Caulk Painting

 Hammer and nails, drill and screws, and now caulk. We're exploring lots of media, tools, techniques, and procedures in Art this month.

Caulk is an especially effective thing to use to make drawings and paintings tactile for my visually impaired students.

I've noticed lots of problems in understanding how to make an effective composition, so I had to lay down some guidelines for this one. Each student had to fill the canvas by using large, medium and small shapes, coming in from the edges. Most students created eight to twelve shapes by overlapping some lines. 

Then they filled most of the shapes with a variety of textures by using the caulk to make dots, circles, spirals, dots and spirals. the next day we played around paints.

Some students used liquid watercolor to create a stained look.

Others used latex or acrylic to cover up any marker under drawing lines. Either way, students were happy with their two day tactile project.

Caulk and Cardboard

Our month long unit on low-relief sculpture included exposing the corrugation on spray painted cardboard, carving clay slabs, tooling foil, and casting plaster. I handed caulk guns to students who finished projects a day or two early, and they made images on cardboard. The caulk needs a couple of hours to dry before painting. They may not look amazing, but for students with no sight, it is how it feels that matters the most.

Caulk Paintings

Sure, you've used caulk to seal around your bathtub and baseboards, but have you ever thought to use it as a drawing medium. 

Last week, I brought enough plywood from home, for each of my students to create  an image. They sanded and painted the boards a solid color before drawing their image in chalk. This was then traced in caulk.

Two tubes of caulk made all 9 images on this table.

After the caulk dries (it takes maybe 3 hours, so we waited until the next day), the paintings are ready for more layers of color. Most everyone kept their background color the same as their underpainting, but one student, kept her original pink board color for the flowers and added a layer of  yellow latex for the background. I love how the brush strokes create visual texture to compliment with the caulk texture.

Tactile images are great for visually impaired art consumers, but they are also great for visually impaired artists. These students were able to stay in the lines better when there was a little caulk wall to create a barrier for the paint brush. One student was so pleased with her work that she has come into my room the last three mornings, offering the phrase, "Wanna feel my painting?"