From Farm to Gallery: Creating A Seasonal Still Life

Permanent Marker and Watercolor Still Life

With all the beautiful fall produce this time of year, it’s the perfect time to set up a still life.  We had a bunch of colorful peppers in our CSA box* this week, so I let the boys divvy them up and choose an art medium.  Please note that the peppers in this post are spicy!  I did most of the handling and were careful to have my little ones wash their hands after touching the peppers!  My younger son chose to draw his own rendition of the peppers using an ultra-fine permanent marker and then filled in the colors with watercolor paint.  Some colors were observational and some from his imagination.  I did get him to take notice of the shadows and he added them quite nicely I thought!

Chalk Pastel Still Life

My older son, who can be a bit of a perfectionist, started drawing with pencil so he could erase any mistakes and then filled in the color with chalk pastels.  He added a little surrealist spin by filling in the background with blue so they looked like they were floating in the sky.  It was fun to start from the same subject then branch out, seeing how different each piece of artwork became.  

Never having bought or eaten Hungarian wax peppers I adapted a recipe with things I had on hand.  They were pretty good, a little spicy for the boys, but fun to transform them from the art subject to a side dish.  The recipe for cheese stuffed wax peppers can be found below.

Find some seasonal fall produce and let your creative little hearts set up their own still life.  Pumpkins, apples and mums are easy to find and offer lots of colorful possibilities! 

Our Still Life Gallery

Spicy Cheese Stuffed Hungarian Wax Peppers
Substitute sweet peppers for a milder dish

12 peppers, seed and pith removed
1 c. cottage cheese
¼ c. parmesan cheese
1 egg
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
dash garlic powder
¼ c. shredded mozzarella cheese
drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray.  Cut off the tops of the peppers and remove seeds and pith.  In a small food processor combine cottage cheese through mozzarella cheese and process just to combine.  Place in a zip top storage bag and snip the corner with kitchen sheers.  Fill each pepper and place on prepared sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake 30-40 minutes until cheese is hot and peppers are golden. (notice I didn't say they were particularly pretty after baking;)

* Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer.  Each week CSA shareholders pick up a box of fresh produce.  This creates a closer relationship between the food you eat and the farmer who grows it.  It also sometimes exposes you to new vegetables.  

Wax Resist Watercolor Postcards

I love taking some art supplies when we go on our family vacation each summer.  This year we combined watercolors with a little wax resist to create postcards to mail back to our friends.  It was a hit!  (An added bonus: it gave our budding first grader a chance to practice his writing skills too.)  We drew things we saw at the lake or on hikes using crayon.  Some of our favorite subjects were water lilies, kayaks, turtles, ducks and misty white waterfalls.  Once your subject is drawn (using a good amount of pressure on the crayon to build up a waxy layer) paint in the water using a wet on wet technique.  Just brush a thin coat of water over the whole area where you want paint color, load the brush with watercolor and dab it onto the wet paper.  Then watch the colors spread and mix creating beautiful reflective water without sticking to the wax crayon, it’s like magic!

Materials:
Watercolor Paper Postcards (you can buy them precut or cut your own 4”x6” rectangles)
Crayons
Paint Brushes
Shallow Container for Water
Watercolor Paint
Pen
Postcard Stamps

Autumn leaves that are hard to resist

Materials needed:
heavy watercolor paper
watercolor paint
brushes
crayons
pencils
salt
a variety of autumn leaves

My kids and I love to walk in our neighborhood.  This time of year the crunchy fallen leaves are all the rage.  We come home with fists and pockets full of colorful leaves of all shapes and sizes.  I gave my son some heavy watercolor paper and taught him a fun watercolor painting technique called: wet on wet. 

First we traced the leaves with a pencil to get the right shape and size, and then using a crayon we added the stem and veins.   We made observations as we went noticing that some yellow leaves have red or orange veins and some visa versa.  Once the veins are drawn in we put a coat of clean water within the shape of the leaf then drop color by the brush full into the pool of water.  (Note: don’t worry if the color strays outside the outline, you can always cut out your leaf at the end.)  A heavy watercolor pad is perfect for this project because it prevents the paper from curling, if you don’t have a pad of watercolor paper try taping down the edges to the table or a drawing board with painter’s tape that can easily be removed.  This technique allows the colors to swirl and mix on their own as you guide them around the wet paper with your brush.  We noticed that some leaves also have spots and speckled textures.  Once you have the colors the way you like them sprinkle a little salt on the wet watercolors to achieve a similar effect. 

Once the leaves are dried they can be cut out on the line you traced and the salt can be scraped off over a garbage can.  Write a note on the back, glue it to a collage or sprinkle them on your Thanksgiving table for a festive fall decoration!