mixed media birds- acrylic and printmaking

After starting an Instagram account called Kudzu Art Studio, https://instagram.com/kudzuartstudio/,
to share all the amazing works of art being created by the students, I came across an amazing studio in Sidney Australia called, "the kid creative".

If you are on Instagram, have a look here.https://instagram.com/thekidcreative/

There were these amazing mixed media artworks that were so impressive I sent a note asking how they had been created. The instructor graciously wrote back to me and generously shared the techniques she had used to create the works of art.

I could not wait to give this project a try with the students in the Monday class.

Although the original project had used magazine pictures of landscapes, I had the students in my class paint a landscape (or flower) using acrylic paints.

Again, I they were given only primary colors, black, white, and burnt umber. They worked out their composition on the acrylic paper using charcoal.

This was an interesting process for them since the paper was an unusual size at 3.5x12. When they finished their paintings, I handed each student a styrofoam square.

On a piece of copy paper, I asked them to draw a bird using only interesting lines. Then they taped the drawing on top of the styrofoam that I had already taped to the table and traced over their marks.

After making sure they had traced all the lines, the students took off their drawings, retraced over their lines on the styrofoam to make sure they were well indented and then made some prints using white ink on black paper.

11 year old

9 year old

7 year old

After making sure they were all happy with the results of the prints on the black paper, we took another sheet of black paper and glued the acrylic painting they had created to the right side.

They then printed on top of the work, again using the white ink.

The results are stunning!

9 year old

During this project, I learned that the above artist really enjoys landscape painting. He got completely lost in the work and got a beautiful result. He was quite deliberate in the placement of his print as he did not want it to cover up the water that he was so proud of painting.

11 year old

This student started with painting flowers. When it came time to create her bird, she asked if it was OK to do her bird flying. As always, the decisions are always theirs and so I told her to go for it if that is what she wanted to do. I was not sure what the end result would look like since it varied from my vision of the project, but that makes it all the more interesting. In the end, the result was beyond marvelous! Without it being her intention, the bird looks like it is collecting nectar from the flowers. Such a wonderful example of trusting your gut and being courageous enough to just "see what happens". I'm so proud of her and her art.

7 year old

And then there is this little guy. Oh my word, those are a lot of eggs surrounding the bird. She is going to have her hands full when they all hatch! (The first one on the far right has just hatched by the way.)

This artist spent a long time on his painting, paying particular attention to a stair pathway in the forest. However unlike the first artist, he wasn't too concerned about how much of it showed when placing his print on the paper. And so great that he didn't because it actually looks like the branch from his print is connected to the painted tree thanks to his decision on placement.

The students finished these works in a 90 minute class, however left them in the studio to dry. When Tuesday's class came, they were quite taken with them and also wanted to do the project. 

Interestingly though, they only finished the acrylic painting in a 90 minute class. So it goes with the personality make up of different groups of children. I can't wait to share with you their work once it is complete.

I love these works. I'm so excited for the kids as they loved them too. What is even more exciting is that I sent a thank you to the instructor in Australia when I posted these on Instagram. She responded and we are now looking to collaborate together with our students in the future on a work. 

Won't that be a great experience for the kids? Getting to know new friends from the other side of the world through art?  I could not be more excited about the opportunity for myself and my students.

All started by some sweet mixed media works starring birds.

Audubon inspired birds

We are finished with all things pumpkin and skeletons in the studio. (except for the 10 year old birthday party this coming weekend on Sugar Skulls!)

But for the rest of the students we are moving on from Halloween inspired artwork.

That does not mean I am still not secretly focusing on the wonders of line.

Most of the classes are working on bird pieces of one kind or another since feathers are a great opportunity to explore different line qualities and interpretations. I started by showing the kids a small book I have of John James Audubon's entire collection of works. I shared with them how he went about recording the birds and the importance of his work then, as it gave people a chance to see birds they otherwise would of never seen, and historically, as we now have visual recordings of birds that are now extinct. (Dodo bird, I talking about you)

What I didn't expect was for the conversation to take a sharp left turn when I mentioned the after studying the birds in the wild, Audubon would then kill one, stuff it and take it back to the studio to put into different positions to do more detail artwork.....which led to a lot of questions as to why they would have to shoot the birds, which lead to a discussion on photography in this time period, which somehow led to the dead bird I have in the studio freezer to use for reference. 

And no, I would not be bringing it out since I did not have each child's parent consent to do so and some, like myself when young, might find it upsetting to see a dead bird even if it does look to just be sleeping.

Lord have mercy, one day I will learn to expect the unexpected with kids.

So after a somewhat lengthy discussion, we began to work.  Using a 12X15 piece of watercolor paper taped to the back of an even larger pad of paper, I had each child choose a bird reference and handed them a pencil stuck through a paper plate.

I then introduced blind contour drawing and asked them to not lift their pencil up from the paper. I also asked them to draw their bird very large.  I assured them that by the time we were done, this drawing would not be very visible and the pencil lines would just become interesting marks.

I did this step because it is impossible for the kids to get to caught up in doing finicky sketches and each and every one of them had a shape on the paper that allowed them to create their bird very easy.

I then gave each child a water-soluble graphite. The graphite was much softer than the pencil and so it created a much darker line.  I asked them to start putting in some of the dark areas they saw on their reference.  Then using water and a paintbrush, they got to work softening those lines.  At this point, they also put their work on a small easel so that the paint could drip and do interesting, uncontrollable things.

