Looks like the weather’s really heating up now! Get ready with some fun beach-themed crafts.  Those of you who barbequed this Memorial Day Weekend may have extra paper plates lying around. Put them to good use with some adorable paper plate beach creatures.

 

With a few basic supplies, you can create crabs, whales, fish, the sun, seahorses, turtles, jellyfish, birds, and whatever else your set your imagination to!

 

Photo: Crafts by Amanda

 

For all of these fun oceanic buddies, you’ll need plain paper plates, paint, construction paper, scissors, and glue. Optional supplies include googly eyes, streamers, markers, and anything else you feel like using!

Photo: Mrs. Killburn’s Kiddos

We won’t go through all the possible directions, but feel free to follow links of photos listed here or experiment and see what you end up with! It’s amazing what a simple paper plate and a little creativity can do.

 

Photo: Mrs. Lee’s Kindergarten

Have you gone to the beach yet this season? What are you most looking forward to this summer?

Photo: Our Little Monkeys

Hi!  My name is Arlene Tucker and I am a teacher and artist living in Helsinki, Finland.  Last week I spent the day with The Tigers at Your School Kindergarten (H&S International School).  The Tigers is a group of children aged 5-6 years old.  During circle time, I wanted to share with them how our imagination works and what those images in our head are all about.  Also, I wanted to talk with them about how those pictures, stories, and feelings in our bodies can inspire us to create!

Adrienne Moumin’s suggested art activity in her Scribble Shop Inspiration post gave me the idea to do this with the Tigers.  I think they really enjoyed it!

Johannes really took his time and completed the snowy forest.  I love how he continued the shadows and trees onto his own imagined picture.

For a good half an hour everybody was coloring away and coming up with their own stories from the unique magazine cutout pictures I then glued onto a piece of drawing paper.  In this exercise you can really see where your imagination takes you.  Another fun part was hearing what would happen next!

When Melissa saw this picture of a baby she thought that the baby is wanting something because her arm is reaching out.  Melissa figured that she is hungry so she drew the baby’s mommy holding a baby bottle filled with milk.  How thoughtful and creative Melissa is!

Anni takes us to space! Over there is Earth, Pluto, Mars, a space rocket and an astronaut venturing into the twilight.  Around every corner (or star) is something new and unexpected and it’s all coming from your imagination!

Try doing this art activity with your kids.  Expanding your image exercise is suitable for all ages too.  You should do one with your child or student too!  You’ll never know what lies behind the borders of the image until you try.

For more information about the project please go to Adrienne’s post Exploring the expansion of your image and imagination.  Thanks Adrienne for the inspiration!

To see all of the Tigers’ pictures you can .  Share your pictures with us and we’ll upload them to the set.  Email for more information.

Scribble Town (ST):  Every year, Youth Art Month (YAM) has a flag competition for each state.  Students from each grade level (elementary, middle, high school) creates a flag design for YAM in their state.  The design can use the National theme: Art Shapes the World, or you can create your own theme.  A winner will be chosen from the three levels and the winning flags will be represented on the posters and postcards promoting the YAM show at the Capitol in March.  The winning student artist will receive an actual 3’x5’ flag of their winning design.  On the Scribble Blog with us is the winning high school student from Minnesota, Chelsea Waite!

Chelsea, what was your first thought when you heard of the YAM project?

Chelsea Waite (CW): When I first heard of the contest, I was excited because I have never been involved in a art contest this big before.

ST: Already you sound like a person who is up for challenges and like to take a chance! How did your idea develop?  What story or idea are you trying to convey with your flag?

CW: I wanted to focus on the idea of diversity. I think diversity is important to New Mexico because of the many different cultures we have here. My first idea of how to represent diversity is in using the Zia symbol. I found that I could manipulate the ends of the symbol to go off into different direction, but then come together in the middle to make one complete symbol. This is how I think the people of New Mexico are, we come from lots of different cultures but live together as one.

ST: Multiculturalism in New Mexico is just one of the things that makes it a special place. How did you decide what medium to use?

CW: I decided that I would use Sharpie and color pencils because it is easy to make small thin lines with these mediums.

ST: How do you feel about your final outcome?

CW: I was happy with my final outcome, but I never thought it would win.

ST: And that’s exactly what happened! What do you like most about your YAM flag?

