Projects for Pacon!

completed project idea ~ 'Designing Negative Space'

When I was at the NAEA convention in San Diego, in the vendor area, a gal from Pacon was looking for art bloggers willing to write up lessons incorporating a new material that they would send for you to sample.  I thought this sounded like a fun challenge, so I accepted the offer.  In return, I received their new Pacon Basic Black Drawing Paper in three forms: a package of 9"x12" sheets, a spiral sketchbook of the same size, and a large project roll.  The paper is especially designed for use with gel pens and metallic markers.

completed project idea ~  'Getting Buggy: Still Life Collage'

I used the spiral pad as a place to experiment, and I discovered that the gel pens I was using did not show up well.  Since the paper is intended for use with gel pens, I contacted the rep and she immediately popped a set of Sakura GellyRoll Moonlight Gel Pens in the mail to me, and yay, they worked fabulously on the black paper!  I definitely recommend them.  I also had success with a variety of metallic markers (also recommended for use with this paper), with Faber Castell Metallic Gel Sticks, and white acrylic ink (using a bamboo pen).  I'm not going to show you all my fun doodles, but I must say, I do love the idea of a black sketchpad!  Next I'm going to be using the sketchpad to test white charcoal pencil and some white and sepia-tone conte, and I expect they might both work well. 

completed project idea ~ 'Wacky Woven Flying Carpet'

About the black paper - it is lighter weight than construction paper, with a very smooth surface on one side and a slight tooth on the other.  Due to its light weight, I don't think I'd recommend it for wet media.  While I haven't yet tried it (but I will), I think the paper would suit well for some folding and curling techniques.  The only criticism I have of the paper is that the black is not a deep rich black, but actually more on the gray side of black.  But of course, that means that a black Sharpie shows up on it for adding subtle detail, so that's kind of cool, isn't it?

Anyhow, in typical fashion, I went overboard and I developed three lesson ideas, all using the 9"x12" paper, and I'd like to share them with you.  I haven't come up with any fabulous ideas for the larger size paper yet, since the fine points of gel pens and metallic markers lend themselves more to small sizes.  But like I said, maybe a folding/rolling/curling type of project?

My first lesson idea (pictured above, below, and at the top of the post) is the simplest: an easy project I called 'Designing Negative Space'.  With a white gel pen, I traced an ordinary object (I used a scissors) many times on a sheet of the Pacon black paper, turning it in various directions, overlapping, and even going right over the edge of the paper.  The idea would be to talk with students about balance, repetition, and movement to create good a composition.  Then I filled in all the sections of negative space, using repeating patterns and designs.  Again, I used the GellyRoll  pens for this.

 

The second project 'Getting Buggy: Still Life Collage' is my favorite, but has more steps.  I referred to the artwork of Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), whose lush still life paintings always include 'creepy-crawlies' (insects, spiders, small lizards, butterflies, snails, inchworms, etc) tucked in among the flowers and on the tables. Here are a few images of her paintings:

I decided to make a colorful flower still life collage with bugs in it, to bring this to an elementary level.  The backgrounds of her paintings are usually dark, so I selected a deep blue Tru-Ray construction paper for the background (12"x18"), a piece of brown Tru-Ray for the table (6"x12"), and a piece of the 9"x12" Pacon Basic Black Drawing Paper for the vase.  (Definitely not as dark as hers!)  I folded the black paper in 1/2 like a book, and with the fold on the side drew a gentle 'S' curve from the top to the bottom.  I cut on that line and unfolded the paper to discover my vase, which I then glued on the table in my artwork and decorated with the metallic gel sticks.

I drew a bunch of insects with the gel pens (and addeed some black Sharpie detail) on the Pacon black paper, and cut around them loosely.  On assorted scraps of Tru-Ray construction paper, I drew some simple flower and leaf shapes, stacked some pieces together and cut them all out.  I then arranged them, including the bugs I had created, and glued it all together.  Finally, I used the gel markers to add details - veins on the leaves, lines on the flower petals, dots in the centers of flowers, and so on.  I enjoyed making my sample, and I think this could be a really fun lesson to do with kids!

The final project is called 'Wacky Woven Flying Carpets', and is similar to a 2nd grade paper weaving project I have posted about before on this blog.  (Hint: it is much less complicated than it looks!)  I won't give you all the process details here,  but I will mention that all the black paper in the weaving is the Basic Black Drawing Paper and was decorated with the gel pens.  My idea is that after the paper weaving and patterning techniques are all complete, the weavings would be displayed on a sky mural, and that the students could have fun creating whatever should ride on their flying carpets:  cats on carpets? (I've done that before); rattlesnakes on rugs?; flying french fries?... you get the idea!  Silly is good!!! Or, the weavings can just be backed with construction paper as I did in the 2nd image below, for use in a display about repeating pattern and design. 

If you want more information about the paper I was provided to use for these lessons, you can find links to it here: Basic Black Sketch Diary, Basic Black Drawing Paper 9"x12", and Basic Black Art Roll 24"x10'.  And if you've never visited the Pacon website before, here is where you will find assorted projects and lesson plans.  And here's a link to their Facebook page.  I'm hopeful that in the near future you will find the full details of  my three lesson ideas included on their website!  Yippee!!!!

And finally - I enjoyed coming up with ideas how to use this paper, and I want to say  THANK YOU to Jessica at Pacon for giving me the materials and the opportunity.  It was fun! 

Erica's Alphabet Soup

Last year, Erica, who blogs at Art Project Girl, organized a group share of sub lesson plans. Probably my favorite lesson in the bunch was hers, because it was simple and clear, did not require any special books, art prints, or strange materials, had educational value, and I thought the kids would enjoy it and be successful.

