It's getting nice out!
Perfect for painting alfresco!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Op Art Paper Weaving
Op Art - meaning Optical Art
The idea is when the viewer looks at this art it almost seems like the piece is moving or vibrating. There can be patterns, hidden images and lines that look like they are warping, bending or swelling. Kinda makes you dizzy right?
Famous Op Artists are Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely
I was thinking about how I could recreate Bridget Riley's "Movement in Squares" with my kids. The idea of drawing, coloring and painting the very precise lines seemed a little hard, then I thought of paper weaving and it came out great!
Materials needed:
- Extra large construction paper in Black and White
- A big paper cutter is great if you have one!
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencils
- Glue
Ahead of time, cut the white paper into 3 or 4 different sized strips
Directions: (Picture tutorial coming soon!)
1. Fold the big black piece of paper in half.
2. Take the ruler and trace it across the open ended side of the paper
3. Then use the ruler to trace vertical lines from the top line you just drew all the way down to the bottom folded edge
4. Cut the lines you just drew
5. Open it up and start arranging your white strips into piles by their size.
6. The idea is to start weaving the white strips in, varying the size of the strips to mimic Riley's painting.
7. Push the strips tight together and once they are all in and you are happy with the way it looks, glue the edges down to the black paper.
The idea is when the viewer looks at this art it almost seems like the piece is moving or vibrating. There can be patterns, hidden images and lines that look like they are warping, bending or swelling. Kinda makes you dizzy right?
Famous Op Artists are Bridget Riley and Victor Vasarely
I was thinking about how I could recreate Bridget Riley's "Movement in Squares" with my kids. The idea of drawing, coloring and painting the very precise lines seemed a little hard, then I thought of paper weaving and it came out great!
Materials needed:
- Extra large construction paper in Black and White
- A big paper cutter is great if you have one!
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Pencils
- Glue
Ahead of time, cut the white paper into 3 or 4 different sized strips
Directions: (Picture tutorial coming soon!)
1. Fold the big black piece of paper in half.
2. Take the ruler and trace it across the open ended side of the paper
3. Then use the ruler to trace vertical lines from the top line you just drew all the way down to the bottom folded edge
4. Cut the lines you just drew
5. Open it up and start arranging your white strips into piles by their size.
6. The idea is to start weaving the white strips in, varying the size of the strips to mimic Riley's painting.
7. Push the strips tight together and once they are all in and you are happy with the way it looks, glue the edges down to the black paper.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Van Gogh Sunflowers
April showers bring May flowers!
And sunflowers were on sale at Trader Joes!
Many artists used sunflowers in their work. I showed the kids 2 examples, Van Gogh and Diego Rivera.
Materials needed:
- Pencils
- Oil Pastels
- Vase full of real sunflowers!
- 11x14 brightly colored construction paper
Directions:
1. First talk about the basic shape of a flower. We practiced drawing flower middles and flower petals on scrap paper. We examined the shape and color of the sunflower petals...long and skinny with pointy tips as opposed to wide and round.
2. Look at the example of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting, note that the flowers are together in a vase, on a table, now look at the vase on your table, tell the kids that we will draw what we see on our table.
3. Start by lightly sketching the flower middles, petals, stems and vase.
4. Add color with oil pastels.
5. Don't forget to draw the table line.
I helped the littler ones with the basic flower shape. I would draw 2-3 petals around a flower middle and have them finish drawing the petals, going all the way around. Then I would draw one side of the vase and have them draw a mirror image on the other side finishing the vase shape.
Everyone's sunflowers were so bright, happy and colorful! I sent each kid home with their own real sunflower.
And sunflowers were on sale at Trader Joes!
Many artists used sunflowers in their work. I showed the kids 2 examples, Van Gogh and Diego Rivera.
Materials needed:
- Pencils
- Oil Pastels
- Vase full of real sunflowers!
- 11x14 brightly colored construction paper
Directions:
1. First talk about the basic shape of a flower. We practiced drawing flower middles and flower petals on scrap paper. We examined the shape and color of the sunflower petals...long and skinny with pointy tips as opposed to wide and round.
2. Look at the example of Van Gogh's Sunflowers painting, note that the flowers are together in a vase, on a table, now look at the vase on your table, tell the kids that we will draw what we see on our table.
3. Start by lightly sketching the flower middles, petals, stems and vase.
4. Add color with oil pastels.
5. Don't forget to draw the table line.
I helped the littler ones with the basic flower shape. I would draw 2-3 petals around a flower middle and have them finish drawing the petals, going all the way around. Then I would draw one side of the vase and have them draw a mirror image on the other side finishing the vase shape.
Everyone's sunflowers were so bright, happy and colorful! I sent each kid home with their own real sunflower.
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