Art at Home

Weekly Activity

Scroll down to see activities from previous weeks.

Week 10 (June 15-June 19, 2020)

How To Draw Videos

Oh, my dear friends! Can it really be true? Has it really been TEN WEEKS already?!!

For our last art lesson, I am going to leave you with a few of my own drawing videos, PLUS some other great videos that I've used to help myself become a better artist. My hope is that these will be here for your last week of school, but you can also continue to learn throughout the summer!

So, topping off my list -- Tamara Martin Spady the Art Lady (that's me!). I've included the link to my YouTube Channel where you can find various videos on how to draw characters that match some of the letters of the alphabet. Here you go:

Tamara Martin Spady the Art Lady

Next, I really like Pypah's Art channel, particularly her video called:

10 Art Styles Challenge

Christopher Hart is one of my favourite artists and he has a YouTube Channel where he teaches you how to draw soooo many different cartoon characters:

Christopher Hart

If you love cuteness, I totally recommend:

Draw So Cute

If you are a Disney fan, like me, you'll want to check out the Disney Animators YouTube channel where actual animators teach you how to draw different characters from different movies:

Disney Animation

Muffalo Potato is another cool drawing channel that uses numbers and letters to teach you how to draw a whole lot of awesomeness:

Muffalo Potato

I also found this drawing channel called Books and Brushes. The creator uses -- you guessed it!! -- picture books and brushes to draw characters and art that match up with some of your favourite books:

Books and Brushes

My friends, I hope you have a fun, safe and healthy summer! It has been my pleasure to provide you with weekly art lessons! I hope you will continue to create art in the days to come!

Tamara Martin Spady

Week 9 (June 8-June 12, 2020)

Creatures in a Jar

Now that summer is beginning to peak its head into our thoughts, I started to think about kids who love to catch bugs and keep them in a jar. And then I thought, "What if we could create our own creatures to store in a jar? That would be cool! Of course, we'd want to make sure they had some air to breath!

The art project this week is for those of you who are longing for a little friend to keep close to you!

Here's what you do:

Download and print out the PDF of the jar below. Click on the picture to download.

Next, using crayons, markers, paint or even a digital app, draw your favourite creature in your jar. You might even give your creature a name! What would you name the creatures in my jars?

Week 8 (June 1-June 5, 2020)

The Art of the Stick Person

This week, I'm about to shake up your world! Get ready! Get set! We are going to learn to draw stick people! Yes, you did read that right! I know, I know. Every teacher you've ever had has told you never to draw stick people. But guess what, they're talking about those kind of stick people that look like this:

And I agree that we should just get rid of these guys!

Today we're going to focus on drawing really good, really cute stick people and stick animals. Ready to go?

Here's what you need:

pencil
some paper
something to colour with

Procedure Pictures

The first thing you want to do is experiment with different shapes to create a body and a head for a stick person. Here are the shapes you can choose from:

Experiment by putting two together until you find a combination that creates a good head and body for your stick person.

Now we need to take these heads and bodies and give them some faces. Try using a few facial expressions like happy, sad, mad, sleepy, confused, afraid -- or anything else you can think of!

The next thing I'm going to do is give you a little activity. Take the stick person you chose as your favourite and draw him/her doing different things. It's good practice to experiment putting these stick people into action. If you would like, you can click on the image below to download and print a copy of the Stick Person Action Chart. If you don't have a printer, just draw your stick person doing the different actions you see on the screen.

Here's what mine looks like:

Okay, now we've added action. But our stick people still aren't quite up to snuff! The last thing to do is to take these guys and dress them up. Give them the details they need to look even better. Here are some examples:

See how I've taken the exact same stick people and added details to make them look waaaaaay better than your average stick people? Experiment with different styles, even try making animals! I hope you have fun with this one!

Week 7 (May 25 -May 29, 2020)

Taxidermy Sculpture

Wow! Seven weeks of art projects already! Time sure flies when you're quarantined in your home!

This week, we will be creating some Taxidermy Sculptures. Do you know what taxidermy is? If not, let me tell you: taxidermy is the process by which you preserve an animal and mount it on a structure. You know when people have those deer heads or moose heads hanging up in their houses? That's taxidermy! Personally, I would NEVER harm an animal or want to use any kind of real animal to do taxidermy -- I'm an animal lover! But I like using cardboard and art supplies to create taxidermy sculpture!

For this project, here's what you'll need:

cardboard egg carton
a square piece of cardboard
glue or hot glue
paint or markers

Procedure Pictures

Begin by gathering your supplies.

