Custom Cowboy Boots!

Today our talented young western footwear designers created these magnificent cowboy boot designs. 

The fancy stitching along the side of the boot looks pretty impressive, don't you think? 

This is a mixed media project that involves a number of different processes.

The first challenge was (have you guessed?) writing the artist's name in cursive to use for that fancy stitching. We practiced first to get the right size and length to fit the boot.  Those who are not yet versed in cursive writing did their best with some fancy printing. 

Next we sketched our boots on white 12" x 18" sulfite paper - heavy drawing paper - using a template (I have three different ones). 

We folded the boot along a central line and wrote the name along the line using a charcoal pencil, then folded it over, and rubbed (hard) to create a mirror image. 

We added a fancy design to one side and made a mirror image in the same way. 

We also added other boot sections,  stitching, and a fancy toe design to match the boot design.

We drew a boot pull for the top and a spur with a star in the margins of the paper. 

Everything was then outlined with a black Sharpie, carefully painted in with watercolor, and put out in the sun to dry while we played a little cornhole! 

Then we carefully cut out the dried boots, glued on the boot pulls and spurs, and attached the star with a brad so it can spin! A little metallic Sharpie, glitter pen, and a few gemstones, and it was done!

This art project was the last of our June Westward Ho! theme for this summer's art camps and classes. I think our little buckaroos had a rip-roarin,' blastin' good time! Take a gander at our original Cowboy Boot design post for more exciting cowboy boot art.

Cactus Gardens in Watercolor

 

As we continue to 'explore' the Old West, we realize that much of our time is spent in the Southwest desert! 

So... we made these lovely Cactus Gardens using Native American patterns to decorate our planter pots. 

First we observed and practiced drawing various cactus shapes.

On an 11" x 15" sheet of watercolor paper, we drew the pot first, then added the soil line and the smaller cactus in the front. Then we drew the larger cactus behind the first to create layers (front and back), and we added patterns to the pot. The next step was to outline everything with a black Sharpie.  

Now it was time to add color! We first used liquid watercolor to fill in the background. We dried it before painting our cactus and pot to prevent the paint from bleeding. 

We painted the cactus by first mixing a variety of greens, starting with the Kelly green in the pan and adding orange (to grey it up) or yellow or blue and varying amounts of water for transparency. 

We also painted any colorful flowers and the soil. 

Finally, we painted in our pot patterns. After they dried, we added additional details in ink. 

I think they're stunning!

For more, take a look at our original Cactus Gardens post.

Rainbow Trout in Watercolor

Here's a great Father's Day gift idea - especially if Dad enjoys fishing - this colorful Rainbow Trout!

These beauties are first sketched in pencil, then outlined with fine and ultra fine black Sharpies. 

They are then painted with watercolor.

The background can be painted (add salt for a nice watery texture) or the trout can be cut out and mounted!

Take a look at our previous post for more detailed instructions for creating this beautiful rainbow trout.  

Painted Indian Ponies!

This week we painted these Indian Ponies!

This is one of our favorite Old Western-themed art projects, as you can see below.

We first observed some Indian pony artwork. Then we used a special template to draw the right shape and size of the pony's head on our 12" x 16" watercolor paper: a large size rubber flipflop!

Then, using tempera paint, we painted the background and the horse. Finally, we added war paint and feathers (as an option).

This artwork was created by artists ages 7 through 13. You can see an earlier Indian Ponies post right here.

Old West Native American Trioramas

This week at Summer Art Camp our young artists built these impressive Native American trioramas. 

Campers got a peek at how North American Indians lived through 3-dimensional construction and assemblage of a native village. 

Our miniature scenes were created within a 3-sided display called a triorama. Ours were made from a piece of poster board cut to 14" x 18".  A slightly smaller triorama can be made from an ordinary piece of 12" x 18" construction or sulfite paper.

The triorama template we used calls for a square sheet of paper, but you can leave the excess (don't cut it off) to add a lake or an extension of land in the foreground, as some of our artists chose to do. Before assembling the triorama, we painted it, dried it, and glued it together.

We made our miniature objects with Kraft paper, cardboard, tissue and nature objects such as pebbles, twigs, and leather.

We made teepees, fire rings, canoes with oars, and wooden frames on which to stretch a buffalo skin or create a colorful weaving. 

We also learned about Native American symbols and inscribed some of them onto our miniature objects.

This project was a lot of fun! Young artists enjoyed working in a 3-D format with so many different materials.

Trioramas are a great way for kids to study and illustrate any subject, such as natural habitats, animal science, or to simply tell stories. They can be used to create a 3-dimenstional indoor or outdoor scene, and they can be attached back to back for a four different story scenes or learning sections in one. 

Notorious Outlaws!

This was the first of our 'Westward Ho!' themed Summer Art Camp projects.  

Our wild rootin-tootin artists learned how to create soft pastel self-portraits while immersing themselves into the Old West era to create a humorous storyline/narrative along the way: what kind of an lawless, cantankerous scoundrel am I? 

The little buckaroos then designed their own WANTED posters with creative hand lettering and descriptive writing skills to construct a humorous, compelling, readable poster.

