SCALEY THE TURTLE

JUNK MAIL BOOK

INSPIRED BY ILLUSTRATOR CARLA SONHEIM

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

junk mail, gesso, watercolor, marking pens, charcoal

This is such a great assignment;

part bookmaking, part written story, part illustration and part interactive.

It requires huge critical thinking on the part of each student,

and is fairly difficult to finish on time.

It is their First Quarter Final and a bit of a challenge.

This year I'm only featuring one finished book.

It was done by former senior Sarah Oh.

She writes about a true story in her life,

a big life lesson for her and her younger brother.

And it's sad, poignant & funny all at once.

It's brilliant!

Take a gander.

And please enlarge to be able to read the text.

To build these books we start with recycled junk mail that I save all year long.

I ask the kids to pick out their favorite pieces visually and try to organize them within a color scheme.

I also have them pick out a couple of envelops.

They gesso lightly over all these pieces of junk (both sides)

so that you can just see thru to the visual/text underneath.

When the gesso is dry then they pick a color scheme 

and watercolor those colors over both sides of junk mail.

This whole time they are thinking and about and writing out a story to tell based on a theme.

I really enjoyed this glimpse into Sarah's childhood and her traumatic event with her turtle,

and the lesson learned.

Because this book is interactive where one page must flow into the next

 from top to bottom and side to side,

the kids must pick where to begin their drawing.

Most start with the front cover then work their way inside.

They use a marker for this.

Then they go back into each page's drawing and paint in additional gesso

to make part of each drawing pop.

I also ask them to bring some Zentangling into the drawings,

as well as a bit of charcoal for value and shading.

It's a heck of a lot of work, 

but usually the kids rise to it.

But there is always usually one child who doesn't quite finish on time.

Yet it's a valuable learning experience on so many levels.

As you can see in Sarah's book,

she is a gifted storyteller as well as illustrator.

I was laughing out loud reading her book for the first time.

We've reached the end.

Thank you Sarah for sharing your story with us!

"I WANT TO RUN THIS BY YOU"

JUNK BOOK MURAL

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

junk mail, gesso, watercolor,  & Sharpies

Famous last words, right?

Wanting to please our new Principal ,

John Briquelet,

I gladly told him I'd have my Intermediate 2-D art kids do a mural on one of the walls

 in the new student union building for him,

 the new idea he was hoping for.

I had to figure a spot large enough to put it into

inside my already tightly packed Tentative Schedule. 

1st Quarter Final,

which was to be their Junk Mail Book,

 was the only place I could work it into,

So I renamed it the Junk Mail Mural.

Personally,

 as an artist, 

I have never enjoyed working on assignments together with others.

There is always a slacker,

and then there are the procrastinators.

I used to get too anxious that we wouldn't finish on time.

Not for me.

But I had faith in this Intermediate group that they just might be able to pull it off.

To please the new Principal...

Let's see how it worked out.

We had six kids in this group,

5 seniors and 1 junior.

All of them wanting to be art majors of some sort.

Now we needed a thumb nail design to work from and I wanted it to be an original student design.

For homework I had them all draw up a couple of ideas then they voted on their favorite.

Senior Malaya Sithichai's was chosen of a sweet little astronaut floating in space.

Now the fun begins!

Above are the kids spreading out all my junk mail from the last year I had saved for them.

A ridiculous amount!

Each student picked one favorite visually pleasing piece first,

then auditioned it next to all the others they picked for Visual Flow

(color scheme, text, envelops).

Next they divided up the wall in 6 equal vertical sections,

then lotteried off each section to make it fair.

Can you see the pencil lines?

The wall we chose was small and narrow as you can see,

we didn't want to overextend ourselves.

Next each student had their own brayer that they used to roll on  "YES" glue

onto the back of each junk mail piece to attach to the wall

(we experimented with many glues,

and this one was the strongest to attach those thick mailers with).

Look at those cuties go!

Almost done with this portion.

Honestly I kinda like it just like that.

Could we have called it done at that point???????????

For me personally,

Yes!

Notice the visual flow thru each vertical section??

Kinda feels like a rainbow effect.

Next came the gesso over top the junk mail.

Two things were not quite working.

When we build the books 

they were required to have at least on piece of mail that opened up like a flap.

We tried it on the wall but it seemed a little too much.

Also,

the kids over applied the gesso too thickly and not enough of the mail parts were showing.

What to do?

We ripped off several of the flaps to calm down the distraction,

and I had them sand off some of the gesso.

Ahhh,

much better.

Up close.

Next came the watercolor.

Each student chose a color scheme to work in and lightly brushed watercolor over the gesso areas.

What I forgot to take a pix of was what that looked like before the Sharpie drawing was applied.