Next, start cutting apart the egg carton like I have done in the picture below. This can be tricky so you may want to ask for an adult to help you out here.

Now, take a look at those pieces you have and start to play around with them until you start to envision an animal that you might create!

Once you envision your animal, start painting or using markers to add colour and detail to your creature.

Put your painted or coloured animal parts aside and find the cardboard box you gathered for your supplies. Cut the box so that you can turn it inside out like this:

Cut the cardboard into small squares and decorate it so you can mount your "taxidermied" animal.

Glue your animal head onto your mount and viola! You have an adorable piece of taxidermy sculpure!

The wolf after he stole Little Red Riding Hood's cape.

Taxidermy bunny with not just the head, but the whole body!

It started off as a dog, but it actually looks like a cow.

So there you have it, my friends! This week's exciting art project!

As we say every week,

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Week 6 (May 18 -May 22, 2020)

The Art of Pareidolia

That's a crazy word, isn't it?! It's pronounced parr-i-DOH-lee-ə.

Pareidolia is a human phenomenon where people see patterns or images in things that aren't really there. It sounds weird, right? But think about this -- how many times have you looked at the clouds and have been able to see animals or people there? Have you ever looked at the moon and thought you saw a face looking back at you? At one time, psychiatrists thought that people who experienced pareidolia suffered from neurosis, but now we know that most people tend to see images, particularly faces in objects around them!

Take a look at some of these examples I've found in my own home:

Can you see the face in my curtains? Can you see the eyes, nose and mouth? And then the crazy hair?

And how about the bird in my wall? This is one of my favourite parts of my house! It's my little bluebird of happiness that's really just a knot in the woodwork!

Today we're going to tap into your powers of pareidolea to create some cool art!

Here's what you're going to need:

paint
paper
paintbrush
water
black marker

Procedure Pictures

Begin by painting lines and blobs all over your page. Be careful that you are painting lines, blobs or shapes. If you end up making your painting too "solid", you won't be able to see any images in it at the end. You can use many colours, or just one colour. It's up to you! Here's a couple of examples:

Now take a look at your paintings and use your powers of pareidolea to see what creatures you can find lurking in your paintings. Pretend that you are lying on the grass, looking up at the clouds and seeing images. Do the same thing with your paintings. You might have to turn your painting in different directions until an image appears. I like to look for animals in my paintings.
Once you have spotted your creature lurking in your painting, grab your black marker to start outlining and creating your little beastie. I recommend a fine tipped sharpie marker for this process. Now, don't stop with just an outline! Add details -- lines, dots, shapes. These little extras will make your artwork look even better. Here's how our creations turned out:

When I looked at my painting, I immediately saw a winged unicorn holding an ice cream cone. After I finished with him, I started to notice a bunch more creatures emerging. My favourite is the elephant wearing the little top hat.

My daughter created this under the sea composition. I love how she found so many creatures living in that ocean of colour! My fave is that adorable little octopus up in the top corner.

And here's Miss Elephant! It took me a while to discover her. I had to keep turning the page around and around until finally she emerged out of her hiding place!

So there you have it, my friends! This week's exciting art project!

As we say every week,

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Week 5 (May 11 -May 15, 2020)

Procedure Pictures

Here's my finished Exquisite Corpse! I call him Rabbodile!

Exquisite Corpse

Hi there friends!

This week's art project is a game you can play with your family, or with a friend. It was created in 1925 by a group of Surrealist artists named Yves Tanguy, Jacques Prévert, André Breton and Marcel Duchamp. It's called Exquisite Corpse -- which means words or images that are collectively assembled. It's really fun and always good for a laugh at the end.

Materials:

Paper
Pencil, eraser
Markers, crayons, or pencil crayons

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Gather your supplies.

Begin with each artist folding his/her paper into three sections just like this example.

In the top section, draw the head of an animal. Don't let the other artists see what you are drawing!

When you are finished, fold that section over, hiding your drawing. You might have to put another sheet of paper overtop of this one, so the other artists can't see through it. You want this to be a surprise at the end.

Switch papers with the other artists. So, right now, my daughter is drawing the legs for my bunny and I'm drawing the legs for her creature.

If you are playing with only two artists, pass the papers back to each other and look to see the legs the other artist drew for you. Now you can fill in the body of your Exquisite Corpse.

If you are playing with more than two artists, you can continue to switch your papers so that a new person is filling in the middle section of the creature.

