Cotton Woolly Spring Lambs

Adorable spring lambs were the inspiration for my workshop today. I showed my students a photograph of a lamb and pointed out the pink in its ears and around its eyes.
The first step was to use a cardboard template to draw and cut out 2 ears. Most of my students, who are all adults with learning difficulties, are able to draw around a stencil if someone holds it still for them. Others can hold the template still while their carer draws around it. I then gave out pink paint and asked everyone to paint inside the ears, keeping a white border. I also asked them to paint 2 pink eyes onto a large paper plate to which we added black painted centres. Now it was time for the fun to start! Students spread glue onto the plate and stuck down cotton wool balls, avoiding the eyes. I demonstrated how to tease out the cotton wool to make it fluffier. One of my students is completely blind and she really enjoyed the texture of the cotton wool. Everyone made a great job of this part of the task. Once they were done, I gave out pre-cut black paper noses and pink felt tongues and bits of wool to make a mouth. The final step was to glue on the ears. Making the ears point out to the sides rather than upwards makes it look like a lamb rather than a rabbit!

Garden Gnomes

I loved this garden gnome project posted by Laura at Painted Paper: http://paintedpaperintheartroom.blogspot.com/2012/02/little-garden-gnomes.html
I decided to make a simplified version for my class of adults with learning disabilities.
We made a background by sponge painting with different shades of green paint. I emphasised that they should only use a small amount of paint at a time and should still have some white paper showing through. Some of the backgrounds looked so good it was almost a pity to cover them up at all!
We put these aside to dry and started working on the gnomes. I wanted to provide templates which were as easy to draw round and cut out as possible and came up with 3 triangles - different sizes for the body, hat and beard. With the help of their carers, students cut the triangles out of the painted paper they made a few weeks ago. I gave out circles for faces and black paper boots which I had cut out for them earlier and we glued all the bits together to make the gnomes. The next step was to draw a face and add any other details they could think up. Most of my students are unable to draw with any control and so they rely on their carers for this part. Some of the carers really went to town and created some very artistic gnomes as you can see from the photos!
We had time left to make a quick toadstool from half a paper plate. We glued the gnome and the toadstool onto the background and some students added some flowers to complete the garden scene.

Love Bugs

For this Valentine's Day project we started by making pompoms using the 'doughnut' method. I have made pompoms with my group before and it is a nice activity which students find quite absorbing. I pre-cut lengths of wool and also provided plastic needles. The needles are easier for students to hold and their weight makes it easier to pass the wool through the hole. It is important not to make the hole in the doughnut ring too big or else it will take all day to finish. A smaller hole results in quite scruffy looking pompoms but students can give them a haircut at the end to neaten them up if they like. To turn them into lovebugs students used templates to cut heart-shaped feet from felt and made eyes from white felt circles which they drew on with black markers. You could use a glue gun to attach the feet and eyes but I find the best method is double-sided carpet tape (which is VERY sticky). I pre-stuck tape to the back of the felt before they cut out the shapes.

Paper Penguins

This project was a combination of ideas from Adventures of an Art Teacher and Mrs Picasso's Art Room. I began by getting the students to paint the background using blue paint at the top and white at the bottom and blending the two in the middle. All the students managed this really well. They then followed my instructions to make the large penguin out of black and white paper. I pre-cut the paper to the different sizes needed.They all required plenty of help from their carers but were able to draw the shapes with assistance and they are all great at gluing things down! The second, smaller penguin was drawn onto white paper using pens or pastels and then cut out and stuck down. They created the snowflakes by tapping a brush loaded with watery white paint. This is less messy than spraying or flicking paint and was a new technique for the students.

Papier Mache Toadstools

For today's workshop I wanted to do another autumnal theme but felt that we had done enough autumn leaf projects. I hit upon the idea of making a toadstool. I told my students that we were doing papier mache but in fact this is a cheat's version of papier mache that is more like decoupage. A paper bowl and paper cup were covered in the appropriate colours of tissue. The cup in particular needed a few layers of tissue because it had a pattern on it. Some students (and carers) tried to save time by gluing on enormous bits of tissue but they soon found that this doesn't work because air gets trapped underneath and it doesn't stick down properly. After the pieces were dried with the help of a hairdryer I helped them attach the two together using doubled-up masking tape which worked quite well. The finishing touch was some white painted spots.

Bonfire Night Collage

Remember, Remember the 5th of November!
In the UK we celebrate a foiled plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 with fireworks and bonfires on the 5th of November.
My students used paint and collage to capture the colour and glitter of the event.
We used some lovely deep blue card for the background. The fireworks were made by blowing watered down paint with straws and also by swirling the straw around in the paint to make patterns. The bonfires started with an oil pastel drawing to which they added scraps of tissue paper and sparkly sweet papers. The final touch was some glitter glue which was spread or dotted here and there on the fire.

