Scratch Art Klimt Swirl Trees

We made scratch art Gustav Klimt trees.

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian who painted in the Art Nouveau style of the late 1800's. He was influenced by the Byzantine churches of Venice and Ravenna which contain lots of gold within the artwork. His favorite subject was the female body and much of his work is not really appropriate for children..... but his Tree of Life, full of gold and swirls is a fun work for kids to imitate.

When I was a kid I remember enjoying creating my own scratch art paper, so we combined Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life with the scratch art style to create a fun and unique art project.

 First an entire sheet of paper was colored with wax crayons.

Next, the paper was completely covered with a black oil pastel.

Any sharp tool such as a toothpick or paper clip could be used to scratch off the black oil pastel revealing the colorful hidden background. We used the rounded end of paper clips.

After scratching thin lines with the rounded end of a paper clip, the lines were widened to show more of the background.




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