WEBELOS

Artist
Crossroads of America

The Artist Activity badge isn't intended to make an artist of every Webelos Scout, but instead, help him understand how the artist works and how they express themselves.  If you are not familiar with color charts, design, sculpture, mobiles and constructions, you should enlist the help of an experienced parent or an art teacher.  Beginner's books on art will also be helpful to you.

Ideas For Den Meetings:

1.        Attend an art exhibit or visit a museum.

2.        Hold an "Art Can Be Pun" night.

3.        Have each boy prepare a color scheme for his own room.

4.        Make drawings from nature. birds, animals, flowers, trees.

5.        Start simple sculptures to be finished at home.

6.        Study a color wheel and practice combining paints.

Ideas For Pack Meeting:

v      Exhibit drawings, paintings, designs, mobiles.

v      Demonstrate: Mixing paints; beginning a sculpture; making a mobile.

Artist Badge Helps

Obtain some water colors with brushes that will be easy for the boys to use, and will not create the hazard to clothes that other forms of paint might.

If you decide to use the string art for your design segment, you will need: Hammer, small nails or brads, scrap wood, felt; colored thread.

For sculpturing, purchase the oil-base modeling clay, which will not dry out.

A simple construction consists of collected "garbage," from around the yard, put together to form a collage. For this, you will need: 1/2 size poster paper, Elmer's glue; scissors.

For a mobile, you might use plastic straws as the supporting bars.

For an original painting, you might like to try water color blot pictures, made by folding a paper in 1/2, opening it out and applying small dots of paint, then quickly folding the paper and smoothing it together from the center out, then opening it up to dry. 

Leaf Scapes

Using leaves, paint and your pen or pencil, you can make an interesting landscape.

Diversification of leaf form is the key to the basic formation of these designs.  Select many leaves and press until partially dry.  Place on a sheet of construction paper until the design and pattern fits the individual taste and need.  Hold various leaves in place with a straight pin.  Lightly spray with various colors as your own individual creativity dictates.  Remove leaves that have provided a stencil effect for the leaf scapes.  Additional artistic effects may be obtained by using a brush or pen and appropriate colors.  Mount and frame as desired. This activity would be a good way to study complimentary colors or shading and blending from the color wheel.  It is also a way to make a design using both straight and curved lines.

Press and dry many leaves of various species of trees.  (Leaves can be dried between sheets of wax paper, weighted down with heavy books.)  These leaves are carefully glued to construction paper and are again pressed to insure their adhesion to the paper.  As leaves dry, their colors are frequently lost. 

Palette Slide

Materials:

1/4" x 2" x 2" block of pine

Drill and 1/4" bit

Toothpicks (round or flat)

Paint (red, yellow, blue)

Plastic pipe

Cut an artist palette from a small piece of wood.  Drill a 1/4" hole where shown on the illustration.  Smooth all edges and paint white.  Use 1/2 a toothpick for the paint brushes.  Dip each tip in a different color of paint.  Allow to dry and the drop of paint will appear to be the brush bristles.  Epoxy the brushes into the hole as shown.  Epoxy the plastic pipe on bottom of the palette.  Drop some fairly thick acrylic paint onto the palette to look like to artist's paint.

Resources

·         If you feel the need for help, call in: Talented parent, neighbor, art teacher or commercial artist.

·         Local colleges and high schools are a good source for art displays of all kinds.  Watch for announcements of traveling exhibits in the society section of your local newspaper.

·         Remember that Boys' Life and your BSA publications are continually adding to the list of ideas that can be utilized in this exciting badge area.