green man collographs

During the Realm of the Faye art camp, I tried to introduce many different forms of folklore to the kids. With one boy in the class, I needed to make sure the week wasn't focused on just pretty princess fairies. Plus I wanted to have all the children leave with a sense of just how many marvelous different characters existed in the fairy realm of make believe.

One of the more interesting things I learned while researching all things fairy was the Green Man. I can now hardly wait to go to Europe this fall and keep my eye open for him image in the architecture throughout the ages.

His face is covered in foliage and he is seen as a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of regrowth each spring. I was amazed at the many different cultures throughout the ages who embraced this image, including images from modern day, and shared lots of different images with the kids of the Green Man.

They were equally fascinated.

I thought the graphic nature of the Green Man in architecture would be easy for the kids to interpret in printmaking. I decided to introduce a collograph project since I had so many young children in the camp.

7 year old

I started by taking some of the cardboard I always save from the back of the paper pads I buy for classes. I cut them into 4x4 squares and covering them in matte medium, giving the the opportunity to dry completely before camp started.

6 year old

The kids then spent the morning cutting shapes out of card stock and gluing them onto the cardboard. I showed them how to layer paper on top of paper to create depth to the work. They truly enjoyed this process and spent far more time than I anticipated creating their faces.

9 year old

As they began to finish, I brought out some yarn for them to add if they wanted to the works. Then in the afternoon after the kids were gone, I again covered the artworks in another layer of matte medium so it would dry before we printed with them the next day.

5 year old

I brought out green, black and gold ink for the kids to use for printmaking. Some kids did not want to print their work in black and went straight to the green. I explained to all of them that they would need to do two or three prints at first just to prime the plate before they would get a really nice one.

7 year old

Lots of discoveries were made while creating the prints. How much ink, how much pressure, how much water to add to get a nice result. While this held the interest of the older children in the camp, my observation with the younger ones was that they enjoyed creating the plates far more than they did printing with them.

6 year old

That being said, I think the Green Man had a lasting effect on the kids as you will see in tomorrow's post. It was interesting to try a different form of printmaking with the kids than I usually do and I will be anxious to take what I learned from my observations watching the children explore the process and apply it to future projects. 

watercolor leaf studies

The Artistic Nature camp created watercolor leaf studies toward the end of the week.

It was a fun project not only on line and how to use watercolor, but also composition as they resolved how to come up with an interesting design of boxes to fit onto their sheet of paper.

9 year old

Once they had figured out a combination of boxes and leaves for their paper, they first made a line drawing using a fine tip permanent black marker.

11 year old

8 year old

7 year old

Once finished they added watercolor to the work.

7 year old

We even had a bug make an appearance, which I'm not going to lie, a few made an appearance much to my chagrin on the kitchen counter right after I collected a group of different leaves from my backyard.

8 year old

A few kids cut their boxes out of the paper and played with creating their composition and gluing it down on a new sheet, but for the most part these are all created on one piece of paper.

8 year old

The kids really enjoyed working on this project. I think they liked the aspect of figuring out a puzzle and then creating these cute little watercolors.

I love the clean and graphic feel of them too. I think we were all quite surprised to really look at all the different and interesting shapes and lines of the leaves around us everyday. Something most of us never take the time to really study.

They made beautiful pieces of work.

7 year old

creating art tools from nature

During the Artistic Nature camp, I wanted the kids to have a chance to create their own mark making tools from nature.

We started by creating paint brushes from pine tree branches.

The kids really enjoyed making them and although I had only planned for each child to make one, they all made a couple and would of done more if I had not run out of branches.

It is very simple to do, I cut some small branch stems from a larger branch. The kids then pushed the pine needles upwards and tightly wound masking tape around the stem and needles until they were happy with either how loose or tight the needles were held in place.

Then they wrapped the stem all the way down to cover it so they did not get any sap on their hands.

Once they were done wrapping, they gave the pine needles a "hair cut" with a pair of scissors so it was even straight across.

Easy peasey.

I had thought we would create some trees using the brushes with some India Ink. However there is one little boy who is quite smitten with my older dog, Buddy. He is always asking for me to bring him into the studio and I had promised him I would bring him down one morning to say hello.

So when the kids entered the studio, there was my old black lab/border mix waiting to greet each of them. I think he is more popular than me with the kids if I'm truthful with myself. One thing led to another and the kids asked.....begged, if they could draw him and so instead of trees the kids painted my ol' dog Buddy.

I had collected some twigs to go with their sticks for this project and put out their brushes, twigs and a little pot of India Ink and white acrylic ink for them to use on a piece of watercolor paper.

They had a wonderful time trying to draw a living creature. Even more fun using tools far out of the norm of what they are use too.

I am amazed at how each child, using the materials and subject matter, each resolved the project in very different ways. 

I was so excited with how all of them came out, mostly because they are all so unique and are a testament to how important it is to let children just enjoy the process.

I am thrilled with how these simple nature tools expanded the creativity of these highly imaginative children.

complimentary colors and composition with acrylics

On Tuesday I had the kids create an acrylic painting inspired by our Monday hike in the woods. I told them to use something from their sketchbooks they created on Monday or they were welcome to pick from the reference files.

My goal was to focus on complimentary colors and composition for this project. I started by going over the importance of background, mid ground, and foreground.

Then we discussed complimentary colors and the idea of first doing an underpainting using them.

Finally I showed them a variety of landscape works by artist to emphasize it was not important to create a work realistically, but in their unique style.

