Explore, play and make art with materials found in nature with these prompts from Valerie Claff, Studio Art Faculty in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.
Exploration #1 – Mark Making with Handmade Tools
Materials: Newsprint or Mixed-Media or other paper – anything will work, it’s all an experiment! Black & sepia drawing ink, or acrylic paint, string, handmade tools
- Collect sticks of different lengths and sizes
- Collect things like grasses, pine needles, leaves, flowers, feathers, anything that can be used to make a mark on paper.
- Using string, make your own mark making tools/brushes by tying things to the sticks as in the photo at the top. You can cut feathers to make quill pens and brushes
- Using paper, paint or ink, experiment with your tools to see what kind of marks they make.
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- Handmade feather pen and brush by Cathy Johnson
Exploration #2: Texture Rubbings
Materials: Computer paper, pencils, crayons, charcoal if you have it
- Take a walk outside, make rubbings of bark, stone, pavement, etc.
- Gather leaves and put them on a notebook. Put paper on top. Hold a well sharpened pencil at an angle to your paper and draw with the side of the pencil all over the paper. Watch the leaf patterns and textures emerge.
Exploration #3: Shadow Drawings
Materials: Paper, pencils, ink and brushes, whatever you have
On a sunny day, go out for a walk. Look for a place where shadows from trees/foliage falls on the ground.
- Put your paper where the shadow falls and draw the shadows
Exploration #4: Object Prints
Materials: Paper, ink or very watered down acrylic/tempera. You could also use coffee or tea!
- Place your object on the paper, paint over and around the object