Easy Bird Watercolors from Photographs

Spring is here and many of our favorite birds are back for the warmer weather! Diane Zubrick did an art project with all her students using pictures from several bird calendars.

To make it easy, Diane traced an outline of the birds on tracing paper. Her students then used carbon paper under the tracing paper and transferred the line drawing to the watercolor paper.

 

The line was drawn over with black Sharpie. The students used liquid watercolors to finish the painting. The bird artwork turned out all different and colorful.

 Many artists do work from photos or a combination of photographs to design a picture. Tracing the bird gave Diane's students a good starting point for a beautiful painting!

Happy Easter!

Many of Diane Zubrick's students have been designing eggs for the Easter season. Their inspiration has been the Pysanka Eggs of the Ukraine as pictured below.

 

 

These eggs are from Julie Siders' and Jesse Hignite's classes from Baker Middle School in Fairborn, Ohio. They used mixed media of black Sharpie marker, oil pastel, liquid watercolors and gold acrylic paint.

 

 

The above egg is by Kiersten. The metallic gold adds the perfect touch!

 

 

This egg design was made by Brandon.  It has such a nice folk art quality about it.

 



 

TreJon is working on his egg with oil pastels. 

 

 

 Here is the finished egg.

 

 

Katie loves to paint the metallic gold on her egg!

 

 

Zahara's egg has such a painterly quality!

 

 

Devon's egg is so full of detail and the gold really shines!

 

The students found that painting the eggs on large paper was much easier than decorating real eggs...and they don't break!

Annual Garden Party

 

We  Care Arts will be holding their annual Garden Party on Saturday, May 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It will be at the We Care Arts Berkeley Center at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering.

 

Knollwood Garden Center will be sponsoring the event providing soil, beautiful flowers and gift cards.

 

 

We will have many hand painted pots for sale and we will  plant your choice of flowers into them.  You can also bring your own containers, buy the plants and volunteers will plant them for you!

 

May 11 is Mother's Day and our gift shop is full of garden art, birdhouses, and wind chimes and other lovely and useful items for you and mom!

 

 

 

Watch Our Video, "Ticket to Ride", on the "Power2Give" Web Page!

Artwork by Gary Neeley

We Care Arts has posted a new video on their Power2Give web page. We are raising money for bus passes so our artists can have the independence to ride the bus to We Care Arts and their appointments.

Click here to see why our clients need a "Ticket to Ride"!

Wine and Art Painting Class for Everyone!

We Care Arts is now offering painting classes for EVERYONE! Bring some wine (or not) and come and enjoy an evening of fun and painting! You don't need to have any previous knowledge or skill in painting. We will provide all you need to make the evening loads of fun!

The classes will be taught by our own talented Terry Schalnat in a step by step painting method. We will provide all the painting supplies including a canvas and you will go home with a painting you will be proud to hang on your wall! 

 

Every other month there will be a class with a new painting. This April painting is in the Spring theme of red tulips. The class is the evening of April 16th from 6-8 p.m. RSVP to tschalnat@wecarearts.org to let us know how many fellow artists will be coming with you!

The cost of the class is $35.00 and all the proceeds will help support our mission at We Care Arts. For more information on We Care Arts upcoming events, visit our website by clicking here.

Stebbins High School Fundraiser for We Care Arts

 

Thanks to our fantastic Stebbins High School students!

We always appreciate it when a group of our supporters hold a fundraiser for us, so imagine our delight when a group of Stebbins High School students came by recently with $119.56 to support our programs! At our recent auction, they sold $320 more to the attendees for a total of $430.00 donation to We Care Arts!

The initiative came from a study by the Ohio Occupational Therapy Transition Outcome (OTTO) through Ohio Department of Education where they wanted the students to develop an understanding of community service and good citizenship. The challenge was for the Stebbins High School students with multiple disabilities to come up with a project to earn money for a worthy organization. The students discussed it and decided that they would support We Care Arts. Our teacher, Alicia, goes there every week and they thought they would like to give back in appreciation of what she’s given them.

The students worked with an Occupational Therapist and came up with their own business plan. They decided what project they were going to do (make rainbow loom bracelets in school colors red and white), how many they were going to make, what the cost would be to make them and how much they would sell them for ($2). They advertised, ran the cash register and promoted the sale throughout the school. When presented with a problem on the project, they used their problem solving skills to keep things moving along!

