creative jewish mom

Watercolor Birthday Card Craft

Happy Birthday Mom, sending our love across the seas, and while the physical copy of this lovely card that my daughter painted was sent via snail mail, I thought I'd post it here as well. Homemade cards were certainly a part of my childhood, and it makes me so happy when my kids also get into making cards! This watercolor card is so sweet and so simple to make regardless of one's level of art expertise! Just get out the watercolor paints, even a simple palette, and some watercolor paper, and lets get started!

Watercolor Still Life Fruit Exercise Is Great For All Ages!

My fourteen year old daughter is once again taking painting lessons, this time with a teacher who learned painting as a trade in Russia, so the lessons are precise and skill oriented, which can be a good thing, though not exactly how art is taught in the USA generally. Nonetheless since we are seeing great results with piano lessons from our teacher who is from the Ukraine, I'm trying to be a bit open minded as far as teaching techniques go! My daughter in any case has and will be exposed to art education on many levels, so the main thing is to just do it, and not worry too much about the process assuming something is being taught!

I'm happy to say, that today, the day after Passover, a day in Israel called "isru chag" which is in effect an extension of the holiday (and occurs for Passover, Shavuot and Succot, on days that are still part of the holiday outside of Israel) my daughter had the desire to paint, and while I was recovering from the holiday by sleeping, she was painting this sweet watercolor still ilfe, using some of the skills that she has been learning recently, and some that she learned from a different teacher a good five years or so ago.

Learn Painting Techniques Using Simple Watercolors

This watercolor painting of fish was done by my fourteen year old daughter who is taking a painting class once again! We've had a hard time finding someone as wonderful as her original teacher but in the end I decided to just pick the best option which at the moment is a teacher who was trained in Russia, so the process is quite a bit different from a teacher trained for example in the USA. Our piano teacher is from the Ukraine, and we are having great success with her, so an art teacher that also teaches with the Russian adherence to the importance of step by step will certainly give my daughter some great skills as a foundation.

This painting was the first one that she did with the new teacher, who starts all students in this way. I think the results are quite lovely, right? Keep reading to see the whole painting!

Watercolor Fruit Art: Paint The Seven Species

Small works of art using just simply watercolors are so fun to make, and a great project to do in one sitting. In the past I enjoyed painting watercolor fruit with my daughter, and then I realized that if I was going to paint fruit, then certainly I should paint a series of the seven species, hashevat haminim,  to give some added meaning to my little project. Not to mention that anything depicting the seven holy species of fruit (plus 2 grains) can be used as a succah decoration, as a decoration for the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shevat, or of course anytime!

It is true, succos is already past, and Tu B'Shevat isn't for another few months, but hey guys time flies and there is no greater relief than pulling out some ready made decorations when that holiday rolls around sooner than you expected! And yes, out there in blog land everyone is always planning for the next holiday, and posting about it six weeks ahead of time, but this is real life which should be about finding small windows for creative expression, right?

Giant Watercolor Lollipop Costume Prop Or Party Centerpiece

Need a giant lollipop for a costume or maybe a whole bunch to use as centerpieces for a birthday party or even a bat mitzvah? I just made this one for my daughter to use as a prop in a play that was part of her graduation from 8th grade ceremony, and it looks even better from far away! It is true, the results are not what I'd call "perfect" but with all the perfect looking crafts being churned out these days courtesy of cutting machines and ready-cut everything, I'd say it is time to get a little bit imperfect, now and then. Ready to make some giant lollipops? Lets get started!

Simple Mediterranean Harvest Watercolor Paintings For All Ages

With all the pumpkin crafts and fall harvest related themes floating around the web right now (and of course posted on Craft Schooling Sunday), I thought I'd share some Mediterranean harvest watercolor paintings as an alternative to all the orange pumpkins and colored fall leaves crafts which only really apply to a relatively small portion of the world! Now, of the four species that I'm sharing with you here, one of them is actually harvested in Israel in the late spring/early summer. Can you guess which one?

Yes, that is right, wheat! Here in Israel I don't know how much wheat is grown today, but anywhere that wheat is grown does not have a severe winter and thus fields are plowed and seed sowed in the Fall. The barley harvest is the earliest harvest, around March/April followed by the wheat harvest in May/June.

Of the remaining three items, which are all fruits, grapes are harvested started in the late summer, followed by figs, and dates. Ever seen what dates look like growing on a date palm? The individual branches do look like my watercolor, but these little branches are clustered together in large quantities creating a really spectacular site.

