pet oil pastels

As we came to the end of the week of the Pets-n-Art summer camp, I decided to do something a little different. All week long the kids had been using some print outs from the computer of their pet photographs for reference.

Why not use them again to create oil pastels?

And when I say use them, I mean literally use them.

Violet.  10 year old

Starting with the black and white print outs of their pets, each child began to add the oil pastel on top.

Aussie. 7 year old

Aussie. 5 year old

Some kids decided to use "crazy colors" on their pets and in the above picture, I took a moment to explain complimentary colors as an option for their work. Unlike my own kids, this child listened to me in the end and gave it a try. Although as I have said before, I always stress to the kids that my suggestions are just that, suggestions, and they are free to decide whether or not they use them.

Colby. 5 year old

As they started their works, I asked them to pay attention to the different directions the lines on the fur of their pets moved and try to make their drawing strokes follow the same direction. 

Sandy. 9 year old

And as usual, I stressed for them to add more than one layer of color to blend and make their own unique color palette on the paper.

Parapete. 4.5 yerra old

Parapete. 8 year old

Parapete. 7 year old

I had printed off some pictures of the studio bird, Parapete the Parakeet, also because he had been such a big hit with the kids all week. A couple of kids were quite excited to use the pictures to create their artwork. I love how each child made the same picture their own.

Duffy. 9 year old

They seemed to really enjoy working on this project. And I think they found it interesting to see that although they were working directly on a photo of their pet, as they began to add their marks the work became an original piece instead of just "copying".

Q-Bert. 7 year old

I even found a picture of Q-Bert on google to print out. How could I not? Every single project for this child had centered on the character, it seemed like a crime if this project didn't too.

Fiddy. 9 year old

Although I had printed out a couple of extra pictures of his family dog for him in case he wanted to use it for this project like his older brother. Not surprising, he declined. But how cute is Fiddy as a puppy sitting under the table?! 

Pushka. 5 year old

I was quite happy in the end with this project. Not because I was happy with the final results, which I was, but because it was a great lesson for the kids to see the importance of line direction in their works of art. Something I am always stressing whenever they are painting or drawing but a concept that is not always easy to grasp.

Krystal. 7 year old

However with this project, by george they got it.