Do you have wintertime blues? Art can help!
Blue, indigo, cerulean, cobalt, pthalocyanine… what shade of blue are you this winter?
It’s hard to be blue. That low, stuck feeling that comes with dark days.
Holidays and the long winter after can really be tough sometimes. Art is a healer that can help when days are short and nights too long… Don’t worry, art is here to rescue you!
Stay warm in your studio and follow along to learn some ways art can brighten your life!
Here at the Art Store in Prescott, we have creative supplies to help you cure your wintertime blues. Plus, we are super friendly and funny and would love to make you smile!
Create a family sculpture together
Bring the family round the table, and have each family member make a sculptural self-portrait.
No judging! Everyone will have their own skill level. Set a time limit for this of about an hour for sculpting, then allow time for the items to dry or bake, and time to paint.
Once you’re all done sculpting, put your clay “family” together for “selfies” 🙂
Supplies needed:
Modeling clay, sculpey, air dry or fiber clay
Modeling tools
stamps or other textural supplies
paper to cover your table
Paint a mountain and a valley
What do mountains and valleys represent to you?
A mountain could depict the pinnacles of your life! Make your mountain as glorious and amazing as you like. Or maybe a mountain means low oxygen and cold to you? Make it as intimidating as you want. Valleys can be warm and lush or dark and foreboding – Paint your mountain and valley to express where you are in your life right now. Let those feelings flow out onto paper or canvas! It will help put it all into perspective when you do.
Supplies needed:
One of our two- or seven-packs of practice canvas in 11″ x 14″, or a block of watercolor paper
Acrylic, watercolor or Oil paints of your choice, at least 5 colors plus white and black
Brushes
Water cup, or solvent cup, and solvent if needed
and feelings! Bring your feelings!
Use your printed photograph as a base for the collage. It can be any picture of you – full body, partial body, just the face…
Then add free-flowing shapes and fill them in with creative patterns to create a movement in the composition.
Additional cut-outs can be use for extra interest.
Supplies wanted/needed:
Mixed media paper
photo of yourself
pens
colored papers and magazines
good scissors
pencils
glue stick
watercolors
colored pencils
Make art out of coffee stains!
Are you juicing just to stay awake? We hear you. Caffeine is our life’s blood at this time of year!
You can make some really cute doodle art out of your drippings, whether accidental or on purpose!
Supplies needed:
Coffee
Paper – Mixed media paper would work great for this! Or, whatever you happened to spill on… 😉
accidents
paintbrushes – synthetic won’t get damaged by the acidity in the coffee. Try our budget Snap! brushes
pens – Try some of our new Clean Color water based brush pens!
Draw or paint your feelings
What do your feelings really look like? Have you ever painted a piece that expressed exactly how you feel right now? What colors would you use? would it be soft, or rough strokes? heavy handed or delicate? Let your feelings flow onto your surface.
Emotional Woman by Natalie Holland
Robert Proch
Supplies needed:
Your medium of choice! And some strong emotions. Make some emotional art, scribble, cut, crumple, scrape, or scrub and express yourself.
The Promenadae by Marc Chagall; American Gothic by Grant Wood
Create an emotional color wheel
Using your favorite supplies create a color wheel, and then label the colors as they relate to your own feelings. Does not have to match the picture here!
How does yellow feel to you? What emotion is turquoise? Violet?
This one could be very therapeutic; and you can use it for color reference for future artwork!
Supplies needed:
Bristol or heavier paper; canvas, or panel;
primary colors if mixing paint, markers or colored pencil, primary and secondary colors if using pastels
We hope you’ve enjoyed some of these art project ideas, and that the wintertime blues turn into pinks really soon! All the best for a creative and joyful late winter <3
-Ida
