exploring traditional painting

The week before last, the year 4 and 5 students explored some traditional methods of painting using their hands and symbolism.
They had to paint a crocodile using a hand print for the head and knuckle prints to make the body and finger paint the tail and legs. In the background the were asked to paint Indigenous Australia symbols to tell a story. For eg, frogs near the crocodile may tell of the crocodile looking for food, or hunters behind the crocodile, the crocodile becomes the hunted.

Here are some examples of what they painted.

This week we will look at cubism and pop art movements, and the work of Matisse. The year 6 and 7s will continue with their graffiti unit, looking at making their letttering 3D and colouring techniques.

teaching art

I have my first teaching contract - teaching art of all things !! (jumps for joy).
I teach years 4-7, each class for an hour a week to provide teachers with non-contact time. In a week, I see over 250 children.
The school I am teaching at is a low socio-economic area so the students have limited art supplies if any, and so does the school. Unfortunately my ideas of sculpture an other 3D works have gone out the window.

However, I have developed a graffiti art unit for years 6 and 7 to work on with funky lettering, hookups, colouring and stylization. This guy, called Mr Wiggles, has the best learn to graffiti site

It has examples of lettering and tips with photos of colouring methods and making 3D letters. more on the other year levels soon and examples of work produced.

about time I updated my blog

it has been a while as I have been so busy of late. I haven't been doing too much dyeing, but am really loving rainbow spirals and new methods of applying dye that makes the most vibrant colours that need to be seen in real life to be believed.
I dyed a few customs the other day but am yet to take photos so here are some pics of recent stuff.

and I am really loving dyeing cuts of fabrics for nappies or pads. Cotton velour is my fav to dye, it seems more sturdy than bamboo velour.

these are bamboo velour
my favourite is 'Divine Feminine', it looks like a womb

and these are cotton velour

bamboo velor and rainbows

Rainbows galore and rainbow pad and nappy bamboo velor cuts. Stocking Thursday night @ 8pm at my Ozebaby store.
Don't fret if you miss out though, many more hand dyed bits coming in the next month.

learning to teach

My 2nd prac is well underway with my first week of full time teaching last week. Only two weeks to go and then I am finsihed. The class is challenging to say the least, but it is good, it is like behaviour management 101.
We are doing heaps of hands on stuff as much as they are difficult to keep organised and focused. Our science unit is on the needs and life cycle of plants and we are sprouting and growing beans, testing the needs of air, water, temperature and soil, and are also exploring competition in the environment, the effect of salinity of soil and drought.

Inspiration comes from everyday life
This art pic above is my 2 min example for the kids. It is based on the work of Margaret Preston, and Australian artist who loved to paint and print wildflowers. This pic is of the Sturt Desert Pea. Some children made such great pieces. It is made by having a heavy background on oil pastels and then covering with thick black paint and scrapping back the drawing into the paint, very effective.
It reminds me of these new dyeing styles I had been working with a few months ago, I might try to tie the two together for summer (if no one copies my idea before then ;) but I'll still do it if they do anyway LOL).

break from business

wow, didn't realise it had been so long since I had updated my blog. I am taking a break from business for a month or so until I finish study and make some great stuff for friends. I have some new ideas when I start selling again in October and will open to custom requests for both dyeing and painting.
I will have a large stock of spirals and mandala pieces for the spring/summer, and will again have many hand stenciled tees and singlets. I do the majority of my stenciling with dye so the fabric stays soft (unlike paint) and it will not fade or chip off.