painting | Kathy, The Picture Lady

Did you know you can use cardboard to paint with? You can, and you can make lots of Easy and Fun things, like:

Mama and baby pigs in the straw. Flowers and butterflies. Fuzzy yellow chicks.

Spring was a favorite time on our small farm in Maine. We’d have baby pigs and goats out in the barn, and in the kitchen there was always a box of baby chicks or ducks warming up by the wood stove. Spring refreshes us with returning color and creatures, and this year we all certainly need some refreshment, so I hope these easy projects will brighten your day this coming week!

Supplies:

tempera paints in various colors ( I lightened my red and purple to pink and lilac with white)
pieces of cardboard cut to various sizes
paper to paint on and scraps to finish the chick
pencils, scissors, crayons, and/or markers

Painting Technique:

There are just two techniques used to make these creatures and flowers. After dipping the edge of your cardboard into some paint,

Make straight lines by touching the cardboard up and down onto the paper
While holding the cardboard edge against the paper, you swirl or push it around, while holding one corner in place. It takes a little practice, but you can even make a complete circle this way. Try turning the paper as you hold the cardboard in place.

Note: The size of your creation will depend on the size of your cardboard. And after a while you may need to switch to a new piece as the paint will gradually make it less stiff.

Butterflies and Flowers

These use both techniques: up and down for the spikey flowers, grass, and butterfly body. A swirl for the other flowers and the butterfly wings. On one flower I had both pink and lilac on the cardboard, without mixing themand I think it produced an interesting effect. Maybe you can try more of that.

Fuzzy Chick

The chick just uses lots of up and down lines around and around in a circle. I put a small pencil dot to mark the middle so I had a reference point to keep going in a circle. Use paper scraps and crayons or markers to finish your chick. Try making different sizes and colors of chicks.

Mama Pig and Her Babies

Steps for the piggies:

Use your drawing skills to draw a circle for Mamma and 2 small ovals for the babies.Just as you did in the last drawing lesson!
Inside each pig, draw a small oval for its snout
Use curving lines to draw ears and tail
Use straight lines that turn sharp corners to make the feet.
Color the pigs using light and dark shades of pink markers or crayons
Use the up and down technique to ad straw all around the mamma pig and her babies

Here are two more ideas:

Use orange paint and the swirl technique to make a bunch of carrots. Add feathery green tops with crayon or marker.
Or how about baby birds in a nest of brown twigs?

Molly is enjoying the garden we now have in Colorado. It’s much smaller than the one we had in Maine!! The bright pink flowers in the front are very spikey, while the daisies and cone flowers have much broader petals and could be done with the swirling method.

Mollye and I are sure you can think of lots more creative creatures and pictures to make with your cardboard paintbrush! Have Fun and be sure to come back here next Friday for more Easy and Fun Art for Kids !

You’ll have fun doing this easy Easter art project with your children this week, so let’s put the next drawing lesson on hold until next Monday. (although we were already starting Easter art projects before school closed, it’s sneaked up on me for projects on this blog!)

This painting project makes a cute picture of sheep in a pasture and perfectly illustrates Psalm 100: 3, “…we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” and John 10:11 where Jesus says, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” NIV

This project can be done in 2 short activity times. Do part A and go on to another activity while the paint dries; then come back to finish with part B same day if you like.

Supplies:

Sturdy white paper such as construction paper
Scrap paper, any color
Cardboard such as cereal box cardboard, cut into 2 to 3 inch squares
Yarn, any color
Tape such as masking, packing, or duct tape
Scissors
Green paint, largish plastic cover, paintbrush or plastic knife or spoon
Crayons or markers

Follow these simple steps:

Part A. 20 to 30 minutes

Draw and cut out several cloud shapes of different sizes from the scrap paper. Notice the cloud shapes are from the circular line and shape drawing lesson last week!!
Fold over pieces of masking tape to stick the “clouds” to your white construction paper (you will be removing these so don’t stick them heavily—one piece per cloud)
Arrange cloud shapes on your construction paper
To make your “stamp” make a “handle” out of tape for your piece of cardboard
Tape one end of a piece of yarn on this same side
Wrap the yarn around and around the cardboard, and tape the end on the back (wrap the strand fairly tightly, but not too close together)
put a small amount of green paint on the plastic lid and spread with a spoon or brush.
Rub your cardboard stamp around the thin layer of paint just to coat the yarn strands
Stamp all over your white paper and cloud shapes. The stamping should look like blades of grass. Pick up more paint as needed.( help children to stamp up and down without smearing)

Let dry

Part B 20 to 30 minutes

Part B 20 to 30 minutes
Remove cloud shapes
With pencil draw heads, ears, and legs (I use pencil first so I remember the eyes)
Color these in with black marker or crayon
Use other marker or crayon colors to make flowers. Notice the heads, ears, and flower petals are all in the circular group of lines and shapes from last week’s drawing lesson, and the legs are just straight lines. So you can use what you learned last week for this part of the project
If you wish, add the Bible reference/s in one corner.