Foil Paper and Oil Pastel Project

The reviews are in: foil paper is really fun to use in collage. For this mixed media assignment, students drew an image of a landscape, still life or animal onto a piece of mat board. Then they colored the image by cutting and tearing pieces of foil paper to collage each area. They used the same tools that we used to emboss foil (for the previous assignment) to scratch texture and designs onto parts of their picture.

Finally, oil pastel was added to create contrast. The scratch lines would maintain the shine, or at times, some of the oil pastel was scraped back, pushing the color into the scratch marks. Students with low vision used magnification devices, and those who were etotally blind, used hot glue or Wiki Stix for tactile edges of shapes. The smooth and shiny surfaces added a "wow" factor to what could have a picture done in crayon or marker, and I think all of my students enjoyed the process.

 

Transfer Drawing Portraits

I have loved making transfer drawings for decades, since I discovered Paul Klee and his art. I like to use a breyer and relief ink to create a tacky surface on paper, which I then flip, ink side down onto my artwork. I draw onto the back of the inky paper, to transfer the drawing onto the final surface. It works like carbon sheets, but it has a lovely speckled texture and ephemeral aesthetic. I didn't have any relief ink, but I had some oil paint and I thought I could paint that on a surface to create a similar affect.Above are my first two attempts at this process, as I took a planning period to figure out the process to teach my students.

Instead of having students pick something to draw, I printed out pictures of them, a family member, or celebrity. This took the subject mostly out of the equation. We were staying in our "Portrait Unit" perimeter, but focused more on media and process then anatomy.

student self portrait

Most of the drawings were hidden in the dark mass of transfered brush strokes. It looked like the project was going to have to be trashed, but I realized that edges could be defined and harsh lines softened by using oil pastel. 

Painting a piece of paper to transfer, left bits of paper sticking to the final product. Likewise, using scrapbook or decorative paper for the base was also problematic as it would tear as we pulled the tacky paint off. Ultimately painting on a piece of laminating plastic and transferring to wall paper samples worked best.

I love the distressed, unfinished look with the vintage wall paper patterns peeking through. It's just another tool in the box of how to make an image.

 

Wax Resist Ink Drawings

People with low vision need high contrast images more than those of us who can see subtle value shifts.  Ideally, this "wax resist" assignment would be done starting with only white crayon, or white oil pastel, but we also have liquid wax that is used for ceramics to block glaze from the bottoms of cups and bowls. There is dye in this wax to make it easier to see for those who need the some contrast to start with. So my students drew and painted with waxy or oily medium, and then brushed ink on top. The ink only stuck to the paper (although we did have to dab the tops of the oil pastel with a paper towel, to be able to see it better), to create a black and white (or black and green) image, with enough value contrast for my low vision students.