Have you got a kid that is into art? Jerry's Artarama is a real store that been around since 1968 that is now online. It offers every single art supply you can imagine including brushes, canvas, colored pencils, easels, fabric paints, gold leafing supplies, gouache, inks, pens, markers, scratchboard, pastels, oils – you name it Jerry's Arterama has what you need to satisfy artistic kids.
Although Jerry's Artarama has everything that you could possibly imagine for sale it is also well known for it's online art lessons. Why pay for art school when you can just go to Jerry's Aratrama and watch videos on how to make art for absolutely free. At the time of writing there were approximately 550 free art video lessons on the site e. I have an artistic teenager who just sits and learns from these videos for hours. They are step-by-step in nature and you can freeze a video so you can work on your own project right along side of it while the video is running. Every art teacher who teaches kids should know about this site too!
You can find out on to do some really practical things like stretch canvas, prime canvas, make your own stretchers and so on. There is also lots of theory in with that practice. A glimpse at the most watched videos on the site reveals topics such as 'Blocking In', 'Sight Sizing a Car', How to Make a Pinch Pot', 'How to Use Cover Liquid Watercolor', 'An Introduction to Negative Space', 'Brush and Ink Gesture' and so on. Not only are you taught the technique but also the concept behind it. This site is addictive. I have spent hours on it.
These video lessons are taught by real artists who are art experts in their field. The lessons can also be searched on site according to the medium you want to research (watercolor, oil, pastel etc.), the skill level (advanced, all ages, beginner, intermediate or kids) and the subject area (as in cartooning, collage, color theory, underpainting, printmaking etc,)
The other great thing is that you can order these DVDs online. This is great for teachers of professional and amateur art classes who want to explain a certain artistic technique to a class. If you like making crafts and are thinking of making some for the holidays then take a peek at these videos! They are very educational.