MaryMaking: January 2015

Friday, January 30, 2015

Random Acts of Creativity

Alcohol Ink Tiles with Metal Embossing

We combined alcohol ink tiles and metal embossing for a twist

on Jim Dine Heart pieces. The tiles were a big hit a couple years

ago at my daughter's 11th birthday party here.

Directions for tiles can be found here.

With a couple coats of Krylon Crystal Clear spray

these tiles can make great trivets or coasters.

Metal Tooling with Metallic Marker Borders

My piece is being gifted to my Mom and Dad

My students and I experimented with metal repousse or embossing on small squares of aluminum. I was inspired by this project from Georgetown Elementary Art Blog. We used dull pencils and ballpoint pens to create designs. We had the option of adding ink to our pieces or flipping them over to use the reverse raised side. It was a medium that my tween students and I thoroughly enjoyed. I offered pieces of black square construction paper and metallic markers to continue or add to their metal designs.

Gelatin Printing

The girls enjoyed experimenting with nature gelatin prints inspired by this post from Cassie Stephens.

They unanimously agreed that the "ghost" prints, (after the leaves were removed) were the most interesting, resembling x-rays.

A special thanks to my Tuesday afternoon group of girls! It was fun exploring new media with you!

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Moonlit Giraffe Portraits

My kindergarten through 2nd graders looked at the illustrations by Guy Parker-Rees in the book Giraffes Can't Dance. They created their up-close giraffes using the wet on wet technique with liquid watercolors. Using all sides of their paper, they were encouraged to create a detailed jungle background of leaves, vines, flowers and a full moon in oil pastels. They could see how it resisted the blue watercolor that was then painted for the night sky. Last, they added stars with acrylic using the backs of their paint brushes.

1st grade

Kinder

1st grade

Kinder

Thursday, January 22, 2015

March of the Penguins

Ella, 1st grade

Reese, 1st grade

Aven, Kinder

Campbell, Kinder

Izzy, Kinder

Jolie, Kinder

Kaden, 2nd grade

Kate, Kinder

Lauren, Kinder

My classes looked at the illustrations in the children's book, Solo by Paul Geraghty. It's the story of a young penguin who is left alone in the icy Antarctic for the first time. My students drew their penguins on pale pink construction paper so they could see their white chalk pastel shading for the penguin face and body. Heads were done in Sharpie or charcoal. Since a little goes a long way with charcoal, I had my young students keep the charcoal stick on the table and just run their pointer finger along it to add shadows. This prevented penguins that were completely smudged in black. For the backgrounds, snow beneath their feet was painted with white and pale blue acrylic and sky with liquid watercolor and salt (always a crowd pleaser). The last touch before their cut penguins were glued to their backgrounds was a splattering of watered down white acrylic to create a snowy atmosphere. Nice job kids!

Miss Mary

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Denise Fleming Inspired Collages

"Bear sniffed once. She sniffed twice. 'I smell winter in the air' said bear. 'It is time to crawl in my cave and sleep. But first I must tell snail."

My group of mostly kindergarten students looked at the art of Denise Fleming in her beautiful book Time To Sleep. Her pulp painting illustrations are full of rich autumn hues showing the animals of the forest getting ready to settle down for a winter nap. I wanted to focus on the texture aspect of Fleming's art and also create a tactile focused art lesson for my young group.

I had the children create textured paper for their trees and leaves with sponges and acrylics. They created their bears with sponge brushes and even q-tips on orange construction paper to create a painterly effect. All components were cut out and glued to a yellow, orange and gold sponge painted background. And last they used leaf stamps to add more autumn leaves.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Children's Book Inspired Art Lessons

According to my husband and daughter, I am a bit of a children's book hoarder. I do cherish my collection of books, some with copyright dates well before my birth year (1967). I am grateful to my Mom for signing me up for The Weekly Reader Book Club which ignited my love of children's book illustrations.

Last week I began a new class, Children's Book Art Fun, where my students are creating art inspired by various illustrators. I told my young group that when I go to the library or book store, I can't pass a chance to discover some beautiful new picture books. Below you will find some of my students' art work inspired by various children's books and their illustrators from the past 5 years of teaching (with links to the original post). Stay tuned for more!