Scratch - Art Action Animals

Toby E

Hannah Y

Scratch-Art Action Animals - We loved this!! Although some of the kids had doubts when it came to covering their entire picture with black oil pastel, it was a real 'wow!' moment as we scratched it away to reveal the picture beneath!

'Action Animals' are drawn with thick black marker on 120gsm paper, using large flat shapes and little or no detail. Then the entire page is coloured heavily with crayon or oil pastel, taking care to leave no white areas, and using light bright colours that contrast well with the black. I also encourage students to use multiple colours in each flat area. Then a coat of solid black goes over everything.
The black is scratched away, revealing the colours and line drawing beneath.

Adapted from this lesson at Art Projects for Kids :)

Articulated Scarecrows ...

Our Scarecrows this week are in anticipation of the Mary Valley Scarecrow Festival which starts this weekend - it makes a lovely family afternoon drive into the Hinterland to see the clever and often humorous creations!

Created with cardboard and wax crayons, these are really lots of fun.

We started with a basic body template, to which the kids added their scarecrow's head, hands, feet, tatty clothing etc.

I drew the template in pencil before scanning it so that the resulting line is a light grey colour - subtle enough for the kids to change easily as they add their scarecrow's features.
We added strong colour with wax crayon, cut them out and pinned them together at the joints.

The final step is to glue them to the background, applying glue only to the head and torso so that the arms and legs can still move freely.

A Sunday Drive ....

We began by looking at some paintings by folk artist Jeanette Carlstrom, including 'House on the Hills' and (my favourite) 'Cats on a Stroll', especially noticing her use of colour, pattern and repetition. We also had some discussion about what we might see on a Sunday drive around our local area - including The Big Pineapple, strawberry farms, the ocean from the coast road (including dolphins, whales etc as this is whale migration season), Australia Zoo, the Ettamogah Pub and a host of other local landmarks.

We began by building a series of layered hills from the bottom of the page up. Over the hills we drew a winding road through the countryside that we filled with repetitive patterns.

After retracing all our lines in black marker we coloured all the solid shapes with wax crayon before painting the entire picture with watercolour.

I found it easiest with this particular project to set up a paint station for each colour, with the kids moving freely from colour to colour. This keeps the colours clean and makes cleaning up a breeze!

Thanks Amy at Artful Artsy Amy for her inspirational lesson idea :)

This painting was a lot of fun, and the students all did a fabulous job!

Paddy Art Class #2 Goldfish

We recently installed a lovely large fish tank in Pademelon, full of beautiful goldfish. The residents love to watch the flashes of gold as the fish swim in and out of the foliage and rock decorations.
(Pademelon is the secure dementia facility where my Mum is a resident.)

Since starting the art activities at Paddy, I've been steadily learning more about the residents - their capacity to stay on task, and to listen to, comprehend and follow instructions is severely limited. As the dementia progresses, these capabilities diminish further.

I am learning to modify my expectations, not of the residents artistic endeavours, but my own goals for each session ....

When I work with children I would not dream of touching their work without their consent, and then only briefly to demonstrate a technique or to help them understand an elusive concept. When I am with the Paddy residents we often work on their piece together, even with me guiding their hand.

As an art teacher, I have quite strong views about 'colouring in' sheets. I rarely use templates, and then only when the goal of the lesson is quite separate from the basic drawing and our time is so limited that I have little choice. But if presented with a blank page, my elderly dementia sufferers are lost, even if I place a pencil in their hand.

With my art students, the lesson is all about developing new skills and building on previous learning. At Paddy it is about maintaining skills that are fast disappearing. What is important from their sessions is not necessarily the end result (a completed work of art that is all their own work), but rather the social process of being there - enjoying the feel of the materials, marvelling at the lovely colour combinations, having a laugh, and feeling good about what they have accomplished.

It has taken me some time to get my head around this, and to embrace the colouring sheet concept for Paddy.

