needle felted owls

North Vancouver Community Arts Council has been running a series of workshops for adults called, Casual Friday Nights. They offer a variety of different workshops for adults to explore by several different instructors.

I was lucky enough to be included in this group of talented teachers and offered a program on needle felting. It was a lovely group of women, including a mother and daughter, and we had such a good time together while they learned to needle felt an owl.

I needed a project that could be completed in the two hours and also run through all the basic techniques so that if they enjoyed needle felting, they would be confident enough to do a project on their own.

Although each woman, or young woman in the case of the 14 year old, had the same pattern but I love how each creation takes on it's own personality.

Each woman started by creating a felted ball in white. This was a great way for them to just get comfortable with the process of stabbing the roving and sculpting with the needle. They then added the brown to the ball which required them to learn how to control how they added roving.

Once they had the ball covered in the brown as they wanted, I showed them how to make the ears and wings and then attach them to the ball. Then next step was adding color for the eyes onto the ball and then sculpting the beak directly onto the face. By the time the women were to this point, adding the spots was easy and they really didn't need any direction from me anymore.

They all seemed quite pleased with their owls as they left at the end of the evening. Each woman went home with her needles and my hope they pursue this art form in the future. 

bird pastel drawings

As the "Birds of a Feather" camp came to an end, I found we were left with more time than I expected. What to do that would not need time to dry as there was not enough time before pick up.

That morning we had completed these paper-mache 'egg' sculptures with a watercolor diorama inside.

The kids had worked so hard figuring out how to build the inside of these eggs, then create all the components and paint them, that I just wanted to give them something they could relax as the week came to an end.

So I brought out some black pastel paper, which always peaks everyone's attention, and the chalk pastels. I told them they could draw anything they wanted and gave a quick example on how to be successful with the medium. 

8 year old

7 year old

7 year old

I was quite pleased to see the above artist utilize the line lessons we had done in this bird. It is always so rewarding to see kids apply a skill on their own in another project that was focused on in a pervious one.

6 year old

This penguin is swimming fast under water. Do you see the water bubbles coming off his back? I love the way this little artist used line to create the water to convey speed, along with "blurring" the edges of the bird. 

9 year old

5 year old

9 year old

7 year old

6 year old

8 year old

6 year old

I love the pattern in this work along with the black and white color palette. Every choice the artist made in this work is "just right". I was so excited to watch her develop this piece. I just love the composition.

6 year old

I'd say the kids ended the week on a high note, these works are so wonderful. This project ended literally at the same time the first parent arrived for pick up. Birds were a wonderful focus for a variety of fun projects that made the week "fly" by. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Scratch Art birds

8 year old

I've decided that birds and Scratch Art are a great way to teach students about line. This discovery was quickly made during the "Birds of a Feather" spring break camp at North Vancouver Community Arts Council when I had the kids create these beautiful birds.

To be truthful, I figured this would be a project the kids flew through based on their age. It was a very young camp, over half the class was 7 and under years of age.

7 year old

I could not of been more wrong. They LOVED the scratch art and asked to do more once they finished the first. This project ended up keeping the kids engrossed for almost two hours! It probably helped that there was a hidden surprise that I didn't even know about at first. The papers revealed a variety of different color underneath.

7 year old

I used one package of paper containing ten sheets for a class of twelve students. I cut each paper in fourths, thinking the smaller size would be less intimidating to fill with line and also result in a finished work. (when thinking they would probably not spend much time creating the art)

7 year old

9 year old

9 year old

Although they surprised me with the level of engagement they had with this project, I'm still glad I had cut the paper into fourths so I had plenty for each child to create several birds.

Each child had access to a lot of reference material on birds. I asked them to pick one that caught their fancy and really study the many directions of the birds' feathers and then record that on their paper using a bamboo skewer.

7 year old

6 year old

6 year old

I also highlighted the different shape of line that they could utilize to create texture and direction. Then really my only job became to make sure each child got a new sheet of paper when needed and that they put their names on the finished pieces.

As you can see I did not always succeed at my one and only job, getting their names on the paper, as I have no idea who created the beautiful green bird.......

6 year old

5 year old

How sweet are the wings created by this five year old? I love the way he interpreted line to create his bird.

7 year old

One thing we did learn however was greasy hands from snack time did not mix well with the paper. A few of the kids had to go and give their hands another washing and start with a new piece of paper as dirty finger marks seemed to hinder getting the scratch marks to reveal the underneath color.

6 year old

I love when projects pleasantly surprise me. I love when the kids get so involved in a project that you can just sit back and watch them excitedly share what they are learning with one another. 

9 year old

The kids were so proud of their works that I promptly took them back to my studio and spent the evening mounting each one for them to take home. It seemed only appropriate that the works look their best after the artists had such a wonderful time creating them.

8 year old

At the end of this project, I was so pleased with the entire process that I promptly went out and filled my own studio with packages of this paper for future projects.

8 year old

Who could blame me?

liquid watercolor birds

The campers in "Birds of a Feather" had a fun time exploring liquid watercolors one morning. I love the rich coloring the kids get using this medium.

6 year old

I had the kids start this artwork by exploring blind contour drawing. Always a little scary at first when they realize they cannot see the paper, but on the whole creates a lot of giggling when they see the final results. This time they created the drawing using water-soluble graphite.

6 year old

I love the use of blind contour drawing to get the first marks on the paper. It usually results in a drawing they would of never made otherwise and the students always have the opportunity to draw into the work and change anything they are unhappy with in the initial drawing.

7 year old

7 year old

When they were happy with their drawing, I handed out a palette of liquid watercolor in only the primary colors. I gave a quick tutorial on how to mix the colors to create their own array of colors and also showed them a couple of techniques they could do with watercolor, such as scratching, blotting and the ever popular adding salt.

6 year old

8 year old

9 year old

The water-soluble graphite added some nice tones to the color when the water hit it. I had not told the kids the graphite reacted with water and it was fun to watch their reactions as they made the discovery.

6 year old

7 year old

I have yet to meet a student who does not like exploring this medium. It is always exciting to watch them learn through process with this medium and I truly enjoy listening to them share with each other discoveries they make while creating art.

9 year old

Once the paintings were dry, I gave each child the opportunity to use a permanent marker if they wanted to highlight some lines.

5 year old

And then we called them works complete. They were each so proud of what they created during this process. But most importantly, they had a great time exploring liquid watercolor while creating these marvelous birds.