Silk Painting Bird Project

Silk painting is such a delight!  ArtRishi sells both a Silk Hoop Painting Kit and a Silk Painting Supply Kit to begin your journey down the silk road…

Below is a project I designed for a Silk Hoop.  Silk Hoops are easy to work with, ready to go, and are complete within themselves – they don’t have to be sewn or framed; they look great as-is!

Supplies needed:

1.  Silk Hoop

2.  pencil, black flair pen

3.  #2, #10 round watercolor brush

4.  12″x17″ white drawing paper

5.  gutta resist

6.  gutta resist dispenser with metal tip

7.  silk paints

Begin with a Pattern

Begin with a pattern:

Place your silk hoop on white drawing paper and trace around it with a pencil.  This is your pattern template for the silk painting.  You will draw the bird and leaves in pencil.  Use my artwork as a source of inspiration. Take care to make every effort to make the work more “your own”.   Gather examples of other artists’ work, design books (Dover make fabulous design books), photos, etc.  Use my bird as a starting point – but change the look of him.  Give him a new beak, different feathers, have his head facing in a different direction.  Using design books, get some new ideas for leaf and floral patterns and draw them like a wreath around the bird.  When you are satisfied with your drawing, go over the pencil lines with a black flair pen.

Gutta Resist Drawing on Silk Hoop

Copy the drawing onto Silk Hoop

Place the silk hoop on top of the drawing you’ve made.  The silk attached to the hoop will be quite transparent, and you will be able to view your drawing behind it.  Prepare your gutta resist.  Just to get the feel for it; practice applying fine lines of gutta to scrap paper.   With confidence, follow the lines of your drawing with the gutta resist.  I used blue and black gutta.  You can use whatever color(s) you’d like.  Work slowly and carefully, taking care not to smudge the gutta with your hand or arm.  It is also important to completely close off shapes with the gutta resist, so that the silk paint does not leak out of any openings.   Allow the gutta resist to completely dry before proceeding.

Silk Painting by Bridget Hobson

Ready to apply the silk paint!

Here comes the fun part!  Pre-plan your color palette.  Start with light colors first.  Typically, the colors are more brilliant if you apply 2 layers of silk paint – allowing the paint to dry in between applications.  It is important to remember that SILK PAINT SPREADS QUICKLY.  Wet your brush with the silk paint, making sure the brush is not too “drippy” with paint, and conservatively brush the center of the shape you are painting – waiting to see how quickly the paint spreads to the edge.  If you apply the paint very close to the gutta resist edge, it can easily hop over the gutta – so BE CAREFUL and have fun!  Remember, there are NO MISTAKES in art – if the paint jumps the boundary – simply live with it, work with it, turn it into a shaded area.

Interested in ready to go art lessons for your child or classroom?  Detailed, step-by-step instructions along with beautiful color graphics are available for sale on the ArtRishi website.

Japanese Women Art Project

One of my favorite projects for children, is drawing and painting the traditional Japanese woman of the Edo Period (1615-1868).  Children are fascinated with the colorful & graceful design of the kimono and have great fun drawing and interpreting the coiffures so different from today’s hairstyle.

During the Edo Period, Japanese women styled their long, waxed tresses into a variety of buns and twists held in place with hair combs, hair pics, ribbons, pom-poms and flowers.

Print by Utamaro Kitagawa, c. 1806-1810.

Library of Congress, no restrictions

Peace and prosperity prevailed during the Edo Period.  Many of the art forms we associate today with traditional Japan, came from this two and half century period.  The Pavilion for Japanese Art at the Los Angeles county Museum of Art, has an extensive online collection of artwork from the Edo Period:

http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=browpage;dept=japan

All of the art below created by Bridget Hobson.

Art Supplies needed:

1.  Fine Point Sharpie

2.  Watercolor paper

3.  Watercolor markers

Play with my line drawings to create your own art lesson.  I use a guided, step-by-step approach when I teach children how to draw and look forward to presenting that in video format soon.

The line drawing to left is something I’ve used as a basis for teaching the six to eight year old.

Line drawing to the right is the basis for teaching ages 7 and up.  Student results vary according to the artistic ability of the child.  It is, however, the art teacher’s presentation, enthusiasm and confidence in her students that makes all the difference in student results!

Students of all ages enjoy creating and painting

with watercolor markers.

Watercolor markers are made from a

formulated vegetable dye

that yields beautiful color, ease of control and

a successful color mixing experience.

Have young students use

a fairly stiff hog bristol brush.

More possibilities for students age 8 to adult!

“works in progress” by Bridget Hobson

Interested in ready to go art lessons for your child or classroom?  Detailed, step-by-step instructions along with beautiful color graphics are available for sale on the Artrishi website.

Mandala Art Project

Mandala:  A geometric figure that represents the Universe – a symbol, that represents one’s search for completeness and self-unity.

I’ve taught this project to children and adults – age 9 and older. Initially it’s a discovery in how to use a compass and then the project takes a turn to symmetry and repetition of shape, pattern and color. The end results are infinitely varied! My dear friend, Karen Jackson, first presented the basis of this project to me and now I give you my step-by-step version of the mandala lesson.

Art Supplies Needed:

1. Compass (a nice drafting kit may be purchased directly from the ArtRishi website)
2. ruler / straight edge
3. pencil & eraser
4. artist quality markers
5. artist quality colored pencils
6. tagboard for template
7. sturdy, smooth paper for final project

Using the compass, create a circle – divide in half vertically and horizontally.

Establish measuring points.   Adjust your compass to capture the measurement from the center of the circle to the top of the circle. Place the point of the compass at the top point of the circle and create measuring points beyond the original circle – repeat this all the way around the circle.  You may create your mandala using this template – or create a smaller mandala template by cutting out the innermost circle:

Using the smaller circle as a template, I’ve made pencil points on the yellow paper….

And now the fun begins!  Note the original pencil points.  A french curve may be used to create curved line symmetry – or just draw free hand as I have done.  Rotate the circle and remember how it feels to draw each curve and each shape.

Draw your design and erase lines you no longer want.  Enjoy the process and experiment!

Create your color palette.  Using dual nib, artist quality markers,  lay in the marker base for the mandala.  No concern for pencil lines showing through – these will be covered later with colored pencil.

Colored pencil, selectively applied on top of the marker, creates contrast, shading and further definition.

Here’s another mandala created from the same template.  This one shows a bit more creativity with colored pencil shading….

Ooooooh!  The possibilities are endless and SO MUCH FUN!