Il Sung Na Inspirations

animal shapes with some delicate black line details

Savannah, sponge painting her sky background

Savannah's composition, techniques and ideas were entirely her own.

She did a wonderful job pulling elements from Na's work.

From Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit

My school year classes have ended, but I am gearing up for some wonderful themed art classes this summer. One of these themes is Children's Book Art. We will be creating artwork based on children's book illustrations, as well as creating are own inspirations for poems, cartoons or short stories.

One of the illustrators we will be looking at is Il Sung Na, of Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit, A Book of Sleep, and The Thingamabob. His work is both ethereal and whimsical... and just plain beautiful! I wanted to highlight his animals, which are simple in shape, but have gorgeous details and textures.

To create our artwork we will use a combination of acrylics, thin Sharpie, white gel marker, colored pencil and scrapbook paper. Simple animal shapes are cut out of decorative scrapbook paper. My daughter and I created our backgrounds with acrylics and sponges or cotton balls to create a textured base. Details (Na's work is full of gorgeous little details and surprises) can be added with thin Sharpie and gel makers. Additional color can be added with colored pencils on top of the acrylic paint. I will post my classes' Il Sung Na inspired artwork later in the summer.

Ancient Egyptian Royalty

Even Egyptian Queens have to smile sometimes

Some of my first graders created an Egyptian Queen or King self portrait for their last project of this session. I adapted this project from one I saw on Artsonia. We looked at art of the ancient Egyptian royalty for inspiration. In the past I have had the children paint their faces (computer printed profiles) with a watered down white wash to age the artwork. My daughter paused and said, "I think the parents would like to see their children's faces." Good point Savannah! I took her advice on this one. They painted a gold border and created designs for their head dress and tunic using oil pastels. Each child wrote their name using Egyptian Hieroglyphics. And of course no pharaoh would be complete without the signature black eyeliner. Some kids really went to town with their Sharpies!

Mexican Amate Bark Paintings

In honor of Cinco de Mayo several weeks ago, my classes created artwork inspired by Mexican Amate Bark paintings. I've seen these on a number of blogs including Deep Space Sparkle. Some children used grocery bag paper and others construction paper. I had originally planned to have them crinkle them up to mimic the look of the fig and mulberry bark that is boiled and then beaten. But some of their work is so delicate, I thought it looked better as is. They created a decorative border first with Sharpie and then added some stylized birds which are a favorite subject matter in this folk art. I fully admit, I have been a little bird crazy lately. Fortunately, no one seemed to mind. They used bright colored acrylics to finish their pieces. Because the paper was fairly thin, I mounted their work on brightly colored poster board. These pieces were created by 5 and 6 year olds.

Clay Birds on Driftwood

I just love this beauty made by a 1st grader. Gorgeous work Talia!

Cool Pop Art Bird Daniella

Matthew (6) knew he wanted to create a red cardinal

(I gave my bird some wire feet, but opted to leave this step out for the kids)

Air Dry Clay birds ready for paint and perches

Driftwood

I was inspired by the gorgeous clay birds on wood at New City Arts. Minus a kiln, we used air dry clay. I showed the children a basic method for creating their bird, pinching the beak with their thumb and forefinger. Some chose to add wings and some texture. Shannah had some gorgeous pieces of reclaimed wood for her 2nd graders' birds. In lieu of these, my daughter and I took a walk along the shore and scored some really wonderful pieces of driftwood. (Talk about a fun task!) This week the children painted their birds and chose their wood perches. A coat of Mod Podge gave them a nice glossy finish and finally they were glue-gunned to the driftwood. These were created by children ages 5-10. I encouraged them to use real birds to inspire their paint choices. But they were allowed to create a fantasy bird if they chose to. I love that everyone had their own unique vision.

Book Drawing Winners

My first order of business for Mother's Day morning was to draw my book giveaway winners. Thank you to all of you for your comments and feedback. It's greatly appreciated!

So the winners are:

For the Usborne books: Kasey

and for Kaleidoscope: zoogarden36

(I will email you both to get your addresses)

Thanks again everyone and Happy Mother's Day!

Burger and Dogs

No cheese! just like my kids :)

pooch with a pipe cleaner leash

I've felt I really need to step up my 3-D art game. 2 dimensional art is admittedly my comfort zone. But of course kids love to create tangible forms. So my 3rd thru 5th graders did some paper mache dogs I found in this great little book I scored at a yard sale. (Oh, how I love to go "saleing") They were created with just newspaper and tape and a flour and water paper mache mix. This was a fun, messy and challenging project for the kids. But the burger? Well, one student was really wanting to do a fast food art project. (My apologies Jamie Oliver). So he formed his burger with the same simple materials. (I wish my photo better showed his spattering of painted sesame seeds.)

more 3D art to come.....clay birds