CW: My favorite element in my flag are the yucca flowers. I didn’t choose the yucca flower because it is our state flower, I chose it because it is not very pretty. Compared to the millions of flowers in the world, the yucca flower is ugly but if you look close enough there is beauty there. I think this represents New Mexico because of that very same reason. This state is often overlooked but if people take the time to look close enough they will be able to see beauty.

ST: That’s such an honest approach to depicting your surrounding.  There is beauty everywhere if we just tune our eyes in the right way.  You are so wise and thoughtful!  How did the idea come into your head?

CW: I came up with the idea the moment I heard about the contest. The idea popped into my head very easily and with not much effort.

ST: And just like that we now have a beautiful YAM flag for New Mexico! Thank you Chelsea for your creativity and taking the time to share with the Scribblers!

If you live in a college town or anywhere near a college campus, you know what time of year it is… GRADUATION!  It seems every other day this month, kids are receiving diplomas and throwing up their caps. And before you know it, next month it will be time for preschool, elementary, middle, and high school graduations. If you have any grads in your family, why not celebrate this milestone with some sweet treats?

 Photo: Bakerella

These chocolate graduation caps are simple to create and easily customizable for school colors. You can make them chocolate lollipops or just clever candy sans the sticks, depending on your preference. To make them, you’ll need: miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, melting chocolate, chocolate squares (Dove or Godiva make good ones, but even small chocolate covered graham crackers or square chocolate covered wafers will do), miniature M&Ms, sour strings (Airheads Extremes Rainbow Berry Sweetly Sour Belts work great), and lollipop sticks (optional).

 

You can work in any order you prefer, but we’ll start with the top of the caps. Unwrap your chocolate squares and separate your sour belt ribbons by color. Choose the school color and cut or tear a small piece off (about an inch to an inch and a half in length—you can eyeball this). Draw a thin line of melted chocolate with a toothpick on the chocolate square from the center to an edge and glue on the sour belt string and a mini M&M to match.

 

Now for the bottom: chill your peanut butter cups in the freezer for a few minutes so the wrappers remove smoothly. If you’d like to make these as lollipops, let the cups return to room temperature (on a sheet of wax paper), then dip the end of a lollipop stick in melted chocolate and carefully insert it about halfway into the peanut butter cup and let it dry.

 Photo: Family Life with a Mom Who is All Hart

Once hardened, adhere the tops to the bottoms with some more melted chocolate and let dry. If they’re lollipops, stick them into a Styrofoam block to dry standing up. If they’re without sticks, leave them on the wax paper.

 

There you have it! Tasty, adorable, and celebratory treats worthy of your graduate! These are very easy to customize and substitute ingredients. For example, you could use icing or candy coating instead of melting chocolate and you could use pull-apart Twizzlers instead of sour belts. You could even use white chocolate for all the ingredients, so feel free to play around and see what you come up with. Congrats to all the classes of 2013 on their accomplishments and the many more to come.

Photo: Bake Me More

Scribble Town (ST): Lewie JPD said hello to us on the Scribble Town Facebook page one day and I am so happy he did! Lewie JPD is a cutting edge visual artist who has lived and worked in Sydney, Tokyo and Los Angeles. His work is a hybrid of imageries – pop, surrealism, collage and comic art – blended together to create zany worlds and characters. His strong use of color and free-styling, casual brush work come together to form eye-catching images that are unique and highly imaginative.

In the midst of excitement where are you and what are you up to these days?

Lewie JPD (JPD): Currently, I’m living in Sydney, Australia, by the beach. Everyday I spend time looking at the clouds and the ocean.

They’re always changing and are magnificent inspiration on a visual level. Of course, I have to dive in to the ocean and swim, too; everyday! Artistically, although trained as a painter, I have spent the last year creating all my new works digitally – on my cell phone! It is a large screen Samsung Galaxy Note and it has a stylus and a wonderful program called SMemo which I use to make art.

ST: That is quite a transition to go from painting to cell phones. I’m so curious to see your new line of work! You have traveled a lot and have mentioned that you grew up in Japan. How have living and being exposed to other cultures influenced your work, if any?

JPD: Growing up in Tokyo was a huge influence – not only on my art – but on my life. I moved to Tokyo when I was ten and stayed till I was eighteen. Then I came back to Australia for art school. Soon after I moved back to Japan where I worked as an illustrator for six years. Tokyo is a very exciting, dynamic city and the Japanese people are thoughtful and kind, innovative and hard working. Culturally, they are incredibly evolved and inspirational. I was lucky to be able to speak Japanese and have been very positively influenced by some wonderful, talented people there.

