Evi, age 4
Oodles of Doodles
Monday, April 5, 2010
"There is no must in art because art is free." Vassily Kandinsky
How can you tell if a painting is abstract or not? Just ask your kids....they know! If you can't tell what a painting is supposed to be, chances are, it's abstract! Kandinsky was the first abstract artist, creating his first abstract watercolor painting in 1910. Ask your kids to name another abstract artist!
Spring Break Art Camp is in full swing though it feels like Spring is leaving us. Sigh. I'll regale you with all the fun and excitement from camp in next week's blog! We have a few spaces left in our Friday camp, so it's not too late to get a spot!
We're also still taking enrollment for
this Saturday's Workshop, Scrap Booking Your Spring Break with Helen. Older students (6 and up) can enjoy this 1 1/2 hour workshop with or without an adult.
SaturdayClassesSaturdayClassesSaturdayClassesSaturdayClassesSaturdayClassesSaturdayClassesSaturdayClasses
You keep asking for them. Well, we have them! In fact, we've had them since February, so hurry up and jump on the bandwagon. This Tiny Artist class is from 10:30-11:15. Same great time, same great class as our week day classes.
Congratulations to Sloane F. on becoming a big sister!
The Paintbrush wishes Ellie B. and her family all the best on their move to Baltimore. We'll miss you!
The Paintbrush welcomes new students, Sofia Mia and Carlos C.
A big Happy Birthday goes out to Lucy and Ben, 4 and camper Samantha I., 5!
Overheard this week at The Paintbrush...."Is that artist a pirate?"
To enroll in any of our classes, camps or workshops, call Melanie at 773-636-1968 or shoot her an email at
thepaintbrush@thepaintbrush.net.
Sloane, age 3
A Rainbow of Color
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
How do you make a colorful picture without paint, crayons or markers? You use colored tape! What a wonderful medium to work with and so creative. Looking at contemporary artist Maya Hahuk's painting, A Path For the Light, the children were inspired to make their own abstract "line drawings" on tiny 4x4 canvasses. What a powerful punch though....I think I found my new favorite medium!
The coolest thing about using a contemporary artist for my inspiration piece? I can email her or him! And that's just what I did. Ms. Hayuk was in the Netherlands launching her one-woman show and is off to London this week, but her response to my inquiries about her work was...."wow - thanks for connecting so hard with my work (especially as something you'd think kids would find interesting - woah)."
Camp, Camp, Camp, Camp.....
Spring Break Camp is next week and we still have a few spaces available. If you haven't reserved your spot yet, do it now. You won't want your little Picasso to miss a moment of the fun we're sure to have. And don't forget about our
Scrap booking Spring Break Workshop on Saturday, April 10, 2-3:30. It's a scrap booking one, so gather your spring break memories on film (you have a week to make them!) and feel free to join your child in this workshop led by Helen Wanderstock.
The next session of our
Drawing Workshop with Carol, published children's illustrator, begins Monday, April 5th. This workshop is for the older students, so if you're looking for something for your child, 6 or older, this is just the thing!
Parents, we're still accepting photos of your at-home art galleries. I keep hearing about them, but now I want to see how you've displayed your child's artwork from The Paintbrush at home. Send a snapshot to me at
thepaintbrush@thepaintbrush.net subject:
At-Home Art Gallery.
The Paintbrush welcomes
new student, Polina M.
A big
Happy Birthday goes out to Jacob, 10.
Tommy, age 4
Spring Has Sprung
Monday, March 22, 2010
What a perfect week to explore the beauty of Monet's water lily paintings. The trickling sound of water and birds chirping in the background gave students the feeling of painting outdoors, as Monet did, while creating their own peaceful water lily paintings.
Thank you to everyone who donated their gently worn shoes to the Haiti cause, Share Your Soles
http://www.shareyoursoles.org/. Your support was truly amazing. We are getting ready to sort and ship them off soon.
With spring break looming just around the corner, don't forget that The Paintbrush has Spring Break Art Camp, April 5-9. Join us for 1 day or all 5, you'll be glad you did! See our Camp! page for more details and to enroll.
