Mixed Media Illustrations

I've been working on some illustrations that blend two of my favorite media, painting and cut paper:

Drawing Class: Baskets in Charcoal

As I looked around my studio for a something to challenge returning students while welcoming newcomers, my eyes landed on my collection of baskets. I thought, what a great way to introduce concepts of line to a new group of drawing students. To develop a strong sense of contour, we need clear visual pathways to follow. Baskets have many lines in repeating patterns that we can follow and study through drawing. For advanced students, working to capture the overlapping forms can give an added challenge. 

 

Drawing Students' Final Projects

My drawing students from Family Learning Program fall quarter surveyed a broad range of drawing topics, practiced skills and experimented with new concepts, and shared this final artwork with their community.

 

We explored how drawing can create the illusion of three dimensions with marks on a two dimensional surface.

I could tell the students took to heart the importance of building our Drawing Community when I noticed everyone sharing their work either with a neighbor or with our whole class.

 

Perspective drawing is especially useful for useful for building spatial-visual connections, showing architectural and mechanical forms, room interiors, and landscape drawing. 

 

Objects appear to diminish with distance. Things appear smaller when farther away.

Students were asked to study proportions and practice using sighting and relative units of measurements.

 

Every person has unique and beautiful proportions. We can use relative units of measurement to show all kinds of interesting people.

  

To train our eyes to see small but important changes in the light to shadow scale, or spectrum, we set up a visually simplified situation with a single light source. Then we practiced drawing an object while attempting to capture a full range of light and shadow gradations.

At it’s most basic, a drawing is a group of marks on some kind of surface. Any drawing will relate to line, shape and/or pattern. You can draw anything visible, and many imaginary things as well, with a step by step process. Start with a soft gesture drawing that captures the shapes and motion of the entire subject. Next, check and correct proportions using relative units of measurement. Finally, add detailed contours and gradations of light and shadow.

Art and Design at Family Learning Program

This spring session of Family Learning Program I've been fortunate to lead three art and design classes serving a whole range of different ages, styles and interests! As summer approaches with a finish to these energy-charged classes, I want to share some highlights from our learning experiences.

Interactive social games remind kids of the basics while strengthening classroom relationships.

Then, we're ready to get serious with some advanced painting studies. Many students would stop nowhere short of the "fancy" color wheel this session. I was continually amazed at their level of focus and dedication.

Even my youngest artists, with support from their parents, were fascinated to study the behavior of paint under various conditions.

 

I've noticed amazing collaborative exchanges among these artist teams.

 

Whether studying watercolor techniques, printmaking methods, or mixed media construction, we agreed that creativity is something important to ourselves, our families and our community. 

 

Mixed media experiments with the older kids included ink drawings on a clear sheet to create sun-print images.

Many of the kids enjoyed drawing and then painting over their drawings. 

 

This basic illustration technique is incredibly versatile.

When classroom dynamics got a little complicated, I brainstormed up a set of worksheets to give students an additional way to interact with complex drawing instructions. It was difficult to put aside fears that worksheets might stifle their creativity, but I forged ahead while encouraging students to honor their own unique ways to draw.

I was relieved and overjoyed to find that the results were as wildly varied as the kids are!

Drawing, Painting and Design at Family Learning Program

This week the artists of Drawing, Painting and Design (ages 5-8) launched an acrylic painting project using templates and under-drawings, while expanding our study of color schemes and a comparison of art with design.

When leading each unique gathering of learners with a wide range of strengths, challenges and interests, I want to allow them to build on their existing skills while introducing a rich variety of concepts, tools and active learning experiences.

Watercolors and acrylic paints share many properties, both being water soluble. Among their differences, though, watercolors are much more translucent, and we have tried painting with both pan and liquid watercolors to discover how each behaves.

Our first mixed media experience blended charcoal drawing, glue transfer, cut paper and ink, with a little surprise at the end of class (red liquid watercolor!). 

The glue transfer is an invention to avoid using toxic fixative spray on our charcoal drawings. It seems to work pretty well! The students roll a layer of glue onto a large sheet of watercolor paper and glue the charcoal drawing face up. Next, they roll a layer of glue over a sheet of waxed paper and press the glue over the drawing. Once the wax paper is peeled away, it leaves a thin coating of glue, keeping the charcoal in place. 

Have you local folks been out to Seattle Art Museum to see the playful painting and sculpture of Joan Miró? I think some of my students have a similar sensibility! His art is visiting us all the way from a museum in Madrid, Spain. 

When putting together lesson plans, I often think of a talk called "How art, design and technology inform creative leaders", given by John Maeda, former president of the Rhode Island School of Design. (You can find it on TED.com.) 

Maeda tells us that art asks difficult questions, often with no clear answers, while design solves problems. The two often overlap and inform each other in surprising ways! 

I'll leave you with these ink nib drawings, showing a fun array of line, contrast, pattern, shadow and light.