How to Make a Nativity Silhouette - Art Project

Here is an amazing art project. I wish I could take credit for it but I can't. A former Grade 1 teacher at the school used to do this project with her kids every December. They always left me in awe as they are so striking.

This year one of the Grade 2 teachers did a similar project only as a torn paper collage...again very effective due to the high contrast in the composition.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- paper

- blue paint

- white paint for color mixing

- purple paint

- black paint

- black paper

- yellow paper

- scissors

- glue stick

-TEMPLATE if needed

Tape down your paper to get a nice finish edge. I know some of you find this a bit tedious but it really makes displaying your art work so much easier and much more professional looking.

Using parts of the template figure out where you want your white center to be. We will be using the white of the paper for this. I lightly marked with pencil where the center will go.

Mix some white paint with your blue paint to make a light blue. Start painting around your white center. I wanted to have some brush marks showing movement. If you look at the two finished pieces you can see what I was going for.

Continue painting now making your blue darker by mixing in some purple or maybe a little black.

Paint until you are right off the page keeping that circular motion in your brushstrokes.

Now you can use the template or try to make your own . Trace out your figures on black paper. Use the yellow paper for the star.

Cut them out.

When you have your silhouettes cut out place them on the paper, you are trying to position your horizon line. Lightly pencil in where you want your horizon line to be. You want to center the Baby Jesus in the white.

Mix up a very dark blue, try to make a shade that you haven't already used in the painting. I've seen black used but I think a dark blue looks better as it doesn't compete with the silhouettes. Let dry. Glue down your black paper cutouts. It's good to start with the Baby Jesus.

And there you have a very striking piece for Christmas. Give it a try.

see you next time.

gail

Pastel Resist Madonna - Art Project

Well, in the midst of the Christmas Craft day preparations I still have to come up with some good art projects for school. It's not all about the crafts you know! Here is a Pastel Resist Madonna that I came up with for Grade 5. I'm am very pleased with the results and the kids did amazing pieces....ones that put my own sample to shame. Click on the photo to see larger You only need some basic supplies for this one. Try to find heavy kraft paper if you can. I've been really disappointed with the lightweight stuff that seems to be out there now....even at the Post Office. The kraft paper at school is fairly thin so I actually went to the grocery store and they sold me some bags for 6 cents a piece, not bad. TEMPLATE 1 TEMPLATE 2 TEMPLATE 3 You can use the templates if you want. They are set up to so you start with the largest first and then progressively build up your design. You have to draw your own faces though. Start with #1 and then layer each piece in order. Only trace any new lines When your design is finished go over all pencil lines with a sharpie marker. It needs to be permanent marker to last thru the painting stage. Using oil pastels add some color. You want to have some of the paper showing thru so it will pick up the black paint. Mix colors together and add shading and highlight if you want. Be sure to do the background. Now take some black tempera paint and paint over your design. We are not crumpling our paper like we have done with other resists, we want to keep it nice and flat. The oil pastel will resist the paint. It will bead up like it has done here. Let it dry. The paint gives the piece almost a wood grain pattern so it looks like it was painted on a wood panel hundreds of years ago. While you are waiting for it to dry cut up some pieces of cardboard. Using the edges stamp on some silver and gold acrylic paint for a gilded effect. We want our halos to be quite decorative. Using a Q tip add some paint dots around the halo. On this one I decided to paint the baby Jesus in silver to draw the eye to him. That's it. Hope to have a few more art projects mixed in with the crafts in the coming week. see you next time gail

Skates

Christmas Craft #4

I did not do a tutorial for this one as there is a really good one here. I did adapt this project for kids though.

Instead of stuffing and sewing our skates we just glued them together with tacky glue.

We also glued on the sequins. Make sure to sandwich in your ribbon between the two sides of the skate.

Because we are Canadian I figured the boys would be more excited about making Hockey skates. We used black felt, white sequins and white ribbon for this version.

later

gail

How to Make Clothespin Angels

Christmas Craft #3 Clothespin Angels

I know there are alot of clothespin angels out there, but this is an easy version that your kids can make. I think they look great on the Christmas tree.

Materials Required:

I recommend you stick with felt as your dress material....it glues well to the clothespin.

You can use gold, silver or whatever you have on hand for your accent colors.

Paint the ends of the clothespin. I'm using silver. These are the feet of the angel.

Let dry.

Using fine markers, we use microns, draw a face on your clothespin. Just a simple 2 dots for eyes and a smile.

Cut a piece of felt about 2 3/4" by 2 1/2". I cut the bottom of the dress with pinking shears for a decorative edge.

Apply some tacky glue to the clothespin where the dress will go.

Wrap the felt around, get the top corners to overlap slightly. This will give your dress a triangular shape. It may be open a bit in the back but that's OK ......after all its the back.


Cut a piece of ribbon for the arms, about 3 inches long. I used an iridescent one which is not very visible in the photos.

Put some glue in the back of the angel at the top of the felt, put the ribbon into position.

Put a bead of glue on the ribbon ends and then glue to dress angling down like a pair of arms.

Put glue on the back and top of the head. Add wool roving or stuffing for hair. Don't fuss too much with it, you can thin it out after the glue dries. If you do it now you just end up with fuzz all over your fingers.

Cut a pipe cleaner about 3 inches long and form a ring.

Put some glue on it and place the halo on top of the head.

Glue on some sequins to the dress for some extra sparkle.

Take your flower apart and cut off two petals. If they have a plastic spine leave it on, it helps the wings hold their shape.

Glue the wings into place.

Add a hanger. I just threaded a needle with gold thread and passed it thru the felt dress at the back. Tie into a loop.

There you have it, a simple clothespin angel that's very easy to make and very cute in your tree.

Make a bunch.

see you next time

gail

How to Make a Christmas Orange Pomander

Christmas Craft #2:

ORANGE POMANDERS

So here is the second craft for the Annual Christmas Craft Day. Very traditional and very easy to do. It is one the kids never tire of in fact they will keep reminding me ....." we have to make our Christmas oranges, Mom!"

The hardest part is the hanger but I'll show you the trick I've come up with to get it to work.

Materials Required

Make sure you use a navel orange and not a Mandarin, the skin is just to loose to hold in the cloves.

Most books say just to push in the cloves directly but I find the kids will struggle with that. It's much easier for them to poke the orange with a toothpick first and then insert the clove.

We are just doing a simple line design but you can cover the orange completely if you want, or write your name with cloves, or even a shape like a poinsettia flower.

They kids really enjoy this activity and it will make your house smell wonderful.

For the hanger take a length of wire about 10 inches or so.

Break a toothpick in half.

Wrap the wire around the toothpick and twist together to form a loop.

Punch a few holes in the top of your orange close together to form a large enough opening for the hanger.

Insert hanger into the hole and push down with a pencil or paintbrush handle.

Pull up a little on the hanger and it should stay in place.

The toothpick swells up a bit and holds the hanger in place.

Add a bow and you have a very nice Christmas decoration. If you only use a few cloves in your design your orange will probably not last forever.

If you completely cover your orange with cloves your pomander will last longer and may dry out completely.

Give it a try.

see you next time

gail