Craft Camp Guest Post

Hey everyone, I'm guest posting today over at Skip to my Lou.

This is my 4th year participating in Craft Camp.


Lots of great ideas from some terrific bloggers so check it out.




If you want to learn about these Summer Art Collections you can find my post HERE.

See you next week.

Adding White: Outlines and Details

White Sea

One of the best things about summer is that I finally have time to play in the studio.

Normally I'm under a deadline, pushing to get my prep, samples, and projects finished with my students.

I still keep a schedule, but I'm free to try out all those ideas that I've been accumulating.


Using white is today's exercise.

With kids we outline a lot.  It's one of those techniques that can add so much a project.  Usually it's in black but white is quite effective as well.

So what can you use: (click on picture to see larger if needed)


- a paint marker, in my collection I have Painter's opaque marker (Wal mart), Faber Castell PITT marker (art stores, Michael's), and Sharpie. They work like a regular felt marker, can be water soluble or permanent, and come in a variety of sizes.
- a gel pen, I use only Gelly Roll by Sakura and my favourite white one is 08. (scrapbooking stores, Michaels, art stores)
- a white crayon, I use Crayola and prefer the twistables, to say kids love them is an understatement, the twistables will always give me a nice edge for fine lines.  To do this you use the side edge at the tip not straight up.
- a pencil crayon or coloured pencil
- oil or chalk pastel
- acrylic paint and a fine brush (rigger)
- white watercolour paint  and a fine brush

I like to keep a sample sheet so I can compare them.

Sometimes I want a strong white and other times a more subtle effect.


I do this on different types of paper as well.

This is on tracing paper.

I keep it in my sample book as well as on painted squares. (disk tempera on wc paper, as this is what I use at school the most)

I also have it on wax paper, card stock, and foil.


I quite like pencil crayon on wax paper and the paint markers do well on foil.

For my first project I taped down some wc paper to my art board.  I used green painter's masking tape in 2 different widths.

I wanted nice bright colour so I painted my backgrounds with wc straight from the tube.

At school I would use disk tempera.  To avoid muddy colours stick with just warm or cool colours in each section.

Set aside to dry.

Because I had leftover wc paint I painted a few journal pages.





This is in my bound sketchbook.  (just regular drawing paper)  I don't know what it will be at this point I just like adding rectangular strokes.

I also used the leftover paint towards a new project.  This is a 3"x3" inchie.

For the inchie I blotted out some cloud with a kleenex while it was still wet

and I lifted out the horizon line.  I did this by using an old gift card placed just below where I wanted the line. (you could use a ruler or piece of cardboard as well)

I then take a brush wet with plain water, I rub it down the line blotting on a paper towel.

This makes my inchie into a little landscape.

I then add some white and a little black with sharpies.

Mount on black card stock and I have a start on my next inchie collection.

My journal page was now dry so using gouache I painted in some skyline shapes.

I then used my Painter's opaque marker and a Gelly Roll gel pen to add some details.

Using that same marker I add details to my now dry water-colour.

Finally I add a little touch of black just for a bit of contrast.

This makes me feel like I'm in Maui again.....

Next time you have a journal page or project needing just a little something give a bit of white a try.




Happy weekend everyone!

Happy Canada Day and Giveaway Winner

Hope everyone is having a great Canada Day weekend.

Just stopping in to let you know the winner of the "Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces" DVD set.




I had 121 total entries.

The winner picked randomly was #28 which worked out to be Heather Gary.

Congratulations Heather and I'll see you all later in the week with some summer art activities.

Lighthouse Project and New Giveaway

Well it's been a few crazy days here in Calgary and southern Alberta.  We have been in a state of emergency for the last 5 days due to an unprecedented flood.

Although I live in an unaffected area (hilltop) it's hard to see the city where I was born and raised ravaged by extreme flood damage.

Schools are now closed due to the emergency but my thoughts and prayers are with all my fellow Calgarians (and Albertans) as we start to recover from this unbelievable event.

Last week, the day before the flood, I finished this project with two Grade 5 classes who also did the Nautical Inchies.

We used cardboard as a substrate (old tri-folds) as well as cardboard pieces to add some 3-dimensional appeal.



I'll give you the full 'how to' in just a minute but first I have a new giveaway.

"Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces" is a new DVD series from my friends at Athena and Acorn Media.

It is a 5 episode set that documents study days at the Louvre. During study days, works from one major artist are removed from their frames, placed together in one room, and analyzed by a team of curators, historians, restorers, and scientists from around the world.

You get to see exceptionally close detail of the paintings as well as discussions on how and why it was painted.  With diagnostic imaging and techniques the team is able to look under restoration work, examine underlying sketches and see how the work has been changed or altered.

Each episode highlights a different artist.
- Raphael
- Rembrandt
- Poussin
- Watteau
and Leonardo da Vinci



This is a great series if you are an art history buff and interested in the techniques of the Masters.



Details on how to enter the giveaway will be at the end of this post.




Back to the Lighthouse Project.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- cardboard, wood, or canvas substrate (base), I used 12x12" cardboard cut from 2 old tri folds
- gesso for priming if needed
- drywall or joint compound
- pieces of scrap corrugated cardboard
- tacky glue
- acrylic paint
- Mod Podge for sealing
- ribbon stamped with maple leaf

PROCEDURE:

Draw out your scene in pencil on your base.

Use reference photos if needed.  You don't won't to focus too much on detail here, just general shapes.
'

Using scrap cardboard cut out the shapes of your lighthouse.

Add some rock shapes of other parts of the scene.

Using drywall or joint compound add a layer to your cardboard pieces.  You can use a spatula or old gift card but I find your fingers work great.

Add some to your background base as well.  Here I put some texture into my sky.

Set aside to dry.

When painted it the texture is terrific.

Paint in your background with acrylic paint.  I discussed with the kids how the sky and other parts of the background are not just 1 colour.

It's really 3 colours.  A mid tone value, a light value, and a dark.  I encouraged them to mix the 3 values using the paint I brought in as well as using black and white.  They then applied the colours and blended so we didn't have stripes.

Here is some student work.

Before painting our pieces I had them paint the edges black.  This helps that element 'pop' from the page.  It also covers up the cardboard edge.


I asked them to paint the pieces lighter than the background as this would also make them appear closer.

For example, the rocks pieces are still painted with 3 values, (mid grey, white grey, black grey) but I use more of the whitish grey than I did in the base.

We painted the edges of our lighthouses black and then discussed adding shadows.  Determine where you think the sun or in some case the moon would be and shadow the opposite side a bit.

I then gave each of them a piece of ribbon that had a Maple leaf on it and they painted the 2 sides with a band or red.  I love this ribbon and use it constantly.  Right now is a good time to get it as it's part of Canada Day promos at both the Dollar store and Michaels.

Glue all the pieces to the base with tacky glue.  Use a fine sharpie to add details like some seagulls in the distant sky and the flagpole.

Finally when the paint is all dry add a coat of lodge.  It has a nice shiny coat which adds depth to your paint as well as it ensures all your pieces are well stuck on.


That's it.

Love the colours used on this one.....it was like an oil painting.

Use of the 3 values in the rocks.

Sunset.


Great work Grade 5!









If you want to enter the giveaway for the DVD series  "Understanding Art: Hidden Lives of Masterpieces" just enter below.  (This is the first time I'm using Rafflecopter so fingers crossed it works).  Canadian or US residents only please.  

Good luck everyone!






a Rafflecopter giveaway
Please note you can also enter this giveaway by leaving a comment on this post :)