Friday, July 12, 2013

Watercolor Project on Pinterest - Saw It/Tried It!

Recently I've been looking on Pinterest for ideas for Sophia and Olivia for the upcoming 4-H county fair. One of the ideas I found was a watercolor painting that Olivia wanted to try. The original pin on Pinterest led to Artsonia.

Olivia's finished watercolor painting.

According to Artsonia, "American artist, Jasper Johns was the inspiration [for this art project]. He is known for his drawing and painting numbers in an abstracted way."

One of Jasper Johns' paintings.

To do this project, Olivia first drew a spiral in pencil on her watercolor paper.

Drawing a spiral.

Then, she wrote the alphabet multiple times around the spiral, with the top of the letters touching the spiral. Some of the letters are close together, while others are spread out more.

Adding the letters.

The next step was to use watercolor paint to fill in the shapes that were part of the letter as well as that were created by the space between the letters.

Painting the spaces.

Olivia painted a variety of colors in random spots so they would be spread across the spiral.

Adding more color.

When the piece was dry, she took a thick Sharpie marker and outlined each letter and the spiral. It was amazing how much the defined, black line added to the picture.

The letters and spiral outlined with 
a black Sharpie marker.

Artsonia also noted that pieces done like this "look like stained glass. Rose windows, from the Renaissance period" were looked at so Olivia could compare and contrast her work with these antique windows.

Olivia thought the project a lot of work to do (this took many days for her to complete). However, the result was worth it. She is very happy with how it turned out.

Olivia with her finished painting.


She will be entering it into the "fine arts" category of the 4-H county fair.

6 comments:

Rita said...

I LOVE it!! Olivia did a fantastic job! It was worth all the time and effort, for sure. :)

Jill said...

What a great picture! Definitely worth all the effort - fabulous work Olivia!

Thanks for linking to a Round Tuit!
Hope you have a fabulous week!
Jill @ Creating my way to Success
http://www.jembellish.blogspot.com/

Kelly Casanova said...

Well done Olivia, it looks great! Good luck for your entry :)

Unknown said...

Well this home school Mom knows what her next I can see why its your "Go To" pattern.
Thanks for the idea and Great Job Olivia.


With All That I Am
Carrie - The Handmade Homemaker

Peeking in on Everyone on Friday

Nicole Vangen said...

What a beautiful and fun spiral!

Nice to "meet' you over at Sketching it Out.

Nicole

Lucinda said...

I always love the effect of sharpie on watercolour but this is stunning! I can really see the care and effort Olivia has put into her creation. Thank you for sharing!