Fall Forest Landscape

This is a project that was inspired by my recent homework assignment on complimentary colour relationships.

The orange/blue combination always gives me a strong feeling of fall.

In my assignment I worked a landscape thru different complimentary colours varying values to create different moods.

This was my orange/blue series.

and this was the painting that inspired this project.

I quite liked the way the colours blended and how it looks like I have figures in the foreground. 
Can't wait to continue working this series.














MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- paper for painting, I used a heavier piece for the background and some regular drawing paper for the hills
- disk tempera paint in orange and blue
- liquid tempera or acrylic in orange, blue, white, and black
- masking tape
- scraps of corrugated cardboard
- scissors and glue
- china markers, pencil crayons, or chalk pastels, optional

PROCEDURE:

This piece is more dramatic with a vertical presentation so cut/use your paper to this advantage.

My paper was 12"x8"

Tape off your edges.

Using a ruler mark off your horizon line in bottom third of your paper.  The horizon in this piece is a lake so we want that nice straight line.

Using disk tempera or watercolour paint in your sky. 


Set aside to dry.

Take a piece of drawing paper and paint with liquid tempera or acrylic.  I used blue and white mixing a bit to also get a light blue.

I want variation of colour and to see the brush marks so don't over work this.

Set aside to dry.

Now paint an orange piece of drawing paper.  I had some leftover from the last project so I just used that.  Let dry.

I wanted a bit of texture on this piece so I used some bumpy craft foam to print on some blue and white dots.

By now my background paper is dry so I add some blue disk tempera or watercolour in the lake area.




Let dry....this is where those hair dryers come in handy!

Now it's time to cut my blue and orange papers for my hills/mountains.

I like to measure the width I need and cut the paper to fit.  I'm making my marks on the back.

I then turn the paper over and draw on my hill. I like to pick what part of the paper I want to use.


Cut and glue into place.

I have my hills on the same side of the paper but you could also have one on other side for a different composition.

To print on my trees I'm using a few pieces of corrugated cardboard.  I just use the edge and I will tape several pieces together to get a thicker line if I want.


The trees need to be fairly dark so it's black with a touch of blue....a little white got in there as well :)

A practice page is always a good idea.  Here I'm using up some extra blue paint.

Now those trees will have some highlights, they will be picking up light from that orange sky so I add just a few touches of orange.

At this point I realize we needed a little dark on the other side to balance it a bit so using watery paint (black with a little white) I added a few tree lines on the distant shoreline.

I watered it down because I want them to be hazy...they are in the distance.

Finally I added some china marker but you could use pencil crayon or chalk pastel.

I outline my hills/mountain by following the paper and add some strands of grass in front of the trees.

That's it.

Using different complimentary colours gives your paintings a whole different feel.




Gail

Autumn Collage Tree

This autumn collage focuses on squares and rectangles to give the tree a pixelated like appearance.

















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

-2 pieces of paper for painting
- square piece of heavier paper for background
- paint, I used acrylic but you can use disk tempera or liquid tempera (yellow,orange,red,brown,green,blue,dark blue,white)
- pencil crayons, wax crayon, and/or pastels
- glue
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

You want to start by painting the paper for your squares. I wanted colours ranging from light yellow to dark red.

For the first paper I start by painting the yellow on one side.(1/3rd) I even add a touch of white to my last strokes on the end to give me a really light yellow.
I then paint orange on the other side. (1/3rd)  In the middle I pick up yellow paint with my brush and a touch of orange and paint that middle tone in.  I like to see the brush marks so don't feel you have to have it perfectly blended.

For my second paper I paint one side orange and one side red. When I finish my red side I added just a touch of brown to my last strokes to give me that nice dark red.
 I paint in the middle tone with both colours.

Set papers aside to dry.

I used a square piece of heavier paper for my background.

I taped it to my art board so I would get that nice white border at the end.

Draw a few lines at the bottom for your horizon, somewhere for your tree to sit.

Paint in your sky.  I like a bit of variation in my sky so I made one area darker.  This is where my tree will be in shadow.  I like to see those brush marks so again don't feel like it has to be fully blended.

Paint in your ground area.  I made that same area darker.

I made my hill in the distance a bit duller, (add a little brown to your green) this makes it appear further away.

Paint in your tree.  Now most of the branches will get covered but it helps to give you a visual framework of where to put those leaves.

You'll have more control if you use some dry media for your smaller branches.  You can use pencil crayon, wax crayon, or even pastels.

I bought a bunch of twistable pencil crayons this year as I am so tired of having to sharpen a gazillion pencil crayons every time we use them at school. We'll see how they hold up.
I also added a little bit of grass strands in front of the tree, some shading down the trunk on the dark side, and some marks with white pencil crayon to show the texture of the bark.

When my papers have dried I cut my squares and rectangles. About the size of a fingernail.

You need more than you think as we will be layering our colours.

Just look at all that gorgeous colour!

Before we start gluing just remind yourself where we want the colours to go.

We want lighter values on one side closer to top and darker values on other side closer to bottom.
It also matches our background.

Now it's time to glue.  Start with your middle colours.  With older kids have them glue squares and rectangles straight up and down, (it helps with that pixelated look).

I know that younger kids will glue them more haphazardly and that's ok it will still look good.

Keep on gluing layering and overlapping.  Leave a little of the background showing here and there.

As you get to the end add those darkest reds and lightest yellows.