When you are finished, pass the papers back to the original artists and reveal your Exquisite Corpses! You might even give your characters names. Here we have Pandebra, Snow Purple and Lady Mermaid.

Week 4 (May 4 -May 8, 2020)

Click the image to see or download a larger version of this drawing card.

What mother wouldn't LOVE this card?!

Click the image to see or download a larger version of this drawing card.

Here's another Mother's Day idea for you!!

Procedure Pictures

May the Fourth Be With You!

Well hello there everyone!

This week, we'd like to offer you TWO art activities because we have TWO special events happening!! May the Fouth (be with you) and Mother's Day!

If you are a Star Wars fan, and really, who isn't?! You can click on the pictures on the left do do a couple of Star Wars drawings. We've got Baby Yoda (The Child -- will they ever give him a name?!) and BB8. Now, if your mom is also a Star Wars fan, you could use these drawings to make her a Star Wars picture or card and you'd be all set! Check out how I added some flowers to BB8 to give him a little bit of a feminine spin!

Okay! Onto project Number Two! We're going to have a little painting fun here. I'm going to call these Blob Art. For my art, I used watercolour paint because I'm an artist, and I have that in my house already. But if you don't have paint, here are a couple of options for you:

Use markers or pencil crayons for your blobs instead of paint
Make your own paint. Here's some links with recipes:
- - - Homemade Watercolour Paint
    - Turning markers into paint
    - Use digital watercolour painting apps - I recommend Tayasui Sketches, Procreate, Hello Water Color or Drawing with Carl
If you want to buy paint, Michaels does a curbside pick-up, and Dollarama and Walmart are still open!

The only other things you need are paper, a paintbrush, a black marker or pen or pencil crayon, and water.
You can do this project just for fun, OR if you want to make it as a special painting for your mom for Mother's Day, that would be a great idea! We don't want to forget about Mom this weekend!

Procedure:

Use the pictures below to help guide you through this activity.

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Gather the supplies you need :

paper
paint (or markers/pencil crayons)
paintbrush
water
black marker, pen, or pencil crayon

If you are using pencil crayon or marker to make your "blobs", just draw a bunch of blobby shapes on your page by combining two different colours.

To paint the blobs, start off with a "wet on wet" technique. Generously dip your paintbrush into the water and "paint" a small area of water onto your paper.

Dip your brush into a paint colour that you like and make sure that it's very watery.

Paint onto that wet area that you made on the paper. We are going to use two colours per "blob", so don't fill the entire wet area with this one colour.

Choose another paint colour and make that paint quite wet. On the remaining wet area of your paper, paint this next colour.

Now, pick up your paper and VERY gently, tilt it to move the colours around on that small, wet section of your paper. See how the colours start to blend together! It's pretty awesome!

Repeat this same procedure all over your paper until you have created a bunch of colourful blobs! Experiment with all kinds of different colours.
Then, leave this alone until it is completely dry.

Here's where the fun comes in! Choose a theme -- fish, birds, cats, dogs, whatever you fancy! I chose birds and my daughter chose bunnies. If you are making these into a Mother's Day gift, pick one of your mom's favourite things!
Using your black marker (or pen or pencil crayon), turn these blobs into creatures.
Check out what ours look like!

Week 3 (April 27-May 1, 2020)

Here is my paper otter stuffie. His name is Ozzie.

Here are some things I found in my house. We ALWAYS have leftover Christmas wrapping paper!

Click on the drawings to download the PDFs or make the images larger.

Click this link to download all of my drawing PDFs!

Paper Stuffies

Hello art friends! I hope that you are staying well and that you are getting some time to do a lot of art!

This week, I'm going to post two activities for you. This is the first one. I think you're going to like -- Paper Stuffies! Who doesn't love a cute stuffie to cuddle with! Well, you may not be able to cuddle these stuffies, but you can definitely love them just like your others!

