Chinese New Year - of the Rat, 2020. Adult Art Class student display, 2/3/20

Chinese New Year of the Rat - 2020

We worked from reference pictures of the decorative designs created each year. This year's celebrations began on Saturday January 25 and continue for about fifteen days.

Exercises included practicing a Rat drawn in a few calligraphy strokes. We had cut a sheet of paper into quarters. Color a piece all red, (crayon). Now turn it red side down against a clean quarter sheet. Draw a rat on the back using a good bit of pressure with a number 2 pencil - or use a colored pencil. You have to draw firmly and directly. No futzing and sketching. You should have a kind of carbon copy on that clean sheet. Decorate as you wish.

We did simple papercuts too. Color a quarter sheet red. Cut out a rat figure so that you have a nice papercut and you have the background piece as a papercut. Arrange your quarter sheet creations onto a full sheet and attach. We used masking tape turned into double stick tape just by forming a short section of tape into a loop - sticky side out

Snowflake papercuts display, child and adult art display, children’s drawing class, 1/7/20

We folded copy weight paper to get a big size square from the sheet and cut off the excess. Then we folded the square in half on the diagonal 3 times. Open back to the first foldover. Mark a spot along the crease revealed by opening back. Cut from one corner to the dot and then cut from the other corner to the dot.

Then go to town cutting out little pieces thru the thickness from the fold. You can cut circles and hearts and any kind of shapes you want . Just makes sure you're keeping the whole piece whole.

Open the papercut to see your surprise. Color another sheet with darkish colors as a contrast to show your snowflake. Fasten with some tape rolled over like a double stick tape. Or glue it. Or don't do any background. This child colored the papercut too. We also tried crayon rubbings over the papercuts.

I know this needs a more explicit and easy to follow instruction, but it will have to do for now. Besides, you can probably figure out how to do this without instruction!

Evergreens in Snow - papercuts, adult art class student display, 1/6/20

Class worked hard trying to follow my instructions for this yet untested idea. We have done variations on it over the years. The difference here is that the foldover flap with the cutouts stays attached to the background panel. Before I write out or draw up instructions, how about treating this as a puzzle to solve!

There must be a way to post answers - in the comments! Do try it!

Winter Scenes January Adult Art Workshops with Catinka Knoth at Rockland Library, 2020

Press Release 

December 29, 2019

Winter Scenes January Adult Art Workshops with Catinka Knoth at Rockland 

Library, 2020

Rockland - Catinka Knoth  will lead an art workshop series for adults, 

on creating scenes such as evergreen trees in snow, lacy snow covered 

branches,  buildings in a snowy landscape, winter animals, and winter 

sports. Each week will be a different subject. Classes meet 11 a.m.  

Mondays, January 6, 13, and 27th at the Community Room, Rockland Public 

Library, 80 Union St.  (The library is closed January 20th, for  Martin 

Luther King Day.) Led by Knoth, participants will  create their own 

winter art. Each week is a different subject. Knoth provides the  

classes  free of charge, with materials supplied. Friends of Rockland 

Library host the workshops, which are open to the public. FMI Knoth at 

691-1691 or Rockland Library at 594-0310.

1/06    Evergreens in snow, papercuts

1/13    Winter scenes
1/20    No class - Library closed for Martin Luther King Day

1/27     Penguins & winter sports figures

Knoth will provide instruction and guidance in drawing and creating 

winter scenes of January.  Participants will work with pencil, colored 

pencil,  crayon, and sometimes papercutting, with a focus on drawing in 

color.

Knoth creates watercolors of Maine and whimsical animal scenes, which 

she offers as cards and prints. She teaches a free weekly children's 

drawing class at Rockland Public Library, sponsored by Wendy and Keith 

Wellin. For more information about Knoth's work visit 

www.catinkacards.com.

Attachments - art, watercolor and papercut, by Catinka Knoth

April adult drawing programs, 2019

Press Release: 

3/22/19 

Free April Art Workshops for Adults, with Catinka Knoth, at Rockland 

Library, 2019

Rockland - Catinka Knoth will lead a drawing workshop series for 

adults, on creating 'April Art'. Attendees will explore themes such as papercuts to celebrate  fairytale author Hans Christian Andersen, Easter themes and cards?

Cherry trees and the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival; spring flowers such as tulips and daffodils; and frogs. Classes meet 11 a.m. Most Mondays, April 1, 

8, 22, & 29, (the Library closes for Patriots Day, 4/15); in the Community Room, Rockland Public 

Library, 80 Union St. Led by Knoth, participants will create their own art. Knoth provides the classes free of charge, with materials supplied. Friends of Rockland Library host the workshops, which are open to the public. FMI Knoth at 593-6085 or Rockland Library at 

594-0310. 

Knoth will provide instruction and guidance in drawing and creating the 

April themes. Each week is a different subject. Participants will work 

with pencil, colored pencil, and crayon, and sometimes scissors, with a focus on drawing in color. 

4/01 Papercuts and fairy tales in honor of HC Andersen 

4/08  Easter eggs and cards

4/15 No Class - Library closed for Patriots' Day 

4/22 Cherry trees and the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival  

4/29 Spring Flowers - Tulips, daffodils, Frogs and lilyponds

Knoth paints watercolors of Maine and whimsical animal scenes, which 

she offers as cards and prints. She also teaches a free weekly 

children's drawing class, at Rockland Public Library, 

sponsored by Wendy and Keith Wellin. For more information about Knoth's 

work 

visit www.catinkacards.com. 

Attachments: Art/photos by Catinka Knoth

Attachments: Art/photos by Catinka Knoth

 

 
 

Fairy Tale Papercuts - kings, queens, princesses and princes - paperdoll chains, 4/1/19

Hans Christian Andersen, a master of storytelling and author of fairy tales, also made fantastic papercuts. In honor of his birthday on April 2, (I think), we do this enjoyable project. Easy to get mixed up in doing it, but that is ok because however you do it, you'll have fun doing it.

Here we use a sheet of copy paper folded in half the long way.
Cut this paper in half along that fold.
Place both long pieces together as neatly matched as possible.
Fold them in half, and in half again. (I may or may not show pics for this part later...). For now, think of it as a puzzle to chew on!
Draw a king and a queen, one half body for each, with their midlines along the left and right folds.
Make sure they stay connected across the panel and along the folds. (Holding hands in the middle of the panel).
Now cut them out through the paper thickness. You will be cutting away a lower area of background below the handholding connection. And you will cut away the area around the figures above their handholding connection.
When you open this up you should have x figures on each strip. (Edited re the number of figures...they are less than I'd thought, and I have not figured that out yet!)
I put a set together and made a crown of it for myself. Maybe later I'll take a pic of that to show.
Students made background pieces and attached their figures.
Of course if you want, decorate these paperdoll chains. Endless possibilities here. The cutaway sections also make good shapes for long decorations.

Winter scenes - evergreens in snow papercuts. Adult art class, 1/14/19

This is a project that can really bullox our brains! We try to cut 3 trees in 3 frames in the top sheet, (which is copy paper). We color backgrounds on card stock. We then fasten the papercut to the background sheet.
We have tried to fold the top sheet into accordion folds from which we cut trees in window frames. Those frames often get dropped somehow! We can end up with just trees! Or a reversal of the background coloring being the trees! Lots of possibilities..