What to Expect When Coming to Little Leaf Studio

• I teach these classes out of my garage, so when you pull up to my house just follow the sign to the back and come on in through the glass doors.

• For the school aged class we have an hour where I teach a short 5 to 10 minute lesson and give them the instructions on how to complete the project of the day. I hand out supplies and help kids one on one when needed. After they finish the project I allow them to do free art, where they paint or color with whatever they would like.  
• For the preschool class, I have 5 or 6 simple projects that we work on in our hour long class. We have toys to play with if their bottoms need a break from sitting. 
• The goal of Little Leaf Studio is to instill and ignite creativity in young minds, so even if they stray from the project, I do not redirect them. It is their art, if they want to paint a turtle instead of a flower, I do not care as long as it is their best work. 
• This is a link to a blog from a costumer's experience with Little Leaf Studio 

• We will make a mess! Messes are fun, so make sure you dress your child in the appropriate attire.

• Parents are welcome to stay, but you are also free to drop your child off while you run an errand, or go to McDonald for a coffee, or sit by the pool and get some sun.

• You are welcome to pay in cash or check when you get to the class. You can make checks payable to Autumn Orozco. Each class is only $10 per child. This includes all the supplies and an hour long class.

 

• You will take home a lot of art work, and if it is too wet, you may have to come back to pick it up.

• One thing I have come to realize is how different every child is. Every child reacts different to new situations. Most kids come in excited to create, some kids need their space or some time to adjust to a new environment.  Do not be discouraged if your kid does not react to the class the same way other kids do, or the way you wanted them to. I am very patient, and have worked with children for over 10 years. I do not always know exactly what to do with every child, but I am aware no two kids are alike. I will not judge you or your child. You are welcome to try whatever you think is best for your child. Even if that means coming a little early to check things out, or leaving them crying, or trying again another time. You will not hurt my feelings, just communicate with me ahead of time if you need me to make any special accommodations. 

• The studio does not have a potty, but you and your child are welcome to use the bathroom in my home.

• I will wait 5 minutes for everyone to get to class, and then I will start the class. Please try to be on time. 

Little Leaf Studio Facebook page. Check out our events and sign up for a class.

October Classes

I had so much fun my first class that I taught, I forgot to take pictures. We talked about how art can not be wrong. Just because it looks different does not mean that it is any less art. It is just the way the artist sees the subject, and wants to portray it to the world. We did talk about how art is never wrong, but you can be a lazy artist. You should not be a lazy artist.

Our Subject

The different ways I used to portray how I see the pumpkin. The purple one was painted by my 4 year old daughter.

What a Journey

Being a preschool teacher, mother, and wife makes it hard to blog. It seems like I only blog during school breaks. A lot has happened in 5 months. In July we closed in our second garage to turn into an art room.(Click to view original post about art-room) It has been my dream for years to start a children's art studio. I could see my dream coming to life, but I admit, I am a perfectionist. Everything was not perfect with the room yet, and I had run out of funds to bring it up to my standards. Mentally I was not prepared to start classes either. I did not know where to start. Do parents want me to teach their kids form and perspective? I did not feel adequately educated to do that. Would parents really pay me to just paint with their kids? That seemed crazy to me. Who would do that when they could do that at home for free. I told myself that my goal was to have everything ready to start summer art camps in June. I thought a year would be sufficient time to prepare for classes and have everything perfect. The truth is, I was scared.

In October a group of friends that recently started the homeschool journey with their children came to me and wanted me to start a class for their kids. I was excited, and still scared. My plan was June, this was October. I was not ready. Knowing that these women would be honest with me and also allow me to make mistakes I decided to step out, and teach this awesome group of kids one of my passions in life, ART!

That first class went so well I decided to create a Facebook page for (Little Leaf Studio) and offer a few more classes. I expected maybe one more class with four to five kids. God has a way of going way beyond my expectations. I had 2 more class in October that were full with 8 to 11 kids in each class. November I had 4 classes full of kids. In December with Christmas I only had time to offer 3 classes. In January I am offering 6 classes, and one guest artist who is offering an adult (Fine Arts Class). I love it when God pushes me beyond my fear. My little studio is still not perfect, but I do not think it should be.

Ant Art!

 
Carlo was being particularly quiet, so I decide to go check to see what he was doing. He had found some ants in the house. I got the camera to take some pictures, because he shares my love for bugs, and the light was pretty.I love shadows and soft light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reason they were in the house was Carlo left them some food for them on the window sill. Then I remembered this pin my sister-in-law found, about how this guy gave some ants colored sugar water and because their abdomens are translucent the food coloring changes the color of the ant's abdomen.You can not trust everything on pinterest, so I had to try it out for myself to see if it works. These are not fire ants, which are from the devil, these are just red ants. I do not know if it works with fire ants. I do not plan to find out either. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is my favorite because he drank the green sugar water first, so you can see the colors mixing in his abdomen. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

 

How to Build a Photo Prop from a Big Box.

I took this large box and turned it in to a photo Prop.

 

 

 

1. I found the biggest box in my garaged and emptied it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. I cut the tape on the bottom.

3. Opened the bottom

4. I disconnected this semm so that it flattened the box like bellow.

 

4. I cut the flaps on the box and folded the box. 

5. When you fold the box make sure you flip it over so the inside of the box is the floor.
Repeat this step on the opposite side of the box.

6. I taped the folded flaps together.

7. I taped the other flaps up and connected them all.

 

 

 

8. Then you can stand it up.

 

9. Now you have a blank canvas to paint on. You can paint whatever you want to on it, and then use an exacto knife to cut out the face. We had a shark party for my son's first birthday, so this is what I decided to paint.