leah

October 21, 2010  by

Making Earth Paints with Children

 

cheap levitra online

g” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”199″ />I had the most wonderful opportunity to teach forty 4 -6 year olds how to make earth paints last week. It was glorious watching the ecstatic glee or intense concentration as they ground and sifted the pigments and composed beautiful little paintings. I’ve included a step-by-step guide for teaching children below the photos.

How to make Natural Earth Paints with children….

You’ll Need: mortar & pestel &/or flour sifter; walnut oil; small spatula or palette knife; piece of glass as palette or painting cups (recycled yogurt containers are good); a painting surface (canvas paper, canvas board, wood, or any surface that is primed with gesso); Murphy’s oil soap and regular soap (for clean up); either locally collected clay or purchased clay.

Step 1: Collect some clay: For a large group it may be best for an adult to pre-scout out a spot with clay visible and guide the group to the spot. But for a few children, you can go on a scouting trip together- along banks of rivers or streams, quarries, eroded areas. Or make it a game on road trips for them to watch out the window for pretty colors along the road cuts (bring some baggies in your car at all times in case you need to pull over). Note: How do you know it’s clay? A little creek water or spit mixed into a handful produces a tightly compacted ball. You can roll it further to become a long centipede of clay. It passes the test!

Step 2: Dry the clay: pour out a layer of clay on some newspaper or absorbent surface in the sun. This also allows any critters to escape before you start to grind. I usually put mine on a big table in front of a sunny window so the wind doesn’t blow it away.

Step 3: Grind the clay: Find a mortar & pestle and some flour sifters (the crank kind, not the handle squeeze kind) in a thrift store or antique shop. Set up tubs for the kids to grind the dry soil and then put it through the sifter to dispose of rocks and debris. Note: If the soil is not powder fine at the end you may need to push the soil through a small 100 grit screen as a last step (from a ceramic supply store).

Step 4: Mix with Walnut oil: For older kids, get a piece of window glass as a palette; Pour a small hill of powdered clay, make an indention in the top like a volcano, and pour in a little walnut oil (from the grocery store). Use a palette knife (or spatula) to mix it into a paste. For younger kids, either mix it for them and pour into little cups of paint or let them scoop powder into a cup, pour in a bit of oil and stir with a stick or spoon until you get a smooth tempera paint consistency.

Step 5: Paint!

Step 6: Clean up: Wipe as much paint off the brushes as possible with an old rag. Buy a cheap bottle of Murphy’s oil soap from the hardware store. Pour a little in a cup and swirl the dirty brushes around in it. Then rinse and then wash the brushes with a little soap and water (I use Dr. Bronners). Wash little hands with soap and water.

NOTE: You can skip steps 1, 2 & 3 if you purchase ready made pigments online. I sometimes buy beautiful blues, greens and purples onlline if I can’t find those colors in my area.

