A Scritchy Scratchback Success!

We had a lovely day yesterday with two groups of kids at Gasworks Arts Park doing scratchback workshops - what a talented bunch!

Here's one way to create scratchback artworks if you would like to try these at home. *And please feel free to comment on this post if you have other tried and tested recipes!

Materials: A4 or A3 paper, oil pastels, black acrylic paint, a scratching instrument like scissors

How to:

- Practice the design (in ours they used reference material about animals to practice drawing characters/creatures)
- Make sketches for the design using your drawings as inspiration
- Cover all of a new sheet of white (cartridge) paper with a good coating of oil pastel (pretty dense)
- Either:
- Paint whole surface with black acrylic paint
- or
- Only paint your creature as a silhouette onto the surface
- Then... leave it to dry
- Using a sharp instrument, scratch through the black paint to create patterns or lines that bring through the colours of the oil pastels below!

Enjoy! And remember it takes a bit of practice but once you've got the hang of it this style of artwork can be beautiful!

Scrathback in action!

An example where the silhouette of the creature was painted on in black and then scratchback was used to create texture and pattern. 

This is an example of where the entire page was covered in black paint and the shape of the creature was scratched out. 

School Holiday workshops with Ann James at Gasworks Arts Park

Kids Holiday Program with Ann James 

Workshop: Scritchy scratchback 
Dates: Wednesday 11 July
Times: 10am to 12noon (6 to 9 years)
Venue: Gasworks Arts Park
1pm to 3pm (8 to 14 years)
Cost: $30

Create scritchy, screwball characters in scratchback technique in this fun hands on art workshop with Ann James, award-winning illustrator of Lucy Goosey, Little Humpty and the Audrey of the Outback series. Participants need to wear an art shirt and bring a drink and snack. To book online visit Gasworks Arts Park or call on (03) 8606 4200.

Sunrise, Sunset – watercolour workshops at Gasworks with Ann James

We had a lovely day at Gasworks Arts Park yesterday as part of the Kids' School Holiday Program. 

To celebrate the launch of  Ann James' and Christine Hariss's new picture book 'It's a Miroocool!' - the prequel to their Audrey in the Outback Junior fiction series - Gasworks hosted an exhibition of Ann's artwork for the book and she carried out a watercolour and charcoal workshop focussing particularly on her sunset illustration.

Ann worked with two groups of kids throughout the day. First she demonstrated how to create a watercolour wash. Her paper was pasted up on an easel and gravity encouraged the sunset colours to blend. 

Then while the washes dried, Ann and the kids all went outside into the sunshine and did some charcoal drawings of trees, birds, leaves, bushes, buildings looking at how to transform what they were seeing into shapes for silhouettes.

Then they used their charcoal drawings and imaginations to help create silhouette sunset landscapes.  Feel free to take a good look at some sunsets and sunrises and try your own sunset painting at home !

Sunrise, Sunset – watercolour workshops at Gasworks with Ann James

Illustration from 'It's a Miroocool!" by Ann James

April Holiday Workshops Thursday April 12 Create silhouettes in watercolours, charcoal and inks with award-winning illustrator  Ann James. Take part in the all-day celebrations of her new picture book,  It's a Miroocool! 10.15am - 12.15pm, 6 - 9 yrs 1.00pm - 3.00pm, 8 - 14 yrs

Venue: Gasworks Theatre Foyer To book: The Gasworks Arts Park: www.gasworks.org.au Visit the Gasworks Arts Park website to see the wonderful range of workshops and  theatre productions on offer in the April school holidays.

Don't miss the magical children's story exhibition: Man, Dog, Boat

We've been blown away by the highly imaginative responses to this children's story project based on the iconic Man, Dog, Boat sculpture at the entrance to Gasworks Arts Park here in Melbourne.

The outstanding 111 submissions ranged across many art forms including: shape poems, acrostic poems  illustrations, pastel drawings, sculpture, comics, film, and even stop-motion animation.

There was a real sense of community as local families poured into the exhibition at 11am on the dot at the opening last Saturday. The gallery was full of excited children and proud parents. 5 awards were presented by Port Phillip's Major, Rachel Powning, to celebrate particularly creative responses - although the judges found it almost impossible to choose as all the entries were superb.

The submissions are all currently on show in the Man, Dog, Boat Story exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park until Wednesday 30th of November.

We will be at the exhibition from 11am until 4pm this Saturday 26th and Justine, the coordinator of this project, will be there on Sunday 27th, so pop in and say hi and don't forget to vote for your favourite entry!

To find out more about the project visit: mandogboat.wikispaces.com

Exhibition dates: Saturday 19th until Wednesday 30th of November

Venue: Gatehouse building, Gasworks Arts Park

Opening times:
Monday - Friday: 9.30 am until 5.00pm
Weekends: 11am until 4pm

Get Creative - write or illustrate the story of "Man, Dog, Boat"...

Since 1995 the 'Man, Dog, Boat' sculpture at the entrance to Gasworks Arts Park has been an iconic feature for all its visitors, as well as becoming the Park's official logo.

If you have not had the pleasure of visiting before, Gasworks is a not-for-profit community arts centre based in Albert Park, which used to be a working gas works. The beautiful old buildings have since been renovated; converted into theatres and studios for a range of workshops and performances.

Gasworks Arts Park are inviting children, up to the age of 17, to write and/or illustrated the story behind these mysterious characters.

Entries will be exhibited in the 'Man, Dog, Boat Exhibition and Award Ceremony' opening on Saturday 19 November.

You can enter individually or as a group - so get your friends, families and classes involved. Kids are encouraged to be as inventive and creative as possible!

• Write the story of the characters and how they ended up on the boat (Who are they? Where are they from?)
• Use the sculpture as inspiration for your own illustrations of their adventures
• Create a story board or graphic novel 
• Use visual media such as Imovie to make an animation filming your drawings
• Create a 3D sculpture inspired by the characters 

For more ideas visit the Man, Dog, Boat Wikispace... and add to our 
on-going story!

"Prints Charming" at Gasworks Arts Park

As part of kid's holiday program at Gasworks Arts Park, Books Illustrated have curated the exhibition Prints Charming: From the Realm of Australian Picture Books.

This selection of limited edition prints is representative of Australian illustrators' working in a wide range of media, styles and subject matter. Visit the exhibition and lose yourself in the realm of fairy tales and children's stories over the Easter holidays.

Exhibition details:

Dates: 12 - 1st May 2011

Venue: Gasworks Arts Park, the Angela Robarts-Bird Gallery

Time: 9.30am - 5pm       

Here's a sneak peak...

 I Don't Believe in Dragons by Anna Walker (Scholastic Press)

The Peasant Prince by Anne Spudvilas (Penguin/Viking)