ST: Artistically Tokyo has so much to offer, as well! Is that how you discovered your love for drawing and painting?

JPD: I pretty much discovered drawing and painting on my own. Growing up in Tokyo in the 70′s, we had access to second hand American comics from a book shop in Roppongi – not far from a US base. Over six years, my brothers and I collected well over 3,000 of them – not only well know titles like Archie, Superman, Wonder Woman and Mad, but also, more obscure, equally entertaining ones like Swamp Thing, Sergeant Rock, Richie Rich and Cracked. We loved comics! I guess all those images rubbed off on me and I began to do some drawings and simple comics of my own from around the age of thirteen.

ST: I think your Dancing Fishface would be a great protagonist for a comic. Maybe another future project. I noticed that you even make films! How did this medium come into your repertoire?

JPD: Film making, too, I think, is an extension of all the comic (and book!) reading. Simultaneously to drawing, I began writing short stories in my early teens which lead to writing and publishing humorous zines (20 or 30 pages, photocopied, handmade, editions of 200 – with titles such as Free Spirit and Idle).

I then went on to writing and making short films in my late twenties; animation, comedy radio shows and later, after studying screenwriting at UCLA, feature films.

My latest feature – a coming of age story set in Tokyo – is yet to be produced – but I am confident it will, eventually! Film is a fantastic medium full of inventive and inspired collaboration. I usually make one or two shorts a year on video just for fun and practice.

ST: This is a loaded question, but which filmmakers do you like?

JPD: My biggest influences from the early days are David Lynch’s, Eraserhead + Martin Scorcese’s, Taxi Driver + Robert Altman’s, Nashville + Akira Kurosawa’s, Seven Samurai. These days I think all the great energy is in TV series, not only big dramatic shows like Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad – but also great comedy shows like Community, 30 Rock and The Office. Laughing is the best!

ST: The rumors are right- laughing is the best medicine!

What is the process of designing like when you create murals? The murals, tables, and benches you painted at Harry’s Espresso Bar are amazing! There must be a huge amount of planning when creating on such a large scale.

JPD: When it comes to art, I am not really a planner. I love to dive in and create things out of nothing, to be in the moment. I have been doing it now for over thirty years – that’s a lot of practice! – so I have enough confidence that even for big jobs like the work commissioned by Harry’s in Bondi Beach, I can just turn up, after a body surf and a coffee, with my bag of paints. I am amped with a positive attitude and start creating, going with the flow.

ST: Earlier you said that everyday you are inspired. Living by the beautiful beach in Sydney encourages that! How do these pops of inspiration come about?

JPD: I create every day. I carry a pocket size journal with me everywhere – for notes, ideas, comics and doodles – and I have been doing this since my twenties. For me, life and creativity are the same thing. Inspiration is everywhere. Ideas zing around all the time and pop in from nowhere. I spend a lot of time in libraries, cafes and also travelling. On the net, I constantly seek and find works of wonderful artists and get inspired that way, too.

ST: What other forms of art do you practice?

JPD: As I mentioned earlier, these days, I have been able to carry my art studio with me – in the form of my cell phone. I get pleasure from making new images everyday. Most days, I spend between three to four hours – and to since April last year, I have made 1,700 new works. Over the years, I have had various artist studio spaces, where I have worked on large style canvases and drawings for exhibitions, but lately I have been leading a more gypsy-like existence. Art on the go. Suits me well. The joy of expression takes many forms.

ST: Lewie JPD has a new solo exhibition of his latest work – and it’s a world first! – with all of the 28 featured art pieces created on his mobile phone – opening in Sydney at Deus Cafe gallery – 98 Parramatta Rd, Camperdown, Sydney on June 26th, 2013. His website is http://www.lewiejpd.com. Be there!

For another boost of encouragement and confidence to just start creating please go to the Scribble Shop http://www.scribbleshop.com/content/lewie-jpds-words-inspiration. Thanks Lewie JPD!

How green is your thumb? Do you like bringing a little of the outdoors inside with houseplants? Potted plants are a great way to dress up any room, windowsill, or patio. But while the plants add life and color, the pots themselves are often overlooked. Add some personality to your little terracotta tubs with paint. There are tons of ways you can paint your pots—and feel free to try any that strike your fancy—but two techniques that stand out lately are color blocking and drip-drying.

