Worktable Wednesday: Watercolor Monsters

Every once in awhile, I get the urge to pursue other art mediums to get my creative juices flowing. If you know me only as a plush monster maker, you may not know that I love to paint. I painted a lot in my senior year of high school and then in college.

Watercolor pencils were a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law years ago. I made a chart to see how the pencils look on paper and when water is added.

I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with watercolors.  They intrigue me, but there is very little room for error.  When I used to paint a lot, I preferred acrylics.  But my interest in watercolor keeps creeping back every once in awhile. I tend to use them a lot when teaching art to kids. They are quicker than acrylics in terms of cleanup. I like the look.  And I've recently tried to embrace their slight unpredictability.

I've also started combining watercolors with black pen.

I am debating whether I should add watercolor paintings to my KiraArts products or just keep it as a "just for me" creative outlet, with no pressure to make them to sell. Because I do admit, sometimes that pressure saps the creativity from me. I actually am feeling very uninspired to make plush lately for some reason.  I'm hoping maybe this brief foray into watercolor can help bring back the spark.

My Leonard Nimoy Tribute Monster

 I did this little sketch in the waiting room while getting my car inspected! I recently watched Big Hero 6 and was inspired! I am absolutely in love with the design of Baymax. The simplicity of that face! That squishy belly! And he's just the proportions I tend to favor in my monster designs...long torso, long arms, stubby legs. I just want to hug him!  I love Baymax!

Some Big Hero 6 & KiraArts crossover art!

RNEST Etsy Craft Party Projects

Here are a couple examples of projects we'll be doing at the RNEST Etsy global Craft Party.
I used copies of an old photo of my grandmother (printed on cardstock).

Colorize photos with watercolors

Embroidered photos

Art Lesson With Little Kids: Watercolor Splatter Monsters

We made "Splatter Monsters" today in the little kids' art class. (known as "Drippy Monsters" at the blog that I got the idea from, "smART Class" ).

This first one is my example I did the previous night so I would have a final product to show the kids. 

 It's pretty simple...just splash a little puddle of watercolor paint onto the paper, then blow through a straw to make the paint go all splattery!  Do this until you get the desired amount of splatter effect.  Add eyes and mouth from colored paper/cardstock...and voila!...a Splatter Monster!

I like that the kids used multiple colors for their monsters.  The merging paint makes a cool-looking effect.

(the writer of the blog I got the idea from said that she used liquid watercolor paint, which I went out and bought and used as well, but I learned while experimenting that regular watercolor paint works as well.) 

 This goofy little orange tripod guy was the step-by-step example I did during class.

The kids had a lot of fun with this one!  I'm sure their older brothers are chomping at the bit to do their own Splatter Monsters next week!

Post-Art-Class Inspiration

After teaching art class, I often feel inspired to play around with the supplies and make some art myself.

So I made a little ATC (Artist Trading Card) using the watercolors and my monster rubber stamp (custom made by my friend John of Jackbear Stamps).

I also did some extra watercolor and rubber stamping on the paper I used to show the kids how to do the sticker & watercolor project.

Then I made myself another button painting. I think it would look cute framed on a wall. I can't decide whether to keep it or to try and sell it in the shop.

And here's a look at the beautiful mess the dining room table is! Sure, it's chaos, but all the color makes it look so pretty! (and besides, it won't be that hard to clean up!)

Art Lesson with Older Kids: Button Paintings

I had all 3 "older" kids (5-7 year olds) this week for art class. This was our project...a button painting (like the one I did here).

(The 2 with no names at the top-lefthand corner are mine). i think Ava's (in the bottom right) may be my favorite. (Shhh!...don't tell the kids I said that! I'm not supposed to pick favorites!) It's not as squared-up and structured as my example and like the boys' were...the buttons are kind of willy-nilly...but that may be what makes me like it. The buttons look like they're all spilled out across a table. I may do one myself like that. I'm really liking this project and have been inspired to do a couple ATC's/ACEO's using watercolors and the stamps.

