Squirrel Portrait and a new Sharpie Book

Today is my day on the Sharpie Blog Roll in support of a new book by Kathy Barbro,  "Sharpie Art Workshop for Kids".

I'm especially thrilled because I was one of the project contributors.  Kathy has put together an awesome book and it was amazing to be part of it. You can check out her Facebook page to enter the giveaway contest.

I also have this great squirrel mono print that has sharpie details to share with you.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- wax paper
- drawing paper
- construction paper, I like to use black for that chalkboard look
- stapler
- acrylic or liquid tempera paint
- assorted sharpies,  one of my favourite art tools

PROCEDURE:

To make our mono print with have to prep our papers.

We are going to make a paper booklet.

You need a piece of drawing paper, a piece of wax paper, and a piece of construction paper.

Cut them so they are all the same size.  I use a sharpie to mark the size I need on the wax paper.

Line all 3 pieces up and staple them together along one of the short ends.  I use a line of about 5-6 staples.

I'm going to be going back and forth thru the pages so I make a fold to make this easier.

Open up your booklet to the drawing paper.

Make your squirrel drawing.  I find it helpful to provide younger kids with a tail shape to base their drawing off of.

When finished, outline with (you guessed it)...Sharpie.

Fold the wax paper page over top the drawing, you should be able to see it clearly thru the wax paper.

We are going to paint on the wax paper and then transfer this to the construction paper.  It helps to work in a small section at a time and it also helps to have your paint a bit watery.  I use a spray bottle to add a bit of water to my paint.

I'm using black construction paper so I make sure to add white to all my paint colours.  It makes them show up better on the black paper.

Here I'm painting in the tail.  I only work in small sections because I need to transfer my print while the paint is wet.

When I finish painting in the tail I fold the black paper over and give it a bit of a press.

Construction paper works best for these mono prints as it soaks up the paint, other papers like cardstock can slip and smudge.

Slowly pull the construction paper back and the paint will have transferred from the wax paper.

It will be a mirror image.

Continue this process bit by bit until you have made your full print.

You can leave your booklet intact to show the process or remove the wax and drawing papers.

Now you can add the final details.  I used black sharpie, white sharpie, silver sharpie, and brown sharpie.

That's it.

I love this mono print project and I use it a lot at school.  I have another post showing this process only with an eagle here.


Be sure to check out "Sharpie Art Workshop for Kids" by Kathy Barbro and see if you can find my project.

Take care everyone.

Gail

Poppy Patterns

This year's Remembrance Day art project is the result of 2 main inspirations,  Project Runway's red palette challenge this week and last week's"Make it Artsy" segment on Rebekah Meier's circle mandalas.

If you haven't checked out "Make it Artsy" it is well worth your time.  I just watch the episode online as it's not carried by KSPS. I watch with my design journal right next to me as the ideas just start to pour out.






MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- basket coffee filters
- liquid tempera or acrylic paint in red, black and white
- glue
- circle shapes for tracing
- scissors
- printmaking materials like cardboard, pencils, skewers, little cups
- white and black pencil crayons
- buttons, beads, and/or poppy seeds, optional
- paper for background

PROCEDURE:

The first step is to paint your coffee filters. I started out using disk tempera but the colour was very dull.  Liquid tempera and acrylic produced nice bright colour.

You need 1 bright red, 1 dark red, and 1 black painted coffee filter for each poppy.  From there you can mix and match.  Mix a tiny bit of black into your red to make the dark red.

If you want a background pattern on your poppy add it before we start cutting.

Here I am using a cup and making circle shapes.  Stay in our limited colour palette of red (light and dark), black, and white.

When the coffee filters are dry you want to cut different ring shapes from them to construct your poppy.

Use circle shapes from around the classroom as templates.

I folded mine for easier cutting.

You can also cut your rings to have a more natural petal shape.

Now you can add more patterns to the parts of your poppy.

Here I use a piece of cardboard to make lines.

Here I added dots using the end of a pencil and a skewer.

I had not cut this one in rings but later I needed to.  It was a lot harder to cut the ring after I put the pattern on.  Note to self : have students cut rings first.

You can use pencil crayon to add details.

Mix and match your ring shapes.

Use the black coffee filter as the base.  Glue your rings on top letting some of the black filter exposed.

You can embellish them with some buttons, poppy seeds, beads, whatever you have on hand.

You can add extra details if needed.

For the background I painted the paper grey with black and white disk tempera.

Glue poppies on background.

That's it.

Hope you give this one a try.

Gail

Folk Art Witch

This is a Halloween version of my Folk Art Angel.















