Our Blog

Are you looking to further your artistic knowledge or become a better art teacher? Our blog posts are well researched and based on facts for students, teachers, parents or anyone looking to further their artistic knowledge. Put on the kettle and enjoy the reading...

Dance into the Light

There was a mid 19th century American art movement called “Luminism” (what a great word!) that dealt principally with light in landscape painting. The movement was characterised by the effects of light in the landscape, of light that washed the painted plane with an...

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Responding to Indigenous Art: Learning and Teaching

More and more, we, as learners and teachers are honing our sensitivities towards cultural practices that differ from our own. The heavy, and most often, brutal burden of historical colonialist expansion into lands that were deemed uninhabited, or unoccupied – and in Australia’s case...

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Illustration and Visual Communication

The act of drawing is an act of visual communication. In every drawing there will be at least one entry point where a viewer might access a window to the message or meaning embedded in a drawing. Sometimes this message or meaning might be quite clear; at other times, the drawing might cloak its...

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Embracing the solitude while Creating Art at Home

There have been many times of uncertainty in human history. War, famine, plague and extraordinary acts of natural disaster are pinpoints in a vast human map of hardship and adversary.

In this time of the strangeness of social isolation due to the worldwide spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) new...

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Appreciating Your Art in a Gallery Wall Hang

In Paris in 1667, the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture began its annual exhibition of student work from the Academy. In time, the pressure to fit in all the picture submissions, led to the practice of hanging the works very close together from floor to ceiling. This practice soon...

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Book cover designs as inspo for Design Exercises

Recently, whilst looking for inspiration for a graphic design exercise for students, I thought about the visual impact that book covers can have on consumers’ reading habits. We don’t really think too much about the changing trends in book cover design – but like all trends...

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Words and Music – Finding Inspiration for Artworks

The line of creativity that taps into visual imagery, is the same as that which taps into the lyrics of a song, or a lyrical passage from a piece of music. It’s hard to create in a void, that hollow space where nothing happens. Every creative act needs a point of inspiration. But in this...

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The Viewing Space as Part of the Process of Creativity

When we create artwork lessons for you on ArtEyeDeer, we sit at a fantastic old table, with our artwork in front of us, the video camera positioned overhead, and two large light reflectors either side of the camera to diffuse and even out the light. Pretty ideal conditions for making and...

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Responding Formally To Artworks – For Senior Students

I just like it, it’s pretty cool”

Working out the “why, what, how” of responding formally to artworks for senior students

In a previous blog, we unpacked an alphabetical range of art terminologies commonly used by us, as your presenters, in our ArtEyeDeer video lessons....

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Teen Homeschooling: Pros and Cons

Ask any homeschooling parent and they will tell you that educating your kids at home can be challenging and rewarding at the same time. This is particularly true for when your kids become teenagers. Can you see advantages, especially for the development of artistic abilities?

Perhaps you’re...

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Writing About Your Artwork – For Senior Students

It can be a bit of a daunting task writing about the artwork you create.

Artists face this prospect all the time in the daily pursuit of their art-making. They are asked by galleries to submit an artist’s statement about a body of work for exhibition; they write statements for entry into...

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Art Terminology

But what does that word actually mean?

In almost every ArtEyeDeer lesson we use art terminology that helps us, as your presenter, to categorise concepts, styles, approaches, techniques and processes. Sometimes the terms are self-evident, and at other times their meaning may not be quite so clear...

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Surfaces, Surfaces

Creating your art on different surfaces.

When we record our ArtEyeDeer videos, we’re conscious of keeping the surfaces that you make your artworks on accessible.

By surfaces, we’re predominantly referring to paper, but from time to time, we like to introduce related surfaces...

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Material Matters

Does the quality of the materials you use to make artworks matter?

The answer is a surprising “Yes” and “No”!

As far as possible, it’s always better to purchase once, and purchase well. But it’s also equally important to realise that good materials require...

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Website Launch: Welcome to Art Eye Deer

Lift Off!

I can’t believe we’re finally launching Art Eye Deer!

In 2007 I sat with one of my best friends in Sydney and she asked me “if you could do anything in the world, what would you do?” and I responded with “I would teach art to kids all over the...

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Top 10 Tips for beginning teachers teaching Art to Teens

Whether it’s your first year as an art teacher or you’re experienced at teaching art to teens, beginning a new year of art classes can be intimidating for anyone. Teenagers can be difficult to teach at times, seeming to challenge every rule. They can be disruptive, hardheaded, and...

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15 Ways to Help Your Teenager Succeed in High School

Whether your teenager is going into high school for the first time or returning for another year, they’ll inevitably feel stress from the pressure placed on them. After all, the high school years are crucial in preparation for the university or adult years. Even if your teen has plans other...

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