Let's get started! Here's what you need:

Materials:

*All materials are things you probably have around the house

some kind of paper that's a little larger than most -- newspaper, white paper, parcel paper, wrapping paper, something that you found in your recycle bin or just plain white paper
scissors
hot glue gun (optional)
tape, stapler, white glue -- any of these that you have at home
something to colour, draw, outline or write with - crayons, markers, paints, whatever you already have at home

Procedure:

Look around your house and see what kind of paper you have to use. For my Ozzie Otter, I used that brown paper you get at the post office to wrap things in for the mail. But you could use newspaper, wrapping paper, white paper, flyers...whatever you have in your house can work! At the bottom of this post, you'll see a variety of examples.
You will need to create your stuffie character twice. You'll need a front side and a back side. I suggest you do one of two things -- fold your paper in half and then when you cut it out, you will cut the front and back all at once. OR, draw your character on one piece of paper, cut it out and then trace its outline on another piece of paper. (see Procedure Pictures below)
Draw your stuffie character. You can draw your own character, or if you look to the left side of this post, you'll see the steps to draw the otter like mine. If you click on the Drawing Cards image, you will find a whole bunch of different step by step drawings to use.
Colour, paint, decorate your stuffie. Use whatever you have at home to do this. Trust me! It will look great!!
If you folded your paper, you are ready to cut out your character. Carefully hold your folded paper so that you cut out a front and a back for your stuffie.
If you didn't fold your paper, cut out your character and then trace the outline onto another piece of paper and cut that one out too!
Using some kind of joining agent, hot glue, white glue, tape, stapler, glue the back and the front together, but LEAVE AN OPENING AT THE TOP so you can stuff your stuffie!
Using the scraps of paper that were left over from cutting out, and any other scrap paper you have, GENTLY stuff your stuffie. Empahsis on the GENTLY! You don't want to rip your stuffie!
Once your stuffie is stuffed, glue, staple, tape the rest of your stuffie together.
And there you have it! A new friend!

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Procedure Pictures

Here's the paper that I found in my house. A newspaper, some lined paper, some leftover Christmas wrapping paper and some brown packing paper.

If your paper is big enough, fold it in half so that when you are ready to cut it out, you can just cut both papers and get two at once.

If your paper is not big enough for this, you can trace your drawing onto another piece of paper afterwards.

Draw your character. Here's Ozzie the Otter.

Colour, paint or decorate your character.

Cut out your character. Make sure you have a front and a back!

Keep the scraps of paper to use for stuffing!

Turn your drawing upside down.

Put the backside on top of the front side and glue, staple, or tape together. If you're using a hot glue gun, it's probably best to get an adult to help you out with that!

Don't forget to leave a little opening at the top of your stuffie.

Take all that scrap paper and cut or tear it into smaller pieces.

Crumple the paper up and GENTLY stuff your stuffie.

Keep stuffing, but be careful not to overstuff! When you are finished, glue, tape or staple that last bit closed.

Display your stuffie and tweet out pictures using the hashtag #eipsmakesart.

Week 2 (April 20-24, 2020)

Here's the original box of tea.

Here's what it looked like when I unfolded the box.

Here's what it looked like when I re-designed it!

Consumer Packaging Art

Welcome back to Art at Home! I hope you had a chance to do last week's art activity, but if not, just scroll down past this one and you'll see it!

So, this week's idea -- Consumer Packaging! Super exciting, right? Here's where I got my idea: One day, I pulled out the last tea bag from my box of tea and I thought, "Huh. This is a really cool box. It's too bad I'm just going to throw it away. If only I could find another way to use this!" And then I played around with it, and I realized that I could take it apart, turn it inside out and viola! I would have a blank cardboard canvas that I could use to -- dare I say it!? -- design my own tea box!! Take a look at my pictures to the left. THIS, my friends, is going to be your inspiration for your art activity this week! And, just a side note: When I showed my daughter what we doing, she said, "I didn't think this was going to be a very fun one, but it really was!" So, will you try this out, and trust me about its high level of fun-ness!?

Materials:

*All materials are things you probably have around the house

a box, or container that you find in your recycle bin
scissors
hot glue gun (optional)
tape, glue stick, white glue -- any of these that you have at home
something to colour, draw, outline or write with - crayons, markers, paints, whatever you already have at home

Procedure:

Scavenge through your house or your recycle bin and find a piece of packaging that you could turn inside out to design a new package.
Use scissors, if you need to, to cut the package so that you can turn it into a flat piece of cardboard (see Procedure Pictures below).
Think about what you would like your new packaging to look at, and who it will be for. You can see in the Procedure Pictures that my daughter decided to make a cracker box into a new dog treat box.
Colour, paint, decorate your packaging on all sides. You thought this would be quick, right? Actually you have to decorate pretty much every side. Use your original box to help guide you with things like where the barcode will go, where you will put the list of the ingredients, etc.
And now for the best part! You will have to do some writing on your packaging to entice your consumer (defined by Google Dictionary as a person who purchases goods and services for personal use). So, you also get to do some Language Arts in this activity! You're welcome!
Lastly, when you have designed, decorated, painted, coloured and written, you are ready to put it back together. I used a hot glue gun for mine, but you could use any type of glue, or even tape.

