Snowy Church or Village

So I found a picture on Pinterest of kids painting these snowy village paintings but no directions so I broke it down for you.  Many thanks to the original art teacher for such a great idea :)


I especially like how it is just on a piece of blue construction paper.

I also did a snowy church scene.





















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- blue construction paper
- white pencil crayon
- white liquid tempera or acrylic paint
- gold and/or silver liquid tempera or acrylic paint for embellishment
- paper for template
- dark blue oil pastel
- white chalk

PROCEDURE:

Cut some houses and a church out of paper.  You can use a ruler to measure.  With younger students you might want to make a few of these up ahead of time.  Use manila tag or pasteboard so they will last thru multiple uses.

Tape these down just briefly for the next few steps.

Using white paint, thin with a little water if needed, splatter on stars.

A splatter box works really well.

Paint a full moon, you can just use your finger, that's the easiest.

With the white pencil crayon trace around the houses.

Leave them stuck down for the next step.

Paint the ground.  Just a few strokes you don't want to totally paint this in.

I added a little light blue paint as well.


Let paint dry for a few minutes.

Remove the paper houses.


Add some smoke by drawing little circles in chalk and then smudging it a bit.  Don't worry about chimneys we will add them later.

Add a little chalk around the moon and smudge for a glow.

Using a dark blue oil pastel add some tree branches.

Draw in windows and doors with your pencil crayons.

Using white paint paint snow on the roofs.  You can add some to the top of the windows and doors.

Paint in a few snowy fir trees.

Start at the top.






Add a few paint strokes, don't worry about the blue paper showing thru those are the shadows.

Work your way down.

Keep going until it looks something like this.

Finally add a little gold and/or silver paint for Christmas lights and tree decorations.


The hardest part will be holding back.....just a little bling is the most effective.













That's it.

See you soon.

Gail

Nature Journaling

I know what you are thinking......nature journaling in Canada, in February???

but I really think this is a time when we crave it.  I wake up dreaming of birds and green. Where is the colour?

So in the midst of our snowy winter some nature journaling is needed.  We always have access to reference photos, museums, and the zoo is also an alternative.

Now this is not a paid endorsement I am just so blown away by these books and his blog I needed to let you know.

For Christmas I asked for these 2 amazing books.

The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling  and The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds.

There is so much information packed into these books I could not believe it....amazing.

But then I thought surely he has a blog or website and I found the treasure trove:

Here is the link to his blog archive.  He teaches a lot, videos his lessons and puts them on youtube.

I watched his whale sketching videos and then went to the Whales Tohora exhibit at Telus Spark.


Well not only has my whale drawing improved (look out Maui here I come :) but I absorbed so much info about whales from his video I had the staff member at the exhibit listening in as I described details to my daughter while looking at the big whale chart.  ("He was impressed, Mom")

For me I like to watch his video, sketch out notes while watching and then add extra details from the books.

Then I try to use what I have learned in practice.

Now I probably won't be out journaling in the wild until we get a chinook but I have lots of reference photos and I'm finding this a good warm-up to the rest of my painting day.




For you teachers out there please check out his blog and videos, he often has kids in his audience.  There is so much information he details about his subject matter while teaching you how to draw it.

See you next time.

Gail

Valentine Lovebirds

I have been meaning to do this project for a long time......it doesn't have to be Valentine themed but with the heart at the bottom I couldn't resist.

I also did a Hen and chick one.  You could do several, a long line of birds.





























MATERIALS NEEDED:

- corrugated cardboard
- paper towels strips
- book page strips, ( just check your library for discarded books)
- white glue and water
-acrylic or liquid tempera paint
- air dry clay
- heart cookie cutter
- coloured sharpies
- string
- felt hearts

PROCEDURE:

Draw some basic bird shapes on cardboard and cut them out.

Mix your glue and water in about a 1 to 1 ratio.

I used the book page strips to cover the cardboard shape on both sides.  I used some of the paper towel strips to build up the wing area. I covered this with more book page strips.



I like to work on wax paper.

When finished leave them to dry.  You may have to turn them over to help dry the back or prop them up.

Out of air dry clay I cut some heart shapes.  Use a skewer to poke a hole at the top for hanging.




Leave to dry turning occasionally.

When dry paint red.

When the birds are dry you can cut off any excess strips that are hanging off the side. You can also use sand paper to sand off those little bits.

Before painting I punched a hole at the top and bottom of the bird.  I used a ruler to make sure I had them in line.

I primed my birds with gesso.

I then painted and decorated them.

You also can use coloured sharpies to decorate.

I had these felt and sequin hearts from the dollar store so I glued them on the heads of the birds.

Finally tie on your strings.

That's it.


Gail