Stuart and Benny at the Art Lounge

I've been taking mixed media classes with Marah Johnson at the Art Lounge (facebook) in Huntington Beach  off and on for a couple of months. The shop is great and Marah always has loads of tools, inks, paints and ideas, so I keep signing up for more. Today I took my kids for an afternoon of art with Marah. The each worked on canvases, making a large sihlouetted image.

First the boys painted the backgrounds. The two boys had visions for their designs, and dove right in.

After drying their canvases in front of the fan, they traced their stencils. Marah had a variety of silhouettes ready, but my boys had their own ideas. Stuart wanted a velociraptor (dinosaur-- it's all about the toe claw) and Benjamin wanted a P-38 Lightening (airplane).

Stuart painted in his outline, first with gesso and then with shiny tan paint. Benjamin cut strips of paper to fill his outline, which was Marah's original concept for the project. She noticed how much Stuart enjoyed painting when he did his background, and asked him if he wouldn't prefer to paint, and he took her up on it.

Benjamin finished his with some contee crayon shading, and Stuart added an eye and a mouth with a Sharpee marker.

Then they were done!

Thanks for a great afternoon, Marah! And thank you for looking.