Sunday Afternoon Art – Viewfinders

Sunday Afternoon Art is our monthly art drop-in session which is usually held at the Gallery for families to take part in on the first Sunday of every month.  The August session comes straight to you at home.

Viewfinders are used by artists to help them pick out a section of a view or scene that they can focus on.  They, very literally, find the view.  Viewfinders are all about looking and then you can draw or paint what you see.

Today, we are going to look at three different ways to make a viewfinder.

You will need:

• Recycled materials – a tube or cardboard box (such as a cereal box)
• A4 paper
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Tape
• Colours

Method 1:

Take a piece of A4 paper or card and fold it in half.

Cut a shape along the folded edge. Artists usually cut a rectangle, but you can cut any shape you like.

Open it out and there should be a hole in the sheet of paper. This is your viewfinder.

Take it outside and see what you can see, or try and find a section to focus on from another image. Why not draw or paint what you can see?

You can download an image from the Borough Art Collection here and can use your viewfinder to focus on a section of these images if you wish.

Method 2:

Take some A4 card or an old cereal box and use a ruler to draw a right angle L shape.

Make two and cut them out.

Place them together to make a rectangle. You can move them to change the size and shape of the view. You can tape them in place to stop them moving when you are using them if you wish.

Take the viewfinder outside and experiment with what you can see.  You can even take the viewfinder to Orleans House Gallery to look at the gallery grounds and exhibitions.

Method 3:

Take an old kitchen roll tube or some card (I used an old cereal box). Decorate. If you have used an old cereal box then roll up the card into a cylinder and tape in place. Optional: I also added some coloured plastic over the end to change the view. Hold the tube up to your eye and look to see what you can see.

You can adapt these designs however you like. How about making binoculars with two tubes?

Take your viewfinder outside. What can you see? Can you describe what you can see? Can you use adjectives? Don’t just say that you can see trees, but what do they look like? Maybe you can see tall, leaning trees, for example. Try and write a poem about what you can see.

Share your creations at #OrleansHouseGallery.

Check out our other digital resources here: