cornhusks sound like when they rustle:

“The corn husk sounds like rain (when you shake it)!” And as she shook the corn she tried it out as a new tickling tool, “I’m tickling you with the corn!” ~Mia G.

When asked what the gourds look like:

“This one looks like a lemon!" ~Ava

“This one looks like a pear! This one looks like an octagon – I mean – a septagon”! This one is a drum! This one is a hat (wears the gourd on his head)! ~Corbin

“It looks like a cat, a very different cat. I’m going to paint this gourd!” ~Alaira

When asked how the gourds look and feel:

“It’s kind of bumpy, and also kind of brownish-orangish.” ~Jalie

Mia S. then became the facilitator for this process! She chimed in:

“Is this pumpkin like a circle? And what about this one? And what about this other one?” (she went through all of them together with Jalie)

During the painting process:

"These are beautiful paintings!” ~Mia S.

“I need more orange paint because I need a lot for this picture.” ~McKenna

"I want to use purple to make my gourd.” ~Ava

"When I mix peach and brown it makes light brown!” ~Corbin (he proceeded to do many color studies thereafter)

Until next time...

Yvonne

Rocks | Thiebeau | Diffusing Watercolors

Science
If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian is the new book on our shelf this week.



When you find a rock, you don't always know what kind of rock it is.

Have you found a hiding rock? Or a rock to skip in the water? It might be a wishing rock, or a climbing rock, or a rock to kick in front of you, all the way home.

Or you might have found a rock that doesn't have a name yet.
And that might be the best rock of all.

If you find more rocks, please send them in. We are continuing this fun focus.

Literature (and Math, and Art, too)
The children had an introduction to the art of Wayne Thiebeau. He's an American painter whose most famous works are of cakes, pastries, boots, toilets, toys and lipsticks. His last name is pronounced "Tee-bo" in case any of you are wondering. ;) He is associated with the Pop art movement because of his interest in objects of mass culture, although his works, executed during the fifties and sixties, slightly predate the works of the classic pop artists.



We read Counting with Wayne Thiebaud, and although I didn't buy the book to talk about math, (but what a fun way to demonstrate counting), but rather, to introduce the children to contemporary art in a *scrumptious* form!



Attention was brought to the 'creaminess' of this painting below.
Makes us just want to eat it right off the page!


Pie Slice Oil on board, 1991


Seven Hot Dogs Pastel and Watercolor on Paper, 2006


Candy Apples Watercolor over Monotype, 1989



Celebration Cakes Pastel on Paper, 1992.

Art
Watercolor extension. Final work placed on light table for investigation.





Snippets
Tracing on the light table.



Stacking



Storytime



On Wednesday, Lulu turned 3 years old!
*Happy Birthday*



Yoga
Photos by Kellyann







Closing circle


Now the children are beginning to learn group work in yoga. Ms. Krista was describing some of the things they will be working on, and it sounds really neat!

Final Savasanah

Watercolors, Mirrors, and a Birthday!

Phew! What a busy week. Since I was unable to post daily, I'm going to post a weekly synopsis. As you all know, my logo is complete, and the website is now live.

If you haven't seen it, here it is!


Damon's dad is the creator of this awesome logo.

And the here's the website, created by Kiwe of Visual Moxie.
I'm so stinkin' excited about it!

I've been flooded with emails and several phone calls from people inquiring about the future of Terra Luz. I came to the realization that no longer do I WANT an assistant, I NEED one. Alas, I cannot do it all alone anymore. This is a huge step for me since I've been flying solo this entire time, but I am thrilled to have found a good match! For those of you who have children currently at Casa T. you will be meeting her next week. =)

Snippets from last week:

It was Mia's birthday! She is THREE years old now! We lit the birthday candle and sang her Happy Birthday! Just so you all know, I was VERY careful with placing the candle on the floor. It was such a cohesive way for the children to sit around the birthday girl and the candle and sing to her. They LOVED it!! It was so quiet and serene, I almost seemed as if they were meditating! ;)





This birthday-card watercolor-art was a collaborate effort on behalf of the M, W children for Mia.



Art
Our focus this week was liquid watercolors. We carried over the gelatin exploration from last week.



In the past, I've simply given the children a few colors, a brush, water, and paper, and they would begin to watercolor, not noticing that they were mixing up the original colors in the tray. This week, I tried to show them how we can also keep the original colors intact in the trays, while moving the color to the paper, and blending the colors on the paper instead. the concept was a bit hard. So, we'll continue to offer the watercolors freely and when they're ready to

1). dip brush in the color 2). paint on the paper 3).dip brush in water to rinse off color 4).dip brush in new color

then we'll try that again.

Next week, our focus will be on a 3 dimensional media.
CLAY!!

I pulled out some mirrors so the children can build on top of them. They used the Legos this week and also thought it was fun to look at their reflections and make silly faces.





The pink tower was popular this week. Some enjoy ordering it from biggest to smallest, some enjoy their own version.

Che's tower.

Gardening
Currently, the only thing left that is harvesting is broccoli, so the children took turns watering.





Che opted for some water play soon after, and since the weather was so nice and warm, he was able to fully enjoy himself.



The children, especially the boys, really dig this small jet-ski trailor Mike has by the garden and I often find them pretending they're navigating, or just exploring. And they also did some facepainting on Thursday, explaining some painted faces.

We did many other things this week, but just not enought time to post. That's what happens when I get backlogged and don't blog for a week.

Gratitude

Grandfather Twilight was donated to the Casa T., err, I mean Terra Luz library by Mama Melissa. Thank you!

*P.S. Now that I have the business name registered and an official business account, please make tuition checks payable to Terra Luz Progressive Preschool.

Thank you!