Amongst the artist I presented, I showed a work of local Canadian artist Ross Penhall. One child was so moved by his work that she asked to spend time looking through the book I have of his pieces and then created this inspired by him.

10 year old

I had a couple of boys create eagle paintings. Once they were just about finished, I gave each of them a palette knife to have some fun creating the feathers.

8 year old

8 year old

As we were walking back to the studio on Monday, we stopped to look at a couple of crows. This was the inspiration for one boys' work. He was quite adamant about leaving a bit of his under painting showing around the eye of the bird.

8 year old

I think it came out really cool.

Somehow I missed the squirrel all the kids saw on the hike, but it was quite inspirational for a group of young girls. 

11 year old

In some cases the squirrels became chipmunks. Can't say I don't understand the lure of a cute chipmunk to paint.

7 year old

9 year old

And then finally this work. This is the sweetest little girl and so I was a little surprised when she said she was going to do a spider painting. Doubly surprised when she sketched out a huge, ominous spider to boot! Yet in the end, it is a painting as sweet and lovely as her personality thanks to her color choices. I love the juxtaposition of her palette against a not so pleasant subject matter for most viewers.

7 year old

But what I love most about the painting is her signature. I spend a few minutes going over the importance of signatures right before the kids sign their work. In this case, the kids had focused well over two hours on these paintings. They had worked really hard and I was really proud of each of them.

I talked to them about making their signatures apart of the work. That after spending so much time creating the pieces, the worse thing that could happen was them to throw their names on big at the bottom so the viewers focus went to something they spent less than 30 seconds on rather than what they spent the bulk of the morning creating. We talked about all the different ways they might write their name, script, just initials, just their first name, etc.

They all signed their works of art and I happened to look at the spider piece and caught my breath. She wrote her name in the web! For me, this was just so magical and I am so smitten with the final art. I think it is an absolutely brilliant piece because of each decision she made from start to finish.

To be honest, I'm smitten with all the art. I think the kids did a magnificent job on their acrylic paintings. The underpainting using complimentary color gives them a depth that belies the age of the children.

I'm quite proud of each of them.

Sketching in the woods

The studio was closed during the month of June getting ready for an onslaught of summer camps. The first camp started this week and is called "Artistic Nature". It is focused on creating artwork inspired by the beauty around us and in Vancouver, that is not hard to find.

On Monday, the kids spent the morning in the woods of Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver with a sketchbook in hand. I had created a "Scavenger Sketch" for each of them as a jumping off point for things to draw.

I explained that the sketchbook was something just for them to take visual notes and showed them some sketchbooks of several famous artist, including Van Gogh, Monet, and Picasso. With pencil, charcoal, and a soft graphite in hand, we took off for a morning of fun in the woods.

With no other plan for the three hours than drawing in their books, it was a very fun and relaxing morning. I am always surprised at how much kids enjoy just being in the woods sketching.

Along with sketching expansive landscape scenes, I also encouraged them to focus in on individual things too. We stopped on one of the bridges for them to sketch a bird's eye view of the canyon waters far down below.

One of the highlights of the hike were the huckleberries that are currently in season. They were consumed ferociously by all the kids as our morning came to an end. They were all quite excited to discover some bushes loaded with berries to eat.

During the week, I will encourage them to use their sketches to create final artworks although they will be more than welcome to the reference files for inspiration too. Although their books are just "notes" for them to use for information, I feel they got some really nice drawings.

There are sketches of treasures found on the forest floor,

of trees that have been strucked by lightening,

or cut for safety reasons.

 Some children found beauty in trees that have died,

while others found something beautiful in a simple weed.

And they all took on the challenge of trying some of the stairs built into the mountain side at some of the steeper grades that had the art teacher silently praying to the good Lord above as she climbed them.

It was a wonderful and magical way to start the week with a very nice group of kids and the perfect kick off for a summer full of art camps.

printmaking birthday party

I have been busy with birthday parties!  Three this month and another this weekend. I am always humbled that parents would entrust such a special day to me. It is always a treat to share in the excitement that comes along with a child's birthday.

This eight year old little girl wanted a birthday party that had something to do with nature.  I sent her mother a couple of project ideas for the child to pick from and she decided she wanted to do printmaking.

I would have loved to of taken the girls outside to collect their own leaves, but given the time constraints, collected a variety of different leaves from my yard.

 

We did A LOT of prints. Printmaking always feels like organized chaos and when you throw the energy of a birthday party into the mix, wow! Like on a roller coaster, you just kind of have to put your hands up in the air and enjoy the ride.  We did one print of just a positive and negative image of a leaf. I let the birthday girl choose the color and she picked gold. I think these came out lovely  with her color choice.

The girls also had the opportunity to create some multi-layered prints using a variety of colors. I love the abstract quality of these pieces. Here is a sampling of some of the things they created.  Needless to say, there were so many creations that I had to pick and choose or this post would of looked like "War and Peace".

birthday girl

How awesome is this above print done by the birthday girls' three year old sister?! I love that this project is something all ages can enjoy exploring with some stunning results.

Even with editing, there are so many beautiful ones I want to share with you. Isn't this side by side in color pretty?

I absolutely love the above composition the birthday girl came up with on this one. I love the color palette also.  It is quite interesting to see what happens to the inks the girls choose as they begin to combine the layers.

(once again, three year old's work!)

From the noise level and the amount of paper I went through during this party, I'm pretty confident saying the girls had a very good time.  I think the parents and I could of done with something a little stronger than apple juice at the end, but then isn't that always the case after you throw a child's party?

Happy Birthday Miss T!!!  Thank you for letting Kudzu be a part of your special day!!