Ideas, Possibilites & Suggestions
You do not have to be an artist to participate!
We often hear folks tell us that they can’t draw. We’ve heard this declaration hundreds of times and what we’ve discovered is that everyone–with just a little encouragement–can indeed draw a turkey portrait! Check out some of the submissions below for ideas.
Use a pre-made rubber stamp or paper punch. (Click on images to enlarge.)
Purchased rubber stamp.
An altered Poultry Cookbook with recipes stamped over with living turkeys (using a purchased rubber stamp),
Cutout turkeys silhouettes from decorative scrapbook paper using a paper punch. By Sharon Orrick (New Jersey).
Paper punched turkeys from newspaper and magazines by Mitchell Kunkes (New York).
Using & Making Stamps
Carve your own design using a potato, sheet of foam, pink eraser, or artist rubber carving block. (Click on images to enlarge.)
You can use easy to cut artist rubber blocks to design your own stamp.
Stamped image.
Custom designed stamp cut from an easy to cut rubber block.
Another example of a custom designed stamp. By Scooter (New York).
A stamp carved from an ordinary potato.
“Love Birds” stamp carved from pink eraser by Rachel Brumley (California).
Stamp created from cutting a foam sheet and gluing to a wood block.
Can I Knit or Sew a Turkey?
Yes…please do! (Click on images to enlarge.)
Soft poly-filled sculpture by Aimee (New Hampshire).
Glued felt with sequins by Marion Robinson, Minnesota.
Felt square with stitched eyes & beaks by Mary Anselmo, New York.
Jennifer Adams (New York)
Fabric cutout turkeys by Abbie Rogers (North Carolina).
Tablecloth created by MLB (New York).
Hand crochet turkey using acrylic yarn by Maryann Walsh (Massachusetts).
Glued fabric by Kevin Archer (North Carolina).
What Materials Can I Use?
You can use a variety of materials to create your turkey portrait, but please do not use any animal products (e.g. feathers, bones, fur, beeswax, wool, sea shells, etc.) or perishable substances (such as food). (Click on images to enlarge.)
Origami by Marguerite Ogden (Maine).
Plaster and sand casts of wild turkey footprints by Rebecca Haughey (Maine).
Necklace by Elise Shugrue (Massachusetts).
Punched aluminum sheet by Bill Cavooris (New York).
Turkey prayer flags by Diane DesMarais from New Hampshire.
Wood Blocks
Bill Cavooris’ turkey crafted from coins and paper clips.
Collage by k.fix (Oregon).
Turkeys made from ovenbaked Sculpty clay by Ashley Cook Healy (Massachusetts).
Creating Lots of Turkeys
We love submissions that contribute lots of turkeys.
Tanya Janish (Maryland) submitted 21,049 turkeys using marker drawings!
A scallop design of 172 turkeys by Jesse Miller (New Jersey).
This day planner contains over 1,000 sketches of turkeys!
Another design by Tanya Janish.
Jessi VanPelt, Florida
48 turkeys drawn with marker by Caroline Locatelli (New York).
Marker and acrylic on cardboard by Shebani Rao from Washington DC.
Val Giguere, Maine
Using Photos of Turkeys
Here are some creative examples of submissions that use photographs of turkeys. (Click on images to enlarge.)
Close up of design created by Karen Allen (Maine) using photos of wild turkeys.
Beth Lily Redwood, Oregon
Poster created using 9,940 photos of turkeys by Linda Miller, Al Liguori and Emily Parziale Aldo (New Jersey & New York).
Close up of turkey photos used to create poster.
Collage from magazine photos with ink & watercolor by Stephanie Harkness (Maine).
Karen Allen (Maine) used photos of wild turkeys to create this design. The final piece contains 2,144 turkeys.
Submissions from Children
Colby Whitaker (Maine) marker and pencil
Teacher Mary Telfer (Illinois) cut 2″ squares of watercolor paper for her students to paint turkeys. Artwork by Katrina Hertel.
Tatiana, Maxime, Catherine, and Olga Ioffe, Montreal, Canada Mix media collaboration on one piece of paper. 8-year-old Catherine says, “Don’t eat them!”
Saige Ruback (Illinois) pen and color pencils
Elizabeth Fraser and Avery and Arlie (Maine) thumbprint turkeys
Student from Erskine Academy Advance Art Class (Maine)
Getting Others Involved and Collaborations
- Have a turkey creation party. Provide guests with needed supplies (i.e. pre-cut 2″ x 2″ paper squares, turkey rubber stamps, ink pads, stencils, etc.) and see how many turkey creations you and your friends can make during the gathering. Remember to count the turkeys created!
- Veggie potlucks. Have a turkey creating session before, after, or during potluck.
- Set up a “Turkey Creation Station” table with needed supplies (for example: paper, turkey rubber stamps, ink pads) where folks can stop by and create a turkey or two–or even a hundred!
- Keep a small sketch book by your desk at work and invite coworkers to contribute by stamping or drawing turkeys.
- Keep a shared sketch book journal with a friend. Take turns filling a page with turkeys, then pass the journal back and forth. (Click on images to enlarge.)
Attendees at the Animal Voices (British Columbia) Annual Thanksliving Potluck drew and stamped turkeys on pre-cut 2″ squares of color paper.
This 14″ x 75″ submission depicts 3,059 turkeys. By Mary Atwood (Texas) with help from her nieces, nephews and friends.
Young artists (ages 1 year old to 8th grade) from the Wintergreen Arts Center (Maine) created 638 turkeys.
By Felix Davidson
Angela Smith (Maryland) got her coworkers and friends to contribute.
By Jake Davidson
The Davidson’s (Texas) created turkeys as a family activity. Jenny Davidson
Pencil and marker by Heath Davidson.
For more ideas to get you started, be sure to check out the 46millionturkeys: FLIKR site
