Koala and Kangaroo Collages

The people and animals of Australia are in our thoughts and prayers right now during the horrible fires. Sometimes creating art is a nice way for children to work through their feelings and at the same time honor these beautiful animals. Here are some ways to use your gel plates to create koala or kangaroo collages. 

 8x10 Koala Gelli Print Collage

For the Koalas

 1. Add gray paint to your Gelli Plate

2. Create texture with an old toothbrush (tissue paper or cotton balls)

3. Make a print using 8x10 paper or card stock

Create a simple template using cardstock or posterboard and cut out

Trace template on the textured gray paper and cut out koalas

Background Print

 1. Spread green paint on your gel plate for the trees

2. Make a print

3.Spread a background color and lay down a few flattened branches

4. Make a print using the same green paper

             Add some details to your cut koalas using black and white pens

Glue them to your background print

Here are some steps if you have a small gel press to create

small artworks or cards

1.Repeat the steps above to create a gray textured print using a piece of

paper cut or folded to the size of your plate (5"x5")

2. Spread a background color on your plate and place your koala template

to create a mask.

3. Make a print using the same gray paper. 

4.Now you can add details to your koala using white and black pens or paint.

5. You can add extra details to the background using paint, pens or markers

5"x5" artwork

Here is another idea to create a kangaroo collage

using an 8x10 or larger plate

 1. Spread out a few colors on your plate using your brayer

2. Make a print

3. Create a print using a few different shades of brown paint

(this print was leftover from my fish bowl project that I used for rocks)

4. Draw a simple kangaroo shape. I looked at black silhouettes and illustrations.

5. Add some details using fine black marker. I used a white pastel to a few areas as well

6. Cut out and glue to your background. You can add some extra details to your piece

(I created some kangaroo silhouettes, stars and plants in the foreground)

Mixed Media Gel Printed Fish Bowls

Here is a fun way to use your gel printed botanical pages to 

create fish bowl or terrarium collages.

 Gather some leaves - the greater variety of silhouettes, the better

 I press mine in an old dictionary. The kids get the biggest kick out of the fact that this is how we used to look up the spelling and definition of a word before the internet. 

 Add some paint to your Gelli Plate - Remember that this will be the color of your plants. With that in mind, you might want to use light or warm colors for a nice contrast.

 Now add some paint for the water or background of your fish bowl or terrarium. Lay down some leaves and make a print using the same paper as above. 

Use a template to trace for the fish bowl. You could use any vessel shape. We used metallic markers and added white pen to create highlights in the glass. You can use different pens and markers to add more plants if you want. 

I had some Gelli Arts DIY Kits with 5 inch square plates. These were perfect to create 

small fish bowls following the same steps as the larger bowl. 

You can create collage rocks using gel printed papers 

or you can add them with paint or markers. 

 Some of my students created shadows under our fish bowls 

using chalk pastels with water and a paint brush. 

Just color an ellipse and spread it out with water for a watercolor effect. 

I offered a variety of ideas for creatures to create, cut and place in the fish bowls. 

You could go realistic, whimsical, cartoon or imaginary,

You can use leftover gel printed papers or create fish 

or creatures using white paper and markers.

We glued our fish bowls on watercolor paper. 

 This background was created using acrylic paint for the wall, watercolor for the table

and charcoal for the shadows,

You could create single vessels with painted backgrounds

using an 8x10 or larger Gelli Plate. 

 Added collage succulent

The pieces below were created by students, ages 5-12.

 6th grade

 Kindergarten

 Kindergarten

 3rd grade

3rd grade

6th grade

A special thanks to Natalie at at smART class for her Fabulous Succulent Garden art lesson here https://elementaryartfun.blogspot.com/2018/05/succulent-gardens.html
and artist, Clair Bremner for her Create a Terrarium Artwork with a Gel Press art class on Skillshare for Inspiration.