Creative Minds Tempera and India Ink "Batik"

I always LOVE this activity!
I knew after the first meeting of Creative Minds that this group of kids could handle the long term dedication needed to see this to fruition. I first did this with a group of elementary school kids in preparation for our first ever "After School Art Show." The image above, of Venus fly traps, is probably still my favorite. (Side story, this student was in 4th grade when she did this. I then had her as an art student in 8th grade when I was finally hired in the public schools. I now see her from time to time at the high school. Side, side note, five years later after I no longer work for the program, the "After School Art Show" still continues each spring!)

So I probably found this idea over five years ago at Kinder Art.
Since then, I have done this with three groups of kids, two of which were after school art clubs. When groups only meet once a week, this can take up to a month to complete. So heres whats up:

1. Plan a design. I typically talk about motif and random pattern. Some of the most interesting works have been just simple shapes.
2. Draw the design on larger paper using chalk. I have always used the standard 12x18 manila, school grade paper. 
3. Paint the design with tempera paint paying careful attention NOT to paint on the chalk lines. It is also a good idea to apply the paint heavily. Not so heavy it cracks when it dries, but heavy keeping in mind that some may wash away later.
4. When the paint is dry, evenly cover with semi diluted India ink. Adding some water I think helps to wash it away later. When applying, be careful not to "scrub" the ink into the layer of paint. I typically use a 2-3 inch wide brush so that only a few lines of ink are needed to fill the page. Due to the staining nature of the ink too, I have kids paint at a station.
5. After the ink is dry, run a faucet to warm water. Using a board to support the page, have the warm water run over the inked page. I have used lunch trays in the past. If needed, use a paint brush to gently remove the ink. I reiterate to students that the more wet the page becomes, the more fragile it is. So they need to be super careful when rinsing the ink. I also explain that the more they rinse, the more paint that is under the ink, will rinse off too.

  

A handful of my Creative Minds kids are at the point of needing to rinse the ink. Hopefully I will have more images tomorrow.

UPDATE:
Below are a handful of the final products.
Unfortunately, I think most of these are examples of washing off too much ink. In fact the student who created the first design told me that she felt like she washed off too much. Still a beautiful image though!

Water and fire

The seasons

detail of above

Scarecrows

When fall really starts to settle in, I realize how much I miss teaching elementary school. I don't think I ever even imagined myself teaching the little ones, let alone enjoying it! But there is something about experiencing their pure joy and uncensored imagination in the art room that is so rewarding. I hope to inspire my middle school kids to continue to enjoy art and use their imaginations. It can be a really turbulent time as a teenager, but art can be a great outlet.

Anyhow this fall lesson, again unearthed from my file transfer, is inspired by Not so scarey Scarecrows from Deep Space Sparkle. I did this my third year teaching, but had found Patty's website about a year before.

---side-note---
I am so thankful for the art teacher community created in the blogosphere! I did my student teaching at the high school level and there were five teachers in the building! It was also in a school that had been built within the last five years, had an amazing department head and equally awesome budget. Going from that to the only art teacher at a parochial school with not budget (that I knew of) two years later, was an adjustment to say the least! Finding people like Patty, Phyl and Mr. E. made me feel like I wasn't alone and encouraged me to provide the best art education I could. (And with the encouragement of Ms. Wilkinson (my college roommate), now at The Tale of a Traveling Teacher, I started my own blog during my third year)
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This Scarecrow lesson was the first time I felt like I had taken an idea that I found online and really made it my own. And even more rewarding was how much fun these fourth graders had, class after class completing their assignment.

But now, two years later, I can't remember. What did we start with!?
I think we did a guided drawing the first week.
Yup, that's what we did.
We drew the face of the scarecrow, the arms/ shirt and legs however they would fit on the page. I drew different ideas on the board and had handouts at each table. I kept it simple, building on the letter 'U' and using horizontal and vertical lines. Students used black crayon.
Next we started with a plate of primary colors. We painted yellow things, then red then whatever was orange by mixing yellow and red. We followed the same idea with blue, green and brown. See More.

