Strange as it may sound, I've had whales on the brain for the last several months. I can't remember where it started, really.

I know I had this idea to start making whale shaped chalkboards, but that still hasn't panned out. Then I thought about carving whale shaped stamps, but that hasn't happened yet either. So when I stumbled across this book
on making hand-print animal art and happened to turn to the whale page first, it pretty much seemed like a sign to me. Don't you think?

The girls and I made some prints on paper this winter but after going to a printing/textile workshop at the BMA this weekend, I was inspired to get the girls to do a little whale printing on some kitchen towels for me today. Sort of like poor man's screen printing.

The book is filled with some amazing instructions for making animals using all kinds of handprint techniques--only stamping certain fingers, just your palm, printing with your fist. Things I'd never even thought of.

But making the whale is pretty straightforward.

To start, stamp (or in this case we painted with a brush) your hand and fingers only. Not your thumb. (if you want more of a handprint look, don't let your children coat their entire hands and palm in paint. The girls coated their hands for these whales, which makes them much more filled in.)

After you have printed your hand on the paper, use your pointer finger to make the fin and tail.

Once the girls prints dried, I used a sharpie marker to outline the whale body and add an eye. Because Mary's was so dark, I used the end of the paintbrush to paint on the eye.