Gelli plate art | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘Gelli plate art’

Celebrating Creativity and Caroline Starr Rose

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Writing, tagged Caroline Starr Rose, Gelli plate art on December 12, 2015| 7 Comments »

Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.

Celebrating Easy Art and Creativity: I was doing some shopping at A&E gallery when I saw Marcie. I asked her if we could get together to do gel printing for Christmas stuff. She put it all together last weekend and four of us met at the gallery to play with our gel print plates. This is such a fun and easy way to create art. On the gelli plate (they were original made with real gelatin), you squirt and roll out paint. Then you can press in a stencil or even grab a paper towel roll and print circles. Place the paper down and pull up. There you have it. I designed gift tags, note cards, and tissue paper.

The mess of creative play with gel printing.

Gel printed tissue paper

Celebrating Skype Author Visit: My students were beyond excited about their Skype visit with author Caroline Starr Rose. She set up her computer outside a Starbucks in Albuquerque because she had roofers at her house. She looked a little red-nosed from the chill, but all worked fine. (I was especially happy the technology worked.)

Caroline Starr Rose wrote May B and Blue Birds, both historical fiction verse novels, and Over in the Wetlands, a picture book about the creatures in the wetlands surviving a hurricane. Her writing is lyrical and beautiful. But we messed up in preparing for her visit. I read aloud Over in the Wetlands as well as parts of May B and Blue Birds, but we didn’t read the Author’s Note. She gave them a quiz. Let me just say that gifted kids are not accustomed to failing quizzes. They didn’t do too well on her wetlands quiz, but they learned a lot.

They were inspired to be creative with their thank you notes.

Creative thank you note from Kielan

Emily reproduced the cover of “Over in the Wetlands” in her drawing.

Lani made her a construction paper purse using a star symbol for “Starr.”

I celebrate the creativity of playing with art. My students “get” this sense of play as well. I love that. I am grateful to authors like Caroline Starr Rose who inspire with good literature and generosity of spirit.

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Celebrating Being a Hero

Posted in Celebration Saturday, tagged A&E Gallery, Gelli plate art, teaching gifted on January 25, 2014| 10 Comments »

The sun is coming up. The ice still glitters on the trees. Soon it will all melt. Yesterday, the ice and rain and little snow flurries came down all day long. For us in the deep south, temperatures below freezing all day long are rare. I celebrate the day off of school and the beauty. I did not have to get out much, but when I did, I didn’t know that the rain would turn to ice so suddenly on my windshield. The first time I ventured out, I had to pull over to let my car warm up. I felt stupid, aggravated at my lack of expertise with this weather. So while I enjoyed having a free day, I know there were others who struggled.

I am Matthew’s hero! The fourth grade teachers have a Student of the Week every week. This week was Matthew’s turn. I didn’t see his poster until Thursday. There in the lower left corner was a section titled “My Hero.” Matthew had written about me, his gifted teacher for the last 4 years.

Mrs. Simon is my hero because she’s been my teacher for 4 years. She’s like an aunt to me, and she’s the best teacher I’ve ever had and ever will have. This is why Mrs. Simon is my hero.

My one little word for 2014 is Open. Last Saturday, I went to A&E Gallery to paint with Marcie Melancon. She does gelli plate printing and collage. I made this collage for my OLW. It reminds me daily to be open and creative.

What are you celebrating this week? Add your post to Ruth’s round up.

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Celebration Saturday

Posted in Celebration Saturday, Teaching, tagged Gelli plate art, Illuminate, Lemuria, The Shadows on December 7, 2013| 6 Comments »

Celebration Saturday is here once again. Do the weeks fly by for you? I have much to be thankful for this week.

1. Last Saturday I had a book signing at Lemuria in Jackson, MS with my father. We were signing our book Illuminate. The biggest treat was to see old friends and to share the joy. We even sold one to a stranger.

Here I am with a high school friend sitting under photos of Eudora Welty and Walker Percy among other famous authors.

2. Tuesday night I rode in the Christmas parade all decked out in a vintage red dress and white wig.

My best queenly wave!

3. On Wednesday, my students went to the Shