Nature Journaling

I know what you are thinking......nature journaling in Canada, in February???

but I really think this is a time when we crave it.  I wake up dreaming of birds and green. Where is the colour?

So in the midst of our snowy winter some nature journaling is needed.  We always have access to reference photos, museums, and the zoo is also an alternative.

Now this is not a paid endorsement I am just so blown away by these books and his blog I needed to let you know.

For Christmas I asked for these 2 amazing books.

The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling  and The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds.

There is so much information packed into these books I could not believe it....amazing.

But then I thought surely he has a blog or website and I found the treasure trove:

Here is the link to his blog archive.  He teaches a lot, videos his lessons and puts them on youtube.

I watched his whale sketching videos and then went to the Whales Tohora exhibit at Telus Spark.


Well not only has my whale drawing improved (look out Maui here I come :) but I absorbed so much info about whales from his video I had the staff member at the exhibit listening in as I described details to my daughter while looking at the big whale chart.  ("He was impressed, Mom")

For me I like to watch his video, sketch out notes while watching and then add extra details from the books.

Then I try to use what I have learned in practice.

Now I probably won't be out journaling in the wild until we get a chinook but I have lots of reference photos and I'm finding this a good warm-up to the rest of my painting day.




For you teachers out there please check out his blog and videos, he often has kids in his audience.  There is so much information he details about his subject matter while teaching you how to draw it.

See you next time.

Gail

'Moose in the Wild' Art Project

This is 'Moose in the Wild' a new project that uses a variety of painting techniques.  As one of our iconic wild animals, most Canadians have seen a moose in the wild at some point.
 For those of you in Newfoundland it's probably a daily occurrence!


This one is on an 8"x10" canvas, can also be done on hardboard.

This is a page from my art journal.

Here is a Fall version on a piece of 18 x 12" heavy white paper.














MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, whether canvas, hardboard, paper or art journal
- paint, for paper based projects you can use disk and liquid tempera, for canvas or hardboard you need acrylic
- moose template, optional
- brown kraft paper or cardstock
- scraps of cereal box weight cardboard and a scrap of corrugated cardboard
- white tissue paper or drywall filler (there are 2 options for antlers)
- glue
- extra white paper
- sponge
- pencils for stamping
- sharpies and pencil crayons
- Mod Podge for sealing canvas or hardboard option

PROCEDURE:

We start off painting our background.  For the art journal/paper version I used disk tempera.

I like to grade my wash.  Basically this means I want darker, more saturated colour at the top and then lighter, more diluted colour near the bottom.
Why? because this what you see in the sky outside.

For the canvas version I used acrylic and my sky is all one colour but I could have added some white to my blue acrylic and graded my background as well.  We want to add in our horizon line.  Stay low on the background and add some ground colour.

For the paper versions I added some trees while my sky wash was still damp.

I'm using watery disk tempera again.  I like to use flat brushes.
Use the flat edge of the brush to make vertical tree lines and to dab on the branches.

Because the paper is still damp you get a nice diffused look.

Set your background aside to dry. Now we'll work on the aspen trees.



I use 3 types of sponges in my work and they produce different results.

The foam sponge has a fine grain but soaks up the paint so you get a mix of fine texture and areas of concentrated colour.

The grocery store sponge gives you a uniform texture.

The natural sponge gives you a mix.

For our aspen trees we are going to use the grocery store sponge.

Take a piece of paper (12x18" or so) and cut in half.

Cut your sponge into pieces or for more unusual texture you can tear the sponge.

Sponge on some black paint leaving lots of white space.

When dry cut your paper in strips the long way.  You don't want wavy lines but you also don't want perfectly straight lines.

Make some wide and some thin.

Place a few (art loves odd #'s) on your background to see how they look. One hint mix up your strips a bit so you don't see the echo of your cutlines.  Glue into place.

Take your corrugated cardboard and cut a little square.

Dip the corrugated end into the paint (yellow, brown, green) and stamp on some grass.

Vary the lengths to look more natural and clump some together.

Time to add the leaves.

Using a new or unsharpened pencil stamp on some circular leaves. Use a few different colours of green or fall colours if it is autumn.

I keep a class set of these pencils and I use them in lots of my projects.

Cut your antlers out of cereal box weight cardboard.  I'm using cardboard because I'm going to add extra texture to these antlers.


Now you could use templates or have the kids draw their own.

I prefer the kids to design their own but I know how it goes and sometimes you need a template as a back- up.

Now I have 2 different techniques to add texture to these antlers.

The first is to spread white glue on the cardboard, add some white tissue paper, scrunching as you go into the glue to add wrinkles.

Let dry and then you can trim the excess tissue.

The second option is to spread a little drywall filler on the antlers.

Let dry, about 2-3 hours for this small area.

Once the antlers are dry (either technique) add a coat of white paint.

After the paint is dry you want to add just a touch of colour to bring out that texture you spent all that time on.

To do this use watery (just a hint of colour) paint and brush on the antlers.  Leave some parts unpainted.

Now that the antlers are done we can make the moose.

