Snowman at Night Portraits

Hi everyone. Hope you had a great holiday break. I'm back at it with a new residency.

First up Kindergarten snowman portraits.

For a kindergarten project I like to incorporate lots of tactile elements.
















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate or base material, I'm using 12"x12" hardboard but you can use cardboard, canvas, or poster board
- blue acrylic paint, if you are not planning to seal this project you can use liquid tempera
- corrugated cardboard cut into a large sized circle and a medium one
- drywall filler
- loose snow glitter
- Crayola model magic in white
- snow fabric
- coloured cardstock in red, orange, brown, and black
- assorted buttons
- tacky glue
- fabric snowflakes or paper punched snowflakes
- small scrap of black felt
alternate hat option:
- scrapbook paper scraps
- small pompom

PROCEDURE:
This is a 2 session project, approximately 45 minutes each.

Like most of my sessions we work from the cleanest activity to the messiest.  This limits our hand washing until the very end saving time.

We start with the model magic.  Give each student a piece of model magic about the size of a large cherry.

I ask the kids to roll it between the palms of their hands to form a ball and then squish it flat to form a circle.

Each child is given a paper towel with their name on it.  Place the circle on the paper towel.

Next I hand out the cardboard circles.  For kindergarten I have pre cut these.     For higher grades I would have them cut it out themselves.



Put some drywall filler on a disposable plate and hand out to students.  I have them share.

While the drywall is still wet sprinkle on the snow glitter.  It will stick on the surface.



Set aside to dry.  I have the kids place it on that same paper towel that has their name on it.

Hand out the substrates.

I initially was only going to use 1 colour of blue but the class I taught before kindergarten was using 2 colours of blue so I just re-used the plates of paint. I must say the backgrounds turned out much more vibrant with 2 colours.

Paint the substrate.




That's the end of session 1.  Allow for some overnight drying time.
Session 2:

I stocked up on snow fabric on clearance after Christmas as January is full of snow projects!

Cut a length of snow fabric to fit at bottom of substrate.  With kinders I pre cut.

Easiest way to glue this on is to add glue to the bottom of your background and then place the snow fabric on top.

Now we glue on the 2 circles. If they have warped a bit you will need to use the glue gun. Adult use only.

Glue the model magic head on.

I ran some brown card stock thru the paper shredder. We used these strips to make the arms.

Time for the hat.  For my sample I did a top hat.  Cut a rectangle out of card stock.  My card stock is crimped with my paper crimper (what a great tool!)

Glue into place.

Add a strip of black felt for the brim of the hat.

Alternate hat:  I also offered scrapbook paper for the kids to make a toque and a white pompom.

Add some buttons.

Add some googly eyes, you could also make these out of paper. Cut a mouth out of red paper and a orange nose.

Add a moon for our 'Snowmen at Night' and a few snowflakes.

If you want to seal this project you can use Mod Podge, Duraclear, or your favourite shellac. Just avoid the snow fabric and felt brim.

That's it. I hope to have some pictures of the kinder work shortly.

Gail

Blue Jay Portraits

I had a request from my last residency to do a similar project as my Stellar Jay portrait only in a winter setting.

After watching a pair of Blue Jays hanging out in my backyard I knew exactly what I was going to do.






MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, can be a primed canvas, primed cardboard, poster board, heavy paper
- photocopied pages from a bird book
- glue
- scissors
- template
- thin recycled cardboard or an old file folder
- tape
- white, black, blue, brown, and red acrylic paint
- pencil with eraser on the end
- black pony bead
- a few red sequins
- black sharpie, white gel pen
- Mod podge for sealing, optional

PROCEDURE:

To add an extra layer to our project I photocopied some pages from a bird book on Blue Jays.  I also made up some text on the computer.

Cut and glue onto your substrate or background.

Roughly mix a drop of black acrylic into some white, I say roughly because I want some variation in that grey.  Add a little water if needed.  Paint over your background.

You want to be able to read some of the text so water down the paint more (like a glaze) for those areas.


Let dry.