It didn't look good at first 

because the color schemes were so different and created a hard edge separation.

So then I made the kids go back and overlap their watercolored section edges

 and use a wet sponge to blend them.

Yes,

better. 

Next came using the overhead projector to enlarge Malaya's image,

and each kiddo had a Sharpie to draw over the design lines.

More gesso was then added into areas that needed popping

 like the astronaut and his safety line,

and all the little twinkling stars,

and of course the planets.

Pattern that reads as texture from a distance was added with a Sharpie as well.

Used to be called doodling now is called Zentangling.

You can see that better in the pix below.

Here is the gang standing in front of each of their sections.

From left to right we have Ayesha, Eileen, Kevin, Malaya, Jazzarie, and Samantha.

And sadly below we have the chairs back in place that belong in front of it.

Rats!

And it wouldn't be complete without their signatures.

We have Senior Ayesha Durrani,

Senior Eileen Lee,

Senior Kevin Ma,

Senior Malaya Sithichai,

Senior Jazzarie Lo,

and Junior Samantha Tun.

What I totally forgot to mention in the post 

is that it took almost the full school year to completely finish it.

Much of that extra time was taken away from their regular class assignments.  :(

So I really admire their sticktuative-ness in bringing this mural to fruition.

What a wonderful legacy these children are leaving behind

at a school they spent 6 years of their lives at,

their Alma Meter,

Whitney High School.

FOR THE LOVE OF A TREE

AN EXERCISE

ADVANCED 3-D ART

gesso & acrylic paint

In the post from 2 days ago,

 I did a wee bit of ranting about how some art teachers 

have the kids do the exact same thing.

Brush this way, make the line curve this way, etc.,

 which brings me great distress.

Just like is done in those Wine & Paint places.

Though I have to admit,

it is fun to drink and paint.

I think in these two exercises below in acrylic,

 both boys have given a completely different flavor to their trees,

which makes my heart soar!

This was not an assignment,

but an exercise.

Both trees I felt were extremely lovely and sensitive.

Sadly we ran out of time to complete this exercise.

This was only the beginning.

Above is senior Elias Rodriquez,

and below is senior Jonathan Hsu.

GOT MAIL?

JUNK MAIL BOOKS

INTERMEDIATE 2-D ART

junk mail, gesso, watercolor, sharpies, & charcoal

ASSIGNMENT INSPIRED BY CARLA SONHEIM

This is such a great assignment for the kids.

It involves recycling, critical thinking, working in a new technique,

and oftentimes they get to bring in a sense of whimsy.

Basically the students pick out several pieces of junk mail that I've saved for them.

Some of it has been ripped open which adds to the textural interest.

They loosely gesso over each piece (front & back sides),

watercolor over the dried gesso, and put the pieces into a book form.

They are required to draw to a theme,
 and drawn images are layered over several pages.

That's where the critical thinking comes in.

You will see what I'm talking about as you see the books.

They sharpie over their drawn lines and add a touch of charcoal for value.

These books are so cool.

Enjoy!

We begin with senior Risha Bhakta.

She worked to an underwater theme,

and this is her front cover.

Notice that as the pages are tuned

the design on the previous page morphs into something else on the next page.

Also notice that Risha is limiting her color choices so that the book flows visually.

Sometimes you have to look closely to see the small changes that occur like here.

Above the right piece of mail is fully opened up,

but below that right hand flap is closed.

Look how seamlessly Risha has blended the pages. 

Kind of a scary ending Risha.

LOL

Next we have senior Kyla Balquin's book.

Her theme obviously Spiderman.

The kids were required to bring in a bit of text...

and to add some textural details.

Loved Kyla's back cover.

Powerful!

Next we have senior Hazel Cruz.

Her book took on a religious theme.

Several of the kids made some extra pages

 that they wanted to work on at a later date.

I believe these (above and below) were a couple of Hazels. 

And her back page.

Senior Katherine Ku shared her heart and the love of her life (A.K.) in her book.

I really like the peek-a-boo plastic envelop parts that she made use of.

She also had several extra pages as you can see below

that she will add to at a later date

as her relationship grows.

But even though their story is still ongoing,

her pages undone,

we really loved her book.

She gave us such honesty.

Our last book was done by senior Bernice Lin.

She also made many extra pages but was able to finish them up.

Can you find the subtle nuance between the page above and the one below?

If you didn't,

it was the bottom piece that moved.

Now look again,

she has done another tiny flip of the middle section above.

Now we are seeing a real difference as we travel the world with her.

I thought this a very clever book,

and would be a wonderful children's story...

as these two little ones explore the world...

as well as their love.

Adorable Bernice.