animal prints

As the Wednesday class was finishing their flower acrylic project the week before, I asked them if there was anything they might like to do in next week's class.

Without hesitation they remarked, "Printmaking!"

Great.

Then I asked them if there was anything in particular they wanted to use for subject matter and again, they quickly shouted, "Animals!"

So on Wednesday, the class worked on an animal printmaking project.

This is a full class and printmaking can always be a little chaotic at the best of times and unfortunately I am under the weather with a nasty chest cold.

So when coming up with a project, I needed to keep in mind what I felt like I could successfully handle also while meeting the children's request. I decided to keep things simple and have them create lino prints.

Each child created a line drawing of an animal of their choice and transferred it onto a piece of styrofoam. Once complete, they were able to choose from a variety of color choices to ink on the plate (color was decided democratically as a class)

sketches used for transferring onto styrofoam plates

It was a great night. Even the youngest children could complete each stage of the task on their own. As they were finishing up, I asked them to put their two favorite prints on the table for me to mount once dry. I found it interesting which ones they picked vs. which ones I would have picked. I couldn't resist adding a couple of others to mount as I was cleaning up.

8 year old, sea turtle

I think this is a stunning color, she made it herself when inking the plate by combining several of the choices together.  

She has done the same with this purple print and I think she created a sense of viewing the turtle in the sea perfectly!

How darling is this panda bear created by a ten year old? Don't you just want to hug it?

Here's a close up of one of her bears.

I like the way this seven year old artist blocked the color on each side of her animal. 

Each child also started off with doing a print in black and white to make sure they were happy with all their details. If not, they could wash the plate and add some more lines. In many cases, the kids liked their simple black and white prints the best.

I love the thought process used when creating the above artwork. The artist used a reference picture of a dog standing on a chair at the inside window of a house, waiting for it's owner to come home. The artist asked me if she could put the dog in another environment, which I wholeheartedly encouraged her to do.

I absolutely love that this dog seems to be dreaming of becoming a wolf, howling at the moon, reminding every viewer to dream big!

9 year old, dog

Then there is this six year old artist, who I think sketch three of four different animals before finally creating this most adorable panda portrait. I so admired her tenacity and positive attitude as she worked to create an animal she was very happy with.

6 year old, panda portrait

How sweet is this lion cub sunning itself on a hot day in Africa? I like that she emphasized the feeling of heat with her color choices too.

10 year old, lion cub

Oh my goodness, then there is this pug! The composition and the drawing kills me, is it not to die for cute?! Those three little hairs on top of it's head! Very deliberate addition by the artist and it just makes the piece. I love how the dog looks like it is popping it's head up into frame, more than likely wanting a treat and quite indignant it is having to wait for one!

6 year old, pug

It just gets cuter when color is added too.

And finally this horse.

The artist did not pick out the patchwork inking as one of her favorites, but I loved it and couldn't resist adding it to the mix. She was quite proud of this drawing and her final work.

8 year old, horse

So much so that when there were a few minutes left at the end of class waiting for parents, she used some chalk pastels to color in her original sketch.

I have since set the chalk and mounted it for her too. How could I not? She's so proud of it.

This project went off without a hitch, despite me not feeling my best. Each child was able to work on it independently and as able to take complete ownership of their work. And that is a testament to the continued success of this printmaking project, regardless of subject matter.