Batik Elephant

Batik is a traditional art form from Java using a wax resist method of dying textiles. We adapted this technique to create a painting on paper of an Indian elephant.

First our students drew the elephant as a black and white line drawing, then developed their own border around the edge and created patterns and motifs to decorate the elephant.

We then added colored wax to the entire surface of the paper.

The colored drawing is then gently crinkled up, flattened out and watercolor is brushed on top. The paint is absorbed into the cracks to create random, subtle lines of color and texture to the picture.

The kids loved every part of this process and have a better understanding of how to think several steps ahead when making artwork in several layers. They can also look at finished artwork done by others and confidently describe how they think it was done. 

Winter Cabin

This week we celebrated the winter season by drawing a cabin in the snow! The kids all had a great time learning how to develop three dimensional space with the proper perspective and shading techniques.

A warm shelter out of the cold is suggested by the use of cool colors and a white background.

We learned to use negative space for the snow and how to highlight snow with grey/light blue tones to give the illusion of spatial depth.

Students learned how to apply detail to their pictures using textures on the tree and snow.

Some of the kids added their own details such as animals and snowmen, as well as creating designs in the landscape using metallic media.