For this project, you’ll need: terracotta pots (or any ceramic pot), masking tape or painter’s tape, and paint, either acrylic or spray, in any colors you like. As you can see, you’ve got lots of options here!

First, decide how you’d like your pot to look. If you want it to have a base color, start by painting the whole thing in the color of your choice and letting it dry. For those who prefer the natural terracotta to show through, jump right into whichever technique you’re trying.

Photo via Dellie

If you’re going to color block, start by wrapping tape around the pot at your desired height. Next, grab your paint (be it on a brush or in a can) and paint the half you want to be colored. Spray painters should aim for about two to three coats. If you’re using a paintbrush, you can also freehand the line around for a more rustic look.

Photo via The Proper Pinwheel

If straight lines aren’t your thing and you’re ready to drip some paint, flip that pot over! Once it’s upside down, pour a bit of paint around the sides on the “top” (what’s technically the bottom) and start swirling your pot around on its edges so the paint spreads closer to the edge and eventually runs over the sides. Try to do this over something like tinfoil or plastic—paper will stick to any dried paint that reaches the bottom and give you a hard time.

Photo via The Lovely Cupboard

Let your pots dry and then load them up with your favorite plants (cacti, succulents, flowers, etc). To weatherproof these, spray with a clear sealant and then set them up outside.

Et voila! Your pots are as pretty as the plants they hold. Which style do you prefer? Do you have any other favorite ways to jazz up your planters?

Scribble Town (ST): With us is Joel Garten, an artist, composer, writer, and entrepreneur.  Joel says, “I have so many different things that I do, and the thing that unites them all is a sense of flow and creative energy.  I use that sense of flow and intuition in everything I create, and try to have a sense of flow in my path through life.”  Yes, you do Joel and it is seen in your colorful, vibrant, and musical paintings.

Joel, where are you and what are you up to these days?

Joel Garten (JG): I am working on a series of large scale paintings. These paintings are 4 feet by 8 feet, really long scrolls of paper that I paint with many different type of media.  I also compose music on the piano regularly.

ST: When did music enter your life and was there somebody that encouraged you to compose?  I wonder what came first- music or painting?  I say this because I can see the music in your paintings!

JG: The music certainly came first in my life.  It came very early, I started playing piano when I was eight or nine, and I began composing music very soon thereafter.  It is something I took to very naturally, and I have been composing for more than 20 years.  Interestingly, I have a lot of difficulty reading music – almost like music notation dyslexia – which meant that I devoted most of my musical output to improvising music.  This means I write the music as I play, it is all one artistic creation of the moment.  My music is very personal, and an expression of my sense of intuition and rhythym.  My music has also always been influenced and inspired by visual art, such artists as Jackson Pollock, Giorgio Morandi, and Richard Diebenkorn.  It is meditative, soulful, dissonant, and repetitive; but repetitive in a good way – the way that repetition can unearth deeper truths in the music as it unfolds.

Here is an improvisation from a recent concert I did in Toronto: joel-garten-live-in-concert

ST: And with painting- how do you feel the two artistic elements support each other?

JG: Creating visual art myself is something that happened only recently, and has really increased in intensity in the past few months.  I was inspired to create art by seeing works by Jean-Michel Basquiat.  Just like Basquiat, my work has a lot of bright, joyful colors, but also works at deeper level, what the Abstract Expressionist called “the sublime”.  Abstract expressionism is an influence on my art, as is the work of Cy Twombley.  Yes, there is a lot of music in my artwork, and a lot of people say they can really see music in my paintings.  It is because there is a lot of energy, vibration, and that sense of flow that I talked about earlier in the paintings.  The artworks have rhythm.

ST: When did you start composing, playing the piano and painting?  You play improvisational music- do you ever paint in that manner?

JG: The artwork is definitely improvisational.  I start with no preconceived plan or sketch, I simply start in, and follow my intuition.  I let the painting tell me what to do.  And recently I have been starting to use acrylic paints to do essentially finger painting – except using my whole hand, and sometimes my whole arm.  I also use both hands to paint, sometimes at the same time, just like using my right and left hand to play piano.

ST: What have you been listening to when you paint?  What kind of music do you like?

JG: I have a number of different things on when I paint, sometimes it is Stevie Wonder, sometimes it is jazz by Keith Jarrett (a big influence in my music) or Bobo Stenson.  I like classical music, jazz and Motown, as well as new music.