Painted Paper Cats

Our painted paper came into use again for this workshop. I created simple two-piece templates for the cats which students embellished with cut-out paper eyes and wool whiskers. I wanted to keep the background simple so that the cats would stand out so we just used a contrasting colour of paper for the wall.

Painted Paper Tree Frogs

This was a two part workshop which began with making painted paper according to the very useful instructions on Deep Space Sparkle. It's unusual for my students to spend a whole hour working with paint and they loved it. The resulting painted paper was really lovely.
The next session involved using templates to make the tree frogs. There was quite a lot of cutting out required which not many of my students are able to do but they were able to choose colours, draw round the templates (or hold them down while their carer drew round them), apply glue to the pieces and stick them down.
We made a nice background for the frog using tissue paper prints. It took a bit of experimenting before I found some non-colourfast tissue paper, but once I did, it was just a case of the students creating a very rough leaf-shape, sticking it down with water, then peeling the tissue off to reveal a delicate and beautiful printed leaf.
We finished the project by using strips of brown paper to make a frame.

Leaping Fish Watercolour and Torn Paper

This project was inspired by this artwork by Deborah Angyo Gorman:

Students began by using a wet-on-wet watercolour technique to create a background. I then gave them all a drawing of a fish which I had prepared in advance. They (or their carers) cut it out and they then began covering it in torn foil paper.
This activity was nice and simple to explain and the students became very absorbed in gluing down the paper.
Only drawback is that the reflective foil makes the pictures hard to photograph!

Jim Dine Hearts

I've had this project in my 'workshop ideas' folder for a few months now after seeing it on For The Love of Art blog. I was saving it for a Valentines project but then I decided that there's no reason for love hearts to be seasonal and, besides, who knows what I'll be doing in 6 months time? I started the class by showing everyone this picture:

The bright colours really appealed to my students and they were immediately enthusiastic about the project. I handed out sheets of black paper and initially got them to choose one colour of pastel. After they had added some colour, I got them to swap pastels with their neighbours until they had used a few colours. I then went round everyone individually, folding their paper and drawing half a heart for them (or their carers) to cut out. Once these were done and put aside, I gave out larger sheets of yellow paper and small squares of coloured tissue and glue. I asked them to concentrate on gluing the squares around the outside of the paper because we would be sticking the heart in the middle. They all followed this instruction ok. I made sure everyone's squares were stuck down properly before they glued the heart into the centre. Some students almost spoiled their pictures at the last minute by starting to paint glue on top of their heart or by using gluey fingers to press it down - next time I would warn them in advance about that! They all seemed happy with their creations anyway.

City at Night Collage

For this workshop I tried my own version of the City at Night art lesson I've seen on http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/  and other blogs. I decided to start with a circular background for a change and got the students to draw round a record to create a perfectly-sized circle (try doing that with an MP3 - ha!) which they cut out with help from their carers. Next, I showed them how to use pastels to make a moon and lots of stars. I had pre-cut loads of rectangles in different sizes and colours so they could choose which ones they wanted for their skyscrapers and glue them on at the base of the circle. I had also cut out lots of bright yellow squares for the windows. I explained that they didn't have to cover the whole skyscraper with windows because not everyone would have their lights on! They all seemed to understand and enjoyed positioning the windows. As a finishing touch I gave them a cut-out of a cartoon yellow taxi (much to the delight of one car-obsessed student) which they could glue on to the bottom.

Collage Birds

I did this workshop with my regular group of adults with learning difficulties. None of the group can really draw or copy an image, so I prepared for the class by drawing some VERY simple, cartoonish birds with a marker pen on quite large sheets of paper. All the birds were different and I let everyone choose the one they liked best. (I had 6 participants in this workshop.)
Next I got them to make some patterned paper by drawing and scribbling on coloured paper with oil pastels. I then got them to cut or tear their patterned paper into squares which they had to share with the rest of the group so that everyone had a variety of colours. I also gave out some squares of nice shiny paper (recycled wrapping paper and gift bags). Then they set to work glueing the pieces of paper on to their bird. All of the participants had a carer with them so they helped make sure that the glue went in the right place ie ON the bird not around it!
I didn't have any 'googly eyes' with me that day so I just drew some eyes and cut them out for them.
After they had stuck everything on I went back over some of the lines I had drawn with the marker pen just to neaten the whole thing up a bit. This was a nice workshop which everyone seemed to find quite absorbing. Everyone tends to take their work home with them after my classes but if you have space for a display it would be nice to cut the birds out and place them along a branch or phone line.