Learn Together

Be inspired to make your own art as you learn about artist Adrienne Elise Tarver. Looking at contemporary art helps children learn to observe, talk about, and interpret their ever-expanding world.

Materials

  • A few pieces of paper
  • Coloring supplies: crayons, markers, colored pencils, or watercolor paint
  • Scissors
  • Glue or tape
  • Printed copies of our leaf template (optional)

Make Together

Artist Adrienne Elise Tarver creates art with tropical leaves using watercolor on paper, painted canvases, and wire mesh with painted caulk.

Explore how Adrienne collaged leaves to create your own work of art.

  1. Watch the video In the Studio with CMOM Inside Art artist Adrienne Elise Tarver here or on CMOM’s YouTube Channel. What do you see in Adrienne’s art? What colors does she use? What shapes does she use? Is she painting, cutting, or gluing?
  2. Download and print several copies of CMOM’s leaf template. No printer? No problem. Draw your own tropical leaves on paper. Try to make at least 15 leaves.
  3. Give your leaves some color using crayons, markers, colored pencils, or watercolor paint. Adrienne uses many cool colors in
    her work, like green, blue, teal, and violet. Layer different colors. Fill an entire leaf with one color, then go over it again with another color. How does the color change when you blend multiple colors together?
  4. Cut out your leaves and collage them on another piece of paper. Think about the layout of your artwork. Think about layering your leaves so parts overlap, like in Adrienne’s video. What colors do you want to stand out the most? These pieces might be best on top.
  5. Lay your leaves on the paper and move them around until you like your composition. Be creative!
  6. Carefully pick up each leaf and glue or tape it down in place. Try to cover all of the white space.