Watercolor Landscapes in Elementary School

A lovely watercolor landscape, done by one of my 2nd grade students at Los Pen Elementary! I showed the kids the work of James Hubbell, well-known as an architect and mosaic designer, and also a wonderful plein air watercolorist. We discussed landscapes and I drew a couple of simple ones in pencil, then encouraged them to draw one, based on somewhere they'd visited.
I'm obviously proud of my young students.

tiny manikins

tiny manikins
Originally uploaded by janelafazio.

I've had these little wooden manikins in my studio forever. They seemed the right thing to have in an artist studio! Only just thought of drawing them. Duh. I had fun sketching them, but wish they were more flexible. I'd love to put them in different yoga poses...
The one on the right is in color pencil, and the on the left is watercolor. As always, done in my trusty moleskine journal.

Today, at Los Penasquitos, I taught an art lesson based on Georgia O'Keeffe. Here's the results from the 2nd graders! They did great. We used chalk, on 12x12" black paper. One little boy was especially proud of his artwork, saying "I just love to look at my drawing." I love it when the kid feels successful in his/her artwork!

California Poppy

Here are pages from yesterday's journal entry. I picked a california poppy on our morning walk (is that against the law? I remember being told that as a kid. State flower and all.) I was going to draw the poppy in my studio, but my husb suggested that I sit out on our newly cleaned-for-spring patio and draw. Excellent suggestion. It was a perf day. Cloudless sky. Flowers brightly blooming. Hummingbird rockets. I drew for 45 minutes, then added a little more color with my watersoluable crayons in my studio. Thought of Karen W.'s post. How she paints at sundown, while her husb reads to her from the LA Times about the latest art exhibition at LA County Museum. I LOVE that. Appreciating life. Big time.

starting out

first time ever blogging. just trying this out.
www.PlainJaneStudio.com is my website.