ArtDiego

On March 13th, with a broken foot and an orthopedic boot on, I 'hopped' into our former elementary school to lead a Family Art Night for 75+ participants. I chose a universal spring theme, a bird nest. We used painted cardboard pieces for the base, real twigs for the nest, Model Magic for the bird and eggs, acrylic paint, and glue. It was fun and engaging - a joy to see the enthusiasm and imagination of the participants. Their diligent work resulted in lovely art pieces. Look at the beautiful colors, the house-shaped and painted nests, or the snake getting the bird eggs!

Let’s create beauty!
Have fun this summer while learning something new! Sign your kids up today! Small groups for 6-12 years old. Open spots on week of July 13 and July 27.

More students (mixed age group from K-6th grade) finished their Jeff Koons’ Ballon Dog collage paying attention to atmospheric perspective (ballon dog should be relatively big compare to the far away skyscrapers) and highlighting and shading on the balloon dog.

Vibrant Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog collages by Kinder-6th grade students. I always resonate with Britt Curley's art project and have long admired her ideas. I thought her take on “Balloon Dog” was phenomenal, so I decided to try it with my students. This is a complex project that helps students realize how important it is to work on each part of the project equally well to result in an aesthetically pleasing final piece. Instead of old book pages, we used coffee-stained music sheets for the New York skyscrapers and painted paper for the grass. Here they are!

Watercolor Lily Pad paintings by my 85+ year-old students at Westmont and Pacifica Assisted Living. Some of the participants used watercolor crayons as well. I was glad to see that they were open to trying new things for the first time.😊

Mother’s Day Project- 2026. Now I can share my 5-12 year-old students’ Model Magic Mother Day’s portraits, trusting that they already celebrated their moms. 🙂
We began this project by adding paint into white Model Magic. Instead of applying paint on the surface, we kneaded the colors in.
During the kneading process, we discussed favorite colors, hair, eye, and skin colors, hairdos, glasses, etc. to depict our moms - all the key “ingredients” for the best representation. At the end, we added a protective layer of white Elmer’s glue on top of the finished portraits.
The students were enthusiastic and worked diligently to achieve outstanding results! I really hope that their mothers felt appreciated and were genuinely surprised in a positive way. 🥰

Revisiting Mother's Day's dessert from 2024.
I still recall the excitement of the students as they created something extraordinary for their mothers. Students from TK-1st grade crafted cupcake-looking pinch pots with lids, painted with vibrant colors and adorned with glitter berries, cherries, flowers, or butterflies on top. Students from 2nd-6th grade formed realistic-looking cheesecakes, sponge cakes, and strawberry cakes, packaged in beautifully decorated boxes with glittering golden letters and bows. Look at all these wonderful treats, layered cake slices with lemon on top! While younger students used air-dry clay, older students worked with Model Magic.

Two more exceptional pieces of “UP”artwork have been completed by talented students in grade 6 and 2.🎈🎈🎈

Watercolor Lily pads for Mother’s Day - Kinder-3rd grade students 🥰

The House of Hungary participated in the annual Ethnic Food Fair in Balboa Park. I was at the craft table, instructing children and adults on how to make beautifully colored hearts out of toilet paper rolls. We even made a few butterflies and a fairy. Base colors were added with regular markers, and patterns were drawn over them with acrylic paint pens. It was a joyful, relaxing, and fun experience for everyone. One volunteer colored a heart with red, white, and green, the colors of the Hungarian flag, and added the coat of arms and two food items - goulash soup and langos, which we were serving to our customers.