Drooly Dog is Evolving!

You'll be noticing some New Tricks at Drooly Dog this week. Here's a bit about them:

Introducing the Drooly Dog Drawing School!

Drawing is the basis of all visual arts. It is also an impulse that goes back to the cave folks. Drawing is a great source of joy. So, the Drooly Dog Drawing School is all about getting your pencil moving, and giving you that extra nudge to draw with your favorite young people. There will be free drawing lessons, animations, videos, and the like, along with coloring pages, and downloadable books. Rock!!

Tail Wags

These will be bits of inspiration that I gather in my travels - quotes, wonderful artists and their work, and anything else YOU send that gets people thinking about art and makes the world a little bigger and more creative. (I suspect there will be a lot more video going on... just a hunch.)

Dog Run

These will be projects of any sort, with tips and instructions on how to get started. With a major emphasis on Reusing and Recycling. AND, the Junk Mail Derby, in which I take whatever came in my junk mail on a given day and make something out of it.

And of Course, the Drooly Dog Gallery of Kids' Art! (Check it out on Flickr!)

Send something by your favorite young artist for the Gallery! It is looking terrific. Each posting comes with a note from me to the artist. I often give them more artists and things to look at as well, inspired by what they've made. Send it to bigdogATdroolydog.org today!

Kids' Art - Rina's Night Scene!

This took a lot of patience to draw all of those stars. Each and every one of them has the same number of points, and is colored in. And then, there's the teeny tiny glowing doorway. So it appears that whoever lives in this house, is still awake. I wonder what they are doing?

This reminds me of some houses that I have seen in Iowa and Missouri, that are way out in the middle of these big areas with rolling hills. Even though they are off by themselves, they look like a nice place to visit.

Thanks Rina for sending this!

Kids' Art - Sean's Human Map

And now, a map of the world in human form by Sean, who just turned 7.

Sean, I can tell a lot about how you see the world by looking at this map! You've got your hometown on there, as well as the hometown of your grandparents, and also a favorite vacation spot - and of course, San Francisco, where they are playing baseball - what else? The Great Plains stretch off to the side, and Africa sits below them. I'm sorry to see that there is a war going on in Afghanistan, I hope someday you can draw this map again and that will not be the case. But that's honesty! And I see that the guy in Texas has a very nice cowboy hat.

Thank You Sean!

And everyone else, send me kids' art for the Drooly Dog Drawing Project! You can attach it to me at mailATbetsystreeter.com, or learn more about the project by clicking here or checking it out on Facebook.

Kids' Art - Nelson's Magnificent Owl.

Nelson is 9, and I'm told he's very taken with owls currently.

Nelson this is a really detailed drawing! You must have spent a whole lot of time working on all of the different kinds of feathers, the different patterns, the claws - you have clearly looked very very closely at owls to be able to draw this much detail. I bet this is a particular species of owl, too.

Also I really like the way you thought about how the owl is sitting on the tree branch, and how the owl is in the foreground, while the branches and parts of the tree are in the background. You have to think about how a branch will continue on the other side of something, when you can't see all of it. That can be tricky, especially since things in real life sometimes don't look the way you would imagine them. It helps just to look around a lot and notice how things go in front of and behind each other.

Thanks for sending this Nelson!

Kids' Art - Katharina's Mermaid!

I told you that Katharina was prolific.

One thing that pops out at me right away when I look at this mermaid is, that the color of the water makes it look like the sun is reflecting off of it. Also, I notice you gave a lot of thought to how she is sitting on her rock and how her tail is in relation to the water.

There are some parts where I can almost see you there, drawing very fast and filling in lots and lots of color (like the sky) and other parts, like the sun and the mermaid's tail, where I can see you there being very detailed and working more slowly.

And, the crabs are very cool. With their claws up in the air like that they look like they might be excited about something the mermaid just said.

Thanks Katharina for more art! I hope your mom has enough paper for you.

News flash: The Drooly Dog Drawing Project has its own Facebook Page now, come like/hang out with/talk to us! See you there!