Picasso Style Paper Sculpture
I am always doing that which I cannot do.
In order that I may learn how to do it.
-Pablo Picasso
grab the complete PICASSO STYLE PAPER SCULPTURE project PDF + Printable pack here:
One of the first things that 90% of my adult students say when they sit down at an Art Camp session is, "I cannot ______ (insert draw, craft, paint, write...)". I hear this so often that I have developed a fast-acting response. I usually say some version of, "And I can't shoot a 3 pointer. Ask me how many times I have hit the court to try." I won't go too deep into my psychoanalysis hunch, but... my brother is a phenomenal athlete who won dunk contests and was nicknamed "The Train", which may have colored my desire to try to shoot a basketball more than say... three times in my entire life. Cuz who wants to shoot bricks from The Train's shadow? But I distinctly remember the voice that said, "you cannot play basketball". It is the same voice that says, "you will never be good at math!" (read more on that here). That voice starts to sound a lot like my own when I start to utter things like, "I am not tech savvy". Or "you know... marketing, sales, self-promotion are not really my thing"... and on, and on, and on. What do all of these things have in common? I have very little experience doing them and my fear of the unknown... or heck, I am going to be all the way real, my fear of not being GREAT at something on THE FIRST TRY keeps me from ever trying. That is the truth. Too scared to try was something I lived with for way too long. Fear comes disguised as a self-deprecating, yet totally endearing (not) proclamation, but rip the mask off the sucker and it's that pervasive little weed that will keep us from growing.
We don't expect our children to walk the first time they ever try or to recite the Gettysburg Address on their first birthday, but we have these ridiculous expectations for ourselves. The only way to out grow this kind of fear is to do the thing that our brain tells us we cannot do. Oh, this part is huge... lean in. You don't have to do it alone! Find someone who knows how to do the thing you "cannot" do and ask them for help. Sometimes this might cost a little money and sometimes this might come in incremental stages. Sometimes this might lead you to a step-by-step tutorial, but all of these little actions will take you to the land of "I'm doing it!"
Two weeks ago my wise grasshopper friend offered to help me shoot the video for our Egg Carton Mermaid Dolls. This morning I put the finishing touches on the very first video that I have ever created (outside of an app on my phone) from start to finish. I had a little help from my husband and my *11 year old (I highly recommend getting one of *those for tech projects). When we uploaded our soon to break the internet video (power of intention y'all... ha ha) to our YouTube channel, I turned to my husband and said, "I am so proud of us. We have done so many things that we "could never do" in the past 9 months. Look at all the things we know how to do now!" Ri, (my 11 year old IT girl) cue the heartfelt instrumental.
Guys, take it from me and my boy, Pablo... DO the things that you cannot do so you can learn how to do 'em.
xx
a.
Most of you have seen Pablo Picasso's doves and his famous portraits of lovers, lords, and ladies. His distorted cubist faces, horses, and bulls. Did you also know that he painted on vessels and erected giant sculptures out of stone and steel... and cardboard??? He did and you can make your own version with a few readily available materials.
Materials:
print out our four page face printable on card stock
or, you can draw your own on 8.5 x 11 cardboard, poster board, or thick mixed media paper
1 paper tube (paper towel size)
small 5" x 5" cardboard square for base
glue stick
acrylic or tempera paint (we used black, white, blue, and mint green)
black marker for details
scissors for cutting paper
ceramic blade or utility knife and a grown up for cutting cardboard
PVC glue or hot glue gun
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You can use our face printables to trace the outer line of our face shape onto cardboard or simply color them in and assemble!
Step 1:
Print out our printable (ART CAMP STORE) or draw your own Picasso faces on two sheets of thick, sturdy poster board or cardboard. You want thick, black lines, so if you are drawing this on your own make sure to cover over your pencil lines with black marker or a black oil pastel.
Here we printed our face PDF files on teal and periwinkle colored card stock.
Step 2:
Cut out your faces. Use scissors if you are cutting card stock and a ceramic blade or a utility knife (adults only) if you are using cardboard.
Oil pastel on colored card stock.
Step 3:
Color your faces with oil pastel and/or paint. If you are making your own faces, remember to draw and color on both sides of your board because this is a 3-D sculpture!
Step 4:
Cut 4 entry points in your paper tube. This is where the faces will rest.
Step 5:
Paint your tube with paint. Think about stripes, dots, dashes, and abstract marks.
Step 6:
If you have used our printable, you want to attach the mirror images (front and back) together with a glue stick.
Red = where to cut your facial notches.
Step 7:
Cut a 3" notch down the center of your first face and a 4" cut on your other face. You are creating an interlocking system for your faces to connect.
Step 8:
Once your faces are interconnected, you will slide them in to place on the top of your paper tube. Inserting each section into the proper notch.
Step 9:
Reinforce all the connected points with a little bit of hot glue. We want our paper structures to be reinforced!
Step 10:
Add the bottom of your paper tube to the square cardboard base. Attach with a ring of hot glue on the end of your paper tube.