For our goldfish pictures I made a colouring-sheet using Word and Clip Art. This gave my group a starting point. I gave them wax crayons to add colour (bright colours only!) Most had had enough after just a few moments, but 2 or 3 sat colouring for nearly a whole hour (June, whose picture is featured above, is one of these. She carefully selected the colours she wanted to use and sat colouring for the fish and leaves for ages!). I had planned for them to add patterns to the table cloth and perhaps a wallpaper pattern, but no-one was able to do more than colour the shapes they had on the paper. (They just do not have the fine motor skills and ability to apply pressure to get the colour strong enough.)

The real pleasure came from watching the wash of colour go on, and the transformation of their pictures with the crayon glowing in the blue wash field. There were lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' then, so I counted this activity a great success!

Going Cubist

Lily L (Yr 3)

Last week we traced photos onto acetate to create a semi-abstract self-portrait. This week we've used the same photos, but this time working directly onto the surface of the photo to abstract it using a cubist perspective.

We looked at some examples by Picasso, noticing how he sometimes shows the front and profile view of the subject within the one picture. We also talked about using color to express feelings rather than in a realistic way, and we discussed how various colors can be interpreted differently. Blue, for example, can be used to express sadness ("feeling blue"), but it is also the color of the ocean and the sky, and can be a very peaceful, calming color.

Working with black permanent markers, we drew a curved line through the center of our faces to create a profile view within the front view. We then went on to outline the main shapes of our portraits, and to add pattern to the background. Many of the kids chose to incorporate symbols that express their interests or personality in some way.

Finally we added color in a non-realistic way, again choosing colors that express something about ourselves. Some children decided to choose different colors for each side of their face to show different sides to their personalities. I love the way Lily, whose work I have displayed here, has used color and line to show that usually she is happy, but sometimes she feels sad.

We used wax crayons for this step as the colors are vibrant and luminous, while also being translucent enough to allow the black marker lines, and the shades within the photos, to show through.

I am so impressed with the finished result! The concept of abstract art can be quite a challenge for kids, but I think they have outdone themselves this week!

Initial Adventure Playgrounds 2

Kristen C

Amy H

Cheyennyn B

Caillou D F

Kate P

The last of our Adventure Playground pictures - go to my previous post Initial Playground & The Happiest Accident to see more.

Initial Playground & The Happiest Accident

Alexander K

Painting our Gremlin sculptures takes just over a half lesson, which leaves me with about 30 minutes.....

One thing all of my kids seem to love is the adventure playground. Even my year 7s often ask if they can play on the equipment during the break (sorry guys, since many kids choose to work through the break I can't be there to supervise, so it's not going to happen!)

Students start by drawing their initials large on the page, with a horizon line (if I'm especially strapped for time I will do this part prior to the lesson). Their task is to create an adventure playground using their initials as the support structure. The idea for this lesson was inspired by this idea from THe ARt Cart, many thanks!

Before they begin we brainstorm ideas - starting with usual things like swings and monkey bars, and progressing quickly to rock climbing walls, water slides, roller coasters, flying foxes and bungee jumping as their imaginations take hold!

To encourage spontaneity we are drawing directly with black biro - no pencils and erasers (to the shock/horror of many, but they are getting used to it :)  I encourage lots of detail and the inclusion of children playing on the equipment. We also have a small side discussion about the difference between using stick figures as the basis of small action figures and lazy-drawing stick figures.

Students may choose to leave their designs as black and white, or to add selective splashes of color using crayon.

Although I've used this as a 'filler' short lesson, I really like the creativity involved. There's lots of talking, but as I walk around the room what I hear is lively on-task chatter about what they are drawing, and I'm torn in different directions by kids eager to share their ideas with me.

Jake, a preppy, has put toilets at the top of his letter J, but seriously explains that if someone was too old (I think he means me!) to climb the rope ladder they could climb the rock wall on his second initial, climb over the spiky arrow things, and jump across the big gap to the toilets. Don't you just love it? (Sad that I didn't get a picture of that one!)

Another student (year 3) said to me today - "Elizabeth! I just had a Happy Accident!!"
Now keep your imaginations in check and don't laugh! - this is a genuine breakthrough for this boy, who is usually devastated when things don't turn out 'just right.' I am SO proud of him! :)

A fun lesson that inspires creativity and encourages acceptance of 'happy accidents' with a smile!

