For this last week of Black history Month I would like you to choose someone that inspires you to draw in your sketchbook. Living or not….do your best and have fun.

Remembering the Mardis Gras Indian project we did in February of 2019…Paint pens on black paper. Perhaps some of you still have these in your collection of school art projects.

Have a safe and happy Fat Tuesday! See you next Monday.

Valentines Day is next Sunday, so for next Tuesday I would like you to choose a cartoon character to make into a Valentine theme. Have fun and do you best.

If you have acquired some kind of sculpting material like sculpey, playdough, air dry clay or a home made scuplture mix., here are a couple of videos you can watch to help you get started and some reference features that you can use as you progress.

Here is an overall quick demo of creating a portrait head with clay:

For those of you that may have acquired Sculpey….here is one video that shows sculpting a head that shows a way of working with the material. It is designed to be baked in your oven acording to the instructions. there are lots of tutorials on sculpting with this material to be found on you tube.

It is Ground Hog Day, so for this week I would like you to find an image of a ground hog or use one of these as an inspiration to draw in your sketchbook. Have fun and let’s hope he came out at a time when he couldn’t see his shadow so that we have an early Spring!

For you that are at home, we will be working with clay for our next project to create a portrait head. Above are a couple of options that could probably be ordered on-line at Amazon or also picked up at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. The Sculpey prodeuct comes in small packages so you would probably need several to create a head of any size. It is made to be cured in the oven. The air dry clay is more like what we use at school but dries in time without having to have a kiln. Just like the clay we use, you must keep it wrapped up tight in plastic until you are done. You would need to put newspaper or some plastic down on your table in order to keep your desk or work space clean. Another option, that is a little more labor intensive and would not be as good for fine details would be to create your own sculpture mix with household kitchen ingredients. There are several recipes avaiable on Youtube. here is a link to one recipe.

This is an example of one of the portrait heads with the finished ceramic glaze. If you make one with the products above you could paint it with acrylic paints and then apply a clear coat to create a similar effect. We will talk together on your Zoom session to see what you r options are.

I’m proud of the work you all did on your recent acrylic landsacape canvases. Here is a photo of one of the installations upstairs. They will be on display in the school for awhile and then you can take them home later this quarter.