Post by Rebecca of Not-So-SAHM

Last weekend, we took a day trip up to Philadelphia to check out the International Pop exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The kids were so inspired by all the art that they wanted to try and make pop art portraits of themselves. I was thrilled! I’ve had a few sets of printable transparency paper in my arts and crafts stash for a while just waiting for the perfect project. We brainstormed a bit and came up with these awesome portraits. They are so much fun to make and turned out as frame worthy pieces!

We spent a lot of time at the exhibit talking about what makes something pop art: bold colors, popular and commercial images, cultural critique, etc. We also have this Go Fish for Modern Artists Card Game, which does a great job of illustrating pop art’s characteristics. So the kids had a few ideas in mind of how they wanted to make a pop art painting that would serve as the first layer of their portrait.

To get started on making your own, you’ll need:

• printable transparent paper
• a portrait photo (preferably with a white background to make the person pop)
• neon tempera paints (we love these)
• heavyweight paper
• graphic or bold-colored washi tape

First review a bit about pop art with your kiddos. Then let them paint a pop art style painting on the heavyweight paper. We found that the paintings worked best paired with the portraits when the kids left some white space on the painting. Otherwise, the photo doesn’t stand out enough. While the painting is drying, print your portrait onto the photo paper. Our artists were a little impatient, so we helped the paintings a long with a hair dryer too.

Once the painting has fully dried, layer the transparent photo on top and secure along the top and bottom edges with washi tape. Boom. Pop Art Portraits!

The kids love them so much that we are working on portraits of their favorite stuffed animals next. Because who doesn’t need a pop art portrait of their favorite sloth Shlomo?!

Thanks to The Land of Nod for the fabulous On Display desk accessories. They were the perfect interplay between transparency and bold colors to assist in our pop project!

Rebecca is a mom to two young kiddos and, in her spare time (ha!), likes to pretend she’s a back-up dancer, craft cocktails, and run long distances. A relatively recent SAHM, she blogs family-friendly activities, DIYs and celebration fun at Not-So-SAHM.