Geninne Inspired Mail Art Collages

My groups of Mini Modern Artists looked at the collage art of Geninne Zlatkis. Many of her pieces combine old postcards with detailed bird illustrations. My students composed their collages with faux vintage postcards and ephemera and bird and botanical watercolor illustrations. They gave their watercolor paper a wash with coffee to give an antique look. This project was a fun departure for me and my students. I like the touch of whimsy in these.

Harp Seal Pups

 Lauren, 2nd

 Charlotte, 1st

 Scott, 5th

Raya, kinder

 Summer, 3rd

Mia, 2nd

my experiment

It doesn't get much cuter than arctic or harp seal pups - they're like wobbling powder puffs with over-sized Anime eyes.

I rest my case

Interestingly, these seal pups only keep their white coats for about 14 days while nursing on their mothers high-fat milk. They triple their weight at this time and then start to molt, leaving a silvery-gray fur with black spots.

Arctic seal pups have been on my "Future Projects" board for quite some time. It seemed like the perfect final project for my Mixed Media Collage groups. 

My kinder through 5th graders created the seal first on large blue sheets of construction paper. I had them begin by tracing paint palettes for their head shapes. Using white chalk pastel, Sharpie and charcoal, they added shading, details and shadows.  An icy ground was created using white, and a little blue and lavender acrylic paint that they applied using a dry brush method. Wintry skies were done on black paper using chalk pastels. They had the option of creating northern lights or an icy sky backdrop. Seals were cut out and layers then glued together. Nice job kids! 

Lighthouse Collages

Ella, 2nd

Charlize, 2nd

Summer, 3rd

Fiona, 2nd

Skyler, 2nd

Mia, 2nd

Charlotte, 1st

Gwendolyn, 1st

Lauren, 2nd

Scott, 5th

Beautiful Raya - age 5

My Mixed Media Collage students created these lighthouse pieces using a variety of wet and dry media. Collage projects are a favorite of mine as I teach to a wide age range (K-5th) and this seems to help everyone break up a project into components and piece it together, helping everyone to feel successful. Skies were done in watercolor, and oceans in acrylic. They created a ripped, jagged cliff from grocery store bags and added pastel and charcoal for texture. Lighthouses were created following a loose direct line drawing lesson. They added charcoal shadows to their lighthouses on the opposite side of their moon to add more drama to their nighttime pieces.

Surreal Hot Air Balloon Collages II

Fiona, your stormy sky is spectacular!

I don't get the chance to travel much. But that doesn't mean I don't love seeing, hearing and reading about exotic locales. Anthony Bourdaine, The Travel Channel, The Amazing Race, and travel memoir books - you might say I'm an official arm chair traveler. So I thought it would be fun to create some surreal hot air balloon collages with my classes this month, allowing each child to choose their own locale. My original post can be found here. I found some great landscape and global landmark calendars from the .99 Cent Store. So the first step was letting each child choose their destination from my collected calendar pages (these were cut out). From there, they created wet on wet watercolor sky backdrops using their choice of colors. On white construction paper, we created one large hot air balloon following a basic step by step lesson. These could be customized and designed using markers or oil pastels. Smaller balloons were created using painted paper and scrapbook paper to give the collage pieces a sense of depth and perspective. This was a fun project for my kindergarten through 5th grade groups.
This lesson was inspired by and dedicated to my dear friend Gretchen, who traveled the world and lived life to the fullest!

Palm Frond Masks

We've had some strong winds here in Southern California over the past couple days. And consequently, there are a lot downed trees, limbs and branches. On my walk this morning I saw a pristine palm frond. I immediately thought of this project I did 6 years ago, creating primitive masks with palm fronds and acrylic paints. I'm thinking it might be a good time to go on a scavenger hunt and give this project another go.

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Surreal Hot Air Balloon Collages

 Kate, kindergarten

 Presley, 2nd grade

 Kate, 2nd grade

 Grace 2nd

My experiment

Next month I will start my Mixed Media Collage art classes. I decided to try out an edited version of my hot air balloon lesson with my small group this week. With just a one 1 hour and 15 minute class to finish these pieces, there was no time to waste. 

I had purchased several landscape and cityscape calendars from the 99 cent store. Oh what fun I can have there! Anyone with me? Anyway, I pre-cut a variety of selections for the kids to choose from before they started painting their backgrounds.(Calendar skies will be saved for another idea and day) Based on their setting choices, they created a complimentary watercolor sky. These were put up to dry and we got started on our hot air balloons. I used a helpful tutorial from The Lost Sock blog here. Tabitha also has some Fantastic variations on hot air balloon lessons.Check them out! I had some b&b plates (bread and butter) for the kids to trace to get started. I offered markers and  colored pencils for them to add color. I should have known the metallic markers would be too irresistible to pass up. Simplified smaller balloons could be created to give a sense of depth and perspective to our landscapes. I had scrapbook paper and painted paper scraps for these. All elements were cut and glued to their dry watercolor skies. It was fun for my students to see all the components come together to make unique surreal compositions. I look forward to doing a tweaked version of this project with added shadows and highlights and minus the tight time constraints. Stay tuned!