Artsy Fartsy Stuff with the Kid

I'm artsy and my daughter's artsy.  I'm trying to help develop her technique.   I admit my formal training is limited in certain disciplines.  For example: painting.  My painting instruction is limited to the Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. Before you laugh, I know I can't be the only one making happy trees.

My daughter had to make a diorama of the tundra for class. So guess who decided to make it into a painting lesson? 

Painted with acrylic paint in a Payless shoe box. (Yeah, we recycle/reuse/remix like that)

It took about a week to complete.  I think it came out pretty well considering she doesn't paint often and I didn't help (take over) too much.  I let her choose the colors and basically just defined things a bit when she went off track. For example, she picked turquoise blue for the sky.  I softened it by adding the clouds by dabbing on white paint with a crumpled paper towel. 

Thing A Day #1: Compass Patterns and Gel Pens

My daughter is a budding little artist and I mentioned that she draws much better than I did at her age.  (She'll be nine at the end of this month.)  At her age, I was into drawing patterns with a compass and ruler.

I learned about using the compass for circles in art class and got hooked on different design patterns.  I would create different color schemes and color them in with colored pencils and crayons.  I did this quick compass drawing to give her an example.

I decided to use gel pens to make the colors pop but after I finished I wish I used colored pencils for a softer look.