How to make a City Skyline - Art Project

Here is a great art project for November. With no more daylight savings time our evenings are getting darker and our night skylines become more prominent.

We will be recreating this skyline using a few different techniques. AS ALWAYS YOU CAN CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR A CLOSER LOOK. I usually start off this project by showing the kids some famous skylines. We talk a bit about architecture and how different places in the world will have very different skylines.

This project gives you a lot of flexibility. Skylines can be tied to geography as well as different periods in history. A roman era skyline would be quite different from a modern Paris one for instance.

Materials Required:

white paper or black construction paper

black paint (optional)

white paint

newspaper or other assorted papers

colored Mylar or regular foil

glue stick

scissors

pencil and ruler

pencil crayons

There are two ways to do your night sky. You can paint it black the way we are doing here or you can just start with black construction paper.

The next step is to construct a draft of your skyline. Using some white paper or newsprint that is exactly the same size as your background sky, start drawing out your skyline. You want some high points and some low points. You want a mix of structures with different architectural elements.

Have the kids make use of their rulers to get all those straight lines.

You want to be able to cut a skyline from one end of the paper to the other. Here I've marked it out in black marker. This helps the kids to see what they have going on in their skyline.

Remember this is just a draft that we'll use when we splatter our stars in the next step. It doesn't have to have a lot of detail.

When you are happy with it cut it out from one end to the other along the marked out skyline.

When I place it on the black background it looks like this.

Here is a second one we made that is supposed to be a medieval castle scene.

For the next step you may want to go outside or in the garage. At school if the weather is bad I'll use a splatter box. Essentially a box with three sides to splatter into. (see Owl post for an example)

I've taped the skyline draft down on the sides a bit to keep it from moving.

Splatter on white paint with a dry paintbrush. we tried to make a lot of stars as it gives you a better skyline.

When you remove the draft skyline you can see the outline of your city.

Now you get to add detail to this skyline. You can use some newspaper which works well especially the classified section, it kinda of looks like a building with windows already.

Use pencil crayons, your colored Mylar or foil for windows reflecting some light. You could add a moon if you wanted. Some architectural details, street lamps, etc. I've had kids add people walking at street level with cats on fences. Use your imagination.

I have done this with grade 2 up to grade 6. They all love the splatter part and the details seem to get more elaborate with each class. I've had alien skylines to the great pyramids.

You can also use gel pens if you wish. I have tried chalk and pastels put they tend to smear too much on the black paper. Pencil crayons tend to work the best.

Use a glue stick to stick on the different papers and foils.

We added quite a lot of detail in this one.

We are still working on the castle so it didn't make into this post.

Give it a try.

We'll see you next time.

gail

How to make Paper Poppies

So here is a paper poppy based on an earlier project ..... Paper Sunflowers.


I think they make very nice Poppies for Remembrance Day and the centers are made from....you guessed it ...Poppy seeds.




















Materials Required:

newspaper
red/green paint
paintbrush
scissors
glue
thin cardboard
twigs
black felt
wax paper
poppy seeds




Paint your newspaper red. I prefer to use the classified section when I'm using newspaper as there are fewer pictures but use whatever you like. Let dry.


While you have your paints out you can paint a sheet or two green if you want to make a few poppy leaves.




For younger kids you can also try fingerpaint. I will be making poppies with kindergarten and we are going to fingerpaint our paper.

If using fingerpaint use fingerpaint paper and not newspaper as it will not hold up.





For added texture you can also comb your fingerpaint. Picks work best for combing as the have a good handle for kids to work with.


You need to cut 2 circles out of your thin cardboard for each flower. I used the bottom of my toothpick dispenser to trace around as the template.




Cut some poppy shaped petals out of your painted paper. They are a bit heart shaped. You need about 5 for each flower.

Place a bead of glue around the inner edge of one of your cardboard circles and put your petals into place. ( see sunflower tutorial for pictures on this step)

Take your second cardboard circle, cover with glue and sprinkle poppy seeds all over it, press down with your fingers to make sure those seeds are secure.




Put some glue in the center of your petals and glue your poppy seed circle into place.





Cut a circle out of the felt that is slightly larger than the 2 cardboard circles.




Put some glue on the back of your poppy, place twig in the center and cover with the black felt pressing it to surround the twig.


The felt holds the twig in place.



Let dry. You can cut out some poppy leaves from the green painted paper if you wish and glue them to the twig.

If your poppies will be seen from the back as well as the front you might want to paint both sides of the paper.





They make a very nice arrangement.


gail

How to make a Peace Dove

In keeping with the Remembrance Day theme here is a Peace Dove wall hanging that is very easy to do. I have had great success with this project at all grade levels.




You can vary the poppy embellishments. You could also forgo the poppy and just add an olive branch made from paper placed in the mouth.



