The local 4-H Arts program had a workshop where the kids could learn to make acrylic-pour art on canvas. Since I’d been looking at exactly that just a few weeks earlier and thinking that I wanted to try it out, I jumped at the chance to sign up with my two younger children.
We did a ‘flip cup’ pour with only 3-4 colors as this was suggested to get the best results for the kids. And I held back a bit to watch how everything turned out. Part of the secret seems to be patience – don’t rush the process of letting the colors spread out.
Spreading the paintThe initial flip
I happen to like the one made by my youngest best, I think choosing highly contrasting colors help the final outcome. I also noticed that the color I used most in the cup isn’t necessarily what you get most of on the canvas. (For mine, I used nearly 1/2 purple, but it’s not dominant in the final painting).
My final painting using purple, green, light blue, and whiteYoungest daughter’s final result using red, orange, purple and silver. I really didn’t think these colors would work, but now it’s my favorite.My middle child’s effort. Sorry about the glare here, I’ll get a better photo when it’s dried. He was going for ‘space’ and didn’t quite achieve that, but it’s still cool.
They are still drying right now and will have a poly finish applied before they are ready to go.
In addition to the mushroom cave, we went to 4 other caves during this trip: Lascaux 4 (reproduction), Font-de-Gaume, Chauvet-Pont d’Arc (reproduction) and one more where the kids went spelunking and rappelling (and I did not!).
The ones that I went to are all caves that have famous cave paintings in them. Lascaux is the most famous, but I think the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc paintings may be more beautiful.
The reproductions were interesting. I had some hesitation about going, thinking ‘why would I spend my time going to a fake cave, better to just see the real one and skip the others.’ I’m glad I didn’t do that.
For Lascaux 4 and Pont d’Arc, the process of making the reproductions was just fascinating. They are full size, to-the-millimeter, faithful reproductions of the inside of the cave. To the extent possible the paintings were replicated using original techniques. My favorite bit: they hired a ‘professional nose’ to visit the caves and replicate the SCENT – which is now pumped into the replica, so that it will feel even more like you are in the real thing. No photos are allowed inside the full reproductions (or in Font-de-Gaume – the only original cave I visited) so all of my photos are from the museum at Lascaux.
aurochs, horses and reindeeryellow horse. See how much he looks like Preswalski’s horse.closeup of the reindeer3 aurochs and the yellow horse
This was not the only place, but Lascaux 4 was the first place we encountered armed military guards. They’ve been taking things seriously since the terror attacks.
Horses in Pont d’Arc (from Wikimedia Commons)
In Lascaux 4 the most common animals were aurochs and horses (17,000 years old). Reindeer were the most common food but were not depicted with nearly the same frequency. In Chauvet-Pont d’Arc is by far older than Lascaux, at over 30,000 years old and had good preservation as the entrance to the cave was blocked for tens of thousands of years. Font-de-Gaume has some as old, and is primarily a bison cave. No photos were allowed here. I bought a book, but the photos don’t do it justice. The drawings aren’t in as good condition but in the dimly lit cave, with a light playing over them, much as it must have been with crude lamps when they were drawn, the animals seemed to reveal themselves more clearly.
Common to all the caves: predators were rare and were always ‘hidden’ they were in the shadows, in the cracks, hard to see. Humans were rare and crudely drawn, especially compared to the beauty of the horses and bison.
PS We got lost looking for Pont d’Arc cave and accidentally drove past the actual Pont d’Arc – a natural bridge, and the original cave sight, although we didn’t know it at the time.
Pont d’Arc
PPS We also drove past some signs indicating that the road would be closed for the Tour de France, but I didn’t get a shot of it 🙁
Or at least – ‘artists impression of a sandalwood tree’. I admit it looks more like a madrone (and like all my other trees so far), but I’m happy with it.
A little break from photos of France. I am getting ready for my fall soaps and thinking of new labels in color. I wanted a wood grain, but when I tried looking for photos of that I was disappointed in the results.
And if you are thinking “what is a madrone tree?” They have a very striking cinnamon color bark that peels. The outer bark can get rough and darker, the inner bark is smooth, flowing and can be orange to green. They are a broad leaf evergreen that lives in the pacific northwest.
It feels like I only go into the city when we have visitors, but we did, and I did. Of course we had to go to Pike Market and Seattle Center (on the monorail! – it’s the best way!)
Obligatory shot of Pike Market sign
Seattle CenterPacific Science Center
From the monorail
Final shot. I have a thing for amusing signs and this guy looks like there’s just been some sort of Urgent Diaper Emergency.
I’ve been trying to come up with a very stylized fox to fit with the tree & owl and so far that’s not been working out so great. I may need to go back to some sort of ancient technology like paper and pencil to get the sketch done first!
Instead I made another color-block fox. This time I tried to use simpler lines, but I may need to ‘cartoonify’ him even more to get him to fit the scene. Still, I like him.
This is a vector tracing/coloring of a photograph, with some creative embellishments. I’m not 100% happy with the colors or how I split them up, but it came out, overall, better than I expected.
I thought my trees could use some foxes. This one is probably a bit too realistic in shape to go with that, but I will modify it to fit the tone as I get better.
I may try this again with flatter colors to see if I can still convey the roundness without using a gradient and get more variation in the color (and a background). But in the meantime, here are some blueberries:
I added a background to the new oak tree with owls. Getting the blur effect around the moon was fun. I’m not entirely happy with the background trees but we were watching Bob Ross while I was thinking about them and it turns out that things he can do easily are going to take some time and thought for me.
Just messing around with Inkscape again. There is a glass technique called “millefiori” that means “thousand flowers” and this is my (incomplete) attempt to recreate that look.
I showed it to my husband and he thinks I need to turn down the screen brightness.
