Matisse Matters

 We are in our first week of Summer Session 2 "Artful Antics" at Maple Tree.  I swear I decided to do this art camp because I needed for me.  Art is such a necessary part of my being.  I need it like I need bluegrass music and the  lavender that grows in my garden.  For me this is a time I can really bust out and try some new and exciting projects and experiment with new artists with out the constraints of our regular schedule.

 Sometimes, I get a little to crazy and I think the project I want to tackle will be too ambitious for my group of children.  This project made me question that.  But only for about 15 minutes and then I knew it was brilliant.

 When I was watching the children trace these simple shapes with pencil I looked at Ms. Deanna and we both said, "I love Metal Insets"!  Our children have such amazing hand control and the attention to detail on this project was fascinating to me.  To do this project, I used any old card stock I had laying around and some old laminated sheets from the filing cabinet I cleaned out.  I drew simple shapes on the card stock with marker and then we cut them out.  The children used them to trace on the canvas I provided.  I have a client who gifted me with a roll of canvas and I cut it all up for these paintings.  I went big.  Thank you Jake and Allie!  Such a great gift.  I really appreciate it when you do a big purge and clean out the shop.

 After the children were done with the tracing we moved on to the paint.  Bright colours.  Simple white back grounds.  Simply stunning was the final product.  Every single child made one.  Opting out was never an option.  sometimes teachers helped and sometimes we just watched and rinsed out a brush here and there.  The classroom or art studio as I like to think of it right now was blissfully quiet.  So you can scroll through and look at these amazing master pieces.

 As a teacher I see that there are so many connections between shape, colour and space.  Such lovely connections for my Montessori children.  Even with our geometric solids, Pink Tower and Broad Stair and Botany Cabinet away, the brian is still firing and those connections remain strong.  Maybe we are just dancing around it all with lots and lots of colour and a splash of fun.