Hundertwasser Landscape

I was inspired by one of Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s paintings to make this abstract landscape.

1. I cut a wavy rectangular shape of green tissue, large enough to cover the bottom 2/3 of the paper. A 50/50 mixture of water and glue was brushed under and over it to attach it to the paper.
2. I cut a bunch of round blue circles, and also glued them to the paper, overlapping a bit at times.
3. After the glue was dry, I used Sharpie markers to draw the tree trunks and lots of organic lines.
4. The sky was filled in with watercolor pencils, and then painted with water.

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Winter Cardinal

I’ve been looking for a nice colorful winter image for a holiday fundraiser, and was inspired by an image I found in a stock photo site.
1. I made cardboard wing templates for students to trace to keep the scale of the bird from starting out too small. The rest of the drawing was done with step-by-step instructions on the board. I described the wing as needing to be tilted a bit, a “shark fin” was added on top, and a belly below. The black face looks a bit like half of a butterfly, and the beak extends directly to the right of it. A tail is added below, along with feet. The branch is behind the feet so it’s lines jump over the feet and tail.
2. After the drawing is done, it needs to be traced with a thin black marker.
3. Lastly, all except the snow is colored in with oil pastels.

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Positive/Negative Drawing

The words “positive” and “negative” can be used to describe both shapes and lines. This is a simple exercise which uses examples of both.
1. Give each student a tall white rectangle, and a black piece of paper that is half the size of the white. The black paper is to sit at the bottom of the white paper. Ask the students to draw three lines to make a smaller black square, the top edge being one side. Have the students cut out the square out in one clean cut (not several pieces).
2. Show how the smaller black square is to flip up, matching corners. Glue down the bottom "negative" shape, and the top "positive" square, leaving a "negative" white space open.
3. Now the students may use a black marker to draw a "positive" vase in the bottom empty square, and a white crayon to draw a "negative" bunch of flowers on the black square above.

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