Networking with Local Businesses – Sweet & Saucy

We recently held a drawing class at Sweet & Saucy Shop here in Bixby Knolls, Long Beach. The kids loved having a “field trip” and sketching all the wonderful treats in the dessert case. The ladies over at Sweet & Saucy even gave the kids a tour of the bakery & giant freezer.

When we got back to the studio, everyone finished up their drawings and enjoyed a delicious cake pop. Fun!!

I like to partner up with local businesses not only to add variety to our offerings, but to foster the notion that spending money in your neighborhood helps strengthen your own community. I can speak from experience that local small business owners are some of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet & they deserve to be highlighted 🙂

 

Surprise Holiday Gift Workshop – Revealed

Here are some photos from our wonderful parent/child gift making workshop in December. I’ve been waiting to reveal the gifts since the final product was unknown to the participants until they unwrapped it on Christmas! The parents & kids were separated while they each made portions of the gift. I baked, glossed, & assembled everything then wrapped it all up for their holiday SURPRISE.

We are planning to have another parent/child craft night in February for Valentine’s Day – stay tuned…

Gorgeous parent/child art vase

The kids worked on painting the vases and making a mini flower.

Grownups enjoyed hot tea while making their beautiful clay flowers.

Funny all the insecure comment that were made by the adults at the beginning… their flowers came out amazing!

Assembly begins.. I took everything home & cured the vases and baked the flowers.

Final gloss coat, adhesive and we have the final product! I love how these came out. I hope everyone loved their time together and a fun surprise on Christmas ♥

Halloween at Averyboo Arts

Here is some spooky fun from the studio  last month. We definitely had a mummy theme going on! … The holidays are a great time to try some classes. Click here for our current offerings, many starting this week>

1. Little Picasso’s (Age 4-6), mummy drawing
2. Drawing Studio (Age 6-10), pumpkin still life/shading techniques
3. Pee Wee Art (Age 2-3), paint a batty sky
4. Beginning Art (Age 6-9), Dia Del Los Muertos patterns & resist painting
5. Halloween Party 10/31
6. Pee Wee Art (Age 2-3), paint-a-pumpkin
7. Open Studio – opened ended art & play time, age 2-8.
8. Beginning Art (Age 6-9), mummy sculptures
9. Paint, Play & Music (Age 2-4)
10. Drawing Studio (Age 6-10), Mummy Portraits
11. Paint, Play & Music (Age 2-4), Mr. Pops gets into the spirit
12. Open Studio (Age 2-8)
13. Beginning Ceramics (Age 5.5-12), Halloween Chimes
14. Kids Canvas Workshop (Age 7-12), acrylic paint handling
15. Halloween Party 10/31, Batman paints a pumpkin plaque.

 

 

Favorite Photo Friday

"This photo was taken the day after your superhero class. They got out there and kept our street safe! Thank you for inspiring young minds!" ~Rebecca

New Class: The Language of Art, 8/2-9/6

We’ve decided to keep up the momentum of our current class “Sketchbooks & Sculpture” and add another 5 week course called “The Language of Art“; beginning Aug 2nd.

Fundamentals will be taught including: color theory, perspective, composition and 2D vs 3D. Projects will include painting, drawing and sculpture, and will also be influenced by the group. Beginner, intermediate and advanced  students are all welcome! (Age 7-12). Register>>

Our current group of students are having so much fun together. We hope more will decide to join us on 8/2. Here are some photos & video from “Sketchbooks & Sculpture”

Toni introduces the concept of a sketchbook & shares her own drawings.

After the book covers are constructed, students paint an abstract expression of themselves on the front.

 Then they began their cupcake sculptures….

Messy, grossed-out, but in the end it was fun!

Time to paint and glitter the sculptures.

For our final class next week, the kids will make watercolor/sketches of their cupcakes in the books they created. And perhaps they'll get to eat real ones too 🙂

Robots with Dad

Happy Father’s Day!
We had a good time at our “Robots with Dad” Workshop yesterday. We had quite the variety of pieces & parts to work with and our father/child teams were very creative. It was great watching the fathers/grandfathers  interact with their kids; teaching them how to use tools, and the glue gun, planning their robots together…

We spread out all over the studio to work.

Here are a few of the robots!

Special thanks to my assistant, Charity, who donated
a lot of cool items for our use!

Superheroes & Heroines Workshop

At the start of this workshop, I asked the kids to tell me what it meant to be a Superhero… I was a bit dismayed to hear them talk about how “they fight” and “use weapons”. It wasn’t until an older girl whispered in her little brothers’ ear that we talked about how “Superheroes help people in trouble”.

I grew up watching the Super Friends (1973-1986) who never seemed to use weapons against anyone. They even included safety/health tips, magic tricks, and craft segments during the later shows.

But I digress…. I suggested the kids start thinking about what their own super powers would be and then went off to make a mask, power bracelets, and a cape. When they finished, we put on our gear and sat down for a Superhero Story. We had lots of fun.  I was also very pleased to see several girls attend! 🙂