I decided to use this lesson before Thanksgiving when I was going to be out of school to attend my state conference. I introduced the project briefly to the kids in grade 3 & 4 as they were finishing another project, and they completed the work with the sub when I was out.

The basic instructions: use a Sharpie to write every letter of the alphabet. Each letter had to touch either another letter or the edge of the paper. Then use markers to fill the spaces that are formed with patterns and designs. We talked a bit about composition, and I gave kids permission to repeat letters if they had big empty spaces that they wanted to fill or if they had letters that weren't touching. This bulletin board below is the work of the 3rd graders. I didn't photograph the 4th grade work.

Thanks, Erica, for a great lesson!

Wild and Wacky Weaving!

So many "W" words! We Weave our Warp with a Weft or a Woof! Weaving is Wonderful!


Second graders folded paper in half, and used rulers to mark off 5 or 6 lines to cut. Then they "decorated" the warp with a pattern, gluing on colorful or patterned paper strips between the cuts in the paper. When the glue was dry, they chose ANOTHER pattern to weave with. Some kids repeated the same pattern, others chose something totally different. When weaving was complete, ends were glued down, and the weaving was glued to a larger sheet of construction paper. Many kids who finished quickly chose to decorate their weaving with black Sharpies and/or white colored pencils. Other quick finishers became teacher helpers, assisting kids who found the pattern of weaving to be a little challenging.

Zentangles? Nope, just doodles.

Huh? I'll admit I'm just not "getting it" (the Zentangle craze). Let me say up-front that I know I'm opinionated and I might annoy you but please don't take my opinions personally. They're just opinions; that's all. So let's get on with it: I'm having a little trouble with this Zentangle thing many of you have been posting about in recent weeks.

People like to sit next to me at meetings so they can watch me doodle. Compulsively. Important dates and information become incorporated into my designs. When I wrote "7 things about myself" for a "blogger award" recently, I admitted to being a compulsive doodler on my list. I have doodled on randomly strange objects like bowling shoes, and I can't stand to be at any meeting or workshop without a pen for doodling. My mom, who never much understood me as a child, did at least accept my doodling fanatacism, and when they first arrived on the market, she purchased me loads of Flair pens in every color imaginable so I could fill the margins and covers of all my spiral notebooks for classes. She continued to buy them for me for years. Mom's no longer around to buy them, but Flair pens are still a favorite doodle-pen for me, back on the store shelves for a couple of years now.

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Here are doodles from a recent meeting at Temple Beth El (black and white doodles below and up top), done with ball point pen. You might deduce we were talking a bit about money. The doodles were never meant to be seen beyond the meeting, but I'm posting them to make a point. I think they look Zentangle-ish.

So back to Zentangles. I find myself a bit puzzled, because they look JUST like many of my doodles. I decided to check out the Zentangle website figuring that maybe there must be something I was missing. And I discovered that they sell supplies. I need to purchase special supplies from a special dealer just to DOODLE? And, if I have my students fill a page with sectioned off patterns and designs all in black and white do I now have to say we are doing Zentangles? Or can I still call it simply be practice in repetition, pattern, and design, and can I use ANY DRAWING MATERIAL I WANT? I mean, we art teachers have been doing this FOREVER.

These photos below (and the color detail at the top) are of a slightly flawed white leather pocketbook I purchased. The doodles were done in Sharpies, which I love almost as much as Flair pens.

To me, it all boils down to this: if I want to eat REAL Italian food, I go to the local Italian restaurant owned by Italian immigrants. It's authentic. I do not go to the Olive Garden for authentic Italian cooking; Olive Garden just a brand name that is well-marketed. It doesn't mean the food is no good; it's just not necessary to go the Olive Garden for great Italian-style food, and it is NOT as authentic. Zentangles seems to me the same thing - someone who has found a way to successfully market doodling and make some money while taking away the "authenticity" of doodles without rules.
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Or another example: I make jewelry. I do not buy kits. I pick out the beads I want, the findings I want, etc, and while I might look at other jewelry or books for ideas, in the end I make my own decisions and figure out how to make it work. Zentangles seems to me a bit like buying the kit to do what can easily be done without it.
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Please weigh in with your opinions on Zentangles vs doodling, and don't be afraid to disagree with me. It won't be the first time, believe me, and I don't offend easily!!
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And in the meantime, I think I'll go doodle...

A Bad Case of Stripes - 2nd version

This 2nd grade project was based on the book A Bad Case of Stripes.

Last year, in first grade, students all became models and drew each other, using ovals and circles ("sausage links") to assemble the body. I had the kids stand up and try various poses to see how their bodies could bend or slant. Using skinny markers to avoid erasing and worrying, students drew the models using a separate "sausage" for each part. We noted that our hips tilt separately from our body, so we used a circle for the hips. Each student had a turn to be a model, striking a different pose.

For this year's project, we recalled/reviewed this process, and then with pencil constructed a figure using circles and ovals. We traced around it with a Sharpie, attempting to add some clothing shapes, and then went color-crazy with markers for our very GOOD case of stripes (and patterns and colors).

We used the "biggie" paints - really, really REALLY old solid tempera cakes that last forever, to paint a page of stripes - some made them straight - vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and some made them curvy. We used big buckets of water so that it didn't need to be changed too often.

Finally we cut out the person we'd made and glued it on to the striped paper.

Voila! Here are our wonderful 2nd grade results!

The bulletin board!