It was Deepavali 2008. And this time nothing was happening! No ideas, no inspiration, nothing. A complete blank. I turned to the web as I always do and looked for something, anything. For a couple of years the idea of introducing Miniature paintings had been there. And when I saw the picture of an elephant. That was it. Images of long lines of grey and wrinkled elephants slowly ambling up to the Amber Fort floated into the mind.
I printed the picture off the web, traced it on a tracing sheet. And simply photocopied onto to cream coloured 160 gsm printer paper. I find white too stark, cream (actually more butter than cream!!) works beautifully.
Water colours are hard to handle. Water colour pencils are relatively easy. The children are generally aged between 6 to 14. Most in the range of 9-12. I felt they could handle the more challenging water colour pencils.
As time is always a constraint, I did the black and brown outlines so that they would know which colour goes where. The parties get big with both girls inviting their friends! And there are always up to 3 art activities happening.
It struck me that a slight 2D effect would be very interesting. So decided to stick brightly coloured handmade paper (representing the intricately patterned and embroidered cloth laid on the elephants back) layered one on top of the other. This presented a problem as it would cover the elephants ear. Using a paper cutter, I cut around the ear and raised it up a bit. The effect was perfect.
This was a very ambitious project. I wanted the children to not just experience water colour pencils but also use gems and glitter glue to add to the 2D effect.
The elephant has a lot of jewels (ropes of gems and pearls) on the head, back and front legs. On a trip to a store which has a lot of very interesting scrap booking supplies, I came across a paint which, if used in tiny dots, gives a pearl effect.
So we were set. With sequins, gems, small "Gota" flowers (all thanks to endless visits, in my home town, to the tiny shops in even tinier lanes, at unbelievable prices). The girls join me on these little excursions to buy handmade paper and all kinds of bits and bobs which will be used for art and craft at some point in time. The result is an overloaded Ikea drawer cabinet dedicated to art material! As my older one says "Mom, it's fun to organise."
Now came the difficult or should I say 'the tedious ' bit. That of doing the cutouts of handmade paper for the Elephant's back. I decided on three layers - The biggest stuck completely to the Elephant drawing, the other 2 layers only at the top. This resulted in the papers curling up a bit, as did the ear. A very satisfactory 2D effect, I thought!
Now to put the whole thing together. Something I always worry about. So I set my younger one (then 9 years) to do the whole painting. She was very quick. And the best part was that although her work was not very neat, it still looked very nice.
The finished painting was mounted on beautiful beige handmade paper. Inexpensive glitter sticky tape in bright colours was used to frame the Elephant. "Gota" ribbons were used to create loops through which a wooden dowell was threaded through and the Painting was ready to be hung!
The only thing I would not allow the girls to do was the pearl tubes. Right pressure was needed to create pearls all the same size. There were too many kids and very little time. So on the day of the party 2 friends who always volunteer to help were put in charge of pearling and framing the finished Elephants on to the mounting Paper.
The elephant has a lot of jewels (ropes of gems and pearls) on the head, back and front legs. On a trip to a store which has a lot of very interesting scrap booking supplies, I came across a paint which, if used in tiny dots, gives a pearl effect.
So we were set. With sequins, gems, small "Gota" flowers (all thanks to endless visits, in my home town, to the tiny shops in even tinier lanes, at unbelievable prices). The girls join me on these little excursions to buy handmade paper and all kinds of bits and bobs which will be used for art and craft at some point in time. The result is an overloaded Ikea drawer cabinet dedicated to art material! As my older one says "Mom, it's fun to organise."
Now came the difficult or should I say 'the tedious ' bit. That of doing the cutouts of handmade paper for the Elephant's back. I decided on three layers - The biggest stuck completely to the Elephant drawing, the other 2 layers only at the top. This resulted in the papers curling up a bit, as did the ear. A very satisfactory 2D effect, I thought!
Now to put the whole thing together. Something I always worry about. So I set my younger one (then 9 years) to do the whole painting. She was very quick. And the best part was that although her work was not very neat, it still looked very nice.
The finished painting was mounted on beautiful beige handmade paper. Inexpensive glitter sticky tape in bright colours was used to frame the Elephant. "Gota" ribbons were used to create loops through which a wooden dowell was threaded through and the Painting was ready to be hung!
The only thing I would not allow the girls to do was the pearl tubes. Right pressure was needed to create pearls all the same size. There were too many kids and very little time. So on the day of the party 2 friends who always volunteer to help were put in charge of pearling and framing the finished Elephants on to the mounting Paper.
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