De Stijl

De Stijl (sounds like ‘duh style’) was an artistic movement in the Netherlands from 1917 to around 1928. Artists such as Piet Mondrian, who you’ll learn about tomorrow, wanted to simplify the subjects of their painting as much as possible until they were left with only lines and simple colors. They used only red, yellow, and blue, and black, white, and grey.

De Stijl was confined to the Netherlands because the country did not involve itself in World War I so the Dutch couldn’t leave the country during the war. The art produced in other countries still influenced the de stijl movement, though.

In this 1921 painting, entitled Composition, you can see the simple colors and lines. Notice how few black lines there are in this painting, yet how beautiful the effect.
These ideas were used not only in paintings, but in architecture as well. Look at this house, for instance, designed by Gerrit Rietveld. It is completely black and white with details in primary colors, and uses only rectangles formed by horizontal and vertical lines. The inside also uses simple lines. If you’ve ever seen a Frank Lloyd Wright designed building, you may be thinking that this house reminds you of his work. You’d be right to think that because Wright’s designs from the 1900s and 1910s influenced the later work of these Dutch architects. (You’ll learn about Wright next week.)

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Create Your Own Paper Ornament

This Christmas ornament is easy to make and can be slipped into a Christmas card as a nice pre-Christmas gift for your friends and family.

Supplies Needed:

Green construction paper
Patterned wrapping paper
Tape
Scissors
Ruler
Pencil
Glue stick
Ribbon

Use your ruler and pencil to mark strips of various widths on your wrapping paper. Cut them out. Thinner strips will look better. I cut mine too thin.

Line up the strips in an order different than the sheet of wrapping paper. Try to alternate the colors. Attach the strips to a piece of tape.

Draw a circle on your sheet of green construction paper. Draw a smaller circle inside. Add a rectangle and a loop at the top to make it look like an ornament. Cut out the ornament and remove the inner circle. I cut out the inside of the loop with scissors but a hole punch would be easier.

Trace your ornament onto more green construction paper and cut out a second. Do not remove the inner circle.

Tape the strips of wrapping paper to the construction paper with the hole in it. The strips should show through the hole.

Use your glue stick to attach the back to the ornament.

Tie a piece of ribbon to the loop so the ornament can be hung. Place it on your tree or slide it into a Christmas card and send it to a loved one.

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Create Your Own Candy Cane Rudolph and Santa

You’ve probably seen candy cane Rudolphs but you can create a host of other candy cane characters if you use your imagination.

Rudolph:

Supplies Needed:

Candy Cane
Red Pipe Cleaner
Red Pom
Two Googley Eyes
Ribbon
Glue
Scissors
Wrap the pipe cleaner around the bend in the candy cane. You should complete two wraps and then twist at the top. Bend the pipe cleaner so it looks like antlers. If you have extra length, snip it off.

Tie the ribbon in a bow around the reindeer’s neck. If you tie it tightly enough there will be no need for glue but you can add a dab if you’d like to secure the ribbon.

Glue the eyes to create the face and then glue the pom to the end to make Rudolph’s glowing red nose. I used white glue but a hot glue gun would be more effective. Just be sure to get help from an adult first.

Santa:

Supplies Needed:

Candy Cane
Two Red Pipe Cleaners
White Pom
Two Googley Eyes
Ribbon
Glue
Scissors
White Paint
Small Paintbrush
Wrap a pipe cleaner twice around the bend in the candy cane. Bend it into the outline of a pointed, red Santa hat. Wrap the second pipe cleaner to fill in the hat. Tuck in the ends. Use a bit of glue to attach the white pom to the end of the hat.

Use a small piece of ribbon to make a belt around the center of the candy cane. Use a hot glue gun to secure it. I used double sided tape but it didn’t hold well. Make sure a parent helps you with the glue gun.

Attach the googley eyes with dabs of glue.
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You can create any number of characters from candy canes. Try making elves using green candy canes and pipe cleaners. If you have other ideas, leave comments so others might enjoy them, too.

Happy crafting and have a great weekend!

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The View From My Window

Before we get to our regular programming, I thought I'd show two comparative pictures.

This is the view from my window just two short weeks ago. Thanksgiving was warm and breezy but it smelled like fall and the leaves were swirling throughout the yard.





This is the view tonight. We got about six inches of snow, by my estimation--the good, sticky packing snow, perfect for snowball fights.


Today's art: And so that we might remember those summer months, check out Scott Wade's website. Wade creates art on dirty car windshields. I'd like the Mona Lisa sketched into my windshield. It would liven up the whitewash caused by the crust of snow!

Tomorrow I'll post a Christmas craft to get you through the weekend. Enjoy your Thursday!

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Create Your Own Picasso-Inspired Collage

The great thing about creating art is that you never have to show it to anyone if you don’t like the way it turns out. Thus, I am not posting a photo of my collage. I hope you have better luck with your Picasso-inspired musical collages.

Supplies Needed:

Poster board
Colored papers
Sheet music
Newspaper
Paints
White glue
Water
Paintbrush

Cut shapes from your colored papers. You could cut pieces of musical instruments in any colors you’d like or cut music notes. Cut out pieces from your sheet music (do a search for sheet music and print something out if you don’t have any music you can cut up) and use words from newspaper headlines if you want your collage to say something.

Choose what kind of paper you want to use for your background. Picasso often used wallpaper but wrapping paper will work well also. If you don’t have either, tear up pieces of construction paper to make your own background.

Mix a little glue with water to thin it. This will make your paper turn out less wrinkled after you glue it down.

Brush on enough glue to hold the background. Stick it to the poster board. Arrange your collage pieces on top of the background and, when you like the way the collage looks, glue down all the pieces.

You can add paint to your collage, too. Maybe you want to accentuate some of the notes in your sheet music with red paint. Or you could add guitar strings. Use your imagination.

Good luck!

Click here for a Matisse-inspired collage project.

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