The next class, we used a bunch of the construction paper that had been sitting in the coat closet for years! It was faded and yellowed in spots but perfect for designing our "crops."

We again started with the primary colors and reviewed different types of line... zig- zag, curvy, diagonal etc etc. Students painted 3 (?) sheets. The next class, we tore the paper and "donated" half to the scrape bin, keeping the other half for the background.

Finally, we cut out our original scarecrows, glued them to the crop background and added some rafia for texture. I'm sure this lesson isn't original, even with the collage aspect I added. But it sure felt awesome for all of us to make something so fun! 

I think I took these photos pre rafia. Super cute none the less!

Willow Pattern Plates in progress

I can't wait any longer! I have to share how our Willow Pattern Plates are coming out.

In the beginning  of DECEMBER, grade six  read The Willow Pattern Story by Allan Drummond. We discussed illustration, pattern, value and monochromatic. Students made a rough draft of a design illustrating a part of the story, the entire story or their own story. We are now finishing up painting our design on sturdy paper plates, adding some details with blue sharpie and finally coating the plates with a nice, shiny varnish.

On the right side of this picture, a student has her story map handy. After we read, we filled it out in order to remember the story the next few classes, but also to remember certain elements which could add to our design AND its good practice for upcoming standardized test.

Each set of tables has a tray with two kinds of blue acrylic and white. Students scoop with a pop stick a small amount of paint into the palate as needed. Each student is in charge of cleaning up her own supplies and I call table colors up to the sink a couple at a time.

not yet finished, but paying close attention to detail and craftsmanship

I love how he created a square in the circle. Not yet finished.

first one done out of over 100 students. very painterly.

this student decided to tell his own story. something about Sumo wrestling.

Many of the boys in this class enjoyed the part of the story where the star crossed lovers are placed in a maze. I love the color of this maze!

an underwater story!

the girls loved the part where the star crossed lovers become immortal doves. simple and beautiful.

matisse meets middle school

home sick today, with the first case of strep throat this year! not excited about being sick, especially since its the beginning of vacation and we have lots of fun things planned, but I've made it to February without getting really sick.

middle school Matisse
sixth and seventh grade recently learned about Henri Matisse, the king of color, as my little ones call him. For sixth grade, who have difficulty focusing and not constantly socializing, I introduced Matisse by reading "Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Matisse" by Mike Venezia. As I read, they had focus questions to answer. The exercise worked pretty well, as they could tell my lots about Matisse, even after a week! With both grades, we also looked at a power point of various Matisse works and talked about lines, pattern, complementary colors and composition.

grade six

After learning about Matisse, we looked at a still life set up in the room. Students did not have to draw it exactly as they saw it. Instead they were encouraged to take their inspiration from the still life and what they knew about Matisse. We completed 3 thumbnail sketches and took a day to make our own color wheel and introduce or review tints, tones, and shades. Students were only given red, yellow, blue, turquoise, green, black, brown and white. I think they did a great job, and I know they had a blast being allowed to mix their own colors!

grade seven
after spending about a month drawing in one point perspective, I wanted my seventh graders to explore other ways to create a space. Students were asked to come up with about five different patterns that they could possibly use in an interior. I have a TON of fabric samples, donated from a local design firm, so we had fun go through those. We also came up with 3 thumbnail sketches of rooms. The last activity was a bedroom, so I encouraged them to think of other rooms. There is an Ikea store near us, so I had students think about what its like when walking through the show rooms! Again, we talked about tints, tones and shades, and made a practice color wheel. We are still in the process of finishing, but these are some action shots.

you can see, in this shot in particular, how we work too. Recycled cup holders and yogurt cups and stryofoam trays for mixing pallets. clean up takes a little less than 10 minutes, depending on the speed of the middle schooler, but I can't really think of anything easier. one table washes while another puts paintings away. while waiting for the sink, all tables are sprayed and washed.
I'm just thankful we have a sink! And I know the kids really enjoy being able to mix their own paints. They feel like "real artists." Plus, the clean up teaches responsibility on some level. So, if it takes ten minutes, it takes ten minutes.