William Morris inspired watercolors and tiles

Last week was the start of spring break here and I ran two camps, one at the studio and another through the North Vancouver Community Arts Council.

I thought I would alternate each day this week with a post from the camps and am starting with the studio camp called, "An Artist a Day"

We started the week by looking at the art of William Morris. Each student had the opportunity to look at William Morris's work and discover just how he created his beautiful designs. I showed them textiles, wallpapers, tiles, and his watercolors.

I believed they were hooked the minute they heard the title, "Strawberry Thief".

william morris, strawberry thief

I had the students divide their sketch paper into fourths and we discussed symmetry. By dividing the paper into fourths, they could clearly see a center point and then work out trying to mirror their drawings on both sides.

Some of the sketches are stunning finished artworks no less.

8 year old

8 year old

11 year old

You can see from the sketches, the girls fully embraced the strawberry. They also took some great notes on how William Morris created some of his natural elements and figured out ways to incorporate them into their own original designs.

6 year old

However it was not necessary.

I quite like the way this very young artist grasped the idea of symmetry in her artwork, not quite the same but the same subjects.

8 year old

When the students were happy with their sketch, they transferred it onto watercolor paper using a piece of carbon. Then went over their marks with permanent black marker.

8 year old

Then the real fun began as they began to add the watercolors. I stressed starting light with the washes and building up their colors as they progressed.

8 year old

This not only made a huge difference to their finished work but also added to their enjoyment of  discovery as they observed what happened when layering color over color.

6 year old

The above artist absolutely LOVES mixing color and was so excited with each new combination she made.

11 year old

Because each student mixed everything themselves from just the primary colors.

9 year old

Just marvel at the line work in those trees. This artist spent so. much. time. working on those trees. I am quite honestly amazed that she wasn't still working on them at the end of the week. The patience and focus she had while working was quite impressive.

Once they had finished their watercolors, I brought out some air dry clay. 

I encouraged each girl to look at their drawings and pick some of the elements out they liked the most to create a tile to hang on their walls inspired by the tiles William Morris had created among his artworks.

strawberries

If we had done nothing else to them, they would of been quite beautiful finished pieces.

They were lovely all laid out together while drying.

There were lots of strawberries on tiles

A sweet little red bird.

And some much needed sunshine! Have I mentioned we have not seen the sun here in quite some time?! 

William Morris was a great way to kick off the first day of camp. I think each camper truly enjoyed the opportunity to create their own work inspired by him. I would not mind having some wallpaper and tiles to put up in my home created by the artwork made in the studio to be truthful.

I'm so looking forward to warm spring days and fresh strawberries to pick off the vine. Until then I'll just have to enjoy looking at them with these sweet little tiles.