This was a 2 day project.
Day 1
The day began with drawings and I passed around books of dinosaurs, insects and shells for inspiration and an understanding of their bones, structure and shapes/forms. We talked about the things that the students learned in school about fossils.

In preparation for the project we first used macaroni as dinosaur, fish and insect bones. The students made a drawing/collage and then painted the “bones” and added some landscape elements.

Students were given illustration board and materials such as pipe cleaners and feathers to cut and paste to their board. First we pre-gessoed the board to seal them and I explained how this was the process that painters used to prepare their canvasses.

Although the students found the process of gluing down the pipe cleaners to the board very challenging, I explained that they would be surprised with the final outcome.

With glue and tissue paper we covered the boards and materials with 2 layers. They left them to dry overnight.

Day 2
Fossils continued / learning about Nu Pastels
Students then collected their fossils from previous day and were surprised to see how it looked dry! I taught them about the material Nu-Pastel and how to apply it to their fossil by drawing and dry brushing it on. They did a great job! They enjoyed the pastels so much so they all also made a drawing on charcoal paper.

Painting with Texture. New material, Molding Paste

Introduced new material to students today that is used with painting and mixed media artwork, molding/modeling paste.

Students (age 6-8):
Students learned about using texture in painting and how to paint with molding paste and paint mixed together.
They were told to think about the textures we find in nature as well as abstract shapes. I showed them a few samples of paintings with this product and they made paintings based on these thoughts.

Students (age 9-11):
Students learned about using texture in painting and how to paint with molding paste and paint mixed together. They were told to think about the textures we find in nature as well as abstract shapes. I showed them a few samples of paintings with this product.
We began by deciding on a color palette. I had them choose colors from a draw of crayons. Based on their choices I mixed colors and paste. They were so inspired by the texture of the product, and how it resembled cake icing that we decided to make cake paintings!
One student was still inspired by nature and took that route with her piece, which was a beautiful painting and collage. She mixed in some grass straw pieces.
I showed them some cake paintings on my smartphone by artist Wayne Thiebaud and some other artists who used cakes and abstract shapes in their work, while they worked on their paintings.