This Saturday is Earth Hour. For one hour starting at 8:30 local time, folks around the world are encouraged to turn the lights off to show that little actions can make a BIG difference when it comes to the environment. Last year, 1.3 billion people powered down to show the world they cared about the environment. What will you be doing for Earth Hour? Get some ideas by clicking on this link!
While you’re thinking about the environment this weekend and beyond, think about green questions you want to ask chickaDEE. We’re collecting green questions to answer in a future issue. Email us your question at chickadeeblog@owlkids.com or leave a question in the comment section below. Your name and picture could end up in an upcoming issue!
You may have noticed that chickaDEE’s Mish Mash page has a brand-new look!
Not only has Mish Mash added a page, it also has more jokes, more riddles and even more illustrations. Who’s behind all those fun drawings, you ask? Remie Geoffroi, that’s who! Check out our interview with Remie below!
chickaDEE: How did you know you wanted to be an artist when you grew up?
Remie: From a very young age, all I wanted to do was draw. I spent hours upon hours drawing, and never got tired of it. I would fold a few pieces of paper together, put three staples across the side (at the fold), and then draw my own comic and activity books for my family to read. Sometimes, just for fun, I would paint my arm and hand to look like an elephant, crocodile or giraffe, then wash it off after taking a few pictures. I was always making crafts and art projects.
Remie drawing when he was two years old!
chickaDEE: How do you make your art?
Remie: I used to sketch everything on paper, scan it in and then create the finished artwork on the computer. Now I skip the pencil and paper, and draw right in the computer program using a pen tablet. I love the “undo’ feature” much faster than an eraser!
chickaDEE: Can you explain more about Mish Mash’s new look?
Remie: We are finally getting a glimpse of where Mish, Mash and Mush live. This is their house, and they’ve covered the walls with drawings, puzzles and activities on scraps of paper. It’s a zany, unpredictable house, just like the funhouse at a carnival, with trap doors and secrets waiting to be revealed!
chickaDEE: Who’s your favourite character? Mush, Mish or Mash?
Remie: I love them all, but I’ve got a soft spot for Mash. He’s not quite as smart as Mish, and not as mischievous as Mush — just a good natured, simple guy! chickaDEE: Can you tell us your favourite joke?
Remie: This is one of my all-time favourite jokes: What’s the sweetest animal in the forest? The chocolate moose!
Good one, Remie! Hey chickaDEE readers, do you have a favourite joke? Tell us in the comment section below!
chickaDEE is so happy to have had the chance to work with the super-talented Elisa Gutiarrez for the Arts and Crafts issue. She created Letter Lunch, the wordless story about two kids trying to feed their imagination by finding alphabet letters around their neighbourhood and beyond.
I thought it would be neat to show you how Elisa creates her art. Her art style is called mixed media because she uses different techniques to create one great piece of art.
Check out her cool process below!
First, Elisa draws pictures onto white paper, then traces them onto thick, coloured paper to make the backgrounds and the characters.
Then Elisa cuts everything out of the paper.
She sticks masking tape on the back of the cut-outs so she can move them around and see what looks best.
Elisa tapes down the backgrounds first, then the characters. Then she adds stickers, and uses stamps to make some of the designs. She also uses coloured pencils to add more designs and colour.
When she is happy with how it looks, she gets the image digitally scanned. Then she uploads it into a computer program called Photoshop and uses that to lay everything out on the page!
I think the story turned out amazing. Did you get a chance to check it out? Let me know what you thought of the story or Elisa’s art in the comment section below!
I love art! One of my favourite places to go see art is the city of Chicago. I visited Chicago back in October and I had a great time visiting their museums and looking at the sculptures in the parks. Here’s one of my favourite sculptures I saw in Chicago called Windy City Dinosaur.
Cool, huh? Since I enjoy art so much, one of my favourite issues to work on is definitely chickaDEE’s annual Arts and Crafts issue. I had lots of fun researching art world records for the Did You Know? page. Click on the links for more info on these arty records.
See the world’s most expensive painting ever sold here.