Gel Printed Forests with Animal Illustrations

Phase 1 for our gel printed forests

 Phase 2

 Carlie - 3rd Grade

 Blake - 3rd Grade

 Brooke - 1st Grade

 Ella - 4th Grade

 Alexa - 4th Grade

Blake - 3rd Grade

Below are my experiments/samples

I never get tired of experimenting with gel printing. My students are well aware of this. 😄 So for this session, we created fantasy forests with my collection of pressed leaves and our Gelli plates (8X10 and 9x12). We created a colorful print (on card stock or watercolor paper) first followed by a reverse black silhouette using the leaves as a mask. This made the perfect backdrop for our animal illustrations. I allowed my students to create a full body whimsical raccoon inspired by artist, John W. Golden, a charcoal raccoon portrait, or other creature of their choosing. They could adorn their landscapes with other details: veins for their leaves, moon, stars or snow. Animals were then cut out and glued to their backgrounds. There are so many possibilities with this process!

Gel Printing Fun

I recently had the opportunity to explore the uses of Gelli Arts© DIY Kits with my after school classes. The children had a lot of fun creating cactus gardens and animals. These kits make great gifts for children and adults to create small works of art and greeting cards. 

 Everything needed to create your cactus garden or llamas & flamingos

is included in the kit.

 Charlee working on her cactus prints.

 Alexa pulling a print for her llama background. 

 Just a little bit of fine black pen

for some finishing touches.

You can read the whole blog post and information on buying these DIY Kits Here.

Somewhere Right Now

Somewhere Right Now is now available on Etsy

Here's the link to my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MaryMakingArt

Jellyfish with Masking Fluid and Watercolor

 Nika - 7

 Avri -5

 Ellie - 5

 Delaini - 5

 Zoey - 7

 Leighton - 7

 Shiloh - 9

Madelyn

I have done jellyfish art lessons using bubble prints with rice paper and with chalk pastel and watercolor here and here. And I Loved all the results. But this may be my new favorite jelly art lesson. This was inspired by Natalie at smART Class who used gloss medium. I didn't have any so I decided to improvise with masking fluid. I sacrificed some of my crumbiest paint brushes and had my students paint over their pencil drawings. These took just a short time to dry, so they were able to paint them in the same class. While the paint was still wet, they sprinkled their watercolor oceans with salt. This always lends a magical effect that the children just love. 

Once dry, I used a remover block to remove all the masking fluid and brushed all the salt away. They have a beautiful batik-like effect. A perfect summer art project!

Summer Art Fun

 Ava - 8th grade

 Maddy - 8th grade

 Avery - 8th grade

My experiment

The above works were based on the art of Yellena James. 

I have been creating mixed media collages using gelli printed papers in my own art. I thought I'd try these techniques with my group of 8th graders. I love their artwork!

 

The above mixed media lemurs were based on the bold and colorful work of artist Holly Mills.

Artwork by my Kinder through 4th graders.

I'm a big fan of artist Mia Charro. 

These collage works created by my group of 1st through 5th graders 

were based on her series of animals with flower crowns.

Alpacas with Colorful Landscapes

Carlie

Ella 

 Brooke

 Blake

 Annabelle

Everly

Alexa

My example

There are some really Fabulous llama and alpaca art lessons out there right now. I was inspired by these: http://www.handmakery.com/2019/01/you-me-a-teepee-alpaca-my-bags/

these: https://www.smallhandsbigart.com/llama-drawing-project/

@iluvcuppycake on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/iluvcuppycake/

and the Gorgeous art of Jane Newland.

Our Alpaca landscape illustrations were started creating colorful mountains using tempera paint sticks. I encouraged the children to add a variety of colors and patterns. Next they added watercolor wash grass and skies, choosing from day or night. These were put up to dry and I led them in a simple line drawing lesson for standing and sitting alpacas. They could add brightly colored details with markers.  I showed them how to create packs for their animals to carry on their backs. I had a few children concerned for the welfare of their alpacas so it was a resounding, "Nope!" 

Day 2, they added details to their landscapes and dry brushed clouds. And last, glued their alpacas to their foreground. 

Here is a link to my close-up Llamas with Peruvian Textiles:

https://marymaking.blogspot.com/2015/04/llamas-with-peruvian-textiles.html