Inside the Spin-Mosaic Studio

Welcome to Week 2! Let's get Creative! 

SUPPLIES: paper, pencils, eraser, tabletop, comfortable chair, a sense of balance and a dose of patience to draw!

Many activities from here on out will have an optional photography component. Photography is an easy an accessible "next step" that can take the EYE part of the eye-brain-hand collaboration a giant leap forward.

"Snapping" a picture on the devise can go from "snapping" to arranging perspective, editing, and masterpieces! Here are a couple I received this weekend from a dedicated sibling group showing 3 activities from last week. Do you remember each?

These two were sent to me from twins, Ryan and Henry. Bold stokes, bright colors, red ladybugs!

Excellent observation of the roofline of the barn and exact details.

Love the blue truck below!

...and, their older sister, Katie. Notice the different shades of green she used int he grass--

Love how she signed her initials on her artwork. 

SEND YOUR PHOTOS!: As an added incentive, I would love to see your new creations, too. Feel free to send a photo attachment of your student's artwork to [email protected] or post a photo in the comment section of today's activity at the Creativity IQ & Kids Facebook page. I always send a positive compliment back! Now...back to today's activity.

Friday's activity involved the color GREEN. This pile of GREEN THINGS was entirely Brandon's idea as well as taking the photo.

When we were gathering supplies for the ladybug drawings, the second I said, "Let's collect a few markers, colored pencils and crayons that have different greens, he didn't stop there." He thought it would be great to make a COLLAGE of green things to use as an example of the color GREEN. Okay! Great idea.

In Activity #1 last week, we made this collage photo to use an example of supplies that would be needed (plus a brain ready and excited for creative activity!). We set up a little table, moved a floor lamp over for good lighting, hung a rug* up in the background, and snapped a bunch of photos. I let Brandon choose the best one.

*The rug was sewn and gifted to me from a dear friend who used the pockets of her boy's old blue jeans. I had two of her amazingly talented boys in art class. One has gone on to study photography and videography in college!

By letting (and trusting) your student to select what they feel is the best picture, their eye is studying composition and making aesthetic decisions. At this stage, they may be making instinctive decisions without knowledge why certain arrangements look better than others, but we will get to that later.

Creating collage photos is a fun way to create groupings and assembling of objects to draw. Let's stick with 5-10 for this exercise (but dependent on your student's age and skill level). When drawing arrangements, too many can be overwhelming, while too few can lack challenge.

Choose objects objects that have some form of both similarities and differences. This can add to great discussions. Design your collage photo so that this line of questioning can be asked:

In what ways are items similar?

In what ways are objects different?

Which object has the most unusual shape?

Which object was the most difficult to balance?

CAMPFIRE: Arrange objects like a "campfire"--all piled up on each other with some form of balance (this makes it more fun). The act of arranging things to a point where the artist says in their mind, "Ok, this is balancing, and I like it. Let's draw." will give a reason to handle the objects and implant a 3D image of the object in the brain before their hands even start drawing.

By creating a "campfire" that balances, similar objects will be viewed and drawn from various angles, further implanting the 3D image in the mind's-eye.

By having several objects that are similar and 1 or 2 that are different, the brain will also go through the repetition of recognizing shape and line similarities.

SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE: When I say this word out loud in public, "S-P-A-T-I-A-L" I always spell it. Otherwise, people think I am saying,"special" with a southern accent.

This exercise focusses on the development of what is called, "Spatial Intelligence": the development of a mind's-eye 3D image in the brain of a given object viewed by the eyes. The brain becomes familiar with the object and can visualize multiple views and rotations of that object":

• From the top, bottom, and sides.
• From north, south, east, and west.
• From a bird's-eye-view to the bottom's up.

This visualization is vital to the skill of drawing. By creating a campfire with multiple objects that are similar, comparisons of line, shape, and opposites are recognized.

1) Select and gather objects.

2) Plan your photography location, background, and lighting.

3) Arrange and balance your objects.

4) View collage campfire from various angles and take multiple photos.

5) View photos on the camera or devise. Select. Crop to create a close-up near-abstraction of objects.

6) Select photo and draw!

...this might be a good time to step away, have a snack, or shift to a different activity

then come back.

We had a snack, then started drawing...

7) draw the arrangement with pencil. Then, color if desired. Use both the live collage campfire and the photo as visual resources.

8) celebrate the artwork in some way: tape to the fridge, tape to the window, send a photo to Grandma...or, send it my way! 

[email protected] or Creativity IQ & Kids on FB!

I would love to see your Art!

Have fun and Stay Creative!!!

--- Mrs. Z!