Marbled Portraits with Paul Klee

Day 1
One Hour Class

DISCUSSION:

MarblingSuminagashi" is a unique style of marbling which was developed in Japan."Suminagashi" first appeared (A.D. 794-1185), a period during which Japan was emerging from influence of ChinaThe name is derived from two Japanese words; "sumi" which means black ink, and "nagashi" which means floating.basic characteristics of the marbling: delicate sworls of black colour which appear to float on the surface of the paper. Many sources will cite "suminagashi" as the first known marbling technique in history.After a two hundred year hiatus, marbling techniques resurfaced in the Near East.Both paper and marbling techniques came from Turkistan along the silk caravan routes to Persia and Turkey.Several reasons may be given for the absence of early examples of marbled paper.Paper is fragile and ephemeral by nature, and the normal vicissitudes of time, vermin, dampPaper and paper products were very costly, and for this reason were considered luxury items to be enjoyed only by the aristocracy and the wealthy.This view is substantiated by the relatively small number of manuscripts, books and miniatures incorporating marbling which are included in large collections of Islamic art, such as that in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul.India, Persia and Turkey were very significant locations in the history of paper marbling after it was brought from Japan. These three stopping points that the trail of paper marbling followed across Asia and Europe represent the most important period of technological development the process of paper marbling would ever experience.

Project: Create paper marbling papers in all different colors

Step1: shaving cream on a tray

Step2: each student chooses colors to swirl on top of the shaving cream. use a stick to swirl

Step3: lay the paper on top, pull the paper off. Pull the shaving cream with a ruler

Step4: continue until all students have several pieces of marbles papers in different colors

MATERIALS:

Shaving cream

Liquid watercolors

Tag board

Day 2

One Hour Class

DISCUSSION:

Drawing Portraits

Go Over how to draw the face in proportion

Step: Draw a oval for a head

Step 2: very softly draw a line vertically down the center of the face

Step3: very softly draw a line horizontally across the center of the face

Step4: draw the eyes on the horizontal line

Step5: Very softly draw a line half way between the eye line and the bottom of the oval

Step6: Draw the nose, L shape or triangle shape, the bottom of the nose falls on the second line

Step7: very softly draw a line in the center between the nose line and the bottom of the oval

Step8: draw the mouth on the third line

ON SCRAP PAPER: Let the student practice drawing a correct facial proportion

Study Paul Klee’s face

ARTIST:

Paul Klee 18 (1879 – 1940)

Swiss painter of German nationality

His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism.

Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented with and eventually mastered color theory, and wrote extensively about it.

His works reflect his dry humor and his sometimes child-like perspective, his personal moods and beliefs, and his musicality.

He and his friend, the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, both taught at the German Bauhaus school of art and architecture.

ON SCRAP PAPER: Let the student practice drawing a face like paul klee’s

Give them space to try new things with the shapes and charcoal

PROJECT:Draw a paul klee face on the marbling paper they made from last week

MATERIALS:

Marbling paper

Charcoal

White paper to practice