Art ideas for all ages!

Here are 3 techniques to use glue and salt in creative ways in your art.  Glue, Salt, and Watercolor 1. Create lines or outlines with glue. 2. Sprinkle salt all over the glue. Regular salt works great (we only had mineral salt at home).  3. Gently shake salt into a container. You may need to tap the back gently.  4. Add watercolor directly to the salty glue. Watercolor should be watery. 5. Continue painting. Notice how the color will spread along the salty glue.  6. Let dry. Watercolor and Salt 1. Paint with watercolor and sprinkle on a little salt. 2. Add a little more salt. 3. Let dry. Brush off salt once dry. Glue lines with chalk  1. Draw with glue. 2. Add a background. 3. Let dry for a few hours or overnight. 4. Once dry, add color with chalk. 5. Blend with your finger. 6. Continue adding color with chalk.   7. Blend with your finger. 8. Finsihed!

Sandpaper Shading Materials: Pencil Sandpaper Cloth (like an old sock, cleaning rag, or a scrap of fabric)  Eraser 1. Grate the pencil on the sandpaper to create graphite dust. Be careful not to breathe the dust. 2. Carefully rub the graphite into the paper using the fabric. 3. Add as much graphite to the paper as you want.  Continue to rub in the graphite after you grate it on to the paper. 2. Draw with your eraser. If you make a mistake, just rub with the cloth. You might need to add more graphite dust and rub again. 3. Add shading and details with pencil, ebony pencil, and/or charcoal pencil. You can add highlights with your eraser.   Artist Connection : Adonna Khare is an artist who uses pencils to draw lifelike image of animals.  I learned this technique in a workshop with Adonna Khare. She taught a group of art teachers how to use her sandpaper shading technique. Adonna working on a pencil mural for the "Walk in the Cloud...

Do you miss working with clay? This is a very inexpensive way to make paper clay with materials you probably have at home. Materials: Recycled paper (I used copy paper) 1 Tablespoon of flour for each piece of paper (plus a little extra) A container Water 1. Tear your paper into smaller pieces. 2. Cut the paper into thin strips. 3. Put the strips of paper into the container. 4. Cover the paper with warm or hot water. Let soak for a few minutes or overnight. 5. Gather all of the paper in your hand and then pour out all of the water.  Be careful not to let any paper go down the drain. Then squeeze the paper over the sink to remove any excess water. 6. Place the paper back into the container. 7. Break the paper back up and sprinkle it around. 8. Get 1 tablespoon of flour. 9. Sprinkle it all over the damp paper. 10. Mix and knead the mixture. 11. Squeeze and pinch. You may need to sprinkle on a little water, a little more flour, or ...

Floating chalk is a fun printmaking technique. The results are similar to suminagashi (Japanese for floating ink) prints.  Materials:  A shallow container for water. I used a Pyrex baking dish. A plastic container will work, too.  Paper (copy paper works great). Be sure to cut the paper to be slightly smaller than the container. Water A cheese grater or sandpaper (Note: the sandpaper was not as effective but it does work if you tap the back of the sandpaper to shake the chalk particles on to the water) Chalk (we used sidewalk chalk) 1. Put about 1 inch of water in the container. Then grate the chalk right on top of the water.  Be very careful not to get your fingers close to the sharp blades. 2. Move the grater around as you are grating chalk above the water. 3. Use as many colors as you want. 4. Lay paper on top of the water and chalk. 5. Gently press anywhere that looks like it has an air bubble. 6. Peel the paper off the w...