Mixed Media Market Bags
painting-drawingAges 3–12
Draw a market haul, then gather it inside a blue string bag!
A week at the market: string-bag drawings, vegetable prints, a bean patch to dig in, a paper vase of flowers and a cardboard tractor.
Introduction
A farmers market is one big still life you're allowed to touch, so in this theme we draw the produce, print with it, dig it out of a bean patch and build a stall to sell it from (plus a cardboard tractor, wheels and all!).
Creating with fresh food is a privilege that not everyone has, so it's worth deciding whether food is the right material for your setting before you begin.
Many childcare and kinder settings can't use food in sensory play or art. Swap the black beans for potting mix or coco coir and add wooden vegetables, or air-dry-clay ones the children make themselves. Wood chips, pebbles and shredded paper all work in the patch, and foam or lino offcuts cut into vegetable shapes print just as well as the produce.
From Smudge to You
Below you'll find the collection of creative activities we've used to bring this theme to life at Smudge. Each one is an invitation to play, experiment, and see where the materials take you. Pick and choose what excites you and adapt them to your own space.
A taste of what's inside
painting-drawingAges 3–12
Draw a market haul, then gather it inside a blue string bag!
6 more inside this theme
Experience 2
sensory-play
Plant, uncover, sort, and rebuild rows in a market garden tray.
Experience 3
print-making
Roll, press, and turn market produce into a collection of printed patterns.
Experience 4
painting-drawing
Arrange, look, draw, and notice what makes each piece of produce different.
Experience 5
Gather these before you start.
We have run this activity in our after school classes, and the combination of drawing and loose construction gives it a lovely rhythm. Set out a range of fruit and vegetables where artists can see their different shapes, stems, leaves, colours, and patterns. Place thick paper nearby with pencils, oil pastels, watercolour palettes, brushes, water jars, and cloths.
The bag is drawn in blue oil pastel after the produce, so keep a strong blue separate for that final layer. Twined string market bags often have an open diamond pattern and long handles. A few reference photos help, since most of us don't have one to place on the table.
Smudge tip: We don't keep a real string bag in the studio either. A quick search for "string market bag" on a phone or tablet gives artists the net pattern and long handles to look at before they draw.
Draw separate pieces of produce across the page. Use pencil for the first shapes, then oil pastel for stronger outlines and details. Look for the ribs on a capsicum, lines on an onion, the edge of a leafy top, or a change in colour.
Add watercolour over and around the pastel. The waxy lines resist the paint, so pale washes can sit beside stronger areas without covering every mark. Let colours meet where it helps the drawing, but leave enough of each fruit or vegetable visible for the bag layer.
Once the painted areas have settled, draw the market bag in blue oil pastel. Start with two long handles that remain open at the top, then bring the sides down and around the produce. Fill the bag with crossing diagonal lines to create the loose net pattern. The produce should show through the gaps, as if it has just been carried home from the market.
Create a shared market haul on a long sheet, with each artist adding produce before one large bag is drawn around it. Try a limited palette, or draw the labels and paper signs found on market stalls. Display the pages beside the market installation.
print-making
Print market flowers, cut the shapes, and arrange them in a paper vase.
Experience 6
installations
Build a tractor large enough to change the shape of the farm space!
Experience 7
installations
Fill a corner with produce, spinning fruit trays, farm books and a small world, then let it change all week!