You can also cut some of your squares in half making some skinny rectangles to place here and there on your top layer.

Prop your collage up and take a good look at it from a distance......you can see where you need to add a few more lights or maybe some darks.

Add a few on the ground and that's it.




Another stunning autumn tree.


Gail

Halloween Inchies 2015

I couldn't resist doing another inchie project for this Halloween.




Don't let the list of materials scare you off.  Just use what you have....you're creating little works of art in a collection and they always look amazing whatever you use!






MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 9  inchie squares, I use heavy watercolour paper (140lb) but you can use sketch paper, yardstick, bristol
- disk tempera paint
- acrylic paint in fall colours, white and black
- salt shaker
- scraps of paper, white, black,
- tacky glue
- black stamp pad
- little googly eyes
- crayons
- little piece of contact paper
- old book page
- little alphabet stamps
- scratch foam, craft foam, or foam plate
- sharpies, pencil crayons, gel pens, whatever you have

PROCEDURE:

Like all inchie projects when I do this with a class we work on several at the same time.  While one is drying we work on the next.  When I post the directions on the blog though it is easier for me to lay it out for you, start to finish, one square at a time.

**Please note any one of these squares could be turned into a larger stand alone project**

Cut your inchie squares.  For this set I used squares 3"x3".

In the past I have used a lot of 2"x2" but I think the 3"x3" are my favourites.  Big enough for the kids to work well with.




Square #1:

1) Paint square with watery deep blue (blue tempera with a touch of black).  Before the sheen dries add a sprinkle of table salt.

2) When the square has dried brush off the salt.  Dip a paintbrush in plain water. Paint the water where you want a ghost to be and then blot with a tissue.

3) Add faces with a sharpie or black pencil crayon.  Add stamps or text printed off from the computer to complete the square.



Square #2:

1) Paint a square light green. Let dry.

2) Draw a large eye on some white paper.  Colour it in or paint it.  Outline with sharpie or black pencil crayon.  Cut it out and glue to the green square off to one side.

3) Put a little black acrylic on a palette plate, add some water to it for an inky consistency.  Using an eyedropper or a paintbrush drop some paint on the top edge of the square.  Tilt the square up so the paint drips down.  Add more as needed.





Square#3:

This square is based on the glue resist technique.  You could also use black glue (glue bottle with a couple of squirts of black acrylic paint added).

1) Take an inchie and paint a background.  Mine is a nice purple even though it looks a bit blue.

2) on another piece of wc paper or scrap draw a pumpkin with pencil first, adding all the contour lines.
Go over the lines with a bead of white glue.  Lay somewhere flat and safe to dry completely.

3) When dry paint in the pumpkin go right over the glue lines.

4) When the paint dries cut out the pumpkin and glue to the background.



Square #4:

This square could be any silhouette. I just like this psychedelic skull effect.

1) Paint square with radiating rings starting with the lightest colour and ending with the darkest.  Set aside to dry.

2) If you have a spooky punch you can use it or cut a silhouette shape out of black paper.  A Jack-o-lantern woks well.  Glue on top of square.



Square #5:

This square is just so much fun!

1) Cut a square out of black paper, 3"x3"

2) Using a piece of scratch foam, craft foam, or a foam plate cut another square the same size.

3) Using a blunt pencil draw your skeleton, not too many details, simple works better.  Make sure you are pushing hard enough to make an impression that you can feel with your finger.

4) Paint the foam with acrylic paint that you have added just a touch of water to.  White is nice but you could also use orange or light green. Place the foam paint side down onto the black paper and give it a quick rub with your fingers, lift and you have an amazing print.  You can also try to do a "GHOST" print, that's just a second print without adding paint on another piece of paper.

Square #6:

1)  On my computer I made a page of text of spooky words.  I printed it out and then traced around my inchie square on top of it.  I went for a diagonal.  Cut out and glue to your inchie square.

2) Paint yellow with disk tempera.  Let dry.

3) Out of some black paper I cut a semi oval and a circle.

4) I glued these in place and then cut a hat out of some extra painted paper I had.


5) With white and black sharpie or pencil crayon, or gel pen add details.





Square #7:

1)  Take an inchie square and draw a pile of pumpkins.  Have them overlap here and there and make one a jack-o-lantern.

2) Using crayons or pastels go over your lines.  Add the contour lines of the pumpkins.

3) Paint with watery disk tempera.



Square #8:

So I kept seeing this one all over Pinterest and thought it would be cute as an inchie.

1) Cut a square of black paper 3"x3".  Cut a bat shape out of contact paper, peel and stick on the black paper.

2) Using acrylic paint in Fall colours and the end of a pencil stamp the colour all over.

3) When the paint dries gently peel away the contact paper to reveal the Bat.






Square #9:

I saved the best for last.  This is based on this project of mine.

1) Paint your inchie square a stormy blue. (blue with a touch of black).  Set aside to dry.  Paint a few buildings on the old book page, let dry.  Cut out buildings, add some windows with black pencil crayon and glue on your background.

2) Using a stamp pad stamp on the body of the giant spider.

3) Add the 8 legs with paint and glue on 2 little google eyes.

Glue all the squares onto black paper when they are dry and you have a nice collection.

If you still want more inchie craziness check out my past projects.

Halloween Inchie #1
Halloween Inchie#2
Fall Inchie #1
Fall Inchie #2





Gail