In the Style of Diebenkorn (Stain Painting)

 

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© copyright MaryAnn Kohl 2011 

Richard Diebenkorn

April 22, 1922 - March 30, 1993

Diebenkorn was born in Portland, Oregon in 1922, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where the colors of fog and sea and mist were his everyday companions. His paintings reflect his ocean environment and exposure in abstract works, especially through his famous "Ocean Park Series" paintings.

Though Diebenkorn did not use stain painting technique, children can create paintings that reflect their own special colors too, in an easy to do project called "Stain Painting" based on Diebenkorn's abstract designs. Use bits and pieces of art tissue painted onto paper with water. Once blurred and wet, the art tissue is then removed, leaving a captivating blurred stain on the paper. (Some artists prefer to leave their art tissue on the paper and not peel it away.)

Pages 76 and 77 in "Great American Artists for Kids" shows an example by Richard Diebenkorn as well as four different artworks by children of various ages.

Kids love how the colors blend and blur and bleed from the art tissue, and yes, you can use crepe paper too! Enjoy this project, compliments of Bright Ring Publishing! If you have scans or pictures of what your kids make, send to MaryAnn and I can post them on this blog if you like.

 

Comments

[Elise Elle]

I remember when I was younger and being thrilled by the discovery of wet tissue paper leaving its mark.I am now looking forward to doing this with my children and sharing in their excitement as we create with tissue paper and water.

MaryAnn, I am thrilled and honoured to see that you have recently become a follower of my blog. It made my day!.............................................................................................................................................
To Elise:
I love your blog. It will be fun to share our thoughts and experiences. I'm sure we will learn many new art ideas for kids, too.
.....................................................................................
MaryAnn

[Majordan]

This technique is wonderful! I never realized that there was an artist associated with it!
Thanks for the inspiration! We've done it before, but need to do it again soon!

Melissa @http://www.thechocolatemuffintree.com/

From MaryAnn: Hi, Melissa. I should clarify that R. Diebenkorn didn't do his art this way, but this technique produces geometric blurred soft images similar to his paintings, so... kids love it! Some teachers precut the tissue, and others let the kids tear and cut as they wish. Both ways are impressive and the kids learn a lot from the process.