We started by choosing a good wild-west cowboy/girl name. Most of us (including me) had great Old West names to start with, so that was easy. We simply elaborated on them to get just the right name, using a few online ideas for the best cowboy names and cowgirl names. 

Then we decided on what type of notorious outlaws we were: your typical stagecoach robbers or cattle rustlers, or maybe something a bit sillier, like stagecoach stowaways or cat rustlers!

We created the written portions of our posters on the backside of very old, yellowed manila graph paper (yes, I have some, for some reason) (which, goes to show why art teachers never throw anything away). We left a large section in the center for the portraits, which we created on a separate sheet of manila paper in soft pastels and charcoal pencil. 

My Sample

I encouraged our lawless ones to use sepia tones and avoid very bright colors to keep that 'worn,' old-time look. We sprayed the portraits with hairspray to prevent smearing, and glued them to the posters. Then we attached the posters to a 12" x 18" sheet of brown sulfite paper on which a few boards had been previously "nailed," and we drew tacks in the corners of the posters with a Sharpie. 

The original idea for this project comes from Deep Space Sparkle’s Gunslingers & Outlaws lesson for 4^th thru 6^th grade.

Woodland Animals

This week we painted our favorite North American critters in their beautiful woodland homes.

We have painted these watercolor birch tree scenes in the past, but this painting was much more complex because it is larger and involves freehand drawing, mixed media, and various watercolor masking techniques. 

The animal was first selected and sketched (using a photo resource) with graphite pencil. We then used masking tape to create our birch and/or aspen trees (like painting with tape!) while ensuring that at least a portion of the animal is hidden behind a tree. Then we completed the visible portion of the animal with colored pencil and/or crayon. 

Before painting, we also used Q-tips to add masking fluid, which would later become wildflowers. 

We then loosely filled in the watercolor scene, dabbing colorful paint right over the masked off areas. The animals resisted the watercolor, but we were still able to paint over them as well with watercolor that matched the animal's fur. This filled in any white areas while leaving the furry textures visible. 

I think the best part is removing the masking material from the dried painting to reveal sections of clean white paper.  This invites the artist to add birch tree shadows and markings to create shape and volume, as well as the colorful wildflowers. Further details are then added such as branches, grasses, and foliage into the upper trees.  

This 11" x 15" painting project takes about three hours to complete. 

The first three paintings were created by young artists ages 8-12.  The bottom three paintings are adult samples. 

Awesome Cardboard Construction!

It's true. We art teachers love cardboard. We collect it. We divide it by size and into piles of useful, great, and amazing cardboard. Thin and bendable, corrugated, double corrugated, thick like wood; we love it all. It's like gold to us. What can we do with cardboard? What can't we do with cardboard? 

We stock up on cardboard tubes of all sizes. We love cardboard egg cartons and oddly shaped fruit packing cardboard. All the better to make stuff with!

Such as this 3-dimensional relief sculpture of an awesome dragon. 

It was first constructed from cardboard, carboard tubes, tissue, masking tape, and other recycled or found objects. Then the background was covered with tissue paper and the dragon was painted.

This cardboard dragon sculpture was constructed during a two-day cardboard assemblage, construction, sculptural workshop. This type of 3D art-making is very appealing to young artists!

To make a free-standing 3-dimensional dragon, this artist first drew a picture of the dragon idea on paper. Then she drew the dragon's main body on extra thick corrugated cardboard and the other parts thinner cardboard, including wings, to be cut out and assembled.  

The parts of the dragon were then glued together and the webbing was added to the wings. (We recycled a plastic birthday party table covering for that because it was thin - but stronger than tissue paper.) Then the entire dragon was painted. 

This project was a bit different. The artist wanted to build a treehouse, tree and all. So she started with a simple, free-standing tree, complete with branches full of leaves. Then she added the basic tree house platform - made of solid wood, as you can see (smile).

Now she was able to add the roof, the ladder, a tire swing, and a water slide, complete with a pool full of water toys!

Our inspiration for this workshop* was British artist and teacher Darrell Wakelam's "three-dimensional sculptural work using simple techniques and cheap, everyday materials, mainly scrap cardboard and paper." 

* other than the piles of cardboard kept on hand by me, as previously disclosed above.

Just to be sure, I decided to use Darrell's techniques to create my own cardboard relief sculpture prior to offering this workshop, of course. Strictly research. 

I made this zebra, and it was fun! 

For oodles of ideas and resources relating to using cardboard and other recyclables for making three-dimensional assemblages and sculptures, you can visit Darrell's website at darrellwakelam.com.

A Floral Bouquet

I just LOVE these little floral bouquets! 

So colorful, simple, and cheerful!

These little still life paintings are created in the style of 19th century French Impressionist Berthe Morisot.  

They are painted on 11" x 11" colored sulfite (construction) paper and mounted on 12" x 12" black poster board for a nice contrasting border. 

I try to include this painting project every now and again because it is so much fun to paint and the results are always so stunning!

Take a look at our previous post for more details about how to paint these cuties. 

Our thanks to Painted Paper Art for this great painting project idea!

These paintings were created by artists ages 8 through 12.

* Addendum *

We painted these floral bouquets for Mother's Day 2023. 

Lots of brilliant color!

Delicate flowers with beautiful pinks and reds!

Another sample by me. (Of course I made another one - I can't resist.)