The Paintbrush welcomes new students,sibs Giovanni, Alessia and Siena M!
A big
Happy Birthday goes out to Helen B., 4 and Sophie W., 4! Girls, thank you for letting The Paintbrush help you celebrate your big day!
Overheard this week at The Paintbrush..."What you and Mindy do...for a birthday party...is the best I've seen so far in Chicago (the children learn, create, have fun, and don't get hysterically excited!). You definitely met our standards."
Sam B., age 4 1/2
A Slice of 'Za
Monday, March 15, 2010
After many months of requests from students, they finally wore me down. The result of these requests....giant pizza slices inspired by Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Series. Students topped their pizzas with pepperoni, sausage, pineapple, green peppers, mushrooms, cheese, olives and spinach all made from a variety of materials.
This week we opened a
new section of our
Tiny Artists class on Wednesdays
at 11:30.
We welcome new students Eden V., Clare P. and Cilia C.!
A big
Happy Birthday goes out to Helena Lee D., 3 and Grace K., 5!
Overheard this week at The Paintbrush..."Miss Mindy, you're the best picture-ist ever!"
Feeling Green
Monday, March 8, 2010
So we could have our art projects in time for St. Patrick's Day, we visited Ireland a little bit early. This very green art project was inspired by contemporary artist Sean Scully. Tiny Artists made a green collage using fabrics, papers, and other materials cut in rectangles to mimic Scully's painting, Wall of Light Heat.
Our workshop with Helen was a great success this past Saturday. Moms and kids decoupaged picture frames with a spring theme. Don't miss out on our next workshop, Scrapbooking Spring Break, Saturday, April 10, 2-3:30. Space is very limited, so call to enroll now!
Have you noticed all of the
new class times we've added to our schedule? Beginning in the spring, The Paintbrush will offer earlier
Tiny Artist classes, starting at 9:20am and later afternoon classes for the
Little Masters at 5:15pm. So there's something for everyone!
We're also excited so announce that Carol's Drawing Workshop will be continuing in the spring....same time, same day.
And speaking of early enrollment, it's not too early to enroll in our Spring Break Camp. April 5-9, you can enroll in one day or all 5. See our Camp page for more info. And don't forget, currently enrolled students get $5 off!
Overheard this week at The Paintbrush..."This is so much fun, I want to do it all over. That's how much fun it is."
Taylor, age 6
Zebra Stripes
Sunday, February 28, 2010
How was this painting inspired by Morris Hirshfield's painting Zebra Family? It's all about the lines...curvy, straight, thin, thick, bumpy, swirly, etc. Using forks, spoons, sticks and other tools, our Little Masters created lines in this tempera and flour mixture to give their paintings wonderful texture and lines!
Our box of shoes for Haiti is filling up quickly thanks to your generous donations. Keep them coming in....let's see how many boxes we can fill!
Don't miss our upcoming Workshop, Saturday, March 6. The theme is Spring, so join Helen for an hour and a half of decoupag-ing fun! You can stay and play with your 6 and up child or drop her off. Check out our Art Workshops page for more info and to enroll.
I chatted with many of you about the possibility of having a 15-minute parking zone erected in front of the studio for easy drop-off and pick-up. In order to do this, we would have to pay the city a substantial amount to reserve those spots to make up for the "loss" they will take not being able to collect on people paying those meters. I think you all know my stance on the new meters and my jaw literally dropped when I received their response to my request telling me we would have to pay the city thousands of dollars (yes, they're asking for thousands) for you, my customers, to park in front of my business. So I offer my sincere apologies that we will not be getting a parking zone any time in the near future. I apologize for the inconvenience, but at least there's always available space for you to easily pull up in front of the studio and throw on your hazards (legal or not!).
A big
Happy Birthday goes out to Ella, 7 and students Tommy, 4 and Van, 4! And we welcome new students Colin, S., Michael M. and Thursten Z. to The Paintbrush!
Did you know you can now follow us on
Twitter and
Facebook? Well, you can!
