Domesticated Nomad: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Art Adventure: Chinese Brush Strokes

So, sorry about not posting something last week. I just completely spaced out on it. I'm cool like that.

This week I thought I'd share the lesson I used in Gabe's 2nd Grade class. We talk about Chinese art.

Chinese paintings are often depictions nature, and is characterized by color washes and flowing brush strokes.

Landscape of the Four Seasons, Fu Baoshi, 1950

The same brush strokes, going from thick to thin, can be seen in the calligraphy as well. Many of the painting include a poem written in calligraphy.

"Light" Check out this site for instructions on calligraphy.

It can be fun to try calligraphy too, but remember, Chinese doesn't have an alphabet, the characters represent words, so do not expect to look up how to write your name.

Nature Pictures
Supplies:

Crayola Brush Paint Pens
paper

The closest brush I could find that more resembles a Chinese brush that allows for thick and thin lines, was actually the Crayola brush paint pens. It's about $3-$4 dollars for a pack of five. The paint is built in which makes for less mess.

After looking at some Chinese paintings, have your child make a nature scene. Try laying the brush on its side

and then lifting gently to the tip of the brush to go from making a thick to thin stroke.

You could also try some calligraphy.

The entire class really enjoyed these brush paint pens. It's worth the small investment even if your child doesn't want to make these particular pictures. Sometimes just using a new tool is excitement enough.

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Progress...sort of

It feels like it has been forever since I've posted about a project. Oh, right. It has been forever. :)

We have several things up in the air at the moment. Making slow progress between Mateo working and me schooling.

I almost never talk about the basement because we started stuff before I even started blogging and it's mostly sat around because it was just headache-y. We are making built-ins.

Big excitement is that the book cases are finally built and painted!

Look at those gorgeous books. Mateo and I both love reading. That's not actually all of our books. I just didn't feel like it was home with all those still crammed in boxes so I'm sooo excited.

Even if the bottom cabinets are still not done.

We did just add an electric fireplace. Partly 'cause it will look nice when we build it in, and partly because it does put out heat and it's chilly downstairs in the winter.

I've talked about the stairs before. Long time ago. Sigh.

But I just tried out Lovely Crafty Home's paper treatment, and I thought it was going to be great, but then it dried, and....grrr. It's all flaking off. I need to go make sure I followed the instructions correctly. I knew it would take awhile to complete all the steps though. But, I thought I had made progress.

It's all down and the wall is clean and bare now

In the living room, it is hard for me to feel like progress is happening. I took down the burlap wall. :( I had to because we are putting in wider base boards and crown molding. The burlap is going back up as soon as that is done. I miss it!

I pried off the first bit of baseboard, so that is progress too. This is what I keep telling myself. Once the baseboards are off, we will be repainting the room too. It's going to take time to get it all done since we don't have as much spare time as we used to, but the room I can see in my head is awesome. I will love it when it's done.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What's in Your Closet?

Did you hear about this story? UK Scientist Find 'Lost' Darwin Slides.

Apparently, these slides were in a box shoved in a "gloomy" corner and have been overlooked for...150 years! Dr. Howard Falcon-Long (love that name!) "described the feeling of seeing that famous signature as 'a heart in your mouth situation.'" No joke.

Now, you see why you should clean out your closets now and again. It's important for research institutions too. ;)

Sorry, peeps. I couldn't resist.

Art Adventure: Snow Paint

My son needed to make a snowman for a school project, and this snow paint recipe is so easy that we decided to take pictures of the project and share the recipe with you.

Snow Paint

Supplies:

Shaving Cream (original, not gel)

school glue such as Elmer's

glitter (optional)

For snowman:

Large sheet of paper, any color

paintbrush

scraps of fabric, paper

any little extras like buttons or beads

To make the Snow Paint mix equal parts shaving cream and glue, add glitter if desired and stir.

(I admit it can be hard to judge equal parts since one is fluffy and one is not, just make your best guess and it will likely be just fine.)

Gabe's adding more glitter because that's how he rolls.

Now it's time to make your snow man. You can lightly draw it first, or just go for it. With snow paint you use more of a dabbing motion than a typical brush stroke. The more you dab, the more the paint puffs off the paper.

While that starts to dry, get your details ready to glue on. We rolled a piece of orange paper to make a "carrot" nose.

Felt was used for both the hat and the "coal" mouth. A scrap of fabric made the scarf. Googly eyes are fun. And little star shaped buttons complete his ensemble.

We used actual twigs for his arms. And all these pieces were glued down with school glue. We did not wait for the snow paint to completely dry before we started gluing.

When it's dry, it has a sort of velvety texture which is really neat.

If you ever want puffy paint for another project, you can use the same recipe and add food coloring or a small dab of paint to make colored puffy paint. The possibilities are numerous for sure. Have fun!

Friday, January 13, 2012

You Say It's Your Birthday....

...it's Chi's birthday too.

:) Couldn't help myself.

Chi turned four earlier this week. On Pinterest I saw an adorable Milk & Cookies Bar and I wanted to do it, but I had two obstacles: we weren't really inviting a large group of people (we don't live near our families), and Chi doesn't like cookies. I know, weird.

