ABC Wednesday and WOYWW

This week at ABC Wednesday, V takes centre stage.

V is for vegetable prints.

When printmaking you can use just about anything - found materials are a lot of fun to use.  I used potatoes when in the classroom, so that children could easily carve into the potato and make prints.

(I used a mushroom, pepper, carrot and cucumber.)


Be sure to check here for how others around the world focused on V.



WOYWW
Julia Dunnit hosts a wonderful weekly meme - WOYWW - at her blog "Stamping Ground" ,  a chance to share your workspace each Wednesday.

As I was making the prints above, I thought I'd capture my art table - After clean paper last week, there's now paint on it - no longer pristine.

I tried to do some maple key prints but just succeeded in making s mess. I've done it before and been more successful. Will have to try it again with different paints.

ABC Wednesday -K and WOYWW

Today is time to share our letter of the week choice for "ABC Wednesday" - which is letter K.

K is for kitchen utensils.

I did not want to use our kitchen utensils, so I went shopping for some yesterday.And then this morning I had fun using them for printmaking. See if you can tell what I used for what making what marks.

WOYWW

I am continuing working on my printmaking course and am really enjoying it. Using kitchen utensils was just a side project for ABC Wednesday.

I used the backgrounds I had made last week for this project.

Join in the fun at "Stamping Ground" - check out work tables from all over the world.Lots of creativity abounds!


Also linking with:

Express Your Creativity

Paint Party Friday

WOYWW

It's time to share our workspaces for WOYWW, that fun meme hosted by Julia at "Stamping Ground"

On Tuesday, I had fun playing with paint and created a number of things.

I have started a free art course at Strathmore "Bold and Expressive Printmaking with Tracy Bautista andam really enjoying it so far. (I have her book and enjoy working with it)

I created some foam stamps and then did some stamping with them.

Then I did some backgrounds with the gelli plate.

And finally, did some stamping with junk (for the ABC Wednesday challenge - J was the letter of the week)

(Green was for St. Patrick's Day!)

ABC Wednesday - J is for Junk

Today at ABC Wednesday, the letter of focus is J.

J is for JUNK - that is using junk for printmaking.

Here are a few junk items I had in a tub.

I had already created the background (green for St. Patrick's Day) and then proceeded to use each piece for stamping onto the paper. Some printed much better than others. But, it was fun and relaxing.

(See if you can pick out which junk tool created which impression)

Visit here to see more ways J was chosen.

ABCs of Art - B is for Blots and Block Printing

ABCs of ART

This past week several blogs I visited really stressed the need to play at one's art, to have fun.

Today's focus allowed me to do just that.

Blots

I first played with acrylic paints. The term blot painting, blotto art, and even blotter art have all referred to this process.

Creating blots with paint is something I have always done with children. A simple process really - fold a sheet of paper, drop or squirt different colours of paint on the paper, refold the paper and spread the paint around. No two blots are ever the same and you never know what will emerge.

(I used this process for one of the "Wreck This Journal" pages last year. Great fun!)

I used two different types of acrylic paint but wasn't as happy with the first as it was thicker and really didn't blend or spread.

The second blot I made with a more liquid paint (folk art paint) and used a bit too much paint but I did like the effect in the end.

The third blot began with much less paint and then I kept adding until I was reasonably satisfied.

I plan to use these as backgrounds for a new project - The Deck of Me. (See here for more information. Sounds like it will be a fun project.)

Block Printing

I have not used lino blocks to print but would love to take a course to study printmaking in depth.

I usually use syrofoam - plates and trays to do simple printmaking with children. I created a couple of simple designs to show this process. I do enjoy seeing an image appear from a block that I have carved.

ATCs

I created more ATCs this weekend as well. I signed up for a large number of swaps and now I am trying to get them done asap.

Hearts and Flowers:

Dragons: