Recently, I shared that I had completed illustrations for a little book called “Spit Happens” – I’m excited to let you know that I now have some books in hand! This cute little children’s story is written by Annie Trice, and is about her “alpaca squad”. Working on the illustrations was a lot of fun – check out my original post for more info and copies of the book are available in the shop section!
Each month I will be spotlighting a student and their artistic endeavors! I work with students of all ages and abilities – you’ll get to learn a little bit about these amazing artists and their work in this monthly series! This is our first of the series – however, you’ll be able to find future spotlights here!
Our May spotlight is on:
Sarah Milbow
My Name is Sarah Milbow, I will be 15 this upcoming June. I am a homeschooler who lives in Tyaskin, MD and have been taking art with Ms. Jenell for about six years. Being homeschooled has allowed me to pursue my interest in life and in the arts. I love to dance, which I have been doing since age four. My favorite form being contemporary. I have always enjoyed art and crafts of all types, but my favorites are sketching and painting. My inspiration comes from my inner self which is so important when doing any form of art because it helps channel your feelings.
Do you enter your artwork in any shows or contests? “I have entered many art shows and contest, all of which have been with Ms. Jenell.”
When you’re making your art do like to listen to music or watch tv for inspiration (if so what)? “When I am creating art, I like to listen to music and if the weather is nice, sit outside.”
Is there a certain style, or type, of art that you’d like to someday try? “In the future I would like to work more with pottery and its different techniques.”
Do you have a favorite color? “My favorite color is purple.”
How has your artwork improved/what have you done to keep improving as an artist? “I play around with different methods of art to help me improve my artwork.”
Sarah puts forth her best effort into all of her artwork. She’s never afraid to try out new mediums and methods of art – which easily allows her to continue to broaden her talent and skill, while discovering where her passions lie and developing her own personal style! Her positivity and self motivation towards improving her artistic abilities is inspiring. I can’t wait to see where she takes all of her creative ventures!
A quick way to get creative and have some fun while making a little piece of art you can use to mark the pages of your favorite books! We’re going to be making our bookmarks into monsters but after folding the base you can turn your bookmark into anything!
What You Need:
Step one: First we’ll be folding your bookmark – start with your 5″x 5″ square of paper and fold in half, and then fold in half again. Open your paper back up – you should have a horizontal and vertical crease that runs through the center of your paper.
Step two: Fold your paper, corner, to corner, forming a triangle. Unfold and then fold the bottom corner to the center mark.
Step three: Fold the bottom edge up on the center crease. Then take the two bottom corners and fold up to the top point.
Step four: If you carefully look inside your origami piece you’ll see there’s a little pocket that’s been formed – Take the two point pieces you just folded up in the last step, pull them back slightly and then fold them down, inside the triangle pocket.
Step five: Now you have your origami bookmark! Let’s turn it into a monster! Cut a piece of colored paper into a 2″x 2″ square and glue it inside your bookmark, so half of the square is visible (make sure not to glue the pocket together as this is how it stays on your book corner) – this will be the inside color of your monsters mouth. Cut pieces of paper to use as teeth for your monster, I used small triangles and rectangular shapes for my teeth. Cut circle shapes for you eyes or spots on your monster – you can use paper punches or a hole punch too.
Step six: Color your monster with your markers or colored pencils and add details like scales, fur, spots, etc.! Color your eyes on the circle pieces you cut.
Step seven: Assemble and glue all of your elements together!
Slide your book page inside the monsters mouth to mark your page!
Make a whole bunch of fun monster bookmarks! You can also use googly eyes, stickers, glitter, pom-poms, pipe cleaner, etc. for details on your monsters! Or get creative and turn your origami into something besides a monster! Send me pictures of your bookmarks to add to our followers gallery!
While I really enjoy drawing and painting, sometimes it’s nice to take a break and get into other mediums. Put a Fork in it, is a little series of bookmarks I like to create out of polymer clay. Based on some favorite or classic foods I add these little sculptures to a fork, spoon, or knife, that have been flattened out – making the handle of the utensil a perfect bookmarker!
I’m not 100% sure how I got started with these but they’re a lot of fun to create and tie in my love of food 😉 I use Sculpey products – usually Sculpy III & Premo clays, liquid Sculpy & sculpy glaze. If you haven’t used or heard of Sculpy before definitely check out their site – there’s products for kids, adults, amateurs, professionals and endless ideas of projects!
Here’s a look into how I make my bookmarks…….
I first mix up my colors and prepare my liquid sculpy (which acts as my milk) and start to sculpt!
Ever wonder why I keep all those old paint brushes? Texture. They make the perfect cereal texture 🙂
I use some chalk pastel dust on a soft brush to add a little depth to the Sculpy pieces.
For the cereal I bake the marshmallows and plain pieces slightly and then place them in the liquid sculpy “milk” and bake the whole piece. I have a little craft oven I use (like a toaster oven) but Sculpy can be baked in a regular oven as well.
Pickles & Pancakes in progress!
The snack that smiles back 🙂
I have some polymer clay tools that I use but really a toothpick is one of my favorite tools. Texture & color are really important when making clay food look realistic – they can both take a lot of practice so sometimes it’s fun to get started on something like a piece of cake – which can come in various colors, shapes & textures! Once I’ve baked my pieces I use the glossy Sculpy glaze to cover areas that should be shiny – like the milk, pickles and syrup!
It’s a bit of a mess, but I like to keep my Sculpy clay colors separated in this box from Harbor Freight . It’s perfect size to hold the blocks of clay, and the bins within the box are removable, so I can re-arrange the colors, or pass a color bin, rather than the whole box if I’m teaching a class.
The process of making the food sculptures with polymer clay is not too complicated and if you’re interested in learning more, my favorite book on the subject is The Polymer Clay Cookbook by Jessica & Susan Partain. Even though their directions are for mini pieces of food you can use their methods to apply to larger food sculptures – or any polymer clay sculpture!
Check out the shop section of the site to purchase your own Put a Fork in it bookmark!
Using kitchen foil and some glue you can create some beautiful pieces of art! This project is fun for all ages and is something everyone can do! I’ve shown step by steps for the simple process and included some ideas below for more variations to try!
What you need:
Step one: First cut your cardboard to the size you’d like your finished piece. Draw your design or pattern directly on your cardboard with a pencil – this is going to get covered later so it doesn’t matter if you make any mistakes! Keep in mind, in the following steps, we will be tracing your lines with glue…..it may be best to keep your design simple with less details. Not into drawing? Use a coloring page instead! Cut and glue the page down to your cardboard instead of drawing a design.
Step two: Now that you have your design on your cardboard carefully trace your lines with Elmer’s glue – make sure your glue lines are not getting squashed by the glue nozzle, lift your glue bottle from the cardboard slightly as you trace your lines! These lines are going to be the “embossed” portion on your foil. If you make a mistake you can gently wipe away a misshaped glue line while it’s still wet (q-tips work well for little areas). Allow your glue to dry completely! I let mine set over night.
Step three: Once your glue is completely dry cut a piece of foil slightly larger than your cardboard – we want it large enough to fold the foil around the sides of the cardboard.
Step four: Use your glue stick and go over the entire front surface of your glue design. Gently press your foil over your dried glue design and carefully use your fingers to smooth the foil over your dried glue lines revealing your embossed design!
Step five: Once you have your foil smoothed over your glue lines, fold the edges of your foil on the back of your cardboard – you can tape or glue if needed. Now you can take your sharpies and color your design! Your Sharpies will blend on the foil surface – I used blues, yellows & greens to create the different shades on my example!
Variations:
I’ve also done this project before with pressed dried leaves glued to my cardboard instead of using glue lines – make sure your leaf is dried if you want your artwork to last longer and use the leaf vein side up to get the most texture out of the leaf! Glue your leaf to your cardboard and use a glue stick to apply your foil. Instead of coloring my leaf I used black acrylic paint, painting the whole foil surface in a thin layer and wiping it away before it dried with a paper towel – you could use the paint method for the process above too. I also use corrugated cardboard for my leaf project – notice how the corrugated cardboard creates lines on your finished piece?
For younger ages you can change up the process and instead of drawing or tracing a design with glue you can dip pieces of cotton yarn, or string, in Elmer’s and create abstract string art on your cardboard, let dry, and then cover with your foil. You could also skip the glue and wrap the string around a piece of cardboard (use your glue stick over top)! Below, we’ve used the string wrapped around a heart cut out!
You can turn your finished projects into ornaments or hanging decorations like I did with the heart project by punching a hole in the cardboard and adding a ribbon. I also turned one of the embossed leaf pieces into an art journal cover! Send me pictures of your embossed foil art to add to our followers gallery!
For around the past 10 years, students have entered into an annual art contest that showcases Migratory birds living in Chincoteague VA. Chincoteague Wildlife Refuge holds this art show and contest each year, in conjunction with their celebration of World Bird Day – the second Saturday of every May! Artwork goes on display at the educational center for the day of the celebration. This is one of my favorite contests and displays for students as we are able to learn about birds in our area and the refuge does an amazing event filled with free educational activities! Sadly, we have to skip this year, but I’m looking forward to having students participate again next year! Enjoy some entries we’ve had from previous years and download the Chincoteague bird checklist (posted below) – how many can you identify?! Check out some online bird day activities you can do at home here!
These bird artworks represent our students from 2014 and 2016 – with ages approx. 6 – 18! They’ve been completed in a various mediums such as pastels, watercolor & pen, acrylic, and textile art! Happy World Bird Day!
