I’ve been having a lot of fun with these mini canvases lately. Here’s one I did with my class at Jerry’s Artarama. These things are great.
Our theme for the last class was Under the Sea (I thought it would be fun to do a snail). We used acrylic paint, sharpie markers, acrylic gel medium, sand and glitter.
It’s a great little project. Super fun and super affordable…and I’m hooked. Here how it works. First we sketch our drawing onto the mini-canvas (the one shown here is 4″X5″ and goes for about 3 bucks). The next step is to paint in the image using acrylic paint. Once you’ve finished that it’s time to add some texture.
I added clear gel medium to the bottom of this little canvas. Everywhere where I wanted the to be sand I covered with gel. The trick is to really lay it on thick. Once I had it coated I took some beach sand and sprinkled it over the top of the canvas. Then I shook it over a garbage can. Anywhere there was gel the sand stuck everywhere else it shook off.
My students did the same thing. Some of them used sand, some used glitter, some used both. The gel starts out a translucent white but dries clear so its easy to see what you’re doing. Once everything is dried we outlined our characters using a sharpie permanent marker. They all looked fantastic.
You can really get creative with a project like this. I highly recommend it for kids 5 and up. Just one word of caution. Acrylic paint and sharpie marker does not wash out of clothing so make sure you wear something old or cover up with a smock. Good luck can’t wait to see what you come up with.
It’s 2010 and time to post the new class schedule. Looks like another busy year. I’ve scheduled a whole bunch of kids classes with Jerry’s Artarama in Raleigh again this year and am really looking forward to those.
Classes:
- January 6th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
- February 10th - 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
- March 17th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
- April 14th – 4-6pm For Kids ages 5-9
For more info on the classes at Jerry’s please check out their website
Appearances: As of the moment my schedule is full. I will be adding appearances later in the year.
Videos: I am doing some more videos with the fabulous group of folks down at Burning Oak Studios this year. There are a few in production right now and we are in the process of scheduling another shoot. If you haven’t seen any of the vids yet please check them out at the Jerry’s Artarama site or you can find them on Youtube.
Ustream: For those of you who do not live in the area or would prefer to watch me on line…I’ve also added a Ustream channel. Yep, now you can watch me live on my very own Ustream channel. If you’ve ever wanted to see how a professional naps at his desk…..er works then you’re in luck…. this is the place for you.
What’s coming up: For those of you who are super-serious about learning art I’ve been working on a series of courses just for you.
Later this year I am planning to open up a subscription site with advanced classes and tutorials. These classes will not be free but they will be filled to the brim with amazing amounts of Bob Ostrom Studio artistic know how. You won’t want to miss them. I’ll have more about these at a later date.
You’re probably thinking… Hey, what’s this guy know about hair, he has less hair then a naked mole rat . Well that may be true but you don’t have to have great hair to draw great hair. In this lesson I’ll show you some simple ways to make the hair on your cartoon really shine…. okay enough bad hair puns for one article. Here’s another free art lesson from Bob Ostrom Studio, Burning Oaks Studio and Jerry’s Artarama. Click here to view the embedded video.
You can really get creative with a project like this. I highly recommend it for kids 5 and up. Just one word of caution. Acrylic paint and sharpie marker does not wash out of clothing so make sure you wear something old or cover up with a smock. Good luck can’t wait to see what you come up with.