May 2014 - Creative Minds

Whilst starting various Easter Projects at the end of February including the Easter Bunnies I also decided to prepare for the Spring months by start Spring Projects with some of the care homes. I quickly decided with a couple of the care homes that I visit that we were going to make some giant flowers to see in Spring and Summer. The Art Projects were called The Giant Flowers Project and this has been one of my most ambitious ideas and Art Projects to date!

Below are some of the giant flowers made entirely out of cardboard!

* The picture in the top left is at the beginning of the project and features the petals of the daisy and the Rose made of rolled cardboard.

*In the top right is the tulip made from thin sheets of card bent and fixed into shape using masking tape and hot rubber glue.

*Bottom left is a picture taken during the Art Session where we had constructed the daffodil and daisy and started covering them with paper mache to make the structures more rigid.

*And Bottom right are some of the complete giant flower heads from both of the Giant Flowers Projects.

Once the flowers were covered in paper mache, dried solid and had been primed it was time to paint them in bright colours! Once they had been painted we covered them in a thin coat of gloss varnish to give them a nice shine and then they were ready to be fixed to the plastic coated bamboo stems that I had bought.

So here is me, the residents and staff with one of the finished Giant Flowers Project’s below consisting of a yellow Rose, blue Pansy, pink Tulip and a Daisy! 🙂

Here’s pictures of another completed Giant Flower Project at a care home in Guildford!

More projects to come, hope you enjoyed reading!

James.

From February right thought to April I did various Easter related Art Projects with the residents in care homes. Two of the Art Projects in particular involved making a giant Easter Bunny out of recycled materials covered in paper mache!

Both Easter Bunny ‘s were built entirely out of recycled materials including boxes, cardboard, plastic packaging and bottles. Masking tape is important in binding all the different recycled materials together to build the sculpture. Once the sculpture has been built and was sturdy and secure we then started to cover the entire structure with 2/3 layers of paper mache (See image below).

Once the Easter Bunny had been covered in paper mache, dried thoroughly and primed it was time for me and the resident’s to give him some colour. As you can see in the image below we decided to paint him a mousey brown colour whilst tailoring a nice jacket bought from the charity shop for him. To secure the jacket we used drawing pins and then a staple gun to fix it in place.

After 4/5 Art Sessions we had finally completed the Easter Bunny in time for Easter. We added lots of details using a mixture of acrylic paints to his face. We used some cotton wool buds for his ears , white felt for his belly and pipe cleaners for his whiskers. And to finish him off a paper daffodil in his pocket! The finished sculpture was about 3.5ft tall!

As you can see he is surrounded by Easter eggs (made and painted by the residents in the Art Sessions) and some little lambs making a lovely Easter display for all the residents and visitors to the care home! 🙂

More Art Projects to come from myself and Creative Minds. Thank you for reading! 🙂

James.

Month: May 2014

Giant Flowers Project!

The Easter Bunny!