Sunday, October 3, 2010

Autumn Artwork

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The air is crisp and colorful leaves are dotting the trees – it appears DSC_0911autumn has arrived! Last week Claire and I grabbed some crayons in fall hues, gathered a few leaves from the front yard and sat down to make some rubbings. As I expected, Claire found this project magical! The veins and edges appearing as she rubbed different colors thrilled her and the end result was really beautiful.

We had quite a few species on hand to try out in our front yard – rhododendron, maple, hosta and the teeny-tiny leaves of the impatiens in the planter. We tried some coleus leaves but they DSC_0905were too “juicy” and Claire’s enthusiastic rubbing turned them to mush before they left much of an impression on the paper.

I found using crayons (unwrapped of course) split in half were easiest for Claire to handle. It took a while for her to get the hang of holding the crayon horizontally and pushing it to get a rubbing. The result was a frustrated soon-to-be three year old who was bummed out about less then perfect attempt. I love her pouty face, but I’m glad it turned into a smile when she finally figured things out!

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We worked with regular computer paper, but I hope to try again soon with the rhododendron leaves on watercolor paper. With the sturdy veins and stiff leaves, hopefully they’d show right through and allow us to create some watercolor resist artwork.

Our final product? Hanging proudly on the fridge (and displayed here) until I can frame it. Enjoy!

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3 comments:

  1. those came out great - what a smart idea to cut the crayon in half! why didn't I think of that!!!! where was Dan for the leaf rubbing? working on the hot water, I hope!!!

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  2. Ha! You should know I never post in 'real-time' these are from the day we met up at Stephen's Park, Lauren...I'm blogging at least a week behind!

    Still working on the whole hot water thing. I have a new appreciation for my furnace and hot water that comes out of the shower head rather than a giant pot on the stove!

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  3. These are great! I am putting in an order for some new refrigerator art!

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