Rich Text Area Toolbar Bold (Ctrl + B) Italic (Ctrl + I) Strikethrough (Alt + Shift + D) Unordered list (Alt + Shift + U) Ordered list (Alt + Shift + O) Blockquote (Alt + Shift + Q) Align Left (Alt + Shift + L) Align Center (Alt + Shift + C) Align Right (Alt + Shift + R) Insert/edit link (Alt + Shift + A) Unlink (Alt + Shift + S) Insert More Tag (Alt + Shift + T) Toggle spellchecker (Alt + Shift + N) ▼ Toggle fullscreen mode (Alt + Shift + G) Show/Hide Kitchen Sink (Alt + Shift + Z) Add NextGEN Gallery Format – Paragraph Paragraph ▼ Underline Align Full (Alt + Shift + J) Select text color ▼ Paste as Plain Text Paste from Word Remove formatting Insert custom character Outdent Indent Undo (Ctrl + Z) Redo (Ctrl + Y) Help (Alt + Shift + H)   I had the most wonderful opportunity to teach forty 4 -6 year olds how to make earth paints last week. It was glorious watching the ecstatic glee or intense concentration as they ground and sifted the pigments and composed beautiful little paintings. I’ve included a step-by-step guide for teaching children below the photos. How to make Natural Earth Paints with children…. You’ll Need: mortar & pestel &/or flour sifter; walnut oil; small spatula or palette knife; piece of glass as palette or painting cups (recycled yogurt containers are good); a painting surface (canvas paper, canvas board, wood, or any surface that is primed with gesso); Murphy’s oil soap and regular soap (for clean up); either locally collected clay or purchased clay. Step 1: Collect some clay : For a large group it may be best for an adult to pre-scout out a spot with clay visible and guide the group to the spot. But for a few children, you can go on a scouting trip together- along banks of rivers or streams, quarries, eroded areas. Or make it a game on road trips for them to watch out the window for pretty colors along the road cuts (bring some baggies in your car at all times in case you need to pull over). Note: How do you know it’s clay? A little creek water or spit mixed into a handful produces a tightly compacted ball. You can roll it further to become a long centipede of clay. It passes the test! Step 2 : Dry the clay : pour out a layer of clay on some newspaper or absorbent surface in the sun. This also allows any critters to escape before you start to grind. I usually put mine on a big table in front of a sunny window so the wind doesn’t blow it away. Step 3 : Grind the clay: Find a mortar & pestle and some flour sifters (the crank kind, not the handle squeeze kind) in a thrift store or antique shop. Set up tubs for the kids to grind the dry soil and then put it through the sifter to dispose of rocks and debris. Note: If the soil is not powder fine at the end you may need to push the soil through a small 100 grit screen as a last step (from a ceramic supply store). Step 4: Mix with Walnut oil: For older kids , get a piece of window glass as a palette; Pour a small hill of powdered clay, make an indention in the top like a volcano, and pour in a little walnut oil (from the grocery store). Use a palette knife (or spatula) to mix it into a paste. For younger kids , either mix it for them and pour into little cups of paint or let them scoop powder into a cup, pour in a bit of oil and stir with a stick or spoon until you get a smooth tempera paint consistency. Step 5: Paint! Step 6: Clean up: Wipe as much paint off the brushes as possible with an old rag. Buy a cheap bottle of Murphy’s oil soap from the hardware store. Pour a little in a cup and swirl the dirty brushes around in it. Then rinse and then wash the brushes with a little soap and water (I use Dr. Bronners). Wash little hands with soap and water. NOTE: You can skip steps 1, 2 & 3 if you purchase ready made pigments online. I sometimes buy beautiful blues, greens and purples onlline if I can’t find those colors in my area. Path : p

in earth art 1 comments
October 11, 2010  by

Balancing Family and a Creative Business

I’ve just been interviewed by the great blog “Creative with Kids” with great questions including How do you balance fam

ily & business? What inspired you to start this business? How do you balance your creative side with all the linear, fine-detail stuff that comes with running a business? and more…..

Child painting with natural non toxic paints

How do you balance your creative side with all the linear, fine-detail stuff that comes with running a business?

It’s definitely a balancing act that I’m tweaking as I go along. Even though I’m an artist, I’ve always been interested in marketing and creative advertising. After teaching “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” for many years, I can now watch myself switching over from the my

Left brain (analytical, verbal, computer work, bookkeeping, etc.) to my

Right brain (being present, experiencing the moment, creating art in the “zone”, being present with my two year old).

But it’s a very conscious choice to shift over and I have to decide, “Okay, I’ve spent two hours on marketing. Now I’m going to release all of this brain activity and spend an hour on this painting while listening to my breath and experiencing my brush pushing across the canvas. And I’m not going to check my email!” READ MORE…..

in Uncategorized 0 comments
October 11, 2010  by

Natural Art Projects and Materials

The beautiful art that was created in my latest “Nature Art Class” was pretty amazing. Especially considering they used sale viagra online

n-paint-brushes-with-plants/” target=”_blank”>natural plant stalks as paint brushes and celery and potatoes as printing devices. See their creations below!

Make Earth Art with Potato Prints and Earth Paint

Pototo Print Eco Stationary

Make vegetable prints with Earth Paint

Celery Prints

nature art class

Celery Rainbow

Natural Art Materials

Natural Painting Class

Isaac paints a portrait with yucca stalks

in Uncategorized 0 comments
October 3, 2010  by

The Amazing Egyptians

tp://www.fanningart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/life-in-ancient-egypt2-300×194.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”194″ />

Egyptian Painting

The Egyptians were amazing innovators and discovered and developed most of the arts and sciences that we recognize today. They seem to me to also have been early permaculturists, using each element of nature for many different uses. For example, using a natural gum to make incense, perfume, paint, a protective furniture covering, medicines and cosmetics.