Materials Required:

heavy brown paper from a paper bag or packaging paper
white paint
paintbrush
stuffing
glue
some clothespins
wire
some bits of red and black felt (could also use paper)
hole punch
sewing machine(optional)


I am going out on a limb here and giving you the Dove Template. Fingers crossed I hope this works. ( I am not a big tech person, I'm still learning) I will be thrilled if it does as I will now be able to give you my own templates and patterns instead of trying to find one on the web that sort of fits.
Print out the template. I tried to keep it original size but sometimes the print settings add on margins and that decreases the pattern by 20% or so. Please feel free to enlarge if you need to.




Trace out 2 dove shapes on your paper.







Cut out.



Now you can either sew these together or you can glue them together leaving the opening as shown in the template for stuffing.


If you are gluing run a bead of glue around the inner edge of one dove and then place second dove on top. Let dry completely before going on to the next step.
I personally like the sewn one better. When I do this with a class I bring the doves cut and sewn already to the class. I'm a fast sewer and it doesn't take that long.




Paint the dove white. If I'm pushed for time with a class we only paint the side you are going to see. Otherwise we do both sides.

Let dry





While the dove is drying you can cut out some poppy shapes from your red felt or paper. Glue on some black bits for the center. Cut out a little black circle for the eye.




If you are doing the ring of poppies around the neck you need about 4 the size of a dime.


The single poppy is about the same size as the one you wear for Remembrance day.





You can also prepare your wire at this time. You need it to be about 14-16 inches long. Wrap around a pencil tightly to get your loops. Remove from pencil and pull it slightly to get a nice shape.








When the dove is dry open it up and stuff lightly with stuffing. Use a pencil to push the stuffing into the wing, head, and tail BE GENTLE or you may poke a hole thru your dove. not great...




Run a bead of glue on the inner edge of the opening on one side. Press two sides together. Use tacky glue for this...if you are in a hurry you can also use a glue gun.




Use a few clothespins to hold it together while drying so you are free to do the laundry....clean out that craft room maybe...





When opening is dry and sealed, glue on your poppy embellishments.





Punch some holes in the head and wing for the hanger , use the template for placement. If sewn try not to punch out where the seam is.





Attach wire by placing end thru hole and wrapping around. Manipulate wire until it hangs right and Ta Da......a Peace Dove wall hanging, door hanging or where ever you want to hang it.


Give it a try, simple but effective.

see you next time

gail

Remembrance Day painting - Art Project

In Canada we honor Remembrance Day on Nov. 11th. The poppy is the national symbol we use in recognition of the poem "In Flander's Fields" written by John McCrae.

At school we incorporate the poppy into our Art projects. This is a Poppy watercolor painting project that I have done with Grades 1 and 2.

Materials Required:

watercolor paper or heavy sketch paper, tempera paint in green, blue and red, paintbrush, painter's masking tape, scissors,

glue stick, Black marker, red paper (optional)

Tape down your paper on an artboard or piece of cardboard. I always like to tape a painting project as it leaves a nice clean mat for presentation.

Using a pencil mark off horizon. In this project we used rolling hills.

Using the painter's masking tape (low tack masking tape) we cut pieces in half and create crosses. You can help cut the tape for the kids or let them give it a go. I find that some get quite frustrated cutting the tape while others enjoy doing it themselves. I asked the kids to mask off at least 3 crosses. They can do more as long as it was an odd number (3,5,7...). Odd numbers just look better visually.

Press down all the tape edges to make sure your tape will resist the paint.

Start painting. We started with the sky. We wet the paper with plain water to the horizon line and then added our paint starting at the top. This is called a graded wash and mimics the sky in real life. It will be darker at the top and will get lighter as it approaches the horizon.

Using the green paint paint in the rolling hills. paint right over the tape.

We mixed a little brown with our green to get a darker shade of green and to add some depth to our hills.

If you want some clouds in your sky you can lift off some color while it's still wet with a kleenex to form some realistic looking clouds.

To further add some texture to your painting you can sprinkle on some salt when the paint is just about dry, right before it loses its shine.

Let dry. Don't remove the salt until it is completely dry or it will smear.

While you are waiting for your painting to dry work on your poppies. You can paint some paper red while you have your paints out or you can use some red construction paper.

Cut out some poppy shapes and then using your black marker put in the centers. You need quite a few poppies if you want drifts of flowers.

When your painting has dried rub off the salt. I usually hold it over the sink to do this step. Now the magic....remove the tape to reveal the white crosses.

Using a glue stick, attach the poppies to your painting.

This is the painting my son completed last year. The kids were amazed when they took off the tape and the white crosses appeared.

I will be posting more Remembrance Day projects so check back.

see you next time

gail