After a long winter break, we are back to work at Corbie Arts.  Our first project is actually going to be several “mini lessons” that will culminate in a winter collage.  We began by reading Over and Under the Snow by Kate Messner, illlustrated by Christopher Silas Neal.  In this book, we follow a young girl skiing in the forest.  Through her adventures, she learns of the “secret kingdom under the snow,” or the subnivean zone.  Our finished collage will illustrate a winter scene with both the animals that live above the snow and those that live or hibernate in the subnivean zone.

Our first “mini lesson” was creating painted paper that will later be used to cut out trees, leaves, rocks, etc…  I first demonstrated how to create texture using different tools and techniques.  Then the fun began!

I ended up taking home around 100 little paintings!  Some of them are so beautiful.  They look like modern masterpieces!  We will be cutting these up next week, but I hope the students learned from this mini project that experimentation can lead to amazing results.