One of the young men involved became a different person during this process. Before this, he normally had no social interactions with the other students. But for this project, he would walk up to people and ask if they wanted to buy a bracelet. The teachers were amazed how this activity caused the young man to completely alter his social interactions.

The students said they were very proud of themselves and the teachers were pleased that they were making a difference in the world by giving back.

Artist Spotlight on Donna Berkeley

 

Donna Berkeley has been an enthusiastic and generous supporter of We Care Arts since our beginnings in 1983. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees, Donna is the creative drive and inspiration behind the jewelry available at the We Care Arts Gift Shop and Online Store.Through her guidance, We Care Arts clients and volunteers learn how to combine natural stones, crystals, pearls and other elements with sterling silver, gold, copper and pewter to create original pieces of stunning jewelry.

Below are some examples of Donna's artwork which is available on the  We Care Arts Online Store. She also has several pieces of her art work in the Gift Shop located in We Care Arts at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio.


Blue Coral Necklace



Sterling Silver Flower Earrings



Red Dione Necklace

Power 2 Give - I need a "Ticket to Ride"

Power 2 Give

 


Artwork by Gary Neeley

Culture Works is excited to be launching power2give on March 6, 2014, becoming the 24^th host organization nationally for this powerful online marketplace.  Power2give provides a way to mobilize and empower individual donors while giving all nonprofit organizations throughout the Dayton Region the ability to raise funds for arts and culture projects.

About the We Care Arts Project

Please help us raise money for bus passes so that our artists can do their fabulous art here on a regular schedule! 

 

 Click here to donate!

We need people to buy a ticket to independence. One of the biggest obstacles for many of our participants is the cost of transportation. Because many of them rely on public transportation and are on a fixed income, they are restricted by these transportation costs. They must carefully plan their month of travel based on what they can afford to do, not where they need to go. Sometimes it is a choice between going to the grocery or coming to their weekly art class at We Care Arts. Often, by the end of the month, they cannot afford to go anywhere, which leaves them isolated from the support they need to manage their disabilities.

Donor Benefits

 

 

Making a difference in someone’s life is priceless. With a monthly bus pass, a person gets unlimited rides. This gives them the opportunity to go everywhere they need to during that month. They can go to their scheduled appointments, the pharmacy, the grocery, the library and the food bank, which many of them depend on each month. They can visit friends and family without having to sacrifice missing an appointment or trip to the store. They can go to We Care Arts, where being encouraged by friends and exercising their creativity helps with a positive attitude, and they can potentially earn a little money.  They find independence and become contributing members of our society when they are able to get to their needed support systems. Most importantly, they will no longer be isolated because they have a way to get to the places that help them stay healthy.

 

To donate and for more information, click here!

We Care Arts Auction Items Arriving!

Artwork items are arriving for our Annual Spring Auction! Below are a few examples. Here is a beautiful vine covered two story bird house for your yard this spring!  It was lovingly painted by Marie Brown, a We Care Arts instructor. Each side is different and will make some lucky birds a gorgeous home!

 

 

Another art instructor, Naomi Beck, wove this wooden chair back and seat out of men's ties. They created such nice colors and textures and made a very strong chair.

 

Gary Neeley, a We Care Artist, slip trailed these cat and crow plates with the popular blue and while motif.

 

 

 



 

 

Naomi has two other pieces in the auction. Below is a morning glory drawer unit which would brighten up any room!

 

 

 

This black shelf is also painted by Naomi. There are beautiful details all over the piece.

 

 

 

The basket below was donated by Greene County and is full of

 fun things!  

 

 

Are you a tea drinker?  This basket is made for you!  This was donated by Nina DiPasquale.

 

 

 

 

We still need more items for the auction on March 14 and are

accepting donations.

We Care Arts Visiting Artist Classes

Our resident deep thinker, Bruce, will teach our Visiting Artist class coming this Friday, Feb 21. He’s teaching raised relief clay tiles. Visiting Artist classes happen generally every month and are taught by one of our We Care Arts teachers.

We all have a fun time at these classes. Clients get to use a medium that they may have never used before, and they meet other artists who come on different days than they do. Any of our adult clients that come on Monday, Wednesday or Friday are welcome to come to our Visiting Artist classes. 

These pictures are from a class last summer where We Care Arts teacher Sharen had them making journal covers to take home.

 

Betsy and her journal

 

 

 David and his journal

 

 David's journal

 

 

Jeff and his helper

 

Julie and her journal

 

 

Lois and Robin and their journals