They were also great miners and they uncovered a massive range of raw materials and earth pigments. To decorate the incredible number of buildings, thousands and thousands of workers would paint with materials from all over the known world brought down the Nile by barge. For the homes of the wealthy and places of worship, lapis lazuli and azurite were ground to make blues. Heated lead ore produced many colors from white to red. Greens were made with malachite and chrysoprase and also from the acidic corrosion of copper. Oils, waxes, resins, mastics, eggs, milk, lime and alcohol were used to make a huge variety of paints and finishes. The most common paints were natural earths and milk paints since both were readily available and inexpensive. Apparently around the city of Karnak there were over one million cattle grazing which explains the prevalence of milk paint.

Historical info from “The Natural Paint Book” by Lynn Edwards

in earth art 0 comments
September 27, 2010  by

Every Dirt Is Different

online viagra

/>

As I continue to collect different colors of earth I’m starting to realize how different they all are. I may collect two jars of clay that look like the same color but were collected in different locations and when I grind and mix them with walnut oil, their properties are completely different. One may be very transparent and the other opaque or one may be sticky and buttery and the other grainier. Some may require a little oil to make a nice consistency and others seem to just soak it up and require a ton. I’m learning a little bit at a time as I go along.

The specific properties of each pigment vary depending on the composition of the earth where they were collected. Earth pigments are basically clay that contains different forms of iron oxide, plus other minerals. The various combinations of these elements determine the color.

Generally green earth pigment has a weak tinting strength (pretty transparent) but most of the natural earth pigments (the ochres, siennas and umbers) have a medium tinting strength. Umbers and ochres are the most opaque and siennas more transparent. Red iron oxide has a powerful tinting strength.

I’ve purchased several hard to find colors from EarthPigments.com, based in Arizona. They sell pure natural earth clays and also alter certain earth pigments by roasting them to get different colors (for example “burnt” sienna). Both ultramarine blue and red are made from sodium aluminum silicate clays that are then burned with sulfur. I’m holding off from using these drastically altered pigments but atleast they’re natural and non-toxic for those who need these specific colors.

in earth art 0 comments
September 19, 2010  by

Why did we stop using natural earth pigments?

Chad Howse’s Powerhowse Challenge

“300” height=”193″ />I was surprised to find out that long before the white man discovered and began drilling for oil (petroleum), Native Americans were using it for centuries in their paints, medicine and magic. They found it in small pools, streams, and shales where it had naturally seeped up through layers of rock.

In 1859, Edwin Drake drilled the first oil producing well in Pennsylvania and the world was changed forever. In addition to being used for fuel, oil was scientifically studied, and gradually the many chemicals composing petroleum were isolated. New substances that didn’t previously exist in nature were made, like plastics and “modern” paints.

Producers of these new paints convinced people to change from traditional paints by promoting the idea that their new products were more durable (despite the fact that ancient paints have lasted thousands of years). And even though these new paints were more expensive in the beginning, people were persuaded to buy them and most painters changed their practices soon after.

With this new growth, change and wealth in the twentieth century, we also went through great changes in the way we relate to the natural world, in terms of its resources and our spiritual connection with it. Now we seem to have a new “religion” of consumerism with an insatiable and unsustainable consumption of our planet’s raw materials. I believe we’re now on our way back to the way our ancestors related to the world around them. We’re becoming were aware of the source and properties of our products. To everything there is a reaction, and cultures do change. Let’s take responsibility and act accordingly.

Historical info from “The Natural Paint Book” by Lynn Edwards

in earth art 0 comments
September 13, 2010  by

Color Therapy

The Heart Chakra” src=”http://www.fanningart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/green-300×300.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”300″ />

The Heart Chakra 40" x 40" oil painting on canvas

A few years ago, while painting a series of large colorful abstract paintings on the chakras, I was finally convinced that color truly has a profound effect on our health and general well-being. We can all feel the calming effect of blue, the lightness of yellow, the intensity and heat of red. I realized that they can have both or either a positive or negative effect on us.