Chi does love pink milk and he only gets it every now and then as a special treat. So, I grabbed a set of Starbucks Frappaccino bottles and cleaned them. And then I filled them with pink milk (which is strawberry flavored), chocolate milk, and white milk. Then when it was time for cake, everyone could pick their own milk.

I love the old-school milk bottle look. It was a hit.

For the cake, Chi wanted a Robin cake. Not Batman, just Robin. Oh, I should mention that Chi also doesn't really eat cake. He just likes the frosting. He makes my life challenging. :) So, I finally settled on a traditional round cake which I would turn into Robin's face.

Oh, I usually just start with a box mix and store bought frosting. I've done it all from scratch before, but I haven't found the flavor to be so much better to make it worth it, except for angel food cake.

Since Chi wasn't going to actually eat the cake, I wanted a little more to it, so I made a filling for between the layers.

I blended a container of Cool Whip, half a package of vanilla instant pudding and about six chopped up Reese's peanut butter cups. When that was all mixed up, I spread it on the bottom round and stacked the second cake round on top.

To the ~~batcave~~ um, frosting...

Now, if you want bold color, especially red, you have to buy the concentrated food colorings from companies like Wilton. I pick mine up at Michael's and they are a couple dollars each.

Use wax paper around the bottom while you work, when done, pull off and the stand is still clean.

I made the sides red because I was going for an abstract look related to Robin's costume. Once, I was done with the red, I took a dab of the red frosting and added it to more white frosting and a few drops of regular yellow food coloring until I had that peachy, comic book skin color. I just frosted the top with the peach.

Using a toothpick, and my son's little Robin figure as a guide, I drew Robin's hairline, mask and eyes and mouth into the frosting. If I had messed up, I could have smoothed the frosting and tried again.

To do the various details, I used a piping bag and different tips, mostly just a round tip. First I would outline the shape, then fill in and if need be, go back with a knife and smooth out the frosting. I used chocolate frosting for the hair and mask, but I could have used the same Wilton food coloring in black if I had wanted it truly black.

I find it weird that Robin just has white eyes, but that's how he is in the comic book type version, so that's what I did.

I don't have proper tools to make the frosting super smooth, but I just decided not not worry about it.

I used the Wilton color in Moss Green, and just regular yellow food coloring for the "R" insignia.

Chi was pretty happy with his Robin cake. (What a relief!)

And the milk bottles were a big hit too.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Art Adventure: Linear Collage

This project is simplified from last week's, but I love this type of collage too. What can I say? I'm in a collage mood right now. :)

Linear Collage

Supplies:

any image, a photo or picture cut from a magazine
blank paper, any color
scissors
glue stick

This project is super simple, but the results are very interesting. Essentially we are going to stretch our picture.

Find an image you like and if there is a lot of background, cut that away.

Then cut the image in straight strips, either vertical (up and down) or horizontal (side to side). You need to pick which direction will stretch your picture best.

You can mark the strips with a pencil and then use scissors or use a paper cutter (parental supervision with that even though it has a safety guard).

Keep the strips in order as you cut them.

Then glue them down on your blank paper in order, leaving space between each strip.

It's as easy that. Animals can be especially fun images for this type of project.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Art Adventure: Pixelated Collage

Welcome to the first Art Adventure of 2012.

Collage is the art of combining pieces of different pictures, papers, fabric, photos or other items to create a composition. There are actually a lot more techniques to choose from than just simple cut and paste, so I will show you one. This is something that my 7 year old was capable of with help and supervision. For my youngest, he's still in the simple cut and paste mode and that's okay too. It's still a lot of fun.

Pixelated Collage

Supplies:

2 copies of the exact same image
ruler
pencil
scissors or paper cutter
glue stick
2 pieces of card stock or heavy blank paper

First, you need a picture. Could be anything. I used a free train picture from the internet because Gabe loves trains. I simply printed it two times. Just make sure you have two exact copies of the same picture.

We are going to make strips out of the pictures, so use consistent measurements. We used 1/2 inch, but you can change that if you picture is a much different size.

On one image, mark every 1/2 inch across the each side, line your ruler up to the marks and draw the straight line to connect. Do this all the way across, dividing your picture into 1/2 inch horizontal strips.

On the OTHER image, mark every 1/2 inch on the top and bottom and connect. Do this all the way up and down, dividing your picture into 1/2 inch vertical strips.

For both, use either scissors or a paper cutter and cut each strip leaving them attached on one side by about a 1/4 of an inch.

If you accidentally cut through, it's okay, it just makes the next part a little easier to have them attached.

Now, it's time to weave the pictures together. It's a simple basket weave, under-over-under-over, etc. We kept our verticals intact. Cut the first strip from the horizontals off and begin weaving. Try to line the edges of the image up.

Then cut the next strip off and weave over-under-over-under, etc. The opposite of the first. You may need to slide and tighten up the strips after each one.

Just keep going until all are weaved. The image should still be recognizable, but now it looks pixelated or even sort of foggy.

Add some glue to either the back of the woven image or a piece of card stock and glue together.

Next, just to hold the strips all together, make a simple frame from the other piece of card stock.

Measure how big you want your opening, and cut out the center (I had to do this part for Gabe), add glue to the frame and press down. This seals in all the strips and makes a nice finished look.

Gabe really liked the outcome, and he has a lot of patience when it comes to art projects. This is something I saved for middle schoolers when I taught, but one on one with Gabe was fine.