Easy Easter Art Project

I had honestly thought I posted this project years ago....oh well this one's for you Kim!  (you'll notice a theme here with the last post)



I have been immersed in Pysanky classes for about 2 weeks now.  Usually not all students will finish at the same time.  You have your ones who race to the finish, those who try to take as much time as they can, and then everyone in between.

As the kids finish their Pysanky egg they then can complete this pastel resist paper egg.

You then have a nice display for your bulletin board.


This is Grade 1.















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- white paper, use heavy sketch or wc
- pencil and eraser
- oil pastels
- disk tempera paint
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

Draw a large egg shape on your paper.  For the younger grades you can provide them with a template.

Sketch out your own Pysanky design in pencil.  You want fairly large shapes.

Use the oil pastels to add some color to your egg.  Bright colors show up best including white.


Keep some areas of the egg uncolored.



You can also outline the egg shape.

Using watery disk tempera (a wash) paint over the entire egg.  The pastel areas will resist the paint.

When dry cut the egg out.

That's it.  Before you know it you'll have dozens of decorated eggs.

Here are some pictures of our Pysanky in process.


This is Grade 2.

Here are the Grade 3 eggs waiting for the wax to be taken off.

And even though I'm teaching Pysanky all day long I come home and work on my own eggs with my kids as well.

I'll have some completed Pysanky pictures for you Friday.  In the meantime why not do a large pastel resist paper egg!

See you soon.

Carved Emu Eggs: Using Pastel Resist

In Australia "Kalti Paarti", or carved emu eggs became popular with both aboriginal and non aboriginal artists in the mid 19th century.


This is an egg from the Australian Museum depicting a moth.  The yolk has been blown out and the surface carved away to reveal the artist's design.

Easter time is a good time to introduce this art form to kids (lots of egg dye available) but we will be using pastel resist.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- eggs
- Easter egg dye
- oil pastels,and/or twistable crayons
- reference photos and material of aboriginal designs
- pencil
- paper towel

PROCEDURE:

To start you can pencil in your design on your egg.  I always leave the egg raw.  The inside will slowly evaporate over time.  Blown eggs are too fragile for the kids and hard boiled ones will rot.  We will not be eating these eggs.  You will be applying pastel or crayon to the areas you want to resist the egg dye.

Bright colors work best and although it's hard to see on the white egg, white pastel makes for a very striking design.

Dip egg into Easter egg dye.  I'm using the egg dye I use for Pysanky.  I choose black for a traditional look. 





Leave in the dye until the egg turns to the color you desire.  Lift out and blot with a paper towel.

Pastel resist eggs always turn out very striking.

Here is a set by Kindergarten.

Another activity you may want to try is doing a pastel resist on paper.  You will be able to add more detail on a larger egg shape.  A display of both art projects together (real egg and paper egg) would make for a very comprehensive display.

Draw egg shapes on heavy or wc paper.  Draw and color in design using pastels and /or twistable crayons.  Paint over egg shape with a wash (diluted disk tempera or watercolor).
Cut egg shapes out.


STUDENT WORK:

As promised I want to show you some of the student work from my recent "artist in residence".


These are tunnel books by Grade 6, based on selected stories they are currently reading.  I will be posting a "how to" on tunnel books shortly.

Grade 6 also did a mixed media canvas based on the title character of their selected novel.

Rainbow Fish by Kindergarten.

I'll have more student work for you next time, but why not try an egg......

See you soon.

Student Work - Easter

So here are the Easter Bonnet Portraits the Grade 2's completed yesterday.

Click on Picture to see Larger.

and here is the Pysanky by Grade 3.  They follow my tutorial found here.

These are the eggs Grade 2 made with their intro to Pysanky.  I let them make their own designs as they are just getting a feel for it and then next year they try the pattern.

Incredible work everyone! Have a Happy Easter and we'll start on all the Mother's Day Projects next week.

Paper Mache Easter Eggs

Here is a batch of paper mache eggs I finished this weekend.

Paper mache is a good option for kids, the egg is virtually accident proof (no breakage) and are good keepers once sealed.