Sunlight is composed of a range of color vibrations, each with a different speed and wavelength. Each color is energy vibrating on a different wavelength. Wherever light meets darkness or matter, color arises. We see this when the sun shines thru the rain onto a background of dark clouds and a rainbow appears. A rainbow has red light at the top and violet on the bottom, with all the other colors in between. This is because red has the slowest and longest wavelength and violet vibrates the fastest and has the shortest wavelength.

We absorb these color vibrations into our systems through our eyes, our skin and our auras. The auras act like a prism of light, breaking it up into seven different colors, which in turn nourish our seven main chakras, or energy centers which are located along the spine.

Each chakra, which is sort of like a radio station receiving an energy frequency, is related to different body organs, functions and emotions. The warm colors ( red, orange and yellow) are stimulating- connecting us to the world around us and the cooler colors (blue, indigo and violet) relate more to our inner lives and rest. Between the cools and warms is green, the heart chakra.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that experiments in America with blind people proved that spending time in an all red room and an all blue room affected their temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate and moods differently. Another experiment in Canada involved people walking into rooms that were identical except for their color. Their emotional responses were recorded and huge differences of experience were purely a result of the color.

While working at the Shambhala Mountain Center, a Buddhist retreat center in Colorado, I got to experience Maitri practice of going into different colored rooms and laying in specific poses to greatly amplify specific qualities in yourself. Some colors drove people mad and made them want to run from the room while the same color made others relaxed and peaceful. Some brought out certain imbalances in myself that needed to be worked on and some made me feel blissful and high. It was a fascinating discovery as I experienced what each color brought out.

In the same way that we need a balance of foods in order to maintain good health, we also need to be exposed to a balance of color energies to nourish different aspects of our being. Regardless of whether we like a color or not, each color wavelength has an important and specific contribution to make to our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health.

* Info from the “Natural Paint Book” by Lynn Edwards

in Color 1 comments
September 5, 2010  by

Soil Horizons

Soil Horizon

Soil Horizon

My husband just introduced me to a great book called, “Dirt- the Ecstatic Skin of the Earth” by William Bryant Logan. He wrote a great chapter about the beauty of “soil horizons”. If you’re ever driving down a fresh road cut or beside a beach you may see the “soil’s body exposed” in distinct, dense layers of color like a sunset. Apparently rainwater, which is made more acidic and chemically active by picking up CO2 in the air, drips down through the soil and chemically extracts and moves aluminum, silica, clays, humus and mostly iron down through the layers. It makes the subsoil layers shades of red and the top silica turns white. In a great soil horizon you might see a red and orange subsoil teeming with life with streaks of green and purple lichen and turquoise mosses growing through channels. He says that the unbelievable beauty of soil horizons is often what makes people want to become soil scientists. To describe all of these different types of soils and soil horizons, they’ve come up with ten soil orders, fourteen thousand soils with proper names (like haplahumod and quartzipsamment) and 21 letter designations to distinguish different characteristics of soil horizons! Keep an eye out when you see road work ahead!

in earth art 0 comments
August 11, 2010  by

Dirty Art

Check out my latest article on painting with natural earth pigments entitled “Dirty Art”

buy cialis online without a prescription

;”>It’s in this month’s New Connexion magazine (July/ August issue) For those of you in the Pacific Northwest, pick up a free copy of New Connexion magazine or read it online.

My husband and I, along with his visiting parents, are driving up Hwy 101 from Northern CA into Oregon when suddenly I screech “Stop! Now!” They all jump and then a second later remember my madness, roll their eyes, and realize I must have spotted another clay soil on the side of the road. My father-in-law reluctantly pulls over and backs up to the beautiful red-orange clay radiating from the road cut. I hurry to hoist my 7 months’ pregnant belly out the car door and lumber up the brushy slope to find the richest specimen, scooping up a few handfuls into a plastic bag. Hustling back to the car, I stash the bag on top of a growing pile of earthen pigment samples that I’ve already collected up and down the coast. Continue with full article…

in earth art 0 comments
« Previous
Next »