The girls started off with making prints to cut up and glue onto the (eventual) drawing as a collage. I really believe that its so important to give kids good art materials. (You can’t practise making a wedding dress from calico!)
We used oil based ink which is water-washable and Chinese Rice Paper. The girls took impressions from embossed (velvet flocked – oh my!) paper and corrugated card etc. They worked with green patterns for grass and browns for walls.
They loved rolling with the rollers and got stuck into it with abandon. ‘Green fingers’ get’s its true meaning here. You can see how the winter sunshine is steaming into my conservatory. I think I’d never cope without that lovely room in my house.
Here Evelyn is getting an impression from some string I glued down into straight lines onto card (for a previous project).
After rolling very hard, they have to change pace and be careful not to crease or tear the delicate paper.
It looks as though I may need to roll some plain brighter green pieces to convey the grass so that they can use both. In two weeks time we’ll do some rubbings of patterns, then another two weeks before actually drawing the church in a bold felt-tip. With adults this kind of preparation would make them very tense about the final outcome, but with kids, they aren’t intimidated. I try not to do art every week because I want my granddaughters to feel relaxed and do whatever they feel like doing when they visit me. I’m not their art-teacher, and they need to be able to just unwind, have stories sometimes, bake, watch a video etc. This series is a bit structured because of inviting other girls, but there is loads of time. Taking it slowly also means that the teaching is thorough and they don’t lose concentration. Each session we’ll achieve something significant.
To find out more about how to make these patterns and the materials view Monoprinting at SSI
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