​amy mclellan
Secondary Visual Arts Teacher - Specializing in Fashion and Textiles
Painting on Acetate
Print from the Acetate
All Sample artworks created by Amy McLellan
ACRYLIC PAINTING
Painted Paper
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One thought to another... Acyrlic paint is an adaptable and easy to use paint and I was spurred on to explore further directions.
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MIDDLE YEARS - PAINTED PAPER
Using Eric Carle, famous for The Very Hungry Caterpillar, as an inspiration students could paint their own collage papers. I have taken magazine covers as inspiration for my artwork and I can see how this idea can be applied to a front cover of a book, used for backgrounds and combined with other collage materials. Taking an existing Magazine Cover image and cutting the pieces directly from a photocopy enables some accuracy of shapes. Providing students with a few black and white copies to cut their collage shapes off would be useful. This technique works wonderfully but I would be hesitant in applying it to the Junior classroom as it was quite time consuming!
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SENIOR YEARS - CROQUIS CREATIONS
Taking inspiration from Eric Carle and painting your own paper with acrylic paint can give great depth and texture to your croquis as shown below.
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In a Fashion context this idea could be applied to:
VCE STUDIO ARTS - Potential Directions
VCE STUDIO ARTS - Final Artworks
VCE VISUAL COMMUNICATION DESIGN - Fashion Designs / Fabric Designs
VCE PRODUCT DESIGN TECHNOLOGY - Fabric Prints for final Design
The provocation for Acrylic Painting began with a view of the site around us, what can we see. Out the studio window I saw a road with with budding trees and framed by hazey buildings. Masking out an area to paint made me think about composition and made the idea of painting a landscape accessible.
Landscape Painting​
JUNIOR YEARS - IMPRESSIONIST LANDSCAPE UNIT
Painting outdoors or indoors and using drawing as a starting point could be a great way to develop painting skills and techniques. Some instruction on perspective is important to build skills and confidence. Starting with light lines, sketching a scene and then selecting a small portion can help students understand the importance of composition.
Techniques and tools of painting need to be understood and practiced in the junior years. Perhaps after the initial sketching of the landscape a series of masked squares could be made on the page and different painting techniques could be trialed in each square. A final artwork could then be born out of these explorations.
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MIDDLE YEARS - COLORED LANDSCAPE
The initial painting workshop encouraged me to trial some further painting techniques and I had thought the painting on the left would translate into a mono-print. The paint dried too quickly and was not able to transfer to the paper successfully.
Thinking about acrylic painting for the middle years I was interested in looking at the landscape through a colorful lens. Students could paint a landscape using non realistic colors or a restricted color palette to created an abstracted image. Meaning and moods conveyed through color could be explored. In a Textiles context students could then translate these ideas to a small tapestry, as I have done with these abstract landscape tapestries. Some lovely student tapestry examples are shown on the American Tapestry Alliance website.
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SENIOR YEARS
Senior years could push the initial landscape painting provocation further by creating a repeated design for a fabric print and make their own garment artwork. VCD students could represent these ideas digitally and showcase a potential fashion story.
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Paint a Fabric
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Whilst painting the landscapes for mono printing I had an idea to make a painting in the style of a known fabric design. I have a big love for checks and plaids, so I tried to emulate this idea with a few small acrylic paintings. Vivienne Westwood and Burberry are masters of the plaid.
JUNIOR YEARS - FABRIC REPLICATION
As an exercise in techniques students in junior years could replicate a piece of material that they have found. Attention to the texture of the fabric and its qualities could be replicated. Folds, twists and shadows could add to enhance a painting idea for those a little more advanced. I found using a dry brush enabled me to blend the colors that would more replicate a woven material.
MIDDLE YEARS - IPAD COVER
Students in the middle years may be able to apply this idea directly to a fabric canvas. Textile students could use this fabric to form the cover for an iPad or other devices. Students should be encouraged to design a cover that is not the norm. Perhaps giving students a brief that they must use exactly a 60 x 30 cm piece of fabric will encourage them to think beyond a square.
SENIOR YEARS - DIGITAL PRINTING
Senior students may be able to digitally lay up this small mock up painting and digitally print fabric for their artworks.
An artist I have long been a fan of is Frederique Morrel and although she uses tapestry as a base for her artworks, I can see where this printed fabric idea could be applied in a variety of ways, not just fashion. Frederique Morell website.
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