Art Journaling 106

I’m on a quest to find quick, inexpensive ways to layer art. I’ve always admired those adult journals that just seemed stuffed with creativity. This watercolor page was fun, but I think it would look even better with children’s handwriting on it.

1. I started with warm-colored watercolor paints and filled a journal page, overlapping the swatches until the page was full.
2. I placed some of those little reinforcement circles on the paper, colored over with crayon, and then peeled them off. Note: The circles stuck a little too well and I had to use a pin to pry them off, even after using one several times.
3. My writing inspiration came from the famous opener “Once upon a time”. I’m thinking that you could ask the students to write that across the top of the page. They could imagine the beginning of some story, draw an image to go with it, and write the opening sentences somewhere. If the kids are just asked to begin a story, and not necessarily worry about an ending, they might have more fun with the creative possibilities.

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Art Journaling 105

I love dark journal pages with light or white writing on them. I wish I had lots of colorful poster paint markers, but in lieu of that, I found that India ink and silver Sharpies worked pretty well.

1. I painted a journal page with India ink and let it dry.

2. With a silver Sharpie marker, I drew a lot of parallel lines on the page, each about an inch apart.
3. Writing with only capital letters, I filled in the lines with the date and my favorite thing I did today. Using capital letters will create lots of closed shapes, which is important for the next step.
4. Using some good pencil crayons, color in the closed shapes.
5. Sometimes less is more. If your page looks good with just the writing and coloring, then stop and enjoy.

Publish Post

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Art Journaling 104

I started this page with the idea of repeating circles, and just played around from there. I think it could be a good exercise in harmony as I tried to fill solid circles with colors that appeared in the cut out photos.

1. I used a spice jar lid to trace circles on my paper. I think it looks best when you can have at least 3 going across the page.
2. The same lid was used to trace some circles out of an art magazine I had. I wanted a lot of circles to color in so I cut and pasted only four photos.
3. The remaining circles I colored in with pencil crayon, trying to use only colors I saw in the photos.
4. The background was filled in with a color that was not already used.
5. The edges of the circles were retraced with a black marker, and color names written in the corresponding circles. I think I’d like to try this again with watercolor pencils to see if closer color matches could be made, but I do like the pattern.

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Art Journaling 103

I saw this “Happiness List” idea somewhere on the internet, and really like the positive message it gives to both kids and adults as well. It’s kind of a reminder of things to do if you are having a bad day.

1. I started by shading over a jumbo craft stick with some bright crayons. Be sure to use the side of a peeled crayon to get the most definition out of the sticks.
2. I filled the paper up with as many stick shapes as I could, and then wrote my title and list items inside with different colored Sharpies.
3. I painted the background with a light watercolor and later traced the edges with a metallic silver Sharpie to add some definition.

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Art Journaling 102

Some of the coolest art journal pages I have seen on the internet involve lots of layering. A common approach seems to be that a background is created first, and then art is added on top. I love this concept and hope to pass it on to my students this fall.

1. I saved my old obsolete Yellow Pages for this project I guess, and started by tearing out a rectangle that would fit on my page. Rulers help to tear straight lines. I painted gesso on my paper, placed the Yellow Page on top, painted more gesso over it and spread it really thin to look a bit transparent.
2. As the gesso was drying, I found a quote for some inspiration. (I’m thinking of passing out a page full to all the students so they could pick their favorite.) I decided a nature drawing would be nice and drew a curly tree with a black Sharpie marker.
3. My paper was a bit wrinkly so I just colored over all of it heavily with some crayons. I love all the wrinkles!

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Art Journaling 101

I am planning an afterschool class for art journaling this fall, so experiments for page layouts are underway. My goal is to mix art with a little bit of writing to see what might happen.

1. After review of art journal pages over on Flickr, I decided to make a colorful background pattern that I would write on when complete. I used 3" square Post-Its to move around on my journal page as I drew radiating lines over the edges with a fine black Sharpie marker.
2. I colored in the squares lightly with watercolor pencils, and painted over them with water to make a painting. The space around the squares were also colored and painted.
3. After the painting was dry, I wrote a few notes about my day inside the squares with a few different gel pens. Overall, I like the overlapping transparent look to the squares and think this process has more possibilities...

