Printing

Well this morning was a mad house! After demonstrating the printing process to 5 – 7 year old, I turned the floor over to them. And I must say they did very well. Not one bit of ink got on the floor and plenty of ink did get on the templates. The colours turned out amazing as they printed more than four different coloured prints each.
Where do you put so many pieces of paper with printers ink on them? All I can say is… ‘thank-goodness for the old clothes rack’. The children pegged their own work up to dry as they printed them.

Key competency skills were displayed thick and fast.
Thinking: problem solving, reflecting on their artwork and oral communication,.
Managing self: having the attitude to ‘give it a go’. Being motivated to try different combinations of colour and by following the process.
Relating to others: discussing other peoples artworks, helping and encouraging each other.
Participating and contributing: being part of the group keeping the work environment tidy and helping clean up.

Next learning (creative session):
Take a couple of the dried prints and rip them up. Reassemble the image by mixing up the different coloured pieces and mounting them on to card. What creative artworks can be produced?

Insect PVA Ink Prints

Insect PVA Ink Prints

Last week the children made print templates by drawing their insect onto thick cardboard. PVA glue was applied from squeeze bottles to go over the outlines. The PVA had been mixed with talcum powder to give it a thick consistency before being put into the bottles.

This week the children practised drawing leaves before I painted shellac onto the template. While the shellac was wet the children scratch the leaves into the background using wooden sticks

After allowing time to dry they had a great time rolling white printers ink onto the template. They worked in pairs to help each other hold the template and make sure the ink was evenly rolled on the inkpad. This took some time to get the ink to cover the template adequately enough to print onto black paper.

The delight on their faces when they saw the print was priceless.

Next week the children will be doing more printing using the same template. We will experiment with colours and different types of paper.

By using the shellac the templates have been made stronger and the cardboard will not come to pieces when getting wet from the ink.

Check out the photos

Paint Prints

Paint prints are stunning and relativity easy to do with juniors.

In our last session the children chose two crayons (blues and purples) and completed concrete rubbing on white cartridge paper, giving a textured background.
(Concrete rubbing: put paper on concrete and rub crayon side-one over the paper. This technique picks up the texture of the concrete)
This week, in one hour, we completed the paint prints.
Using only four colours, the children used the sharp side of thick cardboard to stamp lines or drag the cardboard to create and stems and leaves.
They were encouraged to overlap the paint and use clean colours (only mixing the paint on the paper)
The management:
The paint was put into trays, making it easy of children to dip in their pieces of cardboard. The children were given 3 pieces of cardboard with long, medium and small edges.
They had to stand up so they were not dragging their arms in the paint and they could get a better view of their composition.

After I demonstrated the techniques the children were encouraged to use their own creativity to make their artwork.

Comments from some children when asked to reflect on their learning:

“I learned if you put the cardboard down and rub it on the paper the line is thick and if you stamped it like a stamper it was a stick line” Ethan (it was his 6th birthday today)

“You don’t always have to be perfect you just have to try your best.” Zeenat (Age 6yrs)

“If you make a mistake it’s ok.” Harmony (5 Yrs)

“ I learned about overlapping paint it mixes the colours and it makes the paint stand out.” Holly (7 yrs)

Check out the photos

Painting the garden with hands

There is something magical on children's faces when they can get their hands in paint. The flowers on the painting were done by hand. Outside on a tarpoline again with dishes of paint. We used a limited palette of yellow, red, and white, allowing the students to really experiment with blending colours. The delight on their faces when they found pink or orange appeared on their painting. They soon got stuck in making shapes and patterns with every part of their hands. To prevent the paint mixing up and becoming like mud, the students washed their hands when they got a different colour from the trays. The results are stunning. At present we are busy mounting them. The finished photos will be posted soon.

Painting a garden with feet

To encourage the students the freedom to express themselves in their painting, we started by using feet to paint the background. Outside the classroom on a big tarpoline I sent up ice cream containers with paint. The limited palette contained dark green, light green and yellow. The students stepped into the paint and patted it on their cardboard. They had great fun slipping and sliding. As one student found, they had to use only one foot, because as some as she put two feet on the wet painting she also used her rear end to spread the paint. Buckets of water were also on hand to wash feet. Two weeks later I have still got paint around my toe nails (no it is not from the lack of washing). Of course PAINT SHIRTS are essential.

Sketching

The students have been allowed time to do observational sketching. They used pictures to sketch the insects and when outside and closely observed the vegetation while sketching. The more the students have been exposed to this process the more they are honing their powers of observation and the sketching are becoming quite detailed. The comparison between their initial sketches and the later ones are amazing.
To date, they have used pencil, charcoal and Indian ink. We will be experimenting with other medium to develop the students who are obsessed with "getting it exactly right'.

The sketches will be used to develop the creation of other art works.

Next learning step:
Do more observational sketching using real things, not copying off pictures. The purpose of this is to sharpen their skill in observation. They need to define the lines and shapes for themselves.