Monday, January 27, 2014

Mirror Art


 

Several months ago, my cousin came over to visit. We inevitably stayed up late talking and to keep our hands busy as we yakked, we messed about in paint. I made a couple of pieces of what i call Mirror Art. It is a simple and easy process. A 2 or 3 year old should even be able to have fun making this (with a little adult supervision, of course.) The first set looked just like a butterfly when placed together so i hung it on Lillie's wall for some easy art.


Supplies
  • 2 pieces of poster board the same size. Or water color paper.
  • Acrylic  and watercolor paint
  • 2 " brush and small brush
  • Pen or pencil
  • Newspaper or old sheet
  • Eager assistant

Step 1. Lay down newspaper or cloth over floor to minimize messes. This is critical!
 
Step 2. Pick a background color and use the watercolor paint to make a wash on both papers. I just blobbed a dime sized amount of paint in the middle and used a 2" brush dipped in water. I spread the paint loosely side to side until even all over. Let dry.

 
Step 3. Drizzle acrylic paint on one side. You can do this abstractly or go for a subtle design. I was going for an under-the-sea look.
 
 
Step 4. Lay other paper face down on top of the paint. How to lay it down decides how the painting turns out. I wanted my lines to stay fairly in place so I lay the paper from left to right then pressed lightly. For the butterfly on Lillie's wall, I placed the paper directly on top then pressed hard and rubbed from side to side.
 
 
Ian helped.



 Step 5. When you peel back the paper, you should have two mirror images. Take the small paintbrush and add some details to the painting. I added black circles to define the eyes. I also drug the end of the brush thru the blue circles to make tentacles to make jellyfish. (what jellyfish are doing in the same tank with a goldfish, don't ask me)





Here is another example of mirror art. I just liked the right side and thought it resembled vegetables. So I added a label and framed just the one paper.


 
I would love to know how your attempt turns out!

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