I'm using my Stellar jay stencil for this project.  To make a stencil cut out the template or a drawing you have made of the bird.

Place on a piece of cereal or cracker box cardboard. You can even use an old file folder.  Trace around.

I take the easy way out when cutting a stencil.

I cut it in half, cut out the shape and then tape it back together.

Place stencil into position on background.  I have the kids do this in partners.  One holds the stencil while the other pounces on the paint.

Start with the lightest colour and pounce on the paint.  Do not move or shift stencil.  Continue until bird is all stencilled, end with the black paint.

You need to pounce up and down to ensure the paint does not go under the stencil.

Lift stencil.

Paint in a branch for your bird to perch on.

Using the end of a pencil add some red berries to the branch.

With a small brush add some details to the wing, tail and head.

Glue on a black pony bead for the eye and a few red sequins on some of the berries for a little shimmer.

If you want you can add some black sharpie and white gel pen to add a little outlining and detail.

Finally you can add a coat of Mod podge to seal and add that shiny finish.

Here are some of Grade 4's work.

Clay Penguins

It's a big year for penguins around here.  The Calgary Zoo opened their penguin exhibit and I have had lots of requests for penguin projects.





Here are Grade 1's clay penguins.

Isn't this one adorable with the little penguin sliding away on it's belly!

















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, if you don't have access to a kiln try air dry clay
- black, white, and orange glaze,  if using air dry clay use acrylic paint
- cloth placemat
- penny nail
- a wooden skewer
- small cup of water

PROCEDURE:

Put your cloth placemat on your workspace.  The cloth stops the clay from sticking.

Gather your supplies:
- rolling pin
- nail
- wooden skewer
- little cup of water

Roll out a slab with your rolling pin.   Cut a piece off your  clay block and then roll to about 3/4's of an inch thick.

With the nail cut a nice oval shape for your base.

For Grade 1, I pre roll the slabs, I can often get 2 ovals from a slice off the block.




Dip your finger into the water and smooth any rough edges around your cut edge.

Now we will start making the penguin body.  Take a lump of clay and roll into a fat sausage shape.

I want a flat bottom to attach to the base so I lightly pound it on the table to make it flat.

With the wooden skewer make little scratches on the bottom of your penguin and on the base where you want it to go.

Dip your finger in the water and rub a little on the scratches.  At school the kids all know my "scratch, scratch, water, water" chant.

Attach the body to the base.  I tell the kids that the scratches have to kiss, that usually gets a lot of giggles but they remember it.

Take some more clay and roll a head between your hands.

You want a good place for your head to sit so take your finger and make a depression at the top of the body where your head will sit.




Now in my sample I scratched in a line to separate the belly but I found it easier to skip this step with Grade 1.

"Scratch, scratch, water, water" your head.

Take some more clay and roll it out.  With the nail cut 2 wing shapes.  It is like a leaf or eye shape.

Attach to the body.

Cut 2 triangles for feet and attach these in front of the body or up onto the body like the penguin is sitting in the snow.

With the skewer you can mark in the toes.

Make a little triangle and attach for the beak.   Using the skewer mark in the eyes.

Now you can add some snowballs to the base.

Finally I want to make sure my penguin dries out fully so I take a pencil and poke a hole down thru the back.

Place the penguins aside to dry.  Drape with a garbage bag or plastic tablecloth for 1-2 days to let it equalize.  When leather hard then remove the drape and let it dry out completely.

I let them sit for 2 weeks to make sure.  We are lucky in Calgary as the air is very dry.

Do your bisque fire.

Set up for glazing.

I put a wax coat on the bottom of the penguins to stop them from sticking to the kiln shelf.

Place the penguin on a paper towel, explain the rules of glazing, ( 3 coats, wash brushes thoroughly before changing colours, blot out excess water on paper towel, and must wash hands after glazing no exceptions)

Glazing is always an adventure especially with young kids.  Despite our best efforts we still have a few orange bases but that is part of the charm.


Do your glaze fire.

That's it.  Takes a while but it's a great project.

Great work Grade 1!