7 year old, in process

As you can see, if we had stopped right there they would have had a very lovely take home piece of work. However I really wanted the kids to explore lots of different materials for line making.

8 year old, in process

So I handed them some vine charcoal and told them to add more details to their birds.  And when they finished that I brought out some india ink, a paintbrush, and their all time favorite tool, old fashion fountain pens.  

Finally for those that wanted it, I brought out white chalk and black and white oil pastels.

They explored the different values they could attain with the india ink using the paintbrush and then got to work using the fountain pen to add small detail feather work.  Each time I gave them a new material, I asked them to focus a little more on adding in all the details of the birds.

8 year old, grey African parrot

Because they had to figure out a new detail to add with each material, the end results are quite amazing for their ages.  

I have made some tonal viewfinders out of cardboard and duct tape that I brought out to help them see the different values to add into their works.  This helped them immensely while working only in black and white.

7 year old, flying Macaw

The ever changing materials kept the project very interesting.  

"What was next?!"  

And then it was quite exciting to figure out how to use the new material into the artwork. I truly did not hear an "I'm done" until they were really quite done. They were totally into this project and the exploration of materials.  I left everything out so they could go back at anytime and add more of something they felt their work needed.

I loved how the artist below surprised himself with this work. He was so proud of his bird and I don't blame him. 

8 year old, African parakeet

The two oldest students in the class chose to create their birds using scratch art.  I asked them to start at the eye and work out from there, paying attention to how the feather lines changed as they moved further away from the eye. 

After working on the skeleton etchings, http://doodlebugdabblings.blogspot.ca/2015/11/spooky-etchings-without-press.html, they had a great understanding on how to create value using this medium and got some great pieces.

10 year old

The below student was so pleased with the head of her bird, she did not want to continue any further out of fear she might ruin it. I think it is a lovely piece where she chose to finish it and think the entire bird might of lost something in the composition.  

10 year old

As much as the girls enjoyed creating their work in scratch art, watching the other kids do an exploration of materials for their birds looked like lots of fun and so now they are also working on the above project.  They will finish it next week and it is interesting to see how different their works are even though they are both doing Toucans.  

I can't wait to share it with you then.

spooky etchings without a press

This summer while in Amsterdam, we visited Rembrandt's home.

To be truthful I figured it would be more of a tourist trap and less than inspiring, but my husband and I have been through the museums of Amsterdam a good dozen times so thought something new was in order.

I was so pleasantly surprised by the house, yes, at times it is a bit of a tourist trap but then you get to the second floor where Rembrandt's studio would of been and I could of spent all day there.

And I do mean all day as they had an expert on hand who has studied Rembrandt's traditional ways of mixing paint and was recreating them right in front of you.  His extensive knowledge on Rembrandt's painting techniques and techniques of that period was so impressive and quite interesting.

I have lots of ideas for the high school class on some of the things I learned but this post is about the elementary classes and the project idea I was inspired to try from Rembrandt's house for them.

The house has a huge collection of Rembrandt's etchings. They are quite beautiful and I left Amsterdam wondering how I could present this to the students without a studio press.

And most importantly how to do it at home, should they choose, without breaking the piggy bank.

Using heavy acetate, I cut a square for each child on my cutting board. Then I brought out the scratching tools we use for scratch art, I wasn't sure if it would work, but it worked amazing.

7 year old

I then brought out all my skeleton/mummy reference I have collected from old National Geographic magazines.

Each child choose an image before getting started, like Rembrandt, I asked them to scratch out all the darkest areas first.

8 year old

I then showed them how varying space between the lines would create different value.

10 year old

I think the students found it very relaxing to scratch into the acetate once they realized they didn't have to scratch hard and creating their etching held their attention for much longer than I expected.

9 year old

When finished, we covered the plate in black water-based printing ink and they rubbed off the excess with a paper towel. Then using either cut watercolor or bristol paper, they lightly sprayed some water on the surface of the paper, wiped it off with a clean sponge and laid the wet side of the paper over their plate.

10 year old

Using a clean brayer, they rolled over their plate until they could begin to see the edges of the plate through the paper, pulled the print, and voila!

10 year old

The best part of the project was watching the kids experiment with the printing process.

What happened when they didn't rub off all the ink from the plate?

10 year old

What happened when there was too much water on the paper?  Or not enough?

8 year old

What happened when they put light pressure or heavy pressure when rolling the brayer to make the print?

10 year old

And finally what happened when you printed on watercolor paper vs. bristol paper?

11 year old

It was interesting to see each child work out the results they wanted and some kids had upwards to 25 prints experimenting for their "favorite three".

7 year old

The results have to be some of my all time favorites to come out of the studio.  Yes, they are quite creepy and spooky.  But I loved them so much I asked each child if they would pull a print for me or let me pull a print off their plate when finished so I can frame them to put out in the studio each October.

7 year old

I will have to do the project again later in the year with bunnies or some other cute animal for the parents to make up for the creepiness of these prints.  They are all so beautiful I am going to overwhelm you with pictures in this post.

8 year old

10 year old

There is absolutely no way I could choose just one when the results were this great.

7 year old

I mounted each child's favorite three prints on 4X6 paper.  A couple of children created something a little larger, but for the most part each print mounts nicely on this size.

10 year old

I am so glad we took a chance visit to Rembrandt's house in Amsterdam.  I'll be using this project his house inspired for years to come.