LITTLE WORKS OF ART

Happy Friday All!

Some fun news last week.
A simple surprise.

We received an order from our Etsy shop for "Jungle" ~ one of Matthew's fine art prints from an original painting he created when he was just five years old.  It's always a joy to receive an order from our Etsy, but especially rewarding for Matthew when one of his art pieces is sold.

This abstract print will be hanging in one sweet little girl's nursery somewhere in America very soon.

For years, I have saved scraps of white mat board for Matthew to use as his canvases.  When he was just three years old I gave him his first set of watercolor paints and brushes and taught him how to create colors, use a paint brush, and apply the paints to a surface.

{Back in the day when he was five years old, painting "Jungle."}

We would have painting parties on rainy days ~ just the two of us ~ and these are some of his first "little works of art."  They look a lot like finger painting, but this is his brushwork style, which I love.

One year we even made a set of note cards with these paintings and gave them as gifts.

{You can do this too with your child's art ~ just scan the image on your computer, print on good quality card stock, get some cute envelopes, and package adorably.  Everyone will love them!}

These inspired fine art prints and more are available in our Etsy shop in the section called "Monkey Treats." {The link is on our side bar.}

Other crazy good products with his designs {such as mousepads, note cards, postcards, neckties, canvas tote bags, and more}, are licensed and sold in our Zazzle shop.

This blue Valentine painting turned into a postcard...



...and a special occasion necktie}.  
Mr. Reg wears his very own to work every Valentine's Day.

This pair of petite paintings were...

...turned into these canvas market totes.

Most of his paintings were made when he was between the ages of four and seven.  Each time I let him know that one of his pieces was chosen from the millions of beautiful art works that are available on Etsy and elsewhere it is a thrill,  and he is motivated to create more art {and sell more, too}.

The next collection Matthew is working on is called "Big Faces" 

and "Doodle Drawings" inspired by some of our projects we work on at Summer Arts Camp.

We tell you this story, so that you will encourage your children if you see that they have a "gift" to share with us in our art world.

So many of our Camper Kids from the past years have a tremendous amount of talent.  We are looking forward to and anxious to see how this year's Summer Arts Camp children "color our world with their imagination and let their creativity shine."

Registration for Summer Arts Camp 2016 is open and we are filling the camp sites quickly.

We hope that you will join us in June.

THE HOT LIST!

Woo Hoo!  

Summer Arts Camp made NUMBER ONE on the HOT LIST of Summer Camps in the Macon-Warner Robins area on Hulafrog!  

For those of you who do not know what Hulafrog is {and we did not a few weeks ago, until they gave us a thumbs up on our Facebook page}, it is a national organization whose mission is simple: to keep you in the know about local things to do with your kids. It is a fabulous resource for all of us here in Middle Georgia and elsewhere too.  

This was such a wonderful surprise and makes us proud.  Thank you Hulafrog.

If all of you can show us some loving and click on the BIG RED HEART on our Hulafrog page, we will give you some loving back in June!  Click here to give a kiss to our red heart!  {The more loving, the more parents will find out about how fabulous Summer Arts Camp is!}

WHY DOODLING MATTERS

What do you think we are going to be doing our very first day of Summer Arts Camp?

{Image courtesy of PBS.org}

Doodling, of course...because it matters.

But, just wait until you see how we doodle and the art pieces created with our doodles!

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS!

A quick intermission from our art blog posts for a very important and HUGE shout out to our Summer Arts Camp Sponsors!

{Week One SAC Camper Kids}

Your contributions and support made Summer Arts Camp 2014 the best it could be, and for that...

...we all thank all of you!

{Week Two SAC Camper Kids}

Enjoy the rest of your summer and hope to see you again next year!

Love from,

The SAC Camper Kids

MOTHER NATURE INSPIRED

We celebrated the beauty of Mother Nature during both weeks of Summer Arts Camp this year creating upcycled woodland gardens, tiny terrariums, flower fairies, and painted bird houses.

With some supplies from our sponsors, we created mixed media flower gardens by hand painting wooden boards, collected from Ahn's Karate {these were pine boards kicked in half during testings} and some crazy pieces of the same wood cut by Mr. Reg with the jigsaw. 

 Flowers made with bottle caps and Popsicle sticks were planted, bugs hatched from corks, and rainbows of butterflies flew out of a box of paint chips given to us by Acme Paint & Decorating.

While the paint was drying, the Camper Kids went on a hike in our woods and collected twigs, leaves, blueberries, roses and daisies, pods, and herbs from our garden.  Suddenly a family of garden characters came alive in our SAC tent!

With the bare minimum of tools and lots of imagination the Camper Kids began to daydream and create their very own and very own personal garden creatures ~ each with their very own story.

Winged Flower Fairies and sturdy Green Guys.

A pine cone bird.

Taking a little time to smell the flowers.

A summer romance.

Boy sees Girl.

Boy chases Girl.

Boy gives Girl flowers.

Girl dreams of flowers.

Then came the Garden Fairy houses...or so some said!  Petite bird houses were painted and bejeweled in a vibrant kaleidoscope of colors, each one unique and showing off the personality of it's owner.

It's easy to say that the Camper Kids had fun in and out of the garden on our Garden Arts Day!

A MEXICAN FOLK ART FIESTA!

With a little inspiration from the SAC Team and some brightly colored supplies,

during week one of Summer Arts Camp 2014 the Camper Kids made their very own Mexican Folk art and tin engravings.

Their tools were simple ~ silver tin, ballpoint pens, Sharpies, wire, beads...and their creative minds.

Mobiles of color came alive at our campsite.

The tin panels strung together with colored wire sparkled from the sunlight and fluttered in the breeze.

Iconic Mexican images and patterns were drawn with impeccable detail.

Some mobiles were monogrammed, some showed love...

...others smiled sweetly.

DOODLE DAY ARTS ~ WEEK ONE

The road to Summer Arts Camp 2014 begins right here...

...where Camper Kids from all over Middle Georgia and one from Charleston, South Carolina, gather to play with pens, pencils, and paint on their first day at Summer Arts Camp.

 Matthew is ready to help demonstrate and show the Camper Kids the projects for the day...and I'm right by his side, should he need any help {wink, wink}.

Our first day was Doodle Day and we doodled. 

Jackson created fantasy cityscapes on vintage book pages {thanks to The Friends of the Library}.

Then everyone created their very own hand painted SELFIE!  Amielynn was warmed up to pink and orange {I love how she used the cool sky blue in contrast to these colors.}

Demetri concentrated as he brushed on neon yellow to complete his gorgeous palette of fuchsia and tangerine.  {A shout out to Frames & Art Unlimited for their generous donation of archival mat board.  All our selfies were painted on this board today, so they may be worthy of a beautiful frame from Frames & Art!}

 What a fabulous group of Camper Kids!  'Loved seeing some of the SAC 2013 Alumni reunite and Dee Dee and Georgia showing off their fabulous faces together.

Had a great time and looking forward to tomorrow!