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Torn Paper Animal Collage

As an adult I have come to really love torn edges and all the irregularities that come with them. Kids tend to want the control of scissors when making shapes, but with practice they can learn to appreciate this form too. I think it works especially well when fuzzy edges are called for.

1. Each student will need several magazines to look through. I recommend that they look for a page that has a lot of one color, and they let that determine which animal they will make. For instance, a page with a lot of brown could be a horse or a dog.
2. The students tear out lots of pieces of their chosen color, and glue them down on a white paper with glue sticks. I think the best results come when their are no straight lines left on the shapes, but that’s just my preference. It’s probably easiest if they start “building” the main body first, and then add head and legs and so onl
3. Only when the animal is complete may a marker be used to add an eye.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade Kindergarten
2.3 Make a collage with cut or torn paper shapes/forms.

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Op Art Swirl

Op Art is a math-themed form of abstract art, which uses repetition of simple forms and colors to create optical effects.

1. Have the students make a dot somewhere near the middle of the paper. In pencil, they four or five sets of wavy “triangle” shapes radiating outward. The shapes need to be done in pairs for the coloring to work out correctly.
2. Ask them to draw lines within in “triangle” group that all curve outward.
3. Finally, they connect all the curved lines with lines that are straight as possible.
4. Pencil crayons are great for coloring. To enhance the pattern that has been drawn, the students are to choose two warm or cool colors for all the curved lines. To finish, they use two other colors to fill in all the straight lines. The result is an image that has a dimensional look. This art always reminds me of Dr. Seuss for some reason.

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Paper-Mache Buildings

This project came from a need for inexpensive “New Yorkish” table decorations for my school’s silent auction.

1. Prep the matte board by cutting the rectangles and squares with a large paper cutter ahead of class time. Each student will start with a set of 4 rectangle sides, and one square top.
2. Show the students how to tape the building sides and top together. Have them paper-mache with newspaper all around the outside, taking care to wrap the edges to keep the building smooth. The buildings then need to dry.
3. Follow up the newspaper layer with a layer of torn blank newsprint to cover up the letters. Dry again.
4. Using acrylic paint, cover the background in one color. After that is dry, have the students paint lots of randon squares to imitate rooms with lights on. Finally, give them fat permanent markers to trace around the windows.
5. Apply a layer of glossy Mod Podge to all to give it a nice shine.

My favorite paper-mache recipe:
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 cups cold water
8 cups boiling water
3/4 cup sugar
Mix the flour and cold water in a bowl. Add it to your saucepan of boiling water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Let cool; it will thicken as it cools. This recipe makes about a gallon of mache.

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Russian Buildings

Architecture drawing is a really fun area to explore with children. I've seen many students that have little or no interest in drawing people make the most amazing drawings of buildings.

1. I printed 1/4" graph lines on large format 11" x 17" paper, but you could go to Free Online Graph Paper and print your own. Show the students examples of Russian architecture. Demonstrate how to draw lots of rectangles with "ice cream top" buildings to imitate their look.
2. Distribute watercolor paints and have the students paint their shapes with bright colors.
3. When the paint is dry, give each student a gold paint marker and have them trace all the pencil lines for an extra fancy look.

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Aboriginal Line and Dot Drawing

I read that the Aboriginal dot style of painting actually began in the 1970s when artists wanted to make symbols of some of their ancient ceremonial rituals. Soil would be cleared and smoothed over to use as a canvas. Designs were outlined with dancing circles and often surrounded with a mass of dots. Afterward the imprinted earth would be smoothed over, as if nothing had ever taken place.
1. I started with a square of watercolor paper and painted it almost to the edge with one color – I chose orange.
2. Using some rich pencil crayons (the Dick Blick student packs are good) start by drawing a quick diamond somewhere on the page. Continue drawing more diamonds inside, smaller and smaller, until out of room. The smallest shape in the middle is filled in.
3. Continue to add attached diamonds, or if short on space, triangles. Start with the large shape first, and then work the smaller shapes inside until out of room. Fill up the painted area as much as possible.
4. Make a row of dots to fill in each diamond, on both sides of the line. Use matching colors for each diamond as the Aborigines seemed to make very organized patterns, without a lot of random choices.

Suggested CA Visual Art Standard: Grade Two
3.3 Identify and discuss how art is used in events and celebrations in various cultures, past and present, including the use in their own lives.