Overheard at The Paintbrush this week..."Thank you for making this the best birthday party in the history of birthday parties!"
Inez, age 7
Washington Didn't Chop Down This Cherry Tree
Monday, February 22, 2010
What do Japanese Cherry Blossoms have to do with Presidents' Day? In 1912, almost 100 years ago, Tokyo's mayor presented 3,000 cherry blossom trees to President Taft to celebrate the friendship between the two nations. Our campers created these beautiful tissue paper on watercolor blossoms and finished them off by signing their names in Japanese characters. Using a straw to blow on the paint to make the branches of the tree was apparently too much for one of out campers as she said "My eyes are getting dizzy!"
So many of you have been asking about that box of shoes in the greeting area. We are still happily accepting donations of gently used, washed shoes for the people of Haiti. Men's, women's or children's shoes, we'll take them all!
We had a busy weekend hosting birthday parties for Christian, now 6 and Lexi, now 8. I want to wish a very
Happy Birthday to my students Sloane, 3, Emma, 7 and Aviva, 3. Happy Birthday, kids!
What do the children remember from week to week? You'd be surprised! During our review of Rousseau's painting from last week when asked what was something that was interesting about Rousseau's paintings, Jackson, age 4, replied that "Monkeys don't live in conservatories." In fact, they don't Jackson! But Rousseau visited them often to paint his jungle and forest scenes, as well as the zoo to paint his animals.
I want to give a big welcome to Jennifer (Miss Jennifer to the kids) who is joining us from DePaul where she's pursuing her Master's in Education. Jennifer will be with us throughout the next few weeks, so be sure to give her a warm welcome.
Overheard at The Paintbrush this week...On her daughter's birthday party with us, "This exceeded my expectations."
Welcome Post
This week’s guest writer is none other than Miss Melanie, a.k.a. The Phone Voice, the one you’ll probably never meet unless you have a birthday pARTy at The Paintbrush, the face behind the emails...
We are so excited about everything at The Paintbrush this year because in April we will be celebrating 5 years! But heck, why wait til April to celebrate? The celebration starts NOW! Look for specials all year long to commemorate our 5th year in business. Our logo designer, Jen Gordon, designed a great 5 “sticker” for us. If you can find it in 5 places, email us and tell us all five places you’ve seen it and get a $5 gift certificate to The Paintbrush.
We’re off to a fabulous year already with a whole pallet of new students! The Paintbrush welcomes sibs Olivier, Clarisse and Maxime L., Oleg K., Eva B., Josh Z., Van C., CC. D., Tommy D., Chloe M., Ezra P,. Stella I. and sibs Jackson and Julia F. Our new students have capped several of our classes, but there’s still room for more budding artists in our other classes and workshops.
January was busy. We launched a campaign to get The Paintbrush featured on 190N and in Chicago Parent; we were featured on YouGottaGetIt.com; our new radio commercial aired on 100.3; we have 74 friends on our colorful new facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/The-Paintbrush-a-unique-childrens-art-studio/230652594527; we launched a new lunch program with Roly Poly
http://www.rolypoly.com/ for our Camp Days and piloted it at MLK Day Camp (it was a delicious success); we put together an exciting and inspired series of ART workshops for kids ages 6 and up; we’re on Yelp! (got to
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-IL/The-Paintbrush-a-unique-childrens-art-studio/230652594527 to write your own review on us!); we’ve collected cash and shoes for the earthquake victims in Haiti; another radio commercial is in the works; and before you know it we’ll be on twitter! This is the year we put The Paintbrush on the map!
In class our Tiny Artists and Little Masters have learned about and created art inspired by artists Ansel Adams, Franz Marc, Wassily Kandinsky and Rick Doble. We have asked our little artists to submit photos of their at-home art galleries to be featured in online.
And we’ve hosted birthday pARTies for Hannah M., and Isabella C., as well as a fundraiser pARTy for the Cardinal Bernardin Early Childhood Center, and an adult wine&art pARTy attended by 14 adults who ha
d an absolute blast.
