Directions:
1. On newsprint, sketch an idea for your scene. You need only sketch the basic
positive shapes because details will not transfer through to a final rubbing.
Pretend that you are drawing only the shadows, or silhouettes, of the objects.
2. Now transfer your sketch onto railroad board. We will cut out all the positive
shapes and glue them onto another piece of board later. If you want to make the
rubbing even more interesting, you can layer the shapes on top of each other to
create a more complex relief.
3. Glue the railroad shapes onto the backing piece to make your composition. Set
this aside to dry.
4. Use the Texture boards supplied to rub background textures onto your paper.
Overlap textures and colors for a more interesting effect. Once your relief is
dry, you can rub its relief over the other textures to finish.
Art Terms:
Texture – the tactile quality of a surface.
Relief – in sculpture, any work in which the figures project from the background,
also designates a printmaking method in which shaped or textured printing elements-
natural, manufactured, molded, built-up, or carved- are adhered to a board, inked
and then hand printed in the manner of a woodcut.
Silhouette – any portrait, design, or image in profile in a single hue (usually
black), the outline of any person or thing.
References:
The Harper Collins Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques; Second Edition. Ralph
Mayer ed. Harper Collins. New York. 1991.
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