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.

Owl Projects

The "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" motion picture opens on Friday Sept 24th and my kids are stoked.  Since there is never a shortage of Owl projects at our house I thought I give you some new Owl art projects as well as revisit the old Owls from the past.

First up a pastel resist Owl.  You know me,,,,pastel resist is one of my favs so follow along.


Click on the photo to see larger and more detail.

Provide your young artists with some reference material.   Professional artists use reference photos all the time so inspire your students with books from the library, google images, whatever you can get your hands on.

Have them sketch out their Owls. Some may try to copy a photo exactly but as they gain confidence they'll start to make changes to suit their instinct....it's all a part of the process.

Using light colored pastels (white and yellow) mark out some of the features.  Do some feather detail...some leaf shapes...some veining in the leaves...outline the main components (Owl and tree limbs).  Also mark areas you want to remain white like the head and breast feathers.

It's hard to see on this photo but I have quite a lot marked out.

Start painting with disk tempera.

I wanted to use fall colors to keep with the season.  I start with some yellow around the Owl, sunlight filtering thru the trees on our sleepy friend.

Drop in some more fall colors...maybe a bit of green here and there for the leaves that haven't turned yet.

A good rule of thumb is to put some intense, darker color in at least 2 of the corners..helps to push the focal point and grounds the painting.

Paint the Owl brown.... the pastel will resist the paint highlighting the features you have marked.

Put some dark brown, almost black, color in the tree limbs and add some branches here and there.  You don't necessarily see all the branches or in their entirety as portions are blocked out with leaves.

Add extra color where needed...maybe some veining in the leaves with some contrasting fall colors...a little dark brown on the Owl's wing feathers.  Add the eyes and you're done!

Remember this guy from about 2 years ago you can check out my post for this project here.


I'll have another Owl project on Friday so make sure you stop on by........

See you then.

Zebra Resist

Here is another resist I was experimenting with yesterday.  It is wax crayon on newspaper.

Using a reference photo I drew a zebra directly on newspaper using the stock pages.

It was hard to see so I added some lines in fine sharpie.

You then take a white crayon and color in where ever you want it to stay white.

Using black tempera I then painted over the crayon.  With newspaper you don't want to over saturate it with water/paint  as it will just tear on you.

I added some darker areas using a small brush with a black acrylic or you could use ink just to have some more contrast in the details.

To add some interest in the frame I added some strips of newspaper which I glued down and then trimmed.

I then glued down the resist.

I also finished another giraffe.  I was trying a glue resist for this sample.  I painted a undercoat in a light tan/yellow using tempera or wc.

When it dried I added the pattern of the print using regular white school glue.

Set aside to dry flat.

Then painted a coat of darker brown on top.

The glue resists the paint and the pattern shows up like this.  Sorry I didn't complete the picture but when I'm developing projects for next year I'm just trying out as many ideas as I can.

Remember to visit me tomorrow for my first giveaway!

See you then.

The Giraffe Project

If you're kids are driving you crazy why not particpate in the  One Million Giraffe Project.

I'm all for a project that is about creating artwork not by computer or thru any man made objects so if you get a chance check it out.

This particular giraffe is pastel resist, part of my summer research work and the kids at school will definitely be part of the One Million Giraffe project in the fall.

You need some heavy sketch or wc paper to start with.  I use a really heavy paper that is white on one side and natural on the other.  I get it for FREE from Costco. 
If you go to the paper products section there is paper that they insert between the stacks of toliet paper packages and paper towel packages.  It's usually lying on the floor or pushed to the side.
  Costco just puts it in their recycle bin so I make it a point to pick up 2-3 sheets every time I'm there.  It is quite large, 3.5 ft square or so.  Just roll it up put it in your cart and you have some great material.

Print off some reference photos and draw out your design.  If you can draw one from memory or your imagination have at it.  But.....most artists use reference photos.  This is one of those big myths of art that I usually reveal to my students to increase their confidence. 

I usually use 3-4 and pick out different parst from each, I make whatever changes I want as part of my artistic license.

Paint a light coat of yellow and biege (tempera or wc) and then using pastels (white, biege, yellow) mark out the pattern of the giraffe's coat.

Come back in with some stronger browns and tans using your tempera disks or watercolor paint.  I also added some shading for the shadows.  You'll be cutting it out so don't worry about staying in the lines.

I also did a few leaves for the background.

Cut out your giraffe and the leaves and glue these onto a background paper.

You might have to weight it down to get it to dry flat.  I put a layer of wax paper on top and then another art board weighted down with some books.

and that's it.  I have another resist giraffe that is drying and will hopefully work out to show you next time.

I am pleased to be part of "get crafty!"s July roundup.  Check out this amazing selection of kid's activities and projects here.

Make sure you visit me on Thursday as I plan to have my first ever giveaway!

see you soon!

Mock Stretched Hide

Well here is another old west craft in honor of the Calgary Stampede....a mock stretched hide.





Hides were stretched on frames by both Native Canadians and trappers. We are trying to replicate it here.


Materials Required:
a long flexible twig, like from a willow

string or twine

paper bag or heavy kraft paper

pastels

brown tempera paint

hole punch

Find a long flexible twig. Willows work well. You want it long enough to make a oval shape.

Bend into your shape and tie tightly with string or twine.



Lay your twig frame over your kraft paper and draw out a hide shape. You want to have some room to string it onto the frame so make it a bit smaller.




Draw a design on your kraft paper with pencil first and then color in with pastel. My son decided to make a phoenix.

Take your paper and crumple it up....were doing pastel resist..one of my favorite techniques.










Flatten your paper and paint with some brown paint. We are trying to achieve a leather look here.


Leave to dry.








When dry cut out.



Punch some holes along the edge about 2 inches apart.



Using string lace your "hide" onto your frame. It helps if you use 2 strings. Start on one end and then do the other that way you can adjust the tension so your "hide" will sit in the center of your frame.





That's it,,,another project to beat the summer "there's nothing to do" s.



see you next time

gail