Cut-Out Art
Merton Park After-School Art Club (Autumn Term Project)
Drawing Leaves – pencil, pastel and scissors
For the first session at the Merton Park After-School Art Club, we decided to take advantage of the late September sun and do some drawing outside. Our focus was on leaves and the variety of shapes they form.
We began by exploring lines and shapes using graded pencils. We experimented with both quick sketches and more detailed studies of the leaves.
Next, we tried working with oil and chalk pastels, experimenting with different techniques to capture the texture and colors of the leaves.
In a fun twist, we tried drawing with scissors. Instead of using a pencil first, we cut shapes directly into coloured paper. This required us to think carefully about the shapes of the leaves as we worked.
We then split into two groups and glued our cut-out shapes onto a large sheet of paper, creating a collaborative artwork. Everyone had a chance to share their ideas about how the final piece should look.
Can you spot the original leaf shapes from our first drawings?
Here are our finished pieces—do they remind you of anyone?
Positive and Negative
Our Merton Park artists were experimenting with positive and negative this week in our continued exploration of lines and shapes. We did some more drawings of leaves trying to work bigger and bolder.
We then experimented with drawing with string. It helped us to really look at simplifying the lines and shapes we saw. We learnt how to cut, shape and knot string to create different effects.
We layered and twisted the string. It was sometimes tricky cutting the length we needed. We were developing our fine motor skills. The relief or positive images created can be used to print with.
We went back to our leaf shapes and made templates by drawing with our scissors. We created another positive and negative. Using oil pastels we used the positive and negative to smudge the outlines creating different bold images.
We then worked together again joining our shapes to make patterns. At Children’s Art school we like to work collaboratively as well as individually. Negotiating ideas and preferences is an important part of art making and a skill we should all develop!
Each group made made something quite different. Time to to experiment led to discovering new ways of doing things.
Drawing with Scissors
This term, we have been exploring organic shapes, which stemmed from our initial drawings of leaves. We’ve used various printing techniques to create different types of images.
This week, we watched Henri Matisse's famous “drawing with scissors” technique and decided to give it a try. We cut into paper that we had painted ourselves, just as Matisse did.
To begin, we mixed colors and painted squares of paper. Then, using our sketchbooks for reference, we cut shapes directly into the painted paper.
Afterwards, we worked together as a group on a giant sheet of paper, arranging our individual pieces into a large artwork. We explored different ways to compose the picture, imagining various scenarios and arrangements.
It was challenging to ensure that the whole piece felt like one cohesive artwork, rather than several smaller ones. We will make our final decisions about the arrangement next week and glue everything down.
Collaborative Cut-Out
This week at Merton Park, our giant collaborative cut-out was finally completed. We worked hard to view the artwork as one large piece, making careful decisions about the placement of each part.
We learned that it can be difficult to compromise on our personal ideas and preferences about how the artwork should look. However, working together allowed us to create something truly special and we were pleased with the final result.
