October – Hokusai

Our first artist of the year is Katsushika Hokusai.

To prepare your student for class, please print out “Manual of Ink – Bamboo, Wu Chen” (1350, National Palace Museum, Taipei) below, and place it where your child will see it often.

Picture study can be a very natural part of your day. Personally, I use an inexpensive frame and place it beside the childrens’ bathroom mirror where they can look at it while brushing their teeth. This may seem a bit irreverent, but really, where else will they have time to simply gaze at an image several times every day. Other options include saving the image to your computer’s screen saver, slipping it inside the front cover of the child’s favorite school binder, hanging it on the refrigerator with magnets, or placing it on the dining room table where the entire family can see and discuss the artwork.

This month we are going to learn about asian brush technique. You do not need to bring every item listed in our supply list. To complete the project each child will only need:

• One 12×18 sheet of white construction paper
• One piece of scrap paper (for practice, anything will do)
• Several paper towels
• Round watercolor paintbrush (size 6-9)
• Fine paintbrush (size 2)
• A container to hold ink (I like to use small babyfood jars, but a tuna-fish can would also work well. Please do not bring a cup – they tip far too easily)
• Black tempera paint
• Glue stick
• Pencil
• (optional – smock or old tee-shirt)

The artwork that we create in class this month will be photographed and that image will be used to make gift tags which we will attach to crayons. The crayons will then be given out as gifts to children who visit the local food bank.

Parents, please remember that this is not a drop off group. Please come prepared to enjoy working alongside your children.

See you at 6:30 on October 11th!