A Monoprint and an extra project!

Hello everyone!

Today we have 2 projects to explore, one that can be used over and over again and one that is unique and one of a kind.

Finger painting is a great activity for kids of all ages and adults too. It provides a wonderful sensory experience and promotes fine motor skills while providing a relaxing, creative activity. It’s not as popular as other art projects unfortunately because it is most definitely super messy. But what if I told you, you could finger paint without turning your hands (and maybe your furniture) into a paint palette? ?

Well you can, with some simple supplies!

No Mess Finger Painting

Supplies –

Plastic baggie (preferably Ziploc although you can tape the top of the baggie to prevent any paint squeezing out).
Paint – acrylic, tempera, washable paint is best. If you have no paint, you can mix up some instant pudding or use one of the recipes listed in the links below to make your own “paint”.
Your hands!
Optional – Q-Tips, end of paintbrush handle or pencil

Steps –

Pour paint into the plastic baggie. If the paint is too thick, mix it with a splash of water before you pour it into the baggie. Paint should not be too thin.
Carefully squeeze out all excess air before sealing bag. Add tape to the top to prevent any leaking.
Once your baggie is ready, you can use your fingers, Q -Tips, or the rounded end of the paintbrush handle or pencil eraser end to create designs.

clean fingerpainting baggie — This activity is great for learning about color mixing.

It’s fun to “paint” by removing, or “erasing” pigment instead of adding pigment, by moving the paint around and creating designs. This activity is also a wonderful way to explore elements of art such as color (primary and secondary colors) and negative space (the space around and between the subject of an image).

It’s super relaxing and fun to watch the colors mix and spread. Plus you can “erase” designs by gently rubbing and moving the paint around. You get a new canvas to create!

Our second project today is a MONOPRINT, a form of printmaking where the design or drawing can only be made once.

Supplies –

Cookie sheet or aluminum tray. I used a pizza tray today in my video, but I usually use disposable aluminum trays in my workshops. As long as your paint is non-toxic and water soluble you can always clean the tray after using.
Paint or a homemade substitute (see link below)
Mark making materials like Q-Tips, combs, fingers, plastic utensils etc.
Paint spreader – you can use a brush, stiff cardboard, paint roller or a brayer (if you have one!)
Paper

Steps –

Spread paint evenly onto the tray with your paint spreader. The paint should be opaque and smooth, a nice thin layer is best.
Use your mark making tools to create a design. Try to work quickly since the paint may begin to dry and that would prevent getting a good print.
Your design will be reversed, so remember that if you are using words.
Once your design is ready, place the paper on top and gently burnish (rub) the surface of the paper to transfer the design from the tray to the paper.
Pull the print – as you’ve seen in our previous videos, gently lift off the paper, starting at the top from the tray.

finished monoprint — Our finished Monoprint. The image will be reversed, so be mindful if you are using words.

As you can see above, some of my paint had started to dry so I ended up with a slightly uneven print. Sort of looks like a woodcut! This can also be called a reverse print because the design is made by the lines where there is no paint.

Here are some links to learn more about the elements of art and ways to make your own paint.

Favorite Homemade Paint Recipes

Elements of Art for grades 6-12

Free printable Elements of Art book for grades PK – 5

Be sure to visit, like and follow us on FB and Instagram for weekly project videos and read aloud story time for all ages. Contact Patty at eljaiekart@gmail.com to learn more about our professional development workshops, now available via Zoom and/or Google Hangouts.

Thanks for visiting and keep creating!

Patty

Drawing with Shapes!

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Hi everyone!

Today’s story time read aloud is about a little frog that would rather be any other animal than who he is. It takes a crafty wolf to remind him why we should be happy to be who we are.
I love this book because the illustrator gave the characters so much personality. It’s also a very important message for everyone.

You can see the video read aloud @Art Out of Anything on FB.

Looking at the illustrations in this book reminds me of how easy it is to learn how to draw animals, or just about anything, by breaking the object down into simple shapes.

In the slideshow above you can see how I used circles, squares, rectangles and triangles to draw some of the animals found in the story.

If you look at the world around you, you will notice that geometry is everywhere!

Here’s a link to a more detailed explanation and drawing practice – Art Tutor Blog

Try this free downloadable template that uses triangles and circles, to get started on your own animal drawing – Shapes drawing template

Connect the groups of dots and see what animal you get. Can you guess what animal it is?I did leave out one shape, see if you can tell which shape fits to complete the drawing.

There’s a new art project video every Tuesday and Thursday @artoutofanything on FB and Instagram and a new Story Time every Saturday.

Thanks so much for visiting today and keep creating!

Patty

Drawing with Glue

You can watch the step by step video for this project at Art Out of Anything on FB and Instagram. New projects posted every week on Tuesday and Thursday!

Today’s project is an old favorite, with a new twist. In keeping with our motto of “work with what you have”, drawing with glue just got a little interesting.

Supplies –

white glue
paper – construction paper, card stock, cardboard or all of these
sand
glitter

Sand and glitter will be used as your pigments (colors). No sand? No glitter? You’ve got great powdered pigments right in your kitchen cabinets!

I used the following:

salt
sugar
pepper
condiments like onion powder, paprika, nutmeg, cinnamon, dry mustard, ground or instant coffee etc.

cups with powder pigment 2 — I put my powdered pigments into little plastic shot glasses, but you can use yours straight from the original containers too.

A great addition to this project is to have some music playing and “draw” to the music. Music and art are very good companions. It’s interesting to see how different kinds of music can inspire you and your kiddo to create.

You can start drawing a free hand design by letting the glue flow and drip from the bottle.

If you want to get a steadier line, place the tip of the glue bottle at an angle on the paper and use it like a pencil to draw.

Tap the container to control how much powdered pigment is added to the drawing.

You can use only one color at a a time for each drawing or you can use a variety of colors to get lines that fade into eachother. That’s my favorite technique.

Multi color on white paper

Give the glue a little time to dry so it doesn’t drip when you pour off the extra colors. Remember, the thicker the line the longer it will take to dry.

Once your piece is complete, be sure to save the excess pigment. Now you’ll have what I like to call, the very special Pre K Rainbow color mix that you can use for more projects 🙂

I’ve gotten a little fancy with my paper here and will use my Pre K Rainbow color mix as my pigment.

As you can see, there are so many different ways you can experiment with pigments and one of the most interesting results, is that you end up with a pretty fragrant work of art. See if you can find condiments that work well together in terms of their scents. Nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar might just inspire you to make a glue drawing of cupcakes or a pumpkin pie!

Resources and Project Extension – When I do this project in an Art Out of Anything workshop, I always start by introducing a popular art from from India called Rangoli. Here’s a link to the history of this beautiful art form, the traditional process and free templates to download to try your own – https://www.dltk-kids.com/world/india/mrangoli.htm

Once all of your amazing artwork is completely dry, shake off any excess pigment and if needed, carefully brush off any left over pigment with a soft paintbrush or tissue.

One last thing, no white glue? No problem, glue sticks work just fine too.

glue stick fish 13 — Glue sticks dry much faster than liquid glue so you have to work a little faster, this would be a good time to play some peppy music!

Thanks so much for visiting.

Keep creating,

Patty