Penguin March

This week the Calgary Zoo announced they would start up their very popular Penguin walk, where the King penguins get to go out for a walk around the zoo. That was the inspiration for this project.

I did 2 versions. A large 12"x18" (bulletin board size) and then a smaller 9"x12". (art journal size)















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- background paper, use good heavy painting paper or wc paper
- blue disk tempera
- grey (black and white) liquid or disk tempera
- white paper
- black paper
- scrap of orange paper
- glue
- oil pastels, you need orange, yellow, black and white
- Kleenex
- some textures for printmaking, I used some bubble wrap and bumpy foam
- glue
- glitter glue, optional
- text, optional

PROCEDURE:

Place your paper on your art board.  I like to tape my sides to hold it down and to get that nice white border.

With a pencil draw a path.

Paint with blue tempera along the sides of the path.  Get nice bright colour so make sure the students swirl that paintbrush on the disk well.

I wanted a snow effect so while the paint was still wet I used a Kleenex to lift some of that paint.  Similar to what we do when lifting clouds.





For the small one I concentrated where my lifting was like a snowbank.

For the large one I kinda did it all over.  It's up to you but I wanted you to see both results.

I then painted the path.  You can use disk tempera or liquid.  I used acrylic as that was what I had on hand in the studio.

To get grey you mix mostly white and a touch of black.

To add some texture to the path I mixed a darker grey, (just added some more black) and painted some bubble wrap and bumpy foam.

I then turned them over onto path and pressed to get that texture.

For the small version I didn't even paint the path just added the dark grey texture onto the white path.

While your background is drying let's make the penguins.

You start with the bellies. They are a rounded triangular shape. You want one large one and 2 smaller ones for perspective.

For the large version you can get 3 out of a 8.5x11 piece of paper.  For the smaller just cut the paper in half and set it up the same way.

Once the bellies are cut out use them to draw out your head and wings.

I call them wishbones you'll see what I mean in a moment.

I traced them in white so you could see them.  Use a white pencil crayon if the kids have a hard time seeing their pencil lines on the black paper.

See what I mean they look like wishbones.

For the large one you are going to need 1 and 1/4 pieces of black paper.  For the small just 1 sheet.

Glue the bellies onto the wishbones.

These are King penguins so we are going to add some colour with the oil pastels.

Put some orange right at the top of the white and then some yellow underneath.  Use a Kleenex and smudge it a bit.  Kleenex smudges better that your finger with oil pastels.
You can also add a touch or orange to the side of the head.

You can put some white pastel under the wings.

And I would add just a touch of black to sides and bottom to show the roundness of the penguin body.

Do it now as it is easier than waiting like I did.

Glue your penguins onto your path.

Add eyes (white circles and hole punched black circles out of scraps) or you could use googly eyes.

Cut out beaks from orange paper and feet.

I added some snowflakes.  I have this great Martha Stewart snowflake punch that I use constantly during the winter. Kids love punching snowflakes.

You can add a touch of glitter glue to snow for that sparkle.

Finally I added some text to finish the project.

That's it.


Gail

January Pocket Project

Here is my pocket project for January.  Pocket projects are like inchies but the use an ATC (artist trading card) size, 2.5"x3.5".
I've taken the cards out of the pockets for the photo here.


Because the cards are in plastic protector pockets you can add information to the back.  A  great way to combine art and research around a subject area.


Now each ATC is a stand alone art project that you can do much larger if you prefer.

I pick up my pockets at the Dollar Store.

The mitten square was done by drawing the mittens in pencil, add a little colour, and then cut out and glue on the ATC.

I added some text printed from the computer and painted with a red wash.

The Northern Lights ATC follows the project I posted HERE just in miniature form.

The snowflake ATC is a pastel resist.  I added some glitter glue, a gem in the middle, and some white dots using my white sharpie marker.  The snowflake types were added with a white pencil crayon.

The Bonhomme ATC was made by painting an ATC light blue.

- using white paint I painted on the snowman shape
- I added a snipet of ribbon for the belt
- I used a hole punch on some black craft foam for the buttons
- I added the facial features with a sharpie
- the hat is cut from some felt
- a few dots of glitter glue finishes it off

The hockey skate ATC is a close cropped drawing of a skate.  I added a little paint and mounted it on a  blue cardstock.

The snow shadows ATC is based on a larger painting project I like to do in January.

Here is the large version.



Snow shadows always catch my eye, the bluish tinge, the way you see every subtle shadow on the white background of the snow, the diffuse winter light.  It all makes a great painting project.

You want to use watercolour paper.  It's expensive but you only need a 140lb for this project.  There are also some good 90lb papers out there as well.



Tape off your edges.

My paper is upside down here as I have an incline on my painting table and I want the darker colour to be at the top, (the bottom in this picture).

I want some snow action in the sky so I add some salt.  I'm using kosher salt as it gives me the best result.  You want to sprinkle it on before the wet sheen of the paint dries.

Let the sky dry and remove the salt by brushing it away.

This shows you the salt effect.

I add some snow shadows in my snow drifts.  I'm still working upside down here.

You want the tops of snowdrifts to be pristine white.

I mix a dark brown and use the edge of my large flat brush to add the tree limbs.

Now my painting is right side up.

I add some shadows from the trees.  The large tree has a shadow that crosses a dip between 2 snow drifts so I need to make a jag in the shadow to make it look realistic.

Let dry and remove the tape.


See you next time.


Gail

Northern Lights

Occasionally here in Calgary we can see the Northern lights.

This is the second project I'm working on with Kindergarten.

I found this great youtube video for this technique from wecreate art lessons.




I changed it a bit by adding some extra elements in the foreground to complete the composition.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- black construction paper
- chalk pastels
- posterboard or heavy paper for stencil
- kleenex
- watercolour paper, we used 90lb student grade
- blue and purple disk tempera
- plastic wrap
- textured wallpaper
- green and black acrylic paint
- a piece of sponge
- glue
- animal silhoutette cutouts, optional, you can create your own animals

PROCEDURE:

Cut a strip of watercolour paper the same width as your black construction paper.

Paint with purple and blue disk tempera.

While the paint is still wet lay a piece of plastic wrap on top.

You want to smoosh it so that there are wrinkles in it.  This creates the ice like texture.  If yours is not working it might be too dry.  Re wet with the water and try again.

Leave plastic wrap in place while the paper dries.

I want my trees to also have some texture so we used textured wallpaper from the hardware store.  You could also pass some paper thru a crimper or embossing folder (cuttlebug).

Paint with green acrylic or liquid tempera. We are using acrylic as tempera doesn't stick too the wallpaper.

We then sponged on some black paint. I asked the students to not sponge too much so we could see both colours.

Watch the video to get the technique down.
I made quite a few stencils.  If you cut your poster board or heavy paper in wide strips and then cut your wavy lines you get 2 stencils.

Make sure your stencil is as long or longer than your background paper.

Apply your chalk pastel along the stencil, we just followed the line.

I asked the kids to choose bright colours.

Use the kleenex and wipe upwards.

I asked the kids to swap stencils for each new line.


Continue all the way up the black construction paper.

When the watercolour paper is dry remove the plastic wrap.

Cut a curvy line from one side to the other.  This will be the snow and ice in our foreground.

Glue into place.

When your textured paper is dry turn it over and draw some triangles on the back in different sizes.

Cut out.

Glue into place.

For the kinders I pre cut some animal silhouettes from the cricut for them.

If I had more time, (another session) we would have drawn our own animals and added them to our nightscape.


That's it.

Gail