Poppy Printmaking

As we move forward to Remembrance Day I have been trying a few printmaking projects with the students.






This one was done on a black painted background but black construction paper would work.

This one is just on plain white paper.












MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- craft foam, white or lighter colours work best.  You could also use scratch foam or a foam plate or container
- pencil
- cardboard
- acrylic or liquid tempera paint
- paintbrush
- pencil crayons
- paper for printing on

PROCEDURE:

I really like using craft foam for printmaking.  Kids can just draw on it with a pencil, pushing hard enough that they can feel the design with their fingertips.

Scratch foam also works good and if you can't get your hands on that you can cut the middle out of a foam plate or container.

Here I just drew out pieces of a poppy.  Flowers, leaves, buds, and centres.  Adding contour and texture lines will enhance the print.

I buy sticky foam.  I cut the shapes out, peel and stick to some cardboard, cut out the general shape from the cardboard and then add a handle to the back with more cardboard.

I use my glue gun to stick on the handle as I'm impatient and want to get printing right away.

You could also use a loop of masking tape and tape the foam to the cardboard if you don't have sticky foam.  You could also tape them to the clear Plexiglas blocks if you use those for printing.

You can use printing ink if you have it but I tend to use acrylic paint.

I add just a touch of water to help it flow.  Now you could use a brayer to apply or a paintbrush.

If using a paint brush make a circular motion when painting, that way you won't get brush marks on the print.

Flip stamp over, place where you want on design and press.

The second print from the stamp, (without reloading with paint) is called the ghost print.  Sometimes that is the better print.

I work with 2 pieces of paper and sometimes I mix first prints and ghost prints together in a composition.

Here I'm giving my stamp a spritz with water before doing the ghost as I waited too long between prints.

That one turned out pretty good!

Continue printing.  I added some stems with a paintbrush.  Printed on the leaves and buds.
Finally I added the centre in black.

When the print is dry you can add some extra details and shading with pencil crayons if you want.

Another great thing you can do with sticky foam is cut it into thin strips and "draw" out your image.  I used cardboard as the base.


This will give you an outline of your  image.

See you next time.

Gail

Spring Chickens

I can't believe that Easter is in a week and I haven't posted for over a month!

Well,  I have been neck deep in residencies at several schools but I finally have reached spring vacation time.

Here is a new spring project.  The inspiration came off of pintrest but there is no link just a picture. Thank-you whoever you are!   I have changed it up and tested it with 2 classes of kinders.

They turned out great so I thought I would pass it on to you.










MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- blue paper or you can paint some white paper blue
- rectangle of white paper about 4x6
- brown, black, white, yellow, green, and orange paint. I used acrylic but you can use liquid tempera.
- pencil and wooden skewer
- small piece of corrugated cardboard
- glue
- googly eyes
- coloured feathers
- sponges
- paintbrush

PROCEDURE:

At school we used blue construction paper but it also looks great on painted blue paper.

I gave the students some black and brown paint and had them paint the 4"x6" piece of paper.

Using a pencil and end of a skewer I had them stamp dots all over the paper with white paint.

Put the 4"x6" paper aside to dry.  With the leftover white paint take a small piece of sponge and sponge on a few clouds on the blue paper.

With a piece of corrugated cardboard dipped in green paint have the kids stamp on some grass.

When the spotted paper is dry have the kids turn it over and draw a line from one corner to the other making a diagonal.

Have them cut on this line.

Glue one of the pieces on the paper just above the grass.  This is the body of the mother hen.

Cut a wing out of the other piece of paper.

Glue into place on the body of the mother hen.

I gave each group of kids 2 sponges. 1 large circle and 1 smaller one.  These are they same sponges I use for stamping snowman.

The kids got to make 2 chicks but here I only added one. Stamp on the body and the head.

Using a triangular piece of sponge and orange paint we stamped on the beaks.

Using a small paintbrush and that same orange paint we painted on some chicken legs.

Glue on the googly eyes and then add a couple of feathers to the top of the mother hen's head.  I cut the ends off so they would fit better.


That's it.

Here is some more recent student work.


Some of the spring trees done by kindergarten.

A few of Grade 4's Inuit whales.

and some of their mixed media owls.

Grade 3's Peruvian masks.  We made our pieces from air dry clay so a bit different from the original post.

The work was just amazing and I can't show it all.  I think it was a record for me as well :
1 month,  702 students, 27 classes, and 37 different projects by the time I was all done.


I'm off to paint in Maui and will hopefully have some great photos for you next time.

Take care everyone and Happy Easter!

Gail

Making Autumn Trees: Printmaking

I love making autumn trees.  This time I changed the way the trunks are made using a printmaking technique.




P.S. I have a great giveaway at the end of this post so please read on.

I also used this idea for an art journal page and an inchie.














MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- sticky backed craft foam
- paper towel roll
- paper
- disk tempera or watercolour paint for background
- black liquid tempera or acrylic paint
- paint in fall colours (acrylic or liquid tempera)
- small brush
- cotton swabs (Q-tips)

PROCEDURE:

I took some craft foam and cut strips in irregular lines, curves, some jagged.


Remove paper backing and stick to paper roll.  Start from the centre out leaving the ends free.  This way you can roll it easier like a rolling pin.

Now there are few ways to load paint onto your roll.  You can spread some out on wax paper and then roll in to it.

You can also paint it directly on to the foam.  This will give you a very precise print but you have to work fast so the paint doesn't dry before you paint all the strips.

Place on your paper and roll out your tree trunks.  This is my first go.  Too many trunks I thought so I removed a few.

To make my background I painted in a sky and a strip of ground on my paper.

Roll on your trunks.  If you get a few smudges, no worries, it's a print that happens and we will use some of these smudges when we make branches.

With a small brush add a few branches.

Time to make the leaves.  Take a few cotton swabs.  I like to cut mine in half.  This gives me 2 sizes of circles, one on each end.

Dip ends into Fall coloured paint and stamp on your leaves.  Clusters work best and don't forget a few on the ground.

I made an inchie as well.  Instead of a paper roll I used a paint dauber but a thick pencil, marker, or piece of dowel would work.

I get a lot of inquiries for ideas to use in art journals.


Here is a journal page using this technique.  You could make a page for each of the 4 seasons using the same technique just changing up the leaves or lack of them.



I hope you give this a try.

I bought this book in the spring.  It was on pre-order and when it didn't arrive on time (did they forget me) I ordered it again.



I was going to return the extra but it's a great book so why not a giveaway.

So why do I like this book:

- smaller size, only 9"x7" so you can have it beside you as you work
- coil binding, pages will stay open to where you want
- heavy weight pages that have a shiny finish, made to hold up to any messes or stray paint

- lots of great techniques with pictures of different projects to inspire you
- artist tips on most pages with helpful advice.

If you are interested in winning my extra copy:
- comment on this post
- send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- or like/comment on my Facebook page


I'll do the draw Thursday.  Good luck everyone and I hope you end up with some paint on your hands today!
Gail

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.