ST: Where do you find yourself feeling really inspired to create?  If there’s a process you go through to spark the creativity, please let us know.

JG: I usually get most inspired at night.  I don’t really need daylight to paint, I like to paint under incandescent lighting. I put on some music, take some supplies and start painting.

ST: What are some other forms of art you practice? Do you ever mix other mediums with your oil pastels?

JG: Well, I have a plan to do a number of other types of art.  The next thing I would like to do is use my artwork to create fashion.  Yes, I use oil pastels, oil stick (oil paint in stick form), and acrylic paint.

ST: I can’t wait to wear a piece of your art!  Do you ever play with other musicians?  Please let us know of your next show.

JG: I improvise music on my own, it is a very personal, and maybe even spiritual experience.  I do have interactions with other musician though.  When I was younger I was invited by the rock musician Bryan Adams to play a concert at his studio in Vancouver.  I am also doing a series of artist profiles of musicians, which is being published on the Huffington Post.  Right now I am focusing on doing small scale studio sessions-concerts of my music, and I want to turn those into a CD.

ST: You are up to all sort of creative happenings. Definitely keep Scribble Town posted on all your adventures! Just hearing about how energetic, active, and open you are is encouraging in itself.

JG: A lot of children are natural artists, and famous painters like Basquiat and Jean Dubuffet were inspired by children’s paintings.  It is hard for people to hold onto to their child-like talents as the get older, and marry those instincts with experience.

ST: Thank you Joel for all your insight and inspiration!  Joel has also given parents and teachers tips on how to talk about art with young artists.  To read more about that please go to the Scribble Shop Inspirations page: http://www.scribbleshop.com/content/artist-joel-garten-shares-how-create-and-talk-about-art-your-child

Check out Joel Garten’s website www.joelgarten.com!

 

When the weather is so gorgeous out, my favorite projects are those that combine art with spending time outdoors. Whether it’s something that can be completed outdoors or something that requires found materials from outside, count me in.

 

Today’s project falls in the latter category. Painting sticks is a fast, simple, and fun craft… and is a unique, pretty decoration for any room.

 

So for painted sticks, all you’ll need are… surprise… paint and sticks! A quick trip to the backyard or local park is all you need to get started. On the other hand, some people actually collect neat-looking sticks (for many years, I saved one with a weird eye hole from a hike when I was eight years old). If you already have a good handful of sticks you’d like something to do with, now’s the time to use them! If you don’t have any, just go for a walk and grab some! Look for various lengths and widths and avoid those that are too tiny or brittle to work with.

 Photo: Ginette Lapalme

Once you’ve got your sticks, wipe off any excess dirt with a cloth or damp paper towel (you don’t have to be too thorough). Depending on the look you’re aiming for, you could even sand your sticks down with sandpaper for a smoother surface. Personally, I like the rustic aesthetic. Let your sticks be bumpy—the charm of this project lies in the imperfections.

 

Now it’s time to start painting! Grab some paintbrushes and acrylic paint and decorate your sticks however you like. You can make your designs as intricate or simple as you choose. You could paint the whole stick or only a part of it. Use tons of bright colors or adhere to a limited color scheme. Have fun trying ideas out.

 Photo: Scandinavian Deko

Once your beautiful new creations have dried, one great way to show them off is to display them in a vase. It’s a bright, unexpected twist where one would normally expect to see flowers. You could also simply lay them on a shelf or mount them on a canvas to hang up.

 

What do you like to do your painting on? Do you tend to stick to canvas and paper or do you branch out sometimes? Have you tried other natural surfaces like wood or rock?

 Photo: Uploaded by

Scribble Town (ST): Clark Sorensen is a man of his heart, many trades and talents! He grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture from the University of Utah.  Before settling in California he lived in France for a couple of years.  Clark has been a costume designer, illustrator, and computer animator, working primarily on video games.  He probably has had a hand in one of your favorite video games!  Clark’s playful attitude has led him back to sculpting and painting where for the past 10 years he has devoted his full attention to creating art.  His unique series of urinal sculptures has given him worldwide recognition and now he has caught Scribble Blog’s eye!

Clark, where are you and what are you up to these days?

Clark Sorensen (CS): I am living and working in San Francisco.  I’ve been a full time artist for about 10 years working primarily in porcelain.

ST: How did you discover working with ceramic and was there somebody that encouraged you?