Middle School Watercolor and Ink Aurora Landscapes

The Middle School Art Classes recently "took a trip" to the North and South Pole and learned about one of God's masterpieces, the Auroras. Each student created their own Aurora Night Sky with Watercolors and then after that dried, drew a landscape silhouette with black Micron or Sharpie. They all turned out so beautiful. It makes me want to see them in person!

(Click on each photo to see closer)

High School Art 1 Face Vase

This past week in Art 1 classes we talked about negative and positive space. A fun drawing exercise to illustrate this is what we called a Face Vase. Students had to draw two facial profiles as if they were "looking at each other" and then shade them in leaving the negative space between them white. The result is a kind of optical illusion. Your eye may switch back and forth seeing the faces or seeing the "vase" in between. Some students got really creative with interesting profiles!

(Click on each photo to see closer.)

Middle School Mosaics

Our next art stop in the Middle School Art classes took us to Rome where we learned about mosaics. Each little tile is called a tesserae (sounds like "tess-er-ay"). Most mosaics are made with tile, glass, pottery, stone, and even shells pressed into mortar and then grouted. However, we made ours with paper and glue. :-)  Aren't they wonderful?! 

(Click on each photo to see closer.)

High School Art 1 Drawings

High School Art 1 students have begun their drawing unit. We began by learning some basic theory on drawing from the book The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. Learning to draw well is not so much a matter of drawing ability but rather a matter of learning to train our eyes and brain to look at things a certain way when we draw. Our first project was to draw six different views of one object. Second we did a contour (outline) study of a classroom chair. Students sat around the same chair which was set on a table and drew the chair from their perspective. They were supposed to draw the chair without shading. Coming soon... positive/negative face vase and a fun group drawing project. (Be sure and click on each photo to see closer.) 

Inspirational Art Moment - The Creativity of Words

(Pillars of Creation photo taken by Hubble Space Telescope)

Click here to watch first. Creation Narrative (from the Message)

Whether you watch and listen to the 5 minute narrative of creation above or read about it in Genesis chapter 1 one of the phrases that stands out is that "God spoke". The Message version reads like a work of art in itself but when coupled with the music and videography above, one is left in awe of the creativity of God. Even just being outside for a little while it doesn't take long, if you're paying attention, to realize the power and majesty of the Word of God that created it all. Read the following passages and just let them sink in for a minute:

First this: God created the Heavens and Earth - all you see all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. [Then] God spoke... From Genesis 1 (The Message)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  From John 1 (NASB)

For He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on the earth, visible and invisible... all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. From Colossians 1 (NASB) 

Sometimes we forget that perhaps one of the most amazing art supplies we carry with us is our words. Because we are made in the image of God our words also have great power of creativity. We can speak life over others or we can speak words of destruction:

Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4 (NASB)

The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18 (NIV)

When I was in middle school, I was the quiet unconfident girl who wanted so desperately to be affirmed and valued by others. Instead, the cruel words and actions of bullies cut me down so much that it put me into a big depression and I started having thoughts of harming myself. Praise God that I finally relinquished my suffering and self-worth to the Lord Jesus, THE Living Word. His life giving Spirit hovered over the surface of the deep hurt and darkness I was in and spoke, "Let there be LIGHT!"

Thirty two years have passed since then and I am so very grateful to be able to speak light and life over the middle and high school students in my little art classes and it's all because of Jesus. Truly, I can't take any credit except for be willing to take a step of faith and sharing with them what the Lord puts on my heart and in my mouth.

If you are in a mess of hurt, chaos, confusion, or whatever is leaving you feeling in the dark I pray you too will let the One who created you and holds all things together speak over your soul today. He loves you so very much. You are one of His masterpieces!