Artwork Inspired by Robert Delauny

I teach occasionally in various schools in London, Ontario. One day, I was at Wilton Grove and I replaced Deb Bennett. Her students had done an amazing job on their artwork inspired by Robert Dulauny's Rhythm, Joie de Vivre. Here is a video on their work.

I told her that I could use their designs and create keepsake candles- a perfect gift for Mother's Day. The artwork was originally done on 11x17 paper. I asked her to fold the paper into an 8.5 x11 size in order to scan. After I scanned it, You should print as mirror image.  I printed it on laser waterslide paper.

I gave each printed image to each student and they had to trim it to the edge. I showed them how to do put the image on the candle but I did each one. Its a little tricky and I didn't want disappointed students.

I placed the image in lukewarm water for 30 seconds. I added glue using a glue stick on the candle and then slipped off the water slide image onto the candle. I didn't have my camera at the time so I am hoping Deb was able to take pictures of the finished product. Kids loved it and couldn't wait to give it to their mothers.

Artwork inspired by George Seurat using texture rubbings

A few weeks I attended an art workshop for occasional teachers. It was put on by the Thames Valley District School Board and held at Althouse at UWO in London, Ontario. It was fantastic for many reasons...The main reason was that I was paid to attend the workshop as part of my professional development as an occasional teacher. I got some great ideas and for the first time played around with wax to create encaustic paintings.

While there, I had an "aha" moment. Whenever I facilitate an art  workshop on artwork by  George Seurat, we make a dot art painting using cotton swabs. Kids usually love this activity. I have learned over the years that the size of the paper will depends on the age of the child. So as a rule, the older the child is, the larger the canvas or else use bingo dabbers for the younger children.  Kids lose interest easily.

Back to my "aha"moment. We were creating textured artwork when I realized that kids could use school walls ( as long as they are made of concrete cylinder blocks like some of the schools, I visit) to create dotted art. By rubbing the walls, you get a "dotted" look. If you combine it with different colours, it gives the picture more depth.

Today, I had the students create their pictures directly on the wall. Here are some samples:

My other "aha" moment was today when I was taking the paper off the crayons. It was time consuming and boring. I wished I had rock crayons from Clementine Art. (We sell these at the Western fair market and our website.) They come in a set of 12 and are easy to hold for making rubbings.  . They are perfect for small hands and the pigments are rich. From now on I am putting a set of  these crayons in my occasional teaching art survival kit!