“AN AMAZING EVENT! BEAUTIFUL ART AND A LOT OF FUN.”
A is for Art Paintings - 2024
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A is for Art.
PAINTING A
Rainy Days
Medium: Acrylics
Classroom: Chicks
Master Teacher: Mariana Ortiz Calderon
Supervising Teacher: Kimberly Dunlap
Tarini Ahuja’s work often includes hints of objects from nature, including clouds and mountains. Tarini uses watered down acrylic to gain a dripping or running effect. As most children in the Chicks began to walk and crawl, propping up the canvas allowed for them to practice their visual motor skills and their hand-eye coordination. We began with green paint covered by some plastic wrap, but the children quickly expressed their interest in sensory play. The children then used sponges, brushes, and their hands to paint. They enjoyed spending time after each brush stroke watching the paint drip down slowly, like water droplets on a rainy day.
PAINTING B
Bubbles
Medium: Acrylics
Classroom: Ducks
Master Teacher: Cindy Miranda
Supervising Teacher: Kim Dunlap
The children in the Ducks classroom began their artistic voyage by mastering the use of art supplies. As they familiarized themselves with these tools, their interest in various art activities grew. They enjoyed exploring different textures and colors using brushes and their hands. They discovered that mixing colors created new shades, a technique like Emily Mason's art. The children worked on the canvas both individually and together, both outdoors and indoors. We decided to name the canvas “Bubbles,” as it is one of the children’s favorite activities and is often requested.
PAINTING C
Imperfectly Perfect Rainbow
Medium: Acrylics
Classroom: Koalas
Master Teacher: Melinda Gonzalez
Supervising Teacher: Eryn Juns
The children used spatulas to create the base coat of their canvas as well as the initial base coat for each of the six color blocks, they did this by utilizing their hands to drag the spatula back and forth across the large canvas. When working on the color gradient for each individual block the children used a variety of medium and small paint brushes after helping to apply the painters’ tape that blended each of the smaller layers together.
PAINTING D
Really Really Really Big Blue Ocean
Medium: Acrylics, Modeling Paste
Classroom: Otters
Master Teacher: Maya Massamiri
Supervising Teacher: Eryn Juns
Our inspiring artist paints with his feelings as a form of self-expression. While the Otters painted, they had full control of the colors and movement of their bodies as they spread paint across our canvas. Each day we worked on our canvas we added a new layer of blues with no particular order, just based on how the children were feeling that day. As they were painting the children kept connecting our big blue canvas to an ocean which turned out to be a beautiful ocean full of toddler feelings.
PAINTING E
Bumpy Ice and Water
Medium: Acrylics, Modeling Paste
Classroom: Pandas
Master Teacher: Linda Marquez
Supervising Teacher: Isabel Richter
This year's painting technique was inspired by Evan Robarts. He uses a mop to paint a mixture of platter and paint on to tiles. We changed the plaster for modeling paste and after experimenting using a mop to spread the modeling paste, we decided to use a small, notched spatula instead. To obtain the background color the children used acrylic paint to cover the entire canvas. The next step was spreading the white molding paste all over the canvas. Once the canvas had dried, I asked what they thought of when they saw the finished painting. Based on their feedback we named this painting Bumpy Ice and Water.
PAINTING F
Trashy Town
Medium: Acrylics
Classroom: Seals
Master Teacher: Gabby Pritchet
Supervising Teacher: Isabel Richter
We began our painting journey by learning about Edward Clark and his painting techniques. We learned that he is known for his powerful brush stroke, large-scale canvases, and especially, his use of color. We chose earth tone acrylics with a pop of purple in the background. First, we painted the background purple. Next, we mixed an acrylic medium into cups of each color (brown, blue, green) to thin out the paint. The children took turns pouring and sweeping the paints across the canvas using push brooms. After the piece was finished, I asked the children what we should name the masterpiece! The children related our use of brush brooms to Mr. Gilly who is the Trash Truck driver in their favorite book, “Trashy Town.”
PAINTING G
Silver Lining
Medium: Acrylics, Watercolors
Classroom: Elephants
Master Teacher: Cierra Mcgee
Supervising Teacher: Dawn McCabe
Huang found his muses in nature, from forests to minerals. The children in the Elephants class chose a storm as inspiration. During the rainy season, the children loved to play in the rain, catch drops, and look for lightning. The children chose their colors and put their imagination into the canvas. The children would tell us about their clouds and what walked through their storm. It was often a dinosaur or the family that weathered the storm on their bear hunt. After many afternoons of painting, a storm is ready to grace a wall and remind someone that no storm lasts forever, there’s always a rainbow on the other side.
PAINTING H
Rainbow Sea Scales
Medium: Acrylics, Spackle
Classroom: Whales
Master Teacher: Abby Castro
Supervising Teacher: Dawn McCabe
The Whales spent 7 weeks creating their canvas. First, we practiced using different tools to determine which one worked best for making the scale shapes. The Whales decided that the cake icing spatula worked the best. They mixed acrylic paint and spackle to create the texture seen. Each child selected a color that they would use each time they worked on the canvas. To create each scale a teacher would pipe a dot of the spackle mixture then each child would then follow these steps: line up the spatula, push, pull down, and lift up. We incorporated math skills by using a dice to determine the number of scales a child would do before it was the next child’s turn.
Childrens' Scale Colors:
- Orange: Anthony, Jordan, Eve
- Grape Taffy: Ariana, Isla, Mila, Teo
- Violet: Dylan, Azira, Maya
- Coral Pink: Josie, Vivian, Zaccary
- Pink Blast: Linda Marlowe, Olivia, Harper
- Ocean Breeze: Luka, Vincent, Vanessa, Levi, Mateo
- Mediterranean Blue: Kayden, Siena, Latera, Dan
PAINTING I
Glitter Sparkling Gems
Medium: Acrylics
Classroom: Dolphins
Master Teacher: Imelda Rivera
Supervising Teacher: Lee Ann Chavez
Our inspiration for the canvas came from Stephen Maine using plates to create some of his artwork. The children voted on the colors we used which were yellow, blue, green, and pink. The process in creating the canvas took about a week. The children started by dapping the different colors of paints (we did one color per day) onto the plates and then making an imprint onto the canvas. The final color we used was water down acrylic paint to drizzle the paint with a spoon onto the canvas. The children also came up with suggestions to title the canvas and the final vote was “Glitter Sparkling Gems”.
PAINTING J
Rainbow Snowflake
Medium: Acrylic Paint & Masking Tape
Classroom: Giraffes
Master Teacher: David Peña
Supervising Teacher: Lee Ann Chavez
We began creating our canvas by first painting the canvas black. We then used masking tape to create a design. The children then picked a favorite color and painted a portion of the canvas. After the canvas was covered with the various colors. We then peeled off the tape and voila we have the Rainbow Snowflake canvas.
PAINTING K
Where the Turf Meets the Surf
Medium: Acrylics, Chalk, Watercolor
Classroom: Chicks, Ducks, Koalas, Otters, Pandas, Seals, Elephants, Whales, Giraffes, Dolphins
Master Teacher: Marcos Avila
Supervising Teacher: Kim Dunlap, Eryn Juns, Isabel Richter, Dawn McCabe, Lee Ann Chavez
This truly was a collaborative effort. Every student had an opportunity to contribute to creating “Where the Surf Meets the Turf” from Infants to Preschools. To say they were inspired by one work would do their effort and enjoyment a disservice. It truly was child-led every step of the way, building on top of each other's work. Moving from class to class getting their feedback and moving to the next step was a blast. From painting our watercolor backdrop, to grinding our chalk and adding it to the acrylic paint on top. Each step was carefully planned out and voted on for example: when to add or remove the tape to make our intricate shapes and designs.
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