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This month we are offering another FREE art kit here at Prairie Arts Center! Come by and pick up your Gingerbread House Garland bag in the foyer anytime during our open hours (Tues-Thursday 12-8 and Saturday 10-5) starting, Dec. 5th. We’d love to see what you make so post and tag us on IG @prairieartscenter or on our Facebook page. For more art activities and prompts for the winter break, check out our Creative Classroom.

If it's too early for Christmas decorations for you but you have the urge to do some festive decorating, try a wax dipped leaf banner! Gather a dozen or so colorful, freshly fallen leaves and press them for a few hours so they are nice and flat. Melt paraffin or bees wax over a double boiler or in a mini crock pot, making sure the wax never boils. Dip your leaves into the melted wax and lay them out to dry on wax paper. Once dried, use string, twine, or ribbon to create your banner. Pro-tip: hang your banner alongside a strand of lights so you get to see their beautiful colors glow in the evening. This simple, nature based craft with bring warmth and love to any space! 

This activity is fun to prep for, as well as to do! To begin, gather leaves from your yard or a park that are of different sizes and shapes. Make sure to choose leaves that are freshly fallen so they will hold up to being pressed and painted. Once home, press them under a stack of heavy books for a few hours so they are nice and flat. Use acrylic paint to coat the veiny backside of the leaf. Flip it onto your paper and rub the topside to make your impression. In our examples, we also used a small amount of paint to brush out the outline of the leaf, leaving a negative image, as well as the positive imprint of the veins.

Happy early Halloween and National Bat week (October 24-31)! Celebrate the season and these super-pollinators by creating one to hang on your front porch. Consider making multiples and stringing them together to make a bat banner for a doorway or wall. They look fun hanging from a stick too! For more art activities and prompts, visit our Creative Classroom.

Practice drawing hands by sketching out your name in sign language! This activity gives you the opportunity to brush up on, or learn for the first time, the sign language alphabet. Do this one with the kiddos. They will love the challenge and, as in the case of Jack, may even decide to hang it on the door to their room.  Check out more art prompts on our creative classroom page.

Landscapes, Etc.
Supply List
Pastel Workshop with Jude Tolar, PSA, IAPS/MC*

-Please bring photos of landscapes
and other subjects that excite or puzzle you.
I’ll also have some photos you can use.

-Feel free to also bring an object(s) you’d like to paint.

-Soft pastels -- as many colors as you have
-Hard pastels – as many colors as you have
Yes, good pastels are expensive, but they last a long time. And they're wonderful! If you can, get at least a few colors to try.
-Sanded paper
Cut to 9x12, 8x10, 11x14 sizes or just bring and cut them at the workshop.
I will bring Art Spectrum ColourFix paper in burnt umber and aubergine AND UArt paper, 400-grit. You may buy these at my cost ($10 for ColourFix 19x27”; $5 for UArt 12x18” sheet), or bring your own.
-Hard backing to put behind sanded paper on the easel — a 1/2 sheet of foam core 16x20"
-An old filbert or flat brush, about 1/2” to 1” wide
-Masking tape
-Aluminum foil — a piece 18-24" long, to put on easel tray to catch pastel dust
-Viva paper towels — Viva brand highly recommended, for its softness
-Easel
Prairie Arts Center has standing easels and table easels; but feel free to bring your own

Optional Supplies
-A portable light for your easel. Can be a clip-on or floor light. Preferably with daylight/color-correct bulb
-Sketchbook — for notes, thumbnail sketches
-Drawing pencil or pen
-Soft filbert brush

Sources and Recommended Brands

In OKC, Porch School and Art Supply (near 50th & Santa Fe)
In Tulsa, Ziegler Art & Frame (near Lewis & Admiral)

Or you can order pastels and papers online:
Terry Ludwig, Dakota Pastels, Dick Blick, Jerry's Artarama, Cheap Joe's

1. Soft pastels:
Terry Ludwig
Sennelier
Unison
Great American
Schmincke
Diane Townsend
Mount Vision
Girault
Henri Roche
Jack Richeson
Rembrandts — harder than most soft pastel brands, but will work

I use mainly Terry Ludwigs and a smattering of the other brands.

2. Hard pastels: Nupastel

3. Sanded papers:
Art Spectrum ColourFix in dark colors, UArt 400- or 500-grit for this workshop
Other brands:
Some of these are light in value. You can tone or underpaint them first.
PastelMat Pastelbord
LaCarte Pastel Premier
Richeson