Nest Studio art class #1

Monoprinting

I often get requests for online art classes for those of you who don't live here in Adelaide... so I am going to do my best at posting a few of my favourite little projects for young children over the next couple of months. They will be short and hopefully something you will feel comfortable doing at home... Of course, in Nest classes we go into much more depth and don't only focus on the method as done here... you could go for a walk or read a favourite book etc .. to get imaginations flowing.

Step 1 you will need :: block ink (it is sticky not runny), ink roller, paper, plastic sheet (or plastic placemat you can ruin), pencil & butter knife

Step 2 Using your butter knife, spread a large grape sized dollop of ink onto the plastic sheet

Step 3 Roll the ink gently in an up/down rolling motion, until the ink has spread the width of your roller

Step 4 Now roll the ink in a left to right motion until you start to smooth it out over the length of the plastic sheet

Step 5 Aternate this with the up/down motion until the whole sheet is covered nice and smoothly and thin

Step 6 Gently place the paper over the ink covered plastic sheet, DO NOT TOUCH the paper as it will leave big fat finger marks.... you may like to hold the paper down in the corner where there is no ink for your little artist when they begin drawing. Now this is the fun part.... START DRAWING (but remember not to touch the paper, show your child how to hold the pencil upright so that their little hands don't rest on the paper... although sometimes this can make for a nice texture)

Gently pull the paper away and presto! a really stunning monoprint appears, this photo does no justice to the delicate texture that the ink creates under the pressure of the pencil.

Try using different things to draw with (fingers, sticks..) and you can let this dry and get out other ink colours for a layered ..two/three/four coloured monoprint. Lily went ahead and used watercolour pencils to add some colour to her prints :: Above print is a cat with lovely long whiskers :: Top is another cat but this one has many wings for flying.... next to Lily on her first day of "proper" Kindy this week.

I have so much fun with my Moopy's art ... here is the "flying cat" with digital colour added and printed up on my trusty bubble jet.

Comments

[shisomama]

what a great project! it sounds really doable with students of all ages - definitely something i'll have to try. thanks for sharing the pics!

[kat]

that came out terrific!
thanks for sharing.

[bethany]

I have never thought about doing monoprints like this and would never have guessed that it would work so wonderfully! You avoid all that carving with the little ones. Thank you for sharing this! Your daughter is so adorable!!!

[Anna Laura]

The texture is the thing with monoprints that totally make it! Very lovely drawing as well. I love working with ink over the print as wells.

[Julia]

Thank you for sharing this method. I have been wondering about monoprint for a while (even had discussions with my all-knowing father: 'why do you print, if you can only do one of a kind ? Why not draw right away...?'... the finesses were lost on him, I guess) and hadn't found photos of neither technique or result.

[Spin Spin]

Brilliant, I want to do one of these myself!

PS. The You Make My Day award is waiting for you over at my blog.

[Claire]

I tried it myself this afternoon. It's so easy and quite a different effect to drawing.

[Laura]

Thanks for sharing this project, I haven't tried this technique with my young kids before but it's perfect. Oh my and I especially love the added color !

[Carrie]

Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing!

[Haylee's Gifts]

That is really neat! Something my little one would love to do!

[pupu]

Ah this is sure fun.. =) Thanx to share the project. I should make this with my little sisters. Have a nice day.

[zoesquid]

Thanks for sharing. I'd love to know the process for digitally adding color if you ever have time.

[button]

A great tutorial :) And look at Lily! What a sweetheart ... love the drawings, very beautiful.
C
xoxo

[belula]

Guauuuu...great!!!!!...lovely

[g.]

Wow. Very lovely result!
g.