Leaf Print Turkeys and Squirrels

Looking for a quick and easy Thanksgiving project, why not try leaf print Turkeys.

or maybe a Squirrel for those of you not celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday.



Full instructions are coming right up but first...........

Speaking of Squirrels check out this adorable one in this week's giveaway.  (I'm still having issues with the photos, are you listening blogger! but you can click on any to enlarge)



I just love the acorn!

And I can't wait to make this deer for the nature table.







 This week's feature book and giveaway is "How to Make Stuffed Animals" by Sian Keegan.  Another great selection from my friends at Quarry Books.

This book features large photos and full size patterns. (no enlarging!) All projects can be completed with "fat quarters" so you don't need alot of fabric kicking around.

There are 18 projects in all and wait till you see the fox and the fluffy sheep.


- 128 pgs.
- 300 illustrations/photos
- paperback, 8.5 x 10 inches
- suggested retail $27.99 CAN, $24.99 US

My kids have always enjoyed making stuffies.  We started out with tiny animals using wool felt and embroidery floss.

Here is my youngest at 6 sewing his frog.

Great projects for you or your little sewer to try.  Wouldn't these make great ornaments for a woodland themed Christmas tree?




Check out the end of this post to enter the giveaway.










But let's get back to the leaf prints:




MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- assorted leaves in different sizes, look for good veining on the back
- liquid tempera paint in Fall colours
- my template if needed
- cardboard, posterboard, or heavy paper for the background (substrate)
- white paper for printing
- coloured paper  (brown, yellow, red, black)
- brown kraft paper or paper bag
- scissors
- glue
- white pencil crayon
- embellishments, googly eyes, scraps of felt, twigs, pinecone

PROCEDURE:

Select your background.  Now you can use cardboard that you have primed and painted, coloured posterboard, or even wc or heavy paper.


Paint if needed.

If you are making the turkey find a round object to trace around.  This will be your guideline when making the feathers.

Take your liquid tempera and paint the backside of a leaf.

Following the circle you traced, lay the leaf paint side down and press.

Vary the sizes, types and paint colour.

For the squirrel make a stack from largest to smallest, you could even put a bit of a curve in it.

When the prints have dried, cut out keeping that fan shape.

Cut out the extra parts of the turkey out of the coloured paper.

You need a circle of Kraft paper/paper bag. a long pear shape for the head, a triangle of yellow for the beak, and a squiggle of red.

You can use my template if needed.

Glue into place on your background.  I used 2 googly eyes and 2 small twigs (for feet) to embellish my turkey.


Lastly you can add some black paper strips glued down to form a nice frame.

For the squirrel I glued down the tail first.

I traced out my squirrel shape with a white pencil crayon on brown paper. (see template).

I cut the shape out and added a few details with the white pencil crayon.

I then glued the squirrel body into place, added a brown felt ear, black felt nose and eye, and bits of a pine cone.

Add the black paper strips to finish.

That's it, a great Thanksgiving project.

Back to the giveaway.  If you would like to win your own copy of "How to Make Stuffed Animals" by Sian Keegan please enter by one of the following:

- leave a comment on this post
- like or comment on this link on my Facebook page
- send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca

Please enter by 11:59pm on Thursday Oct 4th/12 and I will make the draw Friday Oct 5th/12.

Only US and Canadian residents please.

Good luck everyone and be sure to try some leaf print turkeys or squirrels. Great decorations for Thanksgiving!



Disclaimer: Review copy of How to Make Stuffed Animals provided by Quarry Books.  All opinions expressed are my own.

How to Paint Abstract Autumn Leaves

This painting is part of an abstract exercise you can do with your students (Grade 4 and up).  Sorry for the pictures but blogger is not letting me enlarge the pictures in the procedure section of this post. Please click on any of them to see larger.









It is a great lesson to practice looking at and painting negative shapes.

In this painting the background gradually gets lighter enabling you to lift out some leaf shapes at the bottom. 

This one is a bit easier, no variation in the background.







I'm going to give you the complete
 "How To" , but first let me introduce this week's giveaway.

"Understanding Art: Impressionism" is a DVD series from my friends at Acorn Media.  It features my favorite art critic Waldemar Januszczak (click on his name for a preview of his style).  Mr. Januszczak is not your "stuffy" art historian.  He approaches his documentaries with enthusasim and humour.  Transporting you back to the 19th century, showing you the exact locations of many Impressionist paintings, describing the conditions, personalities, and what the artists had to go through to create their art.

This gives you a deeper understanding of what Impressionism is all about, why it came about, and you will never look at a Monet, Renior, etc. the same again.  Great if you are teaching this to your class.  I often get asked " how do I explain Impressionism to kids".

This DVD series includes 4 one hour episodes and 2 bonus programs on Manet (90 minutes) and van Gogh (146 min). 

There is some nudity so you need to preview before showing to a class,  but overall I found this series very entertaining as well as very informative, not something you expect in an art history series.  My kids enjoyed it as well.  My 14 yr old was thrilled when she found out I was reviewing this series.  We had caught a few episodes of Mr. Januszczak's Baroque series on the Knowledge Channel at the cabin and the kids were hooked. Unfortunately that one is not currently available for sale in North America, fingers crossed it will be soon.


If you are interested in winning your own copy of this series check out the full details at the end of this post.








Now back to our abstract exercise.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- watercolor paper or heavy sketch paper
- pencil and eraser
- disk tempera or watercolor paints in Fall colours
- plastic kitchen wrap, (Saran type wrap)
- salt
- art boards, painter's masking tape
- black acrylic or liquid tempera

PROCEDURE:

Take your paper and tape down to your art board with the painter's masking tape.

Gather your materials.

Paint a mottled background using Fall colours.


You can place some plastic wrap on it before it dries, smooshing a bit, to get some nice texture.  Leave plastic wrap on until it dries.

You can also shake a little salt on for the salt effect if you wish.

Let your background dry.

The next step is to make a good sketch on your now dry background paper.  You want branches and leaves.  Have some overlapping and crossing.  You need more than you think you do because, once you start painting in the darks you realize "I really should have added more".

Click on this picture to see larger.

Take some brown disk tempera or watercolor.  You want a watery mix as you are just doing a glaze.

Apply this glaze to all the leaves and branches that are behind other leaves and branches.  This recedes them, giving them a touch of shadow adding that depth to your picture.

You can also add in a few lines to make the veins of the leaves that are in the forefront.











Now for the easier version take some black acrylic or black liquid tempera paint and start painting in all the negative spaces, places where there are no leaves or branches.

For this more challenging version start painting in the background with black watercolor or disk tempera.  Continue to add layers to those areas where you want lots of dark.  The background is only lightly coloured near the bottom as it sort of fades out.









You can lift out a few leaves in that faded background by painting them in with plain water and drying your brush on a paper towel after each pass.  This lifts the colour.


Finally you can add a few splatters.

That's it.  Let dry, take off the tape and sign and title.

On to the giveaway.  If you are interested in winning your own copy of the DVD series, "Understanding Art: Impressionism" with Waldemar Januszczak,   a $59.99 value from Acorn Media,  please enter in one of the following ways:

- leave me a comment on this post
- like or leave a comment for this post on my Facebook page
- send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca

Canadian or US residents only please.

You have until 11:59pm on Thursday Sept 27th/12 and I will make the draw on Friday Sept 28th/12.

Good Luck everyone.

Disclaimer:  Review and Giveaway copy were provided by Acorn Media.  The views and opinions expressed are my own.

Felted Autumn Tree and Book Giveaways

I have a great felting project for you to try, an autumn tree.  I think felting intimidates a lot of people but it is really easy.  It's also a clean project as you use only warm soapy water.


The main thing is to have patience.  I would recommend this project for Grade 3 or higher.





I'll give you all the details on this project but first I want to introduce 2 new felting books from my friends at Creative Publishing International.

Art Lab for Kids: Giveaway and Serigraph Project



Well I'm back after a very relaxing 2 weeks at the cabin.....I was so relaxed that I didn't even manage to get a post up. 


But all good things come to an end and it's time to start getting ready for a new (whisper it now so the kids don't hear) school year!

One of the first things I need to do is order supplies which includes any new instructional books and I have a perfect one to recommend this year.

This Serigraph or silk screen project comes from it and I'll give you the "how to" in just a minute but first the book.

Art Lab for Kids by Susan Schwake is a pretty amazing little book.  I have 2 other "Lab" books and I originally thought this would just be a simplified version for kids, but this book has tons of great ideas!  There are 52 projects but Susan doesn't stop there as every project presented has a "Go Further" section with ideas for extra projects using the variations of the same technique.
Each project also has a materials list , a large photo of the finished project, 2-5 pictures of the process and step by step instructions.  Susan also includes an artist bio as each project is inspired by by the work of a contemporary artist.

Almost ever project is paper based so no need for special materials. I think it's a great addition to any art program.

Here are the details

There are 6 chapters:

- How to use this book

- Drawing

- Painting

- Printmaking

- Paper

- and Mixed Media

- Soft cover

- 144 pgs, 275 illustrations

- suggested retail is $24.99 CAN and $22.95 US

If you would like to win your own copy check out the details at the end of this post.

Now onto the silk screening project which is based on the project in the book.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- embroidery hoop

- gauze like material

- scissors

- mod podge or screen filler, water resistant glue will also work

- fine paint brush

- paper and pencil

- acrylic paint or liquid tempera

- paper or fabric to print your design on

PROCEDURE:



You need an embroidery hoop, plastic or wood.  The plastic ones are more durable but cost more.

You can use screen filler, Mod Podge, on water resistant glue.  For this project I'm using Mod Podge.



Before you start you want to practice making your design.  Take the inner hoop and place on some paper, trace out from the inside with pencil.

Sketch out a design.

Insert your gauze like material. Make sure it is taut. I buy what is on sale and it doesn't need to be silk. I find some great material in the drapery section for this.

Trim away the excess.

Place your hoop with the gauze fabric down on top of your sketch.  The fabric is directly on the paper. You can see the design thru the fabric.  Go over your lines with pencil right on the fabric.

Turn over the hoop so the fabric side is facing up.  With a small brush and a little Mod Podge start painting in all the areas and detail that you want to stay white.



Let dry.

When dry place the hoop onto the paper or fabric you want to print on. If you are printing onto fabric use acrylic paint.

 You want the fabric touching the paper.  I'm using acrylic paint.

Holding the hoop down with one hand, you don't want it to shift, paint over the gauze.

Carefully lift off the hoop and you can see your print.

Before the paint dries on the screen wash gently with water. No hard scrubbing.

Let the screen air dry fully, don't blot with a towel as you might disturb the design. You now can use your screen again with another color.







That's it.

So onto the giveaway.  If you are interested in winning a copy of "Art Lab for Kids" by Susan Schwake you need to do one of the following:

- comment on this post

- visit my Facebook page and comment or like this post link

- or send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca

Get your entry in by 11:59pm Thursday night and I will make the draw Friday Aug 24/12. Canadian and US entries only.

Good luck everyone and thanks Quarry Books for sponsoring this giveaway!