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How to Draw a Cow

Last spring my school had a special assembly that featured a cow and her calf. I decided to take advantage of the fact that everyone was seeing this really cute animal at the same time, and did a cow lesson for that week's art class.
1. For really young students like kinder and 1st grade, cut cardboard rectangle templates for them to trace. The size can vary according to the size the of the paper, it just should be the proportion of the example shown in the diagram to the right.
2. On watercolor paper (if you can) have the students trace the rectangle in pencil in the middle of the paper. They need to add a triangle to the left, and four legs below.
3. Next they should draw an oval that overlaps the triangle. Because this is the head and it is in front, they need to erase any of the triangle that is in the inside. The head may be finished with a nose, eyes and ears that stick out to the left and right. They also need to draw an udder and tail. At this point I stressed for the students to erase any lines that separate the legs from the body.

4. Give each student a black crayon to trace all the of cow. Spots are drawn and colored in. A pink crayon may be used to color in the nose and ears.
5. Distribute green and blue watercolors and brushes. I like to make liquid watercolors by taking the cheap watercolor tablets and dissolve them in water. I helps a lot when painting large areas.

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An Eye for Magritte

René Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist who became well known for a number of witty and thought-provoking images. He wanted to challenge viewers to think about what they were looking at and to ask themselves “What does this painting mean?”

1. Take an old CD and trace it in the center of an 8.5" x 11" paper. Add lines around the circle to turn it into an eye, including eyelashes.
2. Trace all the pencil lines with a black marker.
3. Draw an image inside the eye which reflects something you like to look at. This could be anything BUT the drawing of the inside of an eye. The more mysterious, the better! Color all the shapes with colored pencils.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade Five
2.7 Communicate values, opinions, or personal insights through an original work of art.

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Another Chuck Close Portrait

This is another example of the Chuck Close Portrait Project that I posted earlier this year. It’s also a good example of what the more expensive colored pencils can do – not the cheap drug store variety that are not worth the box they come in. This student did a great job of making her portrait look both real and abstract at the same time.

To see the steps involved in this project, type “Chuck Close Portrait” in my search bar.

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Finish the Picture Animal

If you want to catch the attention of wiggly boys or tomboy girls, try using their favorite animals as a theme to work on with a “finish the picture” project.

1. You’ll need zoo magazines or something that has lots of good animals pictures. The students are to find an animal they like, cut a square around the head, and then glue it down to a large piece of white paper.
2. The students draw in pencil what they believe the rest of the animal looks like. Taking note of the colors and textures in the photo, they are to complete the picture with colored pencils.
This picture was drawn by my son in 1st grade.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade One
1.1 Describe and replicate repeated patterns in nature, in the environment, and in works of art.

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Sunday in the Park Mural

In the late 1800’s, a French artist named Georges Seurat painted his very large “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte”. It actually took him two years to complete what is widely considered his masterpiece.
Seurat is noted for developing pointillism, a technique where a lot of tiny dots are combined to form a picture. This technique relies on the ability of the eye and the mind of the viewer to mix the colors. I love the grand scale and shading of this painting, so I opted not to color my sample with the dot technique, but more ambitious students are welcome to take it on! And please send picures if you do. This mural has 28 pages to color and is 55" by 40" when complete.

You can purchase my pdf file with instructions for just $5. Click the “Add to Cart” button below to make your payment and receive download instructions.

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Abstract Still Life

This is a little twist on the dissecting and coloring technique. If at the end you shade the corners of each shape you make, you get a softer and more sophisticated abstraction.

1. Starting with a 9" x 12" paper, have the students draw a vase that takes up most of the paper. To help with making a symmetrical shape, you can hand out scrap paper that is about 5" x 8", fold it in half, have them draw their vase and cut. This can be used as a template, if desired. After the vase is traced, a few simple flowers are added on top.
2. Using a ruler, the drawing is dissected by drawing about 7 or 8 rotating lines all the way across the paper. The goal is to have a lot of medium size shapes to color.
3. All of the shapes inside the vase and flowers are colored with warm colors: red, orange and yellow. All of the shapes on the outside are colored with cool colors: blue, green and purple. The students are to color all the shapes lightly first, and then chose one corner that gets shaded darker with the same color.

CA Visual Art Standard: Grade 5
2.4 Create an expressive abstract composition based on real objects.

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