Take some brown paper or cardstock. (I used brown kraft paper)

Cut it about the size you want.

Draw your moose trying to use the full size of the paper.

I use this strategy to get the kids to draw the right size.  Inevitably I will get a few teeny tiny moose but we erase and start again.  Give them a few reference photos to help.

If you get really stuck feel free to use the template.

 I know the paper is already brown but we want to add a little variation to that colour so we add some paint.

Add a little sharpie and pencil crayon to define the features.

Cut out and glue into place.  Add the antlers.

Finally if you are working on canvas or hardboard you might want to add a coat of sealer to protect everything.

If you did the drywall on the antlers but the paper version you still might want to add a touch of podge on those antlers just to protect that drywall.

That's it.

Hope a 'Moose in the Wild' graces some of those school hallways in next few months and I'll see you
soon.

Gail

Peacock Batiks and Journal Pages

I recently did these peacock batiks with Grade 3.  It ties into social studies where they are learning about India.  The peacock is the national bird of India.



We used lots of bright colours.

Now if you don't want to do a batik you can also create amazing peacocks in the art journal using painted papers.






















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

Batik:
- fabric, regular white cotton muslin works great
- pencil
- wax paper
- reference photos of peacock
- Elmer's clear gel glue
- acrylic paint in a variety of colours
- fabric markers, glitter paint, metallic paint to embellish

Art Journal:
- art journal or background paper
- heavy paper for painting
- disk tempera in bright colours
- glue
- markers, glitter, acrylic paint for adding details

PROCEDURE:

Batik:

Cut your fabric to your desired size.

Lay down some wax paper onto your work surface.  Put the fabric on top of the wax paper.

You can add some tape if you need to hold the fabric in place.

With your pencil draw out your peacock directly onto the fabric.

I asked the kids draw a large enough peacock to fill the space.

Use your Elmer's gel glue and go over your pencil lines.
Sometimes my students find it hard on the hands to squeeze the glue out of the bottle so I'll put some in a little cup and they use a paintbrush.

Go over every line as well as whatever part of the design that you want to stay white.


Keeping the fabric flat let dry.

Paint the peacock using acrylic paint mixed with a bit of water. The water helps the paint flow a bit better making it easier to paint the fabric.

Paint the entire piece of fabric so no white is showing. You can go right over the glue lines.



Let the fabric dry. Now you need to remove the glue. Place the fabric in the sink and let it soak in some hot water.
After 1/2 an hour or so give it a bit of scrub and rinse.

Let dry.

The batik is done but if you want you can add extra sparkle using glitter and metallic paints.

I used the paint to add details to the feathers.


That's it for the batik.  You can make it into a banner, placemat or even a pillow case.




Art Journal:

You need to paint a few papers for the peacock.
First I painted a paper for the body.  I choose blue and green.

I then painted 1/2 of a paper purple and magenta.  The other half I painted yellow.

I painted my background page a nice rich orange.  In fact it was already painted using leftover paint from the batik.


On the back of the paper I painted earlier I drew out my peacock body.
I cut it out.  Save the scraps in case you need them later when making feathers for the peacock.

I had this leftover piece of blue painted paper so I drew out the shape of my feathers.


Cut it out.

I cut strips from the purple and magenta paper and added them to the feathers.


I also added circles form the leftover body paper and yellow paper.  Glue into place on the background and then add body shape.  I cut legs and a beak out of the yellow paper.

I added paint, pencil crayon, marker, and glitter paint to further embellish my peacock.

That's all for now.

Gail

Poppies in the Art Journal

Looking for a poppy themed art project for the art journal…..or maybe the bulletin board.


This is a very easy poppy project, no special supplies.










MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- paper or journal page
- reference photo
- black washable markers, the regular crayola, Mr. Sketch, etc.
- disk tempera paint
- red paper, optional
- glue, optional
- fine sharpie or your favourite pen if you want to add text to your page

PROCEDURE:

A big thanks to Mrs. Werbicki who was the inspiration for this project. She used this technique a lot, doing leaves, then pumpkins, and finally poppies in Grade 2.

Provide students with a reference photo to point them in the right direction.

Have them draw some poppies.  I like to stress that poppies can be irregular, no perfect petals.
We also tend to see them at different angles, not all straight on.  We may only see half of one, the side view of another.

This will make the drawing look more realistic right off the bat.

Add a pod or 2.

You now need those washable markers. Most kids have them with their school supplies.

Outline all the flowers.

Using disk tempera start painting in the poppies.  We work from lightest colour to darkest.

We want variation in the colour of  our poppies so paint some parts yellow.

Add some orange and then some red. The colours all start to mingle and we get that variation I mentioned.

Add some green for the stems and pods.  Finally add some black in the centres.


I also splashed some paint on my background.

Here is where the magic happens.  The water in the paint makes the marker start to smear creating   a great soft look.

Take some red paper.  Here I have some extra painted paper I had.  I ran it thru my cuttlebug with an embossing folder to get some nice texture.

Cut out the letters for Poppy.

Glue the letters on your page and then add some text, a poem, or just your thoughts on Remembrance Day.





That's it.

Gail