It is interesting to now see the dynamic of having 3 kids in the class. I'm starting to see the differences in how the kids work. One follows directions well and finishes the steps quicker than the others, but is very talkative and easily distracted. One is quiet and very focused, but doesn't always follow the specific directions I give, whether they weren't listening or just forgot. And one has an active imagination and gets focused on making up stories of what they're drawing and enjoys drawing little details, and in their excitement, sometimes forgets what the original directions were. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all did very well. And I didn't mind the kids who didn't follow the directions exactly, because their work turned out well anyway. And the bottom line is...art is about having fun, right? (well, the point of the art CLASS is learning too) I have to walk a fine line between having expectations, directions, structure, and rules...but at the same time, reassuring them that mistakes are okay and that sometimes mistakes make a piece of art turn out even better. (I got a lot of "I can't make a perfect circle!"...even after I said that their circles didn't have to be perfect! LOL.)

For the main project, I showed them my example and told them to make 5 circles with the watercolors, in whatever colors they wanted. After the watercolors dried, I had them use my Button stamp to stamp the button design onto the circles. The I had them use alphabet stamps to write their names on their papers...which I thought looked pretty cool with the overall design.

I originally had planned this project for the little kids, due to its simplicity and how it looks cool no matter what. But then I thought the older kids would enjoy it as well! (and they did!)

While we let the watercolors dry, they worked on some new How-To-Draw worksheets I'd made. One for how to draw a boy, one for how to draw a girl.

They were all very quiet and focused while they were drawing...

I have to be prepared for what to do if a kid finishes before the rest. I've debated between letting them go to the next step of the project or having them wait for the other kids to finish. As of now, I've been having them wait, but giving them scrap paper and letting them doodle until the rest of the kids are ready for the next step. (any art teachers out there have some advice for me?)

Recycled Spool Button Stamp (Plus Owl-Inspired Art)

You know my love of vintage wooden thread spools...but what to do with the modern plastic ones when they're empty? I saw a tutorial a while back for making a button stamp out of an empty plastic spool and craft foam. I decided, on a whim, to try making one yesterday.

I didn't have the tutorial yesterday (I actually had to search for it in order to post the link), so I just sort of winged it. I'm sure I didn't make mine exactly like the tutorial. (but when do I ever make something exactly like the tutorial?) I used regular kids' craft form instead of the adhesive-backed foam. (I used regular, white, school glue to attach the foam at first, but even after drying overnight, it fell apart, so I re-attached the foam with hot glue today. Much better. You gotta love hot glue!

I made my stamp double-sided as well...

I liked the simple design I did on the "test page", but thought it would look better with 9 "buttons" on a square piece of paper. I also thought it would be cool to use watercolors to color the buttons. I painted the color on first, let it dry, and then stamped the design.

^note the sock monkey slippers^ ;)

(my Mommy got them for me as a belated Christmas gift.)

I watched "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" last night and was inspired by the gorgeous visuals, so I did these two quick sketches with my watercolor pencils.

Terra is always curious about what I'm up to whenever I'm doing things on the coffee table. :)

Rediscovering Watercolors

I've been rediscovering watercolors this week. I babysat one of my friend's daughters this afternoon, and we spent a good chunk of the time painting wit watercolors (since I still had them out from teaching my other friend's son an art lesson earlier in the week). The following two pictures are what I painted today...

I had some printouts from a lesson I did at a homeschool co-op last year. The project we did was taping some line drawing printouts onto a window, taping paper over it, and tracing the lines with a white crayon. After the tracing is done, you paint it with watercolors and the white crayon acts as a wax resist. I think the piece I used for these two paintings was from a line drawing of the bronze ballerina sculpture by Edgar Degas.

The flowing hair on the first one was an accident while painting the color on the face, but I liked it and went with it with the brown. I don't think this painting is as good as it could have been if I'd stopped working on it earlier. I think I "ruined" it in my mind by working on it further. Sometimes you just need to know when to stop!

The second piece I am more satisfied with.

Watercolors aren't usually my favorite artistic medium to work with. If I'm going to paint, I usually prefer acrylic. But I like the look of watercolors and often admire other artists' work done with the medium. My mother-in-law bought me a lovely set of Prismacolor watercolor pencils a few years ago. I use watercolors when I'm trying to "play" with art and let myself go...to combat the perfectionist control-freak that primarily dominates my artistic nature. That part of me often gets frustrated at the transparent nature of watercolors (and prefers the mistake-covering opaqueness of acrylic).

I find it interesting that I tend to paint more during or after I have been teaching art to kids. Most other times painting goes by the wayside while I focus on making plush...because plush is the moneymaker right now. Do you ever wish you could just split yourself? I need a Painter Me, a Plush Maker Me, and a Puppeteer Me. I am interested in so many artistic mediums that it's hard to satisfy the urge for all of them.