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolor paints
• a pencil
• kosher salt
• some paper towels

How To:

With a pencil, lightly draw the outline of the fruits or vegetables that you'd like to paint. Fill in the shapes with watercolors, using a wet brush. Large areas can be painted by first wetting the paper, but this should not be done for small areas as then paint may bleed beyond the lines defining your shapes. If you add too much color, you can dab it with paper towel, and you can also use the paper towel to create texture by dabbing the painting in select areas. Do keep the painting on the wet side, as after you are satisfied with the painting, scatter some kosher salt on selected areas and set aside to dry. Make sure painting is 100% dry before you shake off the salt. I know, it is hard to wait, but if you don't you can ruin all your efforts.

These little water color paintings do look lovely just as is, or you can lace them together with some twine and make a fun little wall hanging. Enjoy!

 

 

Paint A Fun Watercolor Chameleon Wall Hanging For Your Child's Room!

After we painted watercolor strawberries and watercolor apples and pomegranates, I am still loving the idea of using watercolors in so many fun ways, so I thought I'd paint something fun for my twelve year old  son's room, as he just got his own room for the first time ever! Now that I've made this cute wall hanging and he loves it, I think I need some new accessories and bedding to pull the new look together! I live in a somewhat remote area, so online shopping is really helpful, and before I start shopping I like to check out chameleonjohn.com to see if there are any coupons that might be useful.

In case you are wondering if this little wall hanging just came to mind, and I set about painting it, well not exactly. At first I thought I'd paint patterns inspired by the amazing skin of chameleons, but that didn't quite work out, so then I thought maybe I'd make a painting, but that didn't quite work out either! So then I realized I just need to go with more basic painting, and this sweet little wall plaque was born! I can of course see this as a fun series to teach kids about important personality traits, can't you?

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolors
• a pencil and a fine permanent marker

How To:

First draw the light outline of a chameleon on half a sheet of watercolor paper. You should of course look at photos of chameleons and take not of all their special attributes: the feet, the tail, the texture of the skin, the amazing colors......

Then fill in your shape with watercolors, wide stripes of color that bleed together will lead to the best looking results for those of us who are not quite so professional in the painting department. Use water, but not too much so that everything runs over the lines. While painting is still wet, sprinkle kosher salt over the desired areas and set aside to dry.

Once dry, gently tap the paper on a clean surface to remove the salt, and then add the eyes and mouth and a few details here and there using a series of small dots make with your fine line pen. Using a pencil and then a black fine lined permanent marker, add words and some little decorative flourishes. That is it!

And of course instead of "be adaptable" you could write "show us your colors" or "let your colors shine." Just off the top of my head, I'm sure there are some great quotes out there that would also be perfect for this little work of art. Enjoy!

 

 

Watercolor Apples In Rainbow Colors For Rosh HaShana Cards!

Once you start painting with watercolors, it is hard to stop, so I thought I'd practice trying to paint loosely with this idea for a sweet card for Rosh HaShana — tiny watercolors in rainbow colors do look cute, and you certainly don't have to be perfect, in fact the less perfect the better, I'm still working on that!

Watercolor Fruit Portraits Are So Much Fun To Paint!

Isn't this watercolor strawberry portrait just the greatest? While I though at the time that she wasn't really putting her mind to this little painting session, in the end her unstudied strawberry turned out to be the best of all. Isn't it great when your kids out do you?

You'll Need:

• watercolor paper
• watercolors, palette or tubes
• a pencil
• kosher salt

How To:

1. Lightly draw the outline of the fruit you'd like to paint with a pencil. Alternately, give this a try with some circles or squares, which could look great too!
2. Wet your brush, and then apply small amounts of different colored paint to the shape. If your fruit is very large, you can wet the paper in the middle, but otherwise, wetting the paper before applying color results in too much bleed for a project like this with defined edges.
3. Sprinkle kosher salt over the wet areas of the painting. The salt picks up colors and leaves little dots which look amazing and give the painting texture.
4. Paint the stem or leaves.
5. Set aside to dry.
6. Only when totally dry, shake off kosher salt and enjoy!

Note: Traditionally, water color paper is taped down to a surface with masking tape before starting to paint, this keeps the artwork from buckling.

We were inspired to paint these fruit after I saw a wonderful post over at grow creative.

Okay gotta run, and by the way, these photos were taken in manual in a spot on my front porch where I could never take photos in the afternoon when I didn't use the manual setting! Progress!

 

 

 

Doodle With Water Colors And Make Some Gorgeous Gift Wrap!

As promised, here is at least one great idea for using those sheets of water color patterns you and/or the kids have created — watercolor gift wrap! I grabbed a sheet that I had painted to quickly wrap a little handmade gift, and just fell in love with the results! I didn't really have time to find the perfect gift topper for this little package, but in retrospect I think I'd top it with something crafty as well, like a newsprint flower of some kind, or something created from twine or raffia.

If your gift is larger, carefully tape your pages together from the back, and you could even cover the seams with washi tape on the front. In any case, don't labor over it too too much as the present will after all be opened!

Wondering what was actually inside this little package?Stay tuned!