Recycling at it's Best

JUNK MAIL BOOKS

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

junk mail, watercolor, gesso, sharpie marker

This past summer I was able to take an online class with Illustrator and Mixed Media Artist Carla Sonheim, and with her permission, share the workshop info with my students.

The class was called Junk Mail Books, and I really enjoyed the recycling aspect of the project, along with learning to incorporate gesso and watercolor for some really cool effects. 

It was also fun to work the illustrations into an interactive style, so that no matter how you opened the book, one page flowed into another.

Senior Jasmine Zhao came up with a jungle theme and poured everything she had into this beautiful work of art.

Above is her cover page.

A peek inside Jasmine's book.

Jasmine also chose a primary color scheme to work her watercolors in which ties the book together visually along with her theme.

Senior Alex Lee started exploring Love and War in his book below...

and then moved to more of a nature theme to end.

Heather Warner, senior, had a lot of fun creating whimsical fish under the sea.

I love how she has that extra page above that pulls and extends outward.

I also really enjoy seeing some of the original junk mail colors as border/background.

And senior Cathy Luo also worked within a nature theme...

that included a few figures as well.

And lastly, senior Anne Allan made a statement about women in the work force thru her illustrations below.

I felt Anne's use of color and texture was especially effective on her cover page above.

I also love the way Anne ended her book below.

Even though this book took a lot of time and effort, the kids really enjoyed the process, and I loved all the junk mail I was able to recycle!