When attending an event, holiday, or family gathering, people love to dress in certain ways. For Holi in India, people love to wear white clothing because then they can get it covered in the beautiful colors that welcome spring! In this project, students will design their perfect clothing ensemble, silly or serious, adding shadow with oil pastel and spraying their, clothes Holi-style!
Holi is a popular Hindu festival in India and Nepal, held in spring to celebrate the end of winter and the blossoming of love.
After a night around a bonfire, the next morning is a colorful free for all festival of colors!
The first night, people gather and celebrate in front of a bonfire. The next morning, is a free-for-all festival of colors, where people smear each other with colors and drench each other. Water guns and water-filled balloons are also used to play and color each other. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children, and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, parks, outside temples and buildings.
The colorful celebration of Holi and art seem to us to go hand in hand! We created this colorful free-for-all project to get your process art creativity flowing.
What will I need for this art project?
- 9×12 white sulphite paper
- Black Sharpie
- Black oil pastel
- Watercolors
- Paintbrush and cup of water
- Placemat or a box lid
How do I create colorful clothing to celebrate Holi?
First, use the Clothing Idea Guide to help thinking about what you would wear to Holi. You can be serious and think about regular t-shirts and shorts, or design something fun to wear.
Draw the items you choose all over your paper using a black Sharpie or waterproof marker.
Trace around the contour (the outside edge) of each piece of clothing with a black oil pastel.
Use one finger to smear the oil pastel and create shadow.
Wipe your finger on the spaces in between the clothing items to add more shadow in the negative space.
Wet the paper with a paintbrush for a spread out look or leave it dry for little dots.
Spray the watercolors to activate them. You can also use liquid watercolors since they are already well-hydrated.
Dip the paintbrush in the color and then again in the water.
Hold the paintbrush with one hand a couple inches above the paper and use two fingers to tap the paintbrush near the ferrule (metal part) to spray the color onto the clothing.
Repeat using different colors and different taps to vary the results.
Would you love a colorful clothing art project?
Click the banner below to download the FREE lesson plan.
We would love it if you’d share your art project results!
Don’t forget to tag us at @soulsparklettes on social media if you do this colorful clothing art project with your kids or students – we love to see what you create!
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