We wish we were there with you to see some of the art that you are creating at home! Maybe you could make us happy by tweeting out your creations using the hashtag #eipsmakesart. Please ask your parents if they will do this for you!

Procedure Pictures

Find a box or some cardboard packaging that you are no longer using. Empty out its contents.

Carefully tear or cut one side of the box so that you are able to lay it out flat. Then, turn it inside out.

Use crayons, markers, or paint to decorate your box.

Decorate the front first, but don't forget to decorate all the sides! And especially don't forget to write a compelling argument about why your consumer should buy this product!

Use glue or tape to put your package back together again. If you are using hot glue, you know the safety rules -- get an adult to help you!

Ta da!! Your own custom packaging. You know, you could actually use this to put tea or dog treats in!

And never forget our Artist's Rule: An artist makes a mess, so an artist cleans up a mess!

Week 1 (April 14-17, 2020)

Here's a finished piece of Happy Mail from an EIPS student.

These are from my recycling bin. I'm getting some great ideas already!

We have extra wrapping paper, gift tags and greeting cards at home. Maybe I could use these somehow?

Moms always seem to have a lot of fancy scapbooking paper. This could come in handy!

If I have nothing but markers or crayons -- or even a pen - that's okay! I can always just draw and sketch!

Happy Mail!

With everyone being stuck at home, we thought to ourselves, "What's something that our kids could do at home, but still find ways to connect to their friends, because let's be real. We know that's what you guys are really missing the most about school!" As we searched through our repertoire of ideas, we landed on HAPPY MAIL! And, can I just mention that April is also Card and Letter Writing Month, so there's that.

"What is Happy Mail?" you might be asking yourselves. Well, it's just what you think. It's a piece of mail that you create to send to a friend or family member to make them happy! But it's more than just a letter. It's better than an email. It's a piece of art that you create and mail off to send ooey, gooey good feelings to your buddies!

Here's how you do it:

Materials:

*All materials are things you probably have around the house

a variety of paper - newspaper, white paper, cardboard from recycled food products, your mom's extra scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, old greeting cards, magazines
scissors
glue
something to colour, draw, outline or write with

Procedure:

Scavenge through your house and collect anything you can find that you think could create a great piece of art.
Find one piece of paper or cardboard to be your base layer. Cut it into the size of a postcard (148 x 105 mm -- that's the standard postcard size). Don't you love that you also get to do some math with this art project?!
Start rifling through your materials for inspiration. You can see in my "Procedure Pictures" that I was inspired by the Chips Ahoy! ice cream box. I used it as my heading and then all my great ideas came from there.
Cut and glue to create a beautiful composition. By the way, if you want the technical art term, you will call this a COLLAGE - a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric on to a backing - that's from the Google Dictionary.
Of course, if you have no collage materials, you can just draw and colour and create something happy too! It won't be a collage, but that's okay, you can still call it a Masterpiece! There are no real rules to this piece of art!
Don't forget about the envelope. You should decorate that too. Just be careful that the envelope doesn't have dangling pieces that could easily come off in the mailing process.
Mail your Happy Mail to someone whose day you would like to brighten! And, let's just add some safety tips here:
- - - - It's best to actually mail your Happy Mail rather than drop it off. When it goes through the postal system, it's gone through so many different temperatures and environments that it has very little chance of being infected. And of course, if you are actually sick, it's probably best to not even do this activity until you are better.
      - To be extra careful, let your Happy Mail recipient know that it's still best to wash their hands after handling, AND if you receive any Happy Mail, wash your hands after you finish holding it.

We hope that you enjoy this lesson and that it makes you and everyone else, well, HAPPY!

Procedure Pictures

I immediately spotted this Chips Ahoy! logo and found my inspiration!

I took out the "Chips" and kept the "Ahoy!"

This gave me the idea to make a sailboat. I used some scrapbook paper and a toothpick -- which you can't really see. But trust me, it's there!

I stole this cute little seal from an old greeting card someone had sent me.

And in the end, here's what my Happy Mail collage ended up looking like!

Of course, I couldn't forget the envelope! Don't forget to leave space to write the sender's address, the recipient's address and a place for the stamp.

Don't forget about the back and the inside!

Last, but not least! My "Artist's Rule": An artist makes a mess, so an artist cleans up a mess! You're welcome parents!

A few more examples!

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