5 Apr 2019

Portrait Artist Study - Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley is an American artist.

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source

Image source
For our self-portrait study we looked at his work and then created our own versions, 
using zentangle blackline masters as the backgrounds.  

We chose to do monochromatic pencil sketches for our portraits (but next time would be sure to use cartridge/drawing paper rather than just plain paper, to make sure the zentangle lines under our portrait don't show through because the paper would be thicker.)

Here are some of our efforts!










20 Mar 2019

The Paper Doll Project

With the recent tragedy of the mass shootings in Christchurch, my class has been talking about acceptance, tolerance, diversity and values.

Being in Southland we are not directly connected to the event of March 15th, but we all want to acknowledge how sad we feel about what has happened to people who should have been able to carry out their daily lives without fear, just as any New Zealander or visitor to our country should be able to do.

We are joining the Paper Doll Project to honour the victims and their Muslim community and to celebrate the special character that New Zealand has as a nation - one of many colours, creeds, races and religions.

We wish peace and aroha to all who are in this country - be kind to one another, that's all we ask. We are all human, we are all unique - we need to celebrate this.


6 Feb 2019

3 Feb 2019

Artist study: Nate Williams

I am using Nate's work as inspiration for our beginning of the year 'me' art activities, thanks to an idea I saw on Pinterest: this is the lesson idea from Kathy at Art Projects for Kids

It will be a great way to do an 'about me' portrait to help my Year Sixes start off the year and brighten up our classroom straight away after the summer break.

I've made this slideshow with examples of his work, and this is also in the class blog-post.


Blog interview with Nate about his style and work        Portfolio: Painted Words site

Kathy's example of what we will be making; I will share our results once they are done!

Image source

Here are some of the 'in-progress' photos - we decided to use sharpies for the words as well and we are then using watercolour pencils for the colours (much easier than mucking around with actual watercolours!)














26 Aug 2018

Aiming for excellence

Not sure of the source of this, sorry - I think I saved it from Facebook - if you know the original source, please let me know in the comments!

18 Aug 2018

Lino print stars completed

Here are some of our finished Matariki lino prints and winter night poems:











30 Jun 2018

Lino printing - Matariki stars


We are using the theme of Matariki for our lino printing this term; we have already designed, cut and printed the first colour of our two-colour prints.  Here is some other print-making inspiration.



We drew out our simple designs on paper first (tip: leave a finger-space between lines so they are easy to cut out with the blades - if your lines are too close together then you will cut away too much and lose the design).

To transfer the drawn design to the lino, we used reverse tracing (pencil on the back of the design, then pressed on the top to reverse trace onto the lino). You can do this on either side of the drawing - just remember that whatever goes onto the block will end up printed in a mirror image.


To make it easier to cut the lino we heat the lino blocks in the microwave for a few seconds each to soften them - just watch out for burning of the hessian, as it can happen if you heat for too long and you don't want to set off any smoke alarms. Also, do not flex the lino while it is soft or it might snap in half.

Remember, when cutting - KEEP YOUR RESTING HAND BEHIND THE BLADE - THE BLADE SHOULD BE POINTING AWAY FROM YOUR RESTING HAND! If you need to cut a section of design close to you, then TURN THE LINO around -always keep the blade moving away from you as it can suddenly slip and stab you if your hand is in the way.

First cut away all the areas that you wish to stay white (or the colour of the paper you will print on).

I like to set up a printing station on one large table - if the ink is a bit firm, let the tube rest in a jug of warm water (but be careful to not let any water drip onto the inking plate or it will make the ink runny).  I use a small plate so that we don't waste ink by 'painting' a huge area when actually we just want to get ink onto the brayer (roller).



Once the roller is coated, carefully roll over your lino block, making sure to get good coverage (we go up and down, side to side).



Then we carefully turned over the block (as we were using A2 paper sheets) to place it onto the paper; next we used a dry roller to press firmly on the back of the lino block to get the ink onto the paper. Again, use an up and down, then side to side motion.  Carefully peel off the block and your print will be revealed.


You should be able to get at least two prints from one coating of ink.  The kids all did six prints in total with orange; the next day they used their (dried) block again to do a set of red or yellow prints.



The block can then be washed in the sink (be sure to keep it flat so it doesn't bend or break) and left to dry. It will curl a little but should be okay.

Once dry, you can then cut away all the areas that you wish to stay in the colour that has already been done (in our case, orange, red or yellow).

Print the block again in your second colour (we used black for the night sky) - you will need to be very careful when you are placing your lino block on top of the prints that you have already done because you want to be sure you are matching up the pattern.



I'll post the results here once the kids have done them!!

A previous lino print post - based on gyotaku (Japanese fish printing)