Thursday, March 19, 2015

Georgia O'keeffe Flowers with Roofing Felt

 This beauty was done by a kindergarten student. Lovely Aven!













(Works are 14" X 24")

Every spring I'm usually inspired to do an O'keeffe flower lesson and I enjoy switching things up and trying different media and techniques. These great posts using roofing felt definitely inspired me to give it a whirl.The blogs Artful Artsy Amy, It is Art Day  and There's a Dragon in My Art Room each have great info on using roofing felt along with examples. Lucky for me my Mom has worked for years at her local hardware and gift store (yes, it's a Mayberry kind of town) and scored me a Big roll of the stuff. *Update: Be Sure to use natural roofing felt Not synthetic, which can contain fiber glass. 

I took a page from Phyl's book and used simple white chalk instead of soap. I might try sidewalk chalk next time with my younger students to make it easier to paint in between the lines. I had some close, cropped photos of flowers to look at, along with a book of O'keeffe's art. I showed my kinder through 2nd grade group basic ways to make a "monster sized" flower, having the petals go off the page. Below is the line drawing that Aven did of the flower at the top of my blog. Gorgeous lines and composition right?


The children had lots of acrylic colors to play with and I gave them free reign with their selections. I encouraged them to mix colors and we talked about how to create tints and shades. The main direction I gave them was to try their best to paint in between the lines rather than on them. Every line that was white now would be black in the end after a quick rinse in the sink. This media is great fun to work with and I'm looking forward to experimenting with it again.

 1st grade - Ella


 4th grade - Scott
Love your organic shapes and colors Scott!


 1st grade - Jenna


 1st grade - Reese


 1st grade - Lauren


4th grade - Delaney


1st grade - Derek

14 comments:

  1. WHOA!!!! These are SO great, Mary. They all belong in a gallery! I remember Phyl's post about lugging the roll of roofing felt home and needing help lifting it and I must admit I was daunted. That being said, after seeing your kids' work, I might relent and try this out. Your colors are fabulous!!

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  2. LOVE this!!! Great idea!! I have a roll of it and must try!

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  3. Oh wow, these are beautiful! There's just something about the quality of paints on roofing felt that I love, and these flowers were a perfect choice of subject for the medium. And thanks for the shout-out!

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  4. Thank you for the mention I'll show the guys at the store what creative things can be done with such a product. They thought I was crazy when took roofing paper home. MOM

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  5. I have no idea what roofing felt is, but my interest is certainly piqued!! These are gorgeous. It's very difficult to pick a fave, but I love #1 and #5!!!

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  6. Thanks so much for the nice comments! Phyl, I agree. It has such a wonderful quality, similar to chalk pastel on black paper or even a black underpainting technique. I would highly recommend trying it. You can do it on a smaller scale with colored pencils or oil pastels as well. Thanks so much Mom! See, I wasn't so crazy after all. ;)

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  7. Beautiful! Need to get some roofing felt soon! :)

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  8. wondering what kind / brand of acrylics you all used? this looks nice and thick?

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    1. I used just regular Craft Smart paint from Michaels.

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  9. Hi! These are GORGEOUS! Can I ask what roofing felt is? Where do I buy it? Is it expensive? Thank you so much!

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    1. Thanks very much Kristen! Roofing felt or tar paper is laid between the roof and the house to act as a moisture barrier. You can find it at Home Depot, Lowes or any major hardware store. It costs about $25 for a Very Big roll (3 feet by 324 sq. ft - 15 pounds). There are so many possibilities in using it as a canvas since it's waterproof.

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  10. How large was the section of roofing felt used for each work?

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