Art Journal - 2

Here are a few more pages from my art journal, in no particular order, since I work on a page that suits what I'm doing, not in chronological order . . . (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)

Colour wheel -- done as an exercise with a group of homeschooling children for an Art Fair. The challenge was to find an instructive activity that could work with children ranging in age from 3-12! There were so many possibilities -- but this is what I decided upon to teach/review the basic colour wheel and discuss primary and secondary colours. We used water colour pencils -- which have most of the fun of water colour paints with a fraction of the mess:) (BTW -- each child drew or traced a shape of their choosing for the centre to personalize their work.)

My children and I made Valentine's cards layering tissue paper and glue. I didn't follow the instructions properly the first time (we tore the top layer of tissue into bits instead of laying on a large piece to cover the whole surface), so I tried again in my journal. The idea was to "smoosh" the top layer so it had a nice glossy texture (once it was covered in glue again).

For our Art Fair last month, I also wanted to incorporate an Easter activity, so we glued painted egg shells to cardboard crosses and glossed them with more glue. Afterwards, I read that an additional touch is to finish with a wash of black for an antique look.

Below is my attempt at an Usborne art idea -- blown watery paint with a face painted inside.

I had thought to make my dear and very creative friend, Susan (http://www.islandcove.ca/), a birthday gift, and tried a technique I'd read of online in my journal. (Simply place flowers and leaves face down on paper under a paper towel and hammer!!!!). You probably can't tell, but I then outlined things with a sparkly gel pen. It looked OK for my journal, but not a good enough gift idea for my friend. (You should see the quilt she made for my husband and me!!!!! And the necklaces . . . well, you can see some of those on her website :)

This masking tape portrait was something I thought I could do with my children. Ya -- no. Kinda finicky, especially for little hands. My 12yo could do it, but I'm not sure she'd really find it worth the effort.

I'm a member of an altered book yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/alteredbooks/) and in February, lots of people were creating "Tangles." I thought it was a cool idea, so this is my first attempt.

One of my first attempts at using water colour pencils. I copied an illustration that caught my eye in one of my dd's science books. I can't draw from my head -- I have to copy something:{

That's about it -- at least of the things in my journal that are somewhat worth posting:)  I hope someone finds a glimmer of inspiration in something :)