The Big Trip: Postcards From Svalbard 1

 Getting to Svalbard from Delhi was interesting: we had to go through Dubai and Oslo.  I thought that was curious because Oslo is Sweden and Svalbard is part of Norway.

At any rate, we landed in Longyearbyen, and took off on a cruise around the island.  It's not for nothing that Svalbard is called the Realm of the Polar Bear!

 The island has the highest number of polar bear maternity dens, and this is the time of year when the mothers and cubs have emerged.

 The art project is from That Artist Woman.

You paint the sky purple and sprinkle it with salt.  This was supposed to make snowflake patterns as the salt draws water from the paint, but in our case, we left the salt in place as stars.

The moon is made by removing a circle of paint using tissue over a cup. Leena painted hers black to make an eclipse.



The land is blue and white paint overlayed with plastic wrap.  When you remove the wrap, you get a neat icy crystalline effect.

Oob wanted a daytime sky.




The bears are stencils.  I don't happen to have any polar bear stencils, but the author (presumably thinking she was speaking to competent art teachers) suggested making one out of thin cardboard.

I have to say, it challenged my skills, but I discovered that minor mistakes aren't very noticeable.

The trick with all stencils is to pat the paint in with the brush instead of wiping it on.  An up and down motion gives you a clean outline, side to side tends to get under the stencil.

I had forgotten how much fun I have with art projects!

We also watched Spy on the Ice.