Andy Warhol- Picture Person Project

boys testing out my art project for picture person, originally uploaded by cocomama1.

Today I went to my son's kindergarten class as Picture Person, to talk about Andy Warhol. There were lots of artist's we could pick from, as Picture Person, and Andy Warhol was NOT one of them. I wanted to do him anyway, because he is one of my favorite artist's and my son really likes him too. So i searched around town and ended up calling our local museum, Lakeview. Even though they did not have a copy of the print I wanted, they were very nice and printed me a good color copy of the print, Grevy's Zebra, along with some info on it.

For the project, I wanted to let the kids decorate their own Zebras. I traced a simplified version of the Zebra onto a thin piece of cardboard, then using am exacto-knife, I cut out a stencil. After the stencil was done I used white acrylic gesso and painted the image onto black paper.

Once the copies were dry, I let the kids test out their some different things on the paper. They tried multi-colored chalk, bright crayons, glitter glue, and bright colored puffy paint. Everything worked well except for glitter glue. Crayons showed up best on top of the white lines. The puffy paint really added a lot to zebra, traced along some of the white lines. We made sure and did the paint last. For an added texture effect we took a comb and went over some of the lines.

Here is the end result. The kids in my son's kindergarten class really enjoyed this project!

Multiple child family portrait

11 grandkids!

This past holiday I did a portrait commission for a friend of mine. She wanted a portrait of all the grandchildren in her family, for her mother. This is meant putting 11 kids from 11 different photos into one 18 x 24 sheet of paper. We went through the photos and picked out the best ones of each child. Then i scanned each one, cropped I started by lightly (almost invisibly) sketching the shape of each head onto the paper, just to get the space divided evenly, and making sure I can make them all fit proportionally.

Honestly as portraits go, this is one of the hardest thing to do, in my opinion. Taking different photos and combining them into one portrait offers many options, but also lots of challenges. Photos are often different sizes, colors, and light/dark levels. This is one reason that i scan each photo and then adjust the contrast, color, and crop them to make them each a little more similar. It is easier for me to see the drawing boundaries when the photo is cropped, otherwise I often draw too large.

The last 2 portrait commissions I have done, have both been like this. They have turned out well, though I still like a couple portrait or single child portrait, they are just simpler projects.

8 Grandkids

Mr. Panda Crochet Pattern

This is the first pattern I am putting out there for people to use! Hopefully it is well written and it turns out for you, like it did for me. Feel free to add comments or questions. If you see a mistake please let me know!

It is pretty basic amigurumi style animal. The parts are all separate and you have to sew them together at the end.

1 skein white worsted weight yarn

1/2 skein black worsted weight yarn

F (3.75mm)hook, yarn needle, poly-fil stuffing, 2 safety eyes, 1 safety nose-you could also use buttons, or felt shapes and embroider those on if you are planning to give this to a baby or young child.

Head
sc 5 into magic ring
mark first stitch to indicate beginning round
2 sc in each stitch around (10)
(sc 1, 2sc into next stitch)around (15)
(sc 2, 2sc into next stitch) around (20)
(sc 3, 2sc into next stitch) around (25)
(sc 4, 2 sc into next stitch) around (30)
(sc 5, 2 sc into next stitch) around (35)
sc around
(sc 6, 2 sc into next stitch) around (40)
sc around 6 rounds
(sc 6, sc2tog) around (35)
sc around
(sc 5, sc2tog) around (30)
(sc 4, sc2tog) around (25)
(sc 3, sc2tog) around (20)
(sc 2, sc2tog) around (15)
(sc, sc2tog) around (10)
(sc2 tog) around (5)
fasten off. leave long tail for sewing head to body.

Body
sc 5 into magic ring
2 sc in each stitch around (10)
place marker to mark 1st stitch
(sc 1, 2sc into next stitch)around (15)
(sc 2, 2sc into next stitch) around (20)
(sc 3, 2sc into next stitch) around (25)
(sc 4, 2 sc into next stitch) around (30)
(sc 5, 2 sc into next stitch) around (35)
(sc 6, 2 sc into next stitch) around (40)
next 2 rounds~ sc around (40)
(sc 7, 2 sc into next stitch) around (45)
next 6 ROUNDS sc around
(sc 7, sc2tog) around (40)
next 2 rounds sc around
(sc 6, sc2tog) around (35)
(sc 5, sc2tog) around (30)
(sc 4, sc2tog) around (25)
(sc 3, sc2tog) around (20)
(sc 2, sc2tog) around (15)
(sc, sc2tog) around (10)
(sc2 tog) around (5)

Arms
with black-
sc 4 into magic ring
(sc1, 2 sc into next stitch) until you have 12 stitches
place marker to begin round
next 4 rounds sc around
(sc2, 2sc into the next stitch) around 16
sc around 12 rounds
fashion off using slip stitch. leave tail for attaching to body and sewing shut.
Stuff half full.
sew shut before attaching to body

Legs (make 2)
with black
5 sc into magic ring
2sc into each stitch around (10)
(1sc, 2sc into next stitch) around (15)
(2sc, 2sc into next stitch) around (20)
next 5 rounds sc around
(2sc, 2 sc tog) around (15)
sc around next 9 rounds
fashion off leaving a tail

Eyes (make 2)
with white-4 sc into magic ring
with black- 2sc in each stitch around (8)
(1sc, 2sc into next stitch)around (12)
(2 sc, 2sc into next stitch) around (16)
fashion off, leave tail to sew onto head
add safety eye to center of the circle
make sure it is securely attached

Ears, make 2
4 sc into magic circle
(2 sc in next stitch)around(8)
(2 sc in next stitch) around (16)
(2 sc in next stitch) around (32)
sc around
fashion off, leave long tail for sewing.
fold circle in half and using yarn needle sew together around around circle
sew straight edge to head over eyes

mouth/nose
with white
sc 4 into magic ring
2 sc in each stitch around (8)
(1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch)around (12)
(2sc, 2sc in next stitch) around (16)
(3sc, 2sc in next stitch) around (20)
attach safety nose or embroider it and mouth
stuff lightly if you want to
sew mouth to face

tail
sc 4 into magic ring
2sc in each stitch (8)
(1sc, 2sc in next stitch)around (12)
sc around next 2 rounds
fashion off, leave tail
sew to body