• Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Sarah Lipoff Production
  • Who is Sarah?
Something Silly

. . . and maybe delicious.

  • Sarah Lipoff Production
  • Who is Sarah?
Art Activities for Kids  /  09/01/2011

Fine art for kids: Tints and shades with Josef Albers

by Sarah Lipoff

© Sarah Lipoff 2011

My previous installment of exploring fine art for kids got some interesting reviews over at Shine from Yahoo!. Go ahead and check out the comments and come back if you would like, but, basically I had a critic of my creative ideas. Yeah, his feeling was that instead of being fun and educational, these art activities are creating mediocre kids.

Well. Get over it.

I’m happy creating a mass of “mediocre” children that have fun while discovering the wonder of color, line, shape, design, and art. Yup. Art.

If you’re with me, I encourage you to share your fantastic art activities that you enjoy doing with your kids at the end of my arty project posts – or please share them around your network.

Let’s keep creativity fun, spontaneous, and exciting.

And this project is a great way to explore the wonders of color and design with a modern artist that has definitely influenced the way the world looks at art. Sure, Josef Albers isn’t a household name, but his simplified vibrating artworks took color theory beyond the norm and caused the viewer to really stop and pay attention to the power of color.

Color theory is one of those areas of art no one really gets super excited about. All that color mixing, the color wheels, and dark to light shade gradients and tutorials become pretty boring after a while. But, with the help of Josef Albers, color mixing just might turn into something fun!

A tint is when a color is mixed with white and a shade is when a color is mixed with black. Josef Albers totally experimented with shades and tints in his artworks. Start by taking a closer look at some of his creations with your child and chat about his color choices and the shapes he liked using (he sure liked squares!).

To create this square-shaped color theory artwork, take some influence from Albers by cutting a white paper into a square. Now invite your child to use masking tape to section off several squares. He can use scissors to cut the tape into thinner strips if he’d like.

Now your child can pick a color to use for creating his tints and shades. We decided on yellow and added a couple squirts of white and black next to our yellow paint.

© Sarah Lipoff 2011

Invite your child to start by painting a section of his square creation with the solid color. Then he can add a bit of white to that color, creating a tint, to use for painting another section. Then he can add a bit of black to his color, creating a shade, to use for another section. He can keep adding white or black to finish things off.

Once everything is all painted, let the Albers’ inspired artwork dry for an hour or so before removing the tape. Invite our child to create several radiating artworks and then tape them to a door or wall in your home for a really exciting pop of color.

See – color theory isn’t all that bad after all!

 

Tags

  • art activities for kids
  • child development

Post navigation

Flowered t-shirt headband
Roasted summer veg quinoa

3 comments

  • heather
    09/02/2011

    I loved the way you handled the critic’s comments on your Shine post. (I feel pity for “Carl”. Poor artless, colorless, soulless man — he just doesn’t get it, and probably never will. What a hollow way to live life.) I continue to applaud you and your incredible talent for teaching art not just to kiddos — but to their parents as well. In addition to creative theory, you’re instructing families in the fine art of togetherness. *Cheers to you!*

    Reply
  • lucy
    04/22/2013

    Great post, but it’s Josef Albers, not Joseph.

    Reply
    • Sarah Lipoff
      04/22/2013

      Thanks for catching my misspelling, Lucy! I’m updating now 🙂

      Reply

Share your thoughts Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Recent Posts

  • This DIY Herb Garden Is So Pretty
  • The Supreme Banana Bread
  • Tips for talking with your child about art
  • Spring vegetable quinoa pilaf
  • Cooking with kids: Super easy homemade tuna cakes

Recent Comments

  • Sarah Lipoff on Lightened-up summer chicken salad
  • Nicole P. on Lightened-up summer chicken salad
  • Stephanie on Cooking with kids: Super easy homemade tuna cakes
  • Bunny Roberge on Mango lemon marmalade
  • Ryan R. on Chocolate cream cheese cookies

Archives

  • May 2018
  • December 2017
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • July 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010

Categories

  • About Food
  • About Life
  • About Me
  • Art Activities for Kids
  • Cool Stuff
  • Dinner Every Night
  • Life with Child
  • The Bay Area
  • Uncategorized

Search by Tags

  • activities for children
  • Art
  • art activities for kids
  • art and children
  • art development
  • Baby Behavior
  • Baby Development
  • Being a Mom
  • blueberries
  • books about fall for kids
  • Celebrations
  • child behavior
  • child development
  • children
  • color theory
  • cooking
  • cooking with kids
  • Earth Day art activity
  • eating
  • fall art activity
  • fall leaves
  • family
  • fine-motor skills
  • food
  • Fox and Friends
  • Fox News Network
  • health
  • healthy cooking
  • Healthy eating
  • Holidays
  • learning about fall with kids
  • Life with Child
  • muffins
  • Parenting
  • Po Bronson
  • Praise Craze
  • projects
  • quinoa
  • recipes
  • recycled art
  • Red Dress Club
  • Sarah Lipoff
  • spring art activities
  • spring recipes
  • summer art activities

Recent Comments

  • Sarah Lipoff on Lightened-up summer chicken salad
  • Nicole P. on Lightened-up summer chicken salad
  • Stephanie on Cooking with kids: Super easy homemade tuna cakes
  • Bunny Roberge on Mango lemon marmalade
  • Ryan R. on Chocolate cream cheese cookies

Pages

  • Sarah Lipoff Production
  • Who is Sarah?

Categories

  • About Food
  • About Life
  • About Me
  • Art Activities for Kids
  • Cool Stuff
  • Dinner Every Night
  • Life with Child
  • The Bay Area
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • This DIY Herb Garden Is So Pretty
  • The Supreme Banana Bread
  • Tips for talking with your child about art
  • Spring vegetable quinoa pilaf
  • Cooking with kids: Super easy homemade tuna cakes

Archives

  • May 2018
  • December 2017
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • August 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • July 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • Elara by LyraThemes
  • Made by LyraThemes.com