In short, I am Busy: We Explore Artist Julie Paschkis

Best swirly art in the style of Julie Paschkis!

Art Project Part 1: Sketching

The kids start with pencils and drawing paper and I show pictures of Paschkis' sketches for her artwork, especially P. Zonka. I encourage them not to worry about "mistakes" or extra lines.

Supplies

• Pencils and drawing paper

Storytime

During storytime I discuss Paschkis' art process and how the pictures and words are put together. Paschkis is a really easy artist for this because there are a number of interviews with her on  Seven Impossible Things' interview as well as information on her website.

Read-Alouds

• P. Zonka Lays an Egg
• Mooshka, a quilt story
• Zigzag
• Eek! by Julie Larios
• Crick Crack Crow by Janet Lord
• Vivid: Poems and notes about color
• Barking ballad
• Who put the cookies in the cookie jar by George Shannon
• Fat cat by Margaret Read Macdonald
• Magic spell (this is good to show Paschkis' earlier style)

Display books

• Making light bloom by Sandra Nickel
• Kalinka and Grakkle
• Summer birds by Margarita Engle
• Pablo Neruda by Monica Brown

Art Project Part 2: Painting

Older kids can be encouraged to mix their paints and make new colors, using biocolors. Younger children can use the no-spill paint cups. As always, we change brushes between colors so we don't need cups of water.

Supplies

• Tempera paint in no-spill cups
• Biocolor paint and styrofoam or plastic plates for mixing
• Paintbrushes, aprons, sink, paper towels

Evaluation

• 8-5-26
• Attendance: 30
• Notes: First time doing this program in a LONG time! I started with 3 adorable toddlers, so we sang an impromptu version of Laurie Berkner's "I know a chicken" and looked at P. Zonka, paying attention to finding and counting eggs and then skimmed through Who put the cookies in the cookie jar? More people wandered in afterwards ranging from toddlers to tweens. In our new space it was easy to have the toddlers painting in the Storyroom and the bigger kids at bigger tables in the shared room. The pink paint I had inspired a bunch of flamingos from the older artists!
• 6-18-21
• Attendance: 18
• Notes: First program back after the pandemic. This was held in the community room and I kind of mixed it all in together, instead of doing the separate parts. I forgot to bring over the sink and cover the tables. I used the screen and was able to put up lots of different pictures of Julie Paschkis' process from Seven Impossible Things. I also handed out some coloring pages from her website.
• 6-22-18
• Attendance: 25
• Notes: Lots of younger kids, lots of wandering in and out, lots of kids who came in late just to paint.
• 6-28-17
• Attendance: 16
• Notes: Mostly younger kids. They liked the painting best, weren't really into the stories although they listened.
• 6-19-15
• Attendance: 25
• Feedback/Connections: Several families that were new to me came and really enjoyed the program. One grandma was very interested in Julie Paschkis and would like to use what we did with her own students.
• Notes: I really need older kids to get the sketching part down, but it was fun anyways.