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- heavy paper for background, I used watercolour paper
- masking tape
- disk tempera paint
- white acrylic or liquid tempera paint
- paper for painting, I used an old book page
- raffia for brown
- strip of brown paper
- oil pastels
- glue

PROCEDURE:

I taped my background paper to my art board.  Using disk tempera paint I painted a night sky using blue and black.

When background is dry take white acrylic or liquid tempera and mix in a little water.

Using an old stiff brush dip in paint and then flick finger over the bristles to create star splatter.

At school I like to do this in a box to cut down on the mess.

Paint some paper with purple and orange tempera.  We will use these papers to create the witch body and head.

I decided I wanted a pattern on the dress so using some purple acrylic, the end of a pencil and the cap from a spray bottle I stamped on the pattern.

To make the paper for the hat and the legs I first used oil pastel.  White stars for the hat and black lines for the legs.

I then painted over them with disk tempera.

When the papers are dry I start to put my witch together.  The body starts as a rectangle, I then cut one of the corners off.

The arm is a skinny rectangle with a corner cut off.  The head is a pumpkin shape.

The legs are just 2 strips.  I also cut out a witch hat.  With the scraps of orange paper I cut 2 feet and a hand.

The broom is made from a strip of brown paper for the handle.  I wrap a pipe cleaner around the middle of some raffia.  I fold it and then twist the pipe cleaner around the top.

Glue into place.

Finally with some pencil crayons and sharpie I add the details to the face.

I added a strip to the hat and a star sticker.

That's it, my Folk Art witch.



Gail

Fall Weaving with Grade 1

Last week I taught Grade 1 weaving at Altadore School.
We started with a simple paper weaving to get them accustomed to the process.

We then did a weaving on a branch loom.  The students selected their favorite season and had to come up with colours for that season ahead of time in their 'wonder journals'.  Don't you just love that title.... maybe my design journal should become my wonder journal!  Each child did an illustration of that season using those colours.

It was amazing how the process of weaving a textile feeds into the weaving of reflection or memories which then will result in a story.  As each child changed to a new colour both myself and their teacher would ask them "What does this colour represent in your chosen season?".  The answers were very expressive, "The yellow lights on my Christmas tree." or "The red watermelon of summer".  Now that their weavings are done they are working on their writing projects.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

Paper Weaving:
- strips of orange painted paper
- orange construction or cardstock paper
- ruler
- green construction or cardstock paper
- glue stick
- scraps of black paper
- scrap of brown paper
- pumpkin templates, I used this one
- pencil and scissors

Branch Weaving:
- branch for loom, twist your branch into circle as soon as branch is collected
- string
- chunky yarn in lots of colours
- masking tape
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

Pumpkin Paper Weaving

Now the Pumpkin paper weaving is based on this post from Cutting Tiny Bites.

I just made a few changes.

Instead of scrapbooking paper we used painted paper.  If every child paints on piece of paper you'll have lots.  Each one was different using stamps, glitter, different printmaking techniques, variations in yellows and orange, etc.

I gave each child a piece of orange cardstock for the loom.  They folded it in half, corners to corners.

Taking their ruler placed at the open end they drew a line across.  It was the width of the ruler.

This is the STOP line.

Using the width of the ruler again they made vertical lines, about 7 or 8, depends on the size of your paper.

They cut from the fold along these vertical lines until they reached the STOP line.

I demonstrated weaving on a giant piece of paper and then they started their own.

We talked about the pattern and how it should look like a checkerboard as each new strip is opposite to the one before.

You end up with something like this.

Now fold a green piece of paper in half.

Using templates trace the half pumpkin shape on the fold.

Cut out your window.

Using glue stick or white glue,  glue the green sheet in place over the weaving.

You can then trim the excess if needed.

Using black paper scraps make your face and add a stem to the top.








Branch Weaving:

I collected all the branch looms before the project.  I find Red Dogwood branches to be the best. I trim a branch and then loop into a circle right away.  I tend to only do this project in the Fall when I'm trimming out branches and they are still pliable.

Let them sit for a few days before weaving.

I made this little video to show you how to string the loom.  I did this ahead of time before we started this project.  I just use regular household string.

With the masking tape put each child's name on their loom.  They select their first colour and you tie on about a 30 inch piece of yarn to the first string.

With the masking tape put some tape on the other end to stop the yarn from unraveling as they are weaving.

They begin using the same pattern as the paper weaving...under, over, under, over.

The biggest difference between yarn weaving and paper weaving is when we get to the end of a row we turn around and continue back.

They had to do at least 5 rows before they could switch to another colour.  I like to knot it off and then tie on another colour.  That way my rows are just one colour and not 1/2 and 1/2.

Here is some of the student work in process.

Great work Grade 1.

Gail