Make your mom this fun hydrangea pop-up card for Mother’s day! Though there are a few steps to this project, with just some basic supplies you can create this simple, yet amazing, pop-up card. I was inspired by hydrangeas for my pop-up flowers which can come in blues, pinks, and purples – but you can make your flowers any color or multiple colors! We’ll be starting with white paper and be adding the color to our paper as we go but feel free to skip the coloring steps and just use colored paper! Check out the video at the bottom for steps as well!
What you need:
Step one: Cut your white copy paper into 7 squares that measure 4″ x 4″ – each of these will become one of your flowers! Fold each of your 7 squares as shown in the picture – Fold in half lengthwise, left to right, then fold the bottom edge to the top edge, finally fold the bottom right corner to the top left corner to form a triangle. You want to make sure one point of your triangle is closed (should be the point that’s towards you) – that’s the center of your paper, the other points should have multiple flaps of paper.
Step two: Making sure the center of your paper is at the bottom, draw a curved line at the top of your paper and cut out. Use this cut out to trace the curved line on all 6 remaining triangles and then cut them out!
Step three: Now that you have all 7 flowers cut it’s time to add some color! Grab your washable markers in the colors you would like! Color just along the edges of your folded flower (making sure to hit all the folds & flaps along the edge). You can use one color or multiple colors on the same flower – just keep in mind our colors may mix.
Step four: Now we’re going to make that color spread! We will need your paintbrush and a small dish of water. Paint with water over top of the marker – this will make the marker ink spread and give a slight tie-dyed effect to your flowers! Make sure not to keep brushing over your flower in the same spot or use too much water – this will make your paper weak and cause it to tear! Keep your flowers folded and let them set for about 15 – 30 mins. to let the color continue to spread!
Step five: While your flowers are setting; Cut a piece of card stock or construction paper for your card that measures 11″x 7.5″ – this will be the background to your flowers. You could also color a background for your flowers instead of using a solid color! Fold your paper in half so it measures 7.5″ x 5.5″. Decorate the front of your card however you’d like (just leave the inside black for now).
Step six: Now that your flowers have set, it’s time to carefully unfold them all! They may still be a little wet – make sure to be gentle when opening them so they don’t rip! Lay your flowers flat and let them dry completely – you can speed this up with a hairdryer!
Step seven: Once your flowers are completely dry, then we will be cutting one “petal” out from each of them. Next, close the gap we created by overlapping and glueing the two petals together (glue the two petals marked with yellow dots in the picture) – giving your flower a 3D form and a total of 6 petals.
Step eight: Fold each flower in half, flattening it – so we can see three petals. Next we will be layering and glueing all of your flowers together in a certain pattern to create the pop-up. We will only be gluing the top portion of your petals in the next steps (from the yellow line shown in the picture and up) – do not apply glue on the entire petal or your card will not pop-up properly.
Step nine: Layering your flowers; Lay one flower down and apply glue to the tips of the petals that are marked with yellow dots in the photo. Glue two flower petals on top as shown in the second photo – you should now only be able to see the center petal of your original flower (marked with the green dot).
Apply glue to the tips of the petals marked with yellow dots and add another flower on top – lining it up with your first flower. The green dots show the petals from your last layer.
Apply glue to the tips of the petals with yellow dots and add two more flowers vertically – lining them up with your other vertical petals. The petal with the green dot should be the only petal from your previous layer showing.
Add glue to the petal tips marked with yellow dots and finally take your last flower, gluing it down horizontally – lining it up with your other horizontal petals. The green dots show the petals still visible from your last layer. Keep your flowers folded.
Step ten: Create leaves for your flower out of green construction paper and add veins with a marker. Glue the leaves to your flowers – you can add leaves to each side of your folded flowers. Make sure leaves are glued to one petal – not on a crease line of two petals. Leaves should also not go past the yellow line shown in the photo.
Step eleven: Open up the card you prepared in step six and lay your flowers along the center line as shown. Add glue just to the tip of the center petals, shown with a yellow dot, on each side of your flower (the very center petal) – close your card and press. It’s best to let your glue dry for quite a few minuets – setting something heavy, like a book, on your card while it’s drying can be helpful!
Once your glue is dry carefully open your card to reveal your pop-up!
You can change up your flowers by starting with colored paper instead of white, or using different methods to decorate your paper with. You can also change the shape of your petals in step two by making a different type of line, rather than a curve. Have fun and get creative making your mom something special! Send me pictures of your finished pop-up cards to add to our followers gallery! And happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there!
Get creative and make some fun art that all starts with your finger prints! It’s a simple and easy project that you can turn into some charming pieces of art!
What you need:
Here’s the basic process:
We’re pretty much making your finger into a stamp – so the first thing you need to do is cover your finger print in ink! If you don’t have an ink pad you can use washable markers and color your finger prints instead! Try using your thumb and pinky finger to make different size prints!
Once your finger is covered in ink stamp it firmly on your paper. You might be able to stamp your finger more than once before having to apply more ink. Wipe any remaining ink off your finger on a damp paper towel before using a new color or use a different finger for each color – Unless you want to mix colors 🙂
After you have some finger prints stamped onto your paper, use your Sharpie and/or pens to add details and turn your finger prints into something!
Try “building” with your finger prints to create more complex objects! Remember you can make different sizes with your thumb and pinky too!
Here’s a few more ideas for your finger print doodles:
Add other elements, like googly eyes, to your prints! Some other elements could be: glitter, feathers, sequence, pom-poms, string & ribbon!
Instead of turning your finger prints into doodles you could also use them to embellish other projects!
Use markers, colored pencils or other mediums to add additional details to your doodles – like the stem and leaf in this picture!
Turn your finished pictures into greeting cards, bookmarks, framed art, and more! Get creative and have fun! Send me pictures of your doodle creations to add to our followers gallery! Happy doodling! 🙂
I’m excited to share with you the latest art project I’ve been working on – illustrations for a children’s book, written by Annie Trice, of Windy Way Farms! The book is a cute story based on the alpaca “squad” that lives there on the farm and is appropriately titled “Spit Happens”! I enjoyed getting to work on these illustrations and creating characters for the alpaca squad members – and I was was also able to meet them in real life! Here’s a few sneak peek pictures until the book is ready!
The illustrations were hand drawn and completed in pastel – one of my favorite mediums to work in! Copies of the book will be available soon in the shop section! 🙂
This is an simple project with a lot of variations and you’ve probably got all the items you need to make it on hand! Printmaking is the art of transferring an image from a template or “Matrix” to another surface – typically onto paper or fabric. There are several different types of printmaking techniques like, woodcuts, linocuts, engraving, lithography, screen printing & monotyping. With printmaking you are able to make multiple prints of the same image (with the exception of monotyping). For this project we’ll use a simple process to create your own matrix and original prints!
What You Need:
Step one: First you will need to cut your foam! If you’re using a take out container make sure you cut out a flat area of the container. I find that a piece of foam around 2 – 4 inches works best to get started with! You can make your matrix any shape you’d like!
Step two: Use your pen to draw your design on to your foam – the goal is to make an indent on the surface of the foam, so you need to use a fair amount of pressure, but be careful not to go through your foam! Also keep in mind your design will be reversed once it’s printed – so if you were to do a letter or word it would be backwards when you printed it!
Step three: Adding color! Use your washable markers to color on your foam – you can go right over top of your design you made in the last step. The marker ink stays “wet” on the foam so your colors will also mix if they touch – this gives us some cool effects! Mixing colors on your foam may also make your marker tips dirty – you can scribble off any mixed up colors on a scrap piece of paper.
Step four: Now that you have your foam colored in it’s time to stamp it on your paper! Carefully flip your foam over and firmly press it onto your paper. Being careful that your foam doesn’t move, press firmly with your fingers all over the back of the foam to help transfer your print! Then carefully lift your foam from the surface of the paper to reveal your print!
Tips: Sometimes the first print does’t always work well – that’s okay! You can keep practicing with more prints until you find what works! If you want to change colors on the surface of your stamp without your colors getting mixed up you can wipe off any leftover marker ink on a paper towel or rinse your foam in water (just make sure it’s super dry before using it again). Don’t take too long on coloring your foam – this gives the marker ink a chance to dry up on the foam and it won’t print as well. I find that any paper with a smooth surface works best!
This heart print was made by coloring my foam and printing it several times to create one piece of art. It was inspired by the work of artist Jim Dine – An artist part of the Pop Art movement. Pop artists used images of popular mass culture (‘Pop’ art) in their works and many used printmaking methods to create their works of art. Check out other pop artists like Andy Warhol, Roy Liechtenstein, & Peter Max.
You can also make a more complex and detailed design on a slightly larger piece of foam, and instead of using a pen to create your impressions with, use a toothpick. While you are able to get smaller details with the toothpick the foam itself won’t allow a lot of tiny details close together (it just kind of gets smushed and that won’t make a good print!) so when completing your design keep in mind to make sure your lines are not too close together (notice on my fish print where his body curves that it didn’t print well – too many lines, too close together!). Also be sure that when you color your foam not to take too long as this gives the marker ink a chance to dry on your foam!
Go abstract! If you’re not sure what to do or want to create a more simple print, try some abstract lines, dots or patterns. Here, my foam is a triangle shape, and I’ve just done some squiggly lines and a couple dots with the pen. I printed my foam in a pattern to create a book mark!
These prints are a ton of fun to make and you can use them to create a lot of different finished projects with! Send me pictures your prints and I’ll add them to the follower gallery! Get creative and happy printmaking!
