Dragonfly wax transfer tutorial

Today I played around with an easy transfer process using wax and charcoal.

Funnily enough the subject matter follows my current dragonfly fixation. 

So how did I do it?
Look for the full tutorial coming soon to Elle & Lou!

Collage art for primary children: Art meets Science

Combine recycling, paper collage and kids together...
throw in some imagination, just sparks of ideas... add a bit of science theory, storytelling and this is what 9 & 10 years olds do...

Apis parvusoptera: recycled lap-band boxes & paper

We are given boxes, which are designed to hold lap bands, from an eco-conscious parent who works in the medical world. So I decided to put them to use because they have this lovely bubble of plastic that helps create a magnifying glass illusion. 

In a nutshell this is what we did:
(1)    Collaged some bees wings and bodies onto a photocopy of a bee. 
Here is a link to my dragonfly project which followed a similar beginning http://ubersavvy.blogspot.com/2011/03/dragonflies-galore-art-for-10-year-olds.html

(2)    I spent some time explaining scientific names; how they are achieved, latin roots and common suffixes. This is a good link to the basics- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_and_Greek_words_commonly_used_in_systematic_names. Then the kids wrote their own scientific name for their bee which was printed along with their original story about their bee. 
(3)  I printed the story and scientific name onto paper and a plastic OHT- they could use either or both.
(4)  Collage away! 

Of course we looked at the visual genre of museum display, but this was only a starting point for their choices. 

They look great displayed collaboratively but up close they are so unique!

Dragonflies, labels and all

This is the final panel of dragonflies by my Yr 5 class.

We took a slightly different direction this time by including scientific names. Part of a lesson was devoted to explaining the process by which a scientific name is achieved including research into latin roots, common suffixes etc. Some Year 5 students created the scientific name for their dragonfly based on their own name (as they were the person to 'discover' the new species) eg. Apis ubersavvium. 

I have included the other two displays from my previous posts also.

The final display using tags with scientific names

Generations of Mothers- documenting a maternal line

In celebration of Mother's Day here is a montage that I put together a couple of years back. It represents my maternal line - 6 generations (5 generations of mothers + my daughter)
My mum is the beautiful one in the middle.


Happy Mother's Day Mum! I love you!

Artz Workshops for creative souls, artists & art teachers (Part 1)

Lets face it Fridays are usually pretty good days. But Last Friday I knew I was in for a great one from the start because I was booked in for a practical workshop with Chris Stuart at Fine Arts Studio.


This workshop focused on mixed media processes like altered books and gave some innovative ideas to apply to my personal work but also to bring to my classes. Chris has a warmth and sense of fun which is contagious and her knowledge of new materials, advancements in media and processes is staggering. 

Tissue paper, muslin, paper doily and paper layered with wax 

We worked with wax, layering and also transfer methods. Transferring images onto tape is an easy process and has many possibilities when layered over text or other images as you can see by my quick examples below.

Obviously this is just a taste of our busy day and this is just one of the many courses Chris offers. Well worth checking out if you are in Brisbane!

Oh and the food ...........yummmmmm!