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

Fall Inchies 2014 Part 3

Hey everyone, got distracted with my gelli printing yesterday and forgot to post row 3.








Row #3

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 3 wc paper inchies
- watercolour paint or disk tempera
- acrylic paint or liquid tempera in a few fall colours
- cotton swab
- black paper and/or sticky foam
- scrap of red paper
- kleenex
- fine black sharpie or marker
- glue

PROCEDURE:

First up is a little fall tree based on this project of mine.

You'll need that extra blue inchie you made or paint a new one.

Draw a tree onto your inchie.  I used pencil crayons.  These are my new favourites. A bit pricey but so easy to sharpen, no broken tips and if they fall on the floor the there's no broken lead on the inside. (as compared to my prismacolor).

Not able to buy them as a class set($$) but I did invest in a second set for my son who is loving them with all those title pages he is making this week.


Great item to use that 40% off coupon at Michaels.
Take your cotton swab and cut in half.  You now have 2 different size circles you can stamp from the ends.  Squeeze out a little acrylic of liquid tempera and stamp in some leaves.

My little sign.  Could have made it a road sign shape….next time.

Paint the inchie with a sunset background.

Start with yellow strip, then orange, and finally some red. Let them mingle a bit.

Let dry.

Cut a little arrow out of black paper or craft foam.

Stick on.

Add a black bird (silhouette) cut from black paper.  I have a punch but you could draw it in pencil and then cut it out or just draw it on with black pencil crayon or marker.


Add the word south.

Finally our little farm, ready for the harvest.

Draw in a few hills lightly with pencil.

Paint in the sky and while still wet lift out a few clouds with a kleenex.

Paint in the hills with a little green and yellow.

Take you red scrap of paper, (mine is painted on the other side) and draw out a little barn shape.

Cut out.

Using a sharpie, black marker, or black pencil crayon add roof, windows, and door.

Using pencil crayons add some produce in those fields.

Glue the barn into place.

Glue your collection onto a nice backing paper.

Trim if needed.

That's it.  I hope you give a few of these inchies a try.  You can mix and match with my other Fall set.


Take care everyone and I'll see you next week…have a great giveaway for you!

Gail

Fall Inchies 2014 Part 2

Let's continue with our inchies.






Row #2

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 3 more wc paper inchies (2"x2")
- watercolour or disk tempera paint
- oil pastels
- black acrylic paint
- old book page
- black and orange crayon
- 2 tiny goggly eyes
- scrap of brown paper
- scrap of orange paper
- black pen
- glue

PROCEDURE:

This inchie is based on a negative painting project that you can find here.

Paint an inchie with fall colours.  I'm using dim tempera.  To get a nice marbled look I first start painting in yellow, about 2/3rds of the inchie.  I then add some orange and red which will mingle a bit with the yellow.


Set aside to dry.

Draw some lines on your inchie with a black pencil crayon.

Now it's hard to get your brain to look at the negative shape so here's a trick.  Using pencil draw your leaf shapes.

Take some black acrylic paint, you don't need much, and paint around those leaf shapes.  Small brushes come in handy here.

This inchie is also based on an earlier project looking at open vs. closed composition.  You can find it here.

Take an inchie and paint it sky blue.  While you at it do a second one, we'll use it on the next row.


Let dry.

Take your old book page, trace around your inchie.  This helps you know how big to make your pear.  Draw your pear. Make a second one while your at it.

Cut out the pear shape.

Take a scrap piece of paper and put your pear shape on it.  Taking your black crayon trace around your pear. Some black crayon will get on the edge of your pear.

Add a little orange crayon to your pear.

Add some yellow watercolour or disk tempera.  Your little brush comes in handy again.  The orange crayon will resist the paint giving you a nice shading look.

While the pears are drying paint a table on your blue inchie.  I just used some diluted blue and brown to make a grey.

Glue your pears on.  I'm showing an open composition so I have one of my pears going off the side. I glue it on first and then trim.

In Canada our Thanksgiving is the 2nd Monday of October so I made a little turkey.

Take your oil pastels and make a fan shape, you could also call it a campfire.

Paint the inchie yellow with watercolour or disk tempera.  The pastel will resist the paint.

Now take your brown paper and cut out a small circle.  I have a punch so I used that. Glue on your fan, use a black pen to add the feet.  Glue on the goggly eyes.  Cut a tiny triangle from the orange paper and glue that on as well.

That's it for today.  Tomorrow we tackle the last row.

Gail