Chinese New Year of the Pig 2019 Brush Painting Art Lesson

A fun lesson using Chinese Brush Painting on Calligraphy Paper to celebrate 2019, The Chinese New Year of the Pig.

What I use:

Printer paper

Ink (or black watercolor) and brush

Banner Paper

Red Paper

Pencils and Eraser

Each year I do a Chinese New Year art lesson.  

I have my students practice drawing their animal on copy or printer paper until they get their animal the way the like it.

We always learn how to write the Chinese symbol for the animal as well.  Sometimes you can make the animal out of the symbol like this one.

The banner paper is super thin, like tissue so you can easily trace the favorite drawing of the animal lightly with pencil.  It also has a nice smooth texture which works well with the brush painting.

Once the animal is traced we put the banner paper drawing out of the way.  Now practice brush painting on printer paper and the sketch before painting on the banner paper.

We talk about how to "draw" with a brush and not worry about the thick and thin lines which aren't uniform.  The art should look like it was painted with a brush not drawn with a pencil or pen.  They need to practice how far will the ink last before they need to dip their brush again and also just to dip the tip of the brush, not the whole brush or it's too much ink.  They also practice how hard to push their brush on the paper and when to lift the brush .  They need to practice and get a feel for brush painting.  I used a very small pointy brush.

Once it is dry you can mount it on red paper to really make it Pop.

We talk about how Red is an important color to the Chinese people.

Red represents fire and is the most popular color in China. It is also the national color representing happiness, beauty, vitality, good luck, success and good fortune.

Red lanterns adorn businesses and residences. Double rows of red "Xi" (happiness) letters are pasted on gates and doors. People wear red during weddings, festivals and other celebratory events. Red envelopes are stuffed with money and given as gifts during Chinese New Year.

Have Fun and Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Donut Watercolor Valentine Art Lesson

I was looking for a fun and simple Valentine art lesson to do with my adults with disabilities.   I think they're going to really enjoy creating these donut cards.

You will need:

Watercolor paper

Cardstock

Colored pens

Watercolor paint and brushes

Glitter

Mod Podge

Glue

Here is a link to my Cricut files:https://www.pinterest.com/pin/250935010473804990/

If you don't have a Cricut simply create your own patterns and have your students cut them out.

My students are unable to cut so I use my Cricut, if they could I would have them do the tracing and cutting.

There are so many fun Donut sayings for cards!

Here are the two shapes.

The icing is cut out of watercolor paper, the donut is card stock.

 I wet the entire shape with water and then began adding  liquid watercolor, this one is almost all water, very little pigment.  I wanted to try darker and lighter pinks.  I did put more pigment on the inside and outside to try and get a little depth.

Being a chocolate lover I had to do a chocolate one : )  There's really no right or wrong way to do this, I just like to get nice soft edges with my darks and lights by adding lots of water.

I'm going to give my students the choice between glitter or drawing sprinkles.  These are the pens and the glitter I used.  I painted a coating of mod podge on the dry icing and then sprinkled the glitter over it.

 I like the glitter effect of these markers, but any will work.  There are some nice metallic sharpies or even oil pastels would be nice.

 Glue the donut together and then onto the card and add your Donut Pun.

These are 5X7" cards when finished.

Student Examples:

Cave Art Lesson Using Charcoal and Chalk - All Ages

This is probably my favorite lesson to teach.  

 I Love ancient art.

You will need:

You can also add white chalk and large brown paper on a roll to make big cave drawings.

I start the lesson by reading this wonderful story:

This book is perfect for this lesson with wonderful illustrations!

Next I show them slides from Lascaux, Chauvet and other pictographs and petroglyphs to show them the variety of art they can use for inspiration.

Ice Age Paleolithic Cave Paintings

I introduce them to the story of Lascaux and how it was discovered by teenage boys whose dog had gotten into a hole which led to the cave.

I ask them questions about the slides, such as what do they see?  How was this made?  What did they use for paint, etc...

Lascaux Cave was discovered in France On September 12, 1940, the entrance to the Lascaux Cave was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat who returned to the scene with three friends, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas. They entered the cave through a (49 ft) deep shaft to rescue their dog which had fallen into the hole. The teenagers discovered that the cave walls were covered with depictions of animals.  The cave complex was opened to the public on July 14, 1948. By 1955, carbon dioxide, heat, humidity, and other contaminants produced by 1,200 visitors per day had visibly damaged the paintings. As air condition deteriorated, fungi and lichen increasingly infested the walls. Consequently, the cave was closed to the public in 1963, the paintings were restored to their original state and a monitoring system on a daily basis was introduced.

Lascaux II, an exact copy of the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery opened in 1983 in the cave's vicinity (about 200 m. away from the original cave), a compromise and attempt to present an impression of the paintings' scale and composition for the public without harming the originals. The paintings for this site were duplicated with the same type of materials as iron oxide, charcoal and ochre which were believed to be used 19 thousand years ago.

I can't imagine shining my light onto the cave walls and seeing all of these amazing paintings!

Next I introduce the Chauvet Cave also in France which wasn't discovered until 1994 because a rock slide had hidden the entrance for at least 30,000 years. It was happened upon by a small team of cavers led by Jean-Marie Chauvet.  This cave was immediately sealed to make sure it didn't deteriorate like Lascaux. They have created an exact duplicate for the public to visit.  

It's exciting that these discoveries are still being made!

I like them to see a large variety of animals and styles.

I show several other examples of Pictographs and Petroglyphs, some from Africa with Giraffes etc...  Just so they can see how this art is all around the world.  I end with Native American Petroglyphs of bighorn sheep etc...

We also talk about how they didn't have a written language and that these handprints have been found in caves all around the world.  

Next I pass out brown 12X18" paper and charcoal.  You can just let them start drawing or if they are younger students give them some quick animal drawing tips to get them started.

I turn off the lights in the classroom and play Native American Flute music, they are instructed not to use any words or modern day images.  They can put their names on the back, their handprint on the front.  They are cave artists for this class, working in dim light just like artists from that time.  Once they finish their individual drawing they can take their drawing tools to the large paper cave wall on the floor and do a class cave art drawing.

2nd Grade examples:

We talk about how large these paintings are, the one in Lascaux of the Bull is 17' long!

Large paper roll cave wall Examples:

A herd of wild Przhevalsky horses in the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Photograph: Tatyana Deryabina/University of Porthmouth. & a 17,000-year-old horse painting at the Lascaux cave in France