Teddy H

Juliana K

Lilly H

Mayah K

More Glasshouse Mountains in Wax Resist

Estelle T-F (Year 3)

Ethan B (Year 2)

Mackenzie R (Year 2)

Lucinda T (Year 5)

Emily H (Year 3)

Jasmin T (Year 5)

Makedde C (Year 1)

Charlotte K (Year 2)

Fatima M (Year 2)

Jake E (Prep)

Kai M (Prep)

Lily L (Year 2)

Millie A (Year 2)

Zoe K (Year 2)

Emma G (Year 4)

Harry O (Year 3)

Kate P (Year 4)

Seanea I (Year 6)

Thomas B (Year 4)

Emily W (Year 2)

Wax resist renditions of the Glasshouse Mountains on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, by my talented students! I think this lesson is improving with each group :) Visit my previous post for details about how we created our pictures, and to read about the aboriginal legend of Tibrogargan, Beerwah and Coonowrin.

Glasshouse Mountains Wax Resist 2

Mitchell O (Year 3)

Ava C (Year 3)

Bronte B (Year 3)

Lucy S (Year 3)

Kane B (Year 2)

Olivia D.W (Year 3)

Ruby D.W (Year 1)

More amazing pictures of the Glasshouse Mountains on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, by my talented Tuesday Group students! Today I placed much more emphasis on the use of curved lines to create depth and to draw the eye around the composition :) Visit my previous post for details about how we created our pictures, and to read about the aboriginal legend of Tibrogargan, Beerwah and Coonowrin.

Glasshouse Mountains

Charlotte Y (Year 5)

Bella Y (Year 3)

Jessica F (Year 6)

Sahana H (Year 3)

Benny K (Year 1)

Dylan W (Year 2)

Lucy R (Prep)

The Glasshouse Mountains are the remains of volcanoes, the central core or plug exposed through gradual weathering, rising from the coastal plain of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. They were formed more than 26 million years ago. There are 11 mountains in the group, the largest three being Tibrogargan, Mount Beerwah and Mount Coonowrin (often referred to as Crookneck). They have great cultural significance to their traditional owners, the Gubbi Gubbi people.

"In aboriginal legend, the mountains are members of a family with the father being Mount Tibrogargan and the mother Mount Beerwah. All of the other mountains are sons and daughters with the eldest being Mount Coonowrin.

Tibrogargan, the father, observed that the sea was rising and asked that Coonowrin the eldest son help their pregnant mother to safety. Terrified, Coonowrin instead fled. Infuriated by his sons cowardice Tibrogargan pursued him and struck him so hard that he dislocated Coonowrin's neck.

Once the danger passed Coonowrin felt tremendous guilt for his actions and asked his father, brothers and sisters for forgiveness but all wept with shame. This is said to explain the many small streams that flow through the area. Tibrogargan turned his back on Coonowrin and gazed out to sea refusing to look at his son Coonowrin who continues to hang his head in shame and weep." (Wikipedia)

This lesson is inspired by the painting 'Glasshouse Mtns, Sunshine Coast' by local Caloundra artist Damien Lange. I love the composition of his painting, with the mountains sitting on a curved horizon line and river flowing through the foreground. With Damien's kind permission I used his painting to discuss composition, line and movement with the students.

Our pictures are created with a wax resist using crayons and dye. We used black wax crayon to sketch in the horizon lines and mountains, then colors to add linear pattern to the mountains, river and foreground. I stressed to the kids that this was not a coloring-in picture, and discussed the use of repetitive line and pattern to create movement and interest. They were to use at least 2 colors in each area.

The pictures were then finished with a wash of sapphire blue fabric dye (thanks to Gretchen over at Gretchen's Art Blog for this idea - fabric dye gives lovely vibrant color and is a good cost-effective alternative to ink or liquid watercolor for resist work.)

I'm really impressed with what the kids have achieved with this picture! I especially love that we have been able to combine discovering some of the traditional lore of our local indigenous people the Gubbi Gubbi, with appreciation of the work of one of our local artists (thanks so much Damien!)

'Glasshouse Mtns - Sunshine Coast' - Damien Lange