Making Mondays: The Art and Design Projects - Charles Harper

Ok, finally the project that I keep mentioning and that has been running around in my head for a while now!

There are so many amazing artists and designers out there, many of whom I actually hadn't heard of until after high school!  (and, I sheepishly say, probably many that I don't know about...yet).   I thought it would be fun to base the Making Mondays projects with Yashar around different artists and designers.  An early introduction to a world of possibilities out there - to the many different ways these talented people worked and created.


The plan it for these to be every fortnight...and if you have a suggestion for an artist or designer you would like to see featured, let me know in the comments - I'm sure we will be able to come up with a project about them!


These are not meant to be reproductions of their works - the projects are all about inspiration and fun for kids! - ok...and for me.

The first project is based around the work of the talented and inspiring illustrator and artist Charles Harper.

Charles Harper worked in a modernist style that was bold and colourful, using simplified shapes to capture the essence of animals and nature.  He said:

When I look at a wildlife or nature subject, I don’t see the feathers in the wings, I just count the wings. I see exciting shapes, color combinations, patterns, textures, fascinating behavior and endless possibilities for making interesting pictures.

So this week, we created little artworks using cut paper.  Charles Harper mostly painted, but I thought cut paper would be a great way to focus on the flat colour and simplified shapes that are so integral to his work. 

For inspiration I recommend looking at charleyharperprints.com and especially through this slide show of recently discovered originals done for the Ford Times. 

This project can be as simple or complicated as you like.  Yashar is only 2 and a half so I kept things simple - I cut the paper pieces out while he was sleeping.  These are trees for an autumn forest.

This artwork above was inspired by the amazing work 'Autumn Train' found here.  And then we also did a nice green forest one to show Spring/Summer.

This bird below was inspired by the work 'Whiskey Jack' which can be found here.

We stuck the pieces on some spare watercolour paper we had using glue sticks.

We made the bird (above) one with lots of guidance together and then he had free range on the little forest!  As we stuck the pieces down we talked about what the pieces looked like - a tail, a beak, a tree and about the forest we were making.

Then later I drew in a few details with a grey stabilo pen and put it in the simple frame we had on hand.

For older children though, it would be fantastic to get them involved in the whole process - you could collect some items from nature or some nature photographs together - fish, trees, plants, birds and together pick out the essential shapes in them, then cut them out of paper and stick them on a nice thick piece of paper.  They could then add the little extra details using pen themselves.  I bet we would all be amazed by the creative artworks they come up with!

For more:

The Charley Harper Art Studio

Charles Harper Fans Flickr Group

In my research I came across these gorgeous books:
Charley Harper ABCs

Charley Harper 123s

Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life