van Gogh Sunflowers

Spring has finally sprung and I am longing for flowers and bright colours.




I did this project a while back with Grade 3.  This is a 3 session project, but that 3rd session is really short.















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, we are using primed canvas but you could also use hardboard, cardboard, or heavy poster board
- drywall filler
- acrylic paint
- reference photos, here is one
- some recycled cardboard (cereal or cracker box)
- green paper, at school I ran the paper thru the shredder for stems. You could also just free hand cut them.
- scissors, tacky glue, glue gun
- black pony beads

PROCEDURE:

Session 1
 Take your substrate, we are using canvas, prime if needed with gesso or white acrylic paint.  I would only do this if I had marks or writing on it (recycled cardboard).

Using reference photos sketch out a vase and flower heads onto your recycled cardboard.

Cut out.  For extra dimension you can cut out some petals and flower centers.

Work on wax paper.

Spread some drywall filler on the substrate.  You can use putty spreaders, old plastic gift cards, or just a scrap of cardboard.

Add a layer of drywall filler to your vase shape and flower heads.

Using a pencil or toothpick draw a few detail lines.  I'm using an old knitting needle.


Set all drywalled pieces aside to dry. It will take about 6 hrs.

Session 2

Take your canvas and paint with a nice acrylic background colour.

Make sure to wrap your painting around the sides.
You can also add a table colour in the bottom 3rd of your canvas.  I did this with the students but not on my sample.  It's up to you.


Set aside to dry.

Take your other drywalled pieces and paint with acrylic.

It helps if you have a variety of colours.  You can also just add a little black or white to make a tint or shade to give you some variation in the colours.

For the vase I painted it brown first and then when it was dry I added some tan/white/yellow to make it look more like the original.  I dry brushed it on.
Leave pieces to dry.

Session 3

Now it is time for assembly.  You can see the table colour in this student's piece.

Using tacky glue and green paper for stems start gluing the pieces down.  It helps if you lay everything out first on the canvas before gluing.  It also helps to glue the vase on last to cover up the ends of the stems.
At school I cut strips using the paper shredder.

You could also cut them with scissors.  This way you can change the shape a bit.

Glue on some black beads for extra texture.



Finally when the glue is all dry, seal with Mod Podge.  The podge helps seal the drywall and prevent it from flaking.  It also makes the piece pop with a nice shiny finish.

Here is some of the student work.



Great work Grade 3.

I recently came back from my annual Maui break.  I did lots of painting this year and I stuck to my guns and went computer free.


Here is sampling of my work.




This is on Front street just after the break.

With this one it started to rain as I was painting but I got some cool texture happening in the sky from the rain drops.

This is done in my bound sketch book, I just add colour but it's not wc paper so it's just a quick rendering.

I did find this great little journal at the Barnes and Noble in Maui. It's Italian     hand pressed paper and I love it.  Takes longer to dry than my traditional wc journals but so much fun to paint it.

This is a row of kayaks at Kapalua.

I was reading 'Island' magazine while I was there and was inspired by a picture from Tobago.

Love how the cloud bank turned out on this one.

And this one I painted on the plane there in my sketch book using my Peerless Watercolours   (I prep a travel palette thanks to Jane Davenport) and a really small wc field kit.

That's all for now.

Gail

Peru Mixed Media Canvas

So my current "Artist in Residence" program is ending but I wanted to show you the Mixed Media that Grade 3 completed.

Peru is part of the social studies curriculum so we made these canvases.












MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- pre primed canvas (on sale this week at Michael's in the 10 pack) or you can use a piece of cardboard
- acrylic paint
- art shirts or smocks to protect student's clothes from acrylic paint
- pieces of sponge
- pieces of corrugated cardboard
- drywall compound
- plain paper
- reference photos of Machu Picchu
- watercolor or tempura paints
- llama pictures
- text printed from computer, (PERU, INCA, or Machu Picchu)
- Aleene's Tacky glue
- scissors
- Mod Podge, optional 

PROCEDURE:

Hand out some reference photos of Machu Picchu to the students.

Hand out canvas or cardboard substrate (background or base).

Hand out extra pieces of corrugated cardboard.  Have the kids line up a corner of the cardboard with the canvas.  Trace out a mountain ridge in pencil and then cut out of cardboard.

Place canvas aside.

Place a little drywall compound on a recycled plate.

Add some texture to the tops of the mountains.  This is not to represent snow but to add that 3D texture to appear rocky.


Let dry, about 4 - 6 hrs.

Cut a piece of paper to fit into the bottom part of your cardboard mountain.  Now Machu Picchu is a fairly complicated ruin for Grade 3 so I had them draw out a portion of the ruin on the paper.

Add some color to your design with watercolor or tempera disk.

Add some outlines with fine sharpie.

Put on those art shirts to protect your clothes from the acrylic paint.  Paint your canvas with sky colors.  Make sure to paint the sides as well as we won't be framing these.  Add some clouds or mist with white paint and a sponge.  Let dry.

Paint your mountain.  You don't need to paint the bottom section where your paper design of the Machu Picchu ruin will be .  Let dry.

When I was researching this project it seemed like every time a tourist at Machuu Pichuu was trying to get a good picture of the site a llama would come up and stick their head into the shot, (probably looking for food), so I added this element.  Find a picture of a llama, there are lots on the web, and cut out the shape. Glue the design of the ruin to the bottom part of your mountain and then glue your llama into place.

Glue the mountain piece onto the background with more tacky glue or a glue gun, (adults only).    Now we need a title.  You can either print off an assortment of titles for your students, have them do it during computer time, or have them free hand it.  Paint the paper with watercolor or tempera disk to give it some color.  Cut out and glue into place on your piece.

Finally you can add a protective coat of Mod Podge if you wish.

Here are some of the completed canvases that the Grade 3's made.  (By the way Mrs. K at my home school, I plan on doing these when I get back!)

I'm planning a post of the completed student work for next time and I'm teaching pysanky like crazy over the next two weeks.  (my hands are already multi colored from all the egg dying!).  See you soon.