Big Blue Marble

I'm back!

When I was a kid there was a show on PBS called "Big Blue Marble" and it was my first introduction into thinking globally and ecologically.

In honor of Earth Day I'm taking that big blue marble theme as a basis for some projects.

The first project is a watercolor painting project.

You need the following......

watercolor paper
paint (tempera or watercolor)
brushes
round objects for tracing
paper for mounting
glue
reference photos
pencil

Find an assortment of round objects around the house.  You want large, medium, and small sized marbles.

Using a pencil trace a bunch onto your watercolor paper.

In order to make your marble look 3 dimensional you need to add a highlight...because it is sphereical your highlight will be a concave rectangular shape.

Your highlight will be in the same place for all marbles.

Pencil in some guidelines for your "earth" marble as well.

Now you can start painting.  Don't worry about staying in the lines as you will be cutting these marbles out.  Don't be afraid to add some drops of water onto your painting to create some "blooms".

This will make yor marbles look more like glass.  Click on photo to see larger.

Paint in your Earth.  Using a kleenex you can lift out some clouds.  When it is dry you can also use a wet brush to scrub where you want a misty cloud and then blot with a kleenex.

Now when painting a sphereical shape with watercolor it helps to go back in after and lift a little paint from the center just below the highlight.  To lift use a wet brush (clear water) and scrub a little.

You also want your edges (where you penciled your circle) to be a bit darker as they are receding.  Add some darker shading.

Keep painting in all your marbles...use a reference photo to help. (search google images for marbles)

Cut out your marbles and experiment with placement before gluing.  Make sure the highlight remains in the same place for all marbles when positioning.

You can also add some pastel to create a shadow on the surface where your marbles are placed or to show the wall/floor.



That's it.  Give it atry and create your own "Big Blue Marble". 

Glue Resist Paintings

Last term I did a glue resist Dinosaur with Kindergarten.

I was impressed with the results and the kids really enjoyed seeing the Dinosaur emerge....so I decided to try this technique with a more complex painting to do with the older grades.

This Sunflower seemed to work out well but this is my second effort...I had to stop myself from painting like I usually do. Please click on photo for a closer view.




I had originally thought some architecture would show up nice but because I painted in so many details and shadows like I normally do....the glue resist effect is lost.




With this technique you need to limit your paint choices and allow the glue outline to define the painting....I will continue to fiddle with it as I am hoping I can get a stained glass effect with this technique.








Draw out your sketch in pencil....I'm using watercolor paper.








Using tacky glue outline your sketch.







Let dry.







Start painting...I'm using watercolor but you can also use tempera.

I like how the glue keeps the paint where you want it....





Here I started adding more detail....the glue stands out more with dark colors.





I went back over my Sunflowers with additional water to create more of a wash...much more effective.


Well tomorrow is the first day of school...excitement is in the air, my oldest starts Junior High so I will no longer see her at the school during the day. (although I am excited for her I will miss her)

I am looking forward to creating lots of new projects and I hope you tag along.

later

gail

Painting Aspen Trees

I was looking for more applications for the tissue paper texture technique I described in my last post.....thinking about what the texture reminded me of,..... when I thought tree bark.

So here is the result. Please click on the picture for a close up view.

Now you could easily vary the background and do it in a variety of mediums...pastel, colored pencil, colored paper collage..etc.

Here is this version.




Materials Required:

tissue textured paper as described in this post
watercolor paper
watercolor of tempera paint
paintbrush
scissors
glue
pencil
masking fluid (optional)






Prepare a tissue textured piece of watercolor paper following the directions in the previous post.


Let dry.










Turn over and draw some tree trunk shapes in pencil running down the length of the paper.

Now Aspen trunks tend to be narrow and fairly straight...no big curves.















Cut out your trunks.










Take a piece of watercolor paper for your background and tape off. Add a few pieces of tape to your tree trunk....this is just temporary so you can trace in where the trunk will be. Don't worry if the trunk is too long for your paper we'll deal with that.







Using pencil lightly trace where you have put your trunk...before you lift it off the paper....mark cutting lines at the top and bottom of the trunk. Trim to fit.







Also mark on the back of the tree its location and put a corresponding mark on the background. This makes it easier later on when you're gluing the trunks on the background.








Try to make a nice placement without them looking perfectly lined up....I placed them a little off kilter.











Paint your sky.







While the sky is drying I painted in my foreground...paint right over where the trees are going in. I also added some mask at this time..I wanted some aspen trees in the distance so I masked out some fine lines for the trunks.


Let dry.






While the background and mask is drying you can start painting your tree trunks...I placed 1/2 the trunk in shadow using some blue and brown mixed together.








Add some dark scarring on the trunk...some fine lines..make them a bit concave to depict the roundness of the trunk.








You can also add some splatter.

Click on picture for closer look.








I placed my trunk on the picture to get an idea of where I wanted some supplementary branches.






Make sure you carry the branch into the trunk area marked off on your background...you don't want to have any gaps.

When everything is dry you can remove the mask..add a little extra shading in the masked area if needed.

Remove the tape around the edges.

Now you are going to glue down your tissue textured tree trunks...say that fast 3 times!!!

I'm using tacky glue but you could also use acrylic gel medium. Do Not Use A Glue Stick...it won't stay stuck.

With the tacky glue I'm scraping it with an old plastic card to make sure I get it to the edges and only have a very thin layer.

Carefully put into position.

When your trunks are in place you can place a piece of wax paper over your painting......

And then place some books to compress it flat while it is drying.

That's it....I think it turned out pretty good...now I considering all the possibilities for this technique.

At school I can easily see myself doing this with the kids..I might just change the background.

Give it a go and I'll see you next time.

gail

Tissue Paper Textured Paintings

Today I was trying out a new lesson for school...using tissue paper to texture a landscape before painting.

The mountain kinda of paints itself as you add color the tissue paper gives you definition. I still have to try this out on my own kids...my TEST subjects yet....but here is the how to :



Click on photo for a closer view.



Materials Required:

watercolor paper
white tissue paper
gesso
old credit or gift card
watercolor or tempura paint
paintbrush






Take some watercolor paper....I'm using 140lb but at school I'll only have 90lb so I will probably mount it onto some thin cardboard to minimize buckling.


Draw out a quick sketch of your mountain for a guide.





Take plain white tissue paper and rip into some strips and triangular shapes. You don't want to have any perfectly straight edges.












Squeeze out some gesso....you can find this at Wal Mart or at Michael's....its like really thick acrylic paint that is kinda of chalky...its used to prime canvas before painting.











Apply to your paper using an old credit card or one of those numerous gift/bonus cards you have lying around.

Apply to your mountain area in a cross hatching motion....you are building up texture....work in small areas of about 5 inches






Apply a piece of tissue...scrunching it as you lay it down to give it some texture. Don't worry if it goes off the edge you can trim these edges when it dries.


Apply some gesso on top of the tissue as well.











You can also add texture just with the gesso itself adding some globs here and there,












Here I'm trying some bubble wrap for a different texture type.



Let your paper fully dry.










Trim off those edges.











Start painting...I added the sky first...you can use watercolor or tempura cake paint.














Here I'm lifting off paint with a kleenex to form clouds.....kids always love this step as it's like magic.













When the sky has dried add in your mountain color...as you add color the tissue texture will be revealed.

Make sure to vary your colors with light and dark shades...don't paint the mountain all one color. I used blue, brown, and black.





















I also added some trees in green tones as well as some yellow.















Here is another one I tried but I think this technique worked better on the mountain.




It was fun and an interesting twist.


see you next time

gail