Moon Papers

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Mama Cormier

…the beginning of Lesson Two for 2019: The Year of the Collage

Carla Sonheim has named these papers, ‘moon papers’ because the results looks like the surface of the moon.

The process involves using a Gelli plate with a layer of fluid acrylic. After the paint has been applied evenly you lay down a sheet of transparency film and press it into the paint using your fingertips. The goal is to try and make craters and interesting patterns on the film. I experimented with different paints and different papers. One of the papers I really liked using was the vellum paper.

Using the film allows for interesting colours to emerge when you overlap two different colours. You can see from the first photo how the colours change and peek through when overlapped. The next step is to take these papers and cut them up into organic shapes and create new collages. The hard part is going to decide which ones to cut up and what kind of shapes to make.

Birds of a Feather

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Mama Cormier

…..just add a beak to a scrap piece of paper and voila you have a bird

I got this idea from Carla Sonheim and I find that it works with all age groups. I’ve used it with kindergarten children and children in grades 1 to 5.

This year I had the children create a tree by printing the shape with the edge of a piece of thick cardboard dipped in brown paint. While we waited for it to dry I had the students practise drawing a variety of leaf shapes and then deciding which one they would use on their tree.

Once the paint dried I instructed the students to tear small pieces of coloured and patterned papers and then glue them to the tree branches. With a pencil or a black Sharpie they started creating their birds by adding a beak and then an eye. After that they could add as much or as little detail as they wanted. Once the birds were done they were instructed to draw the leaves in the open spaces and colour them in.

I love how these turned out. The following are examples from my grade two class.

Having a ‘Hoot’ of a Time

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….drawing owls

I recently signed up for an on-line art class using gelli plates. I did one last summer and I loved it. So when Carla Sonheim offered another class I jumped at the chance to participate again. This class uses some of the prints I’ve done in the past and involves drawing on the actual gelli plate. I, therefore needed a subject to draw that was relatively simple and would work in a print application.

I choice to draw an owl. I’ve always been attracted to owls and wanted to create an owl that is somewhat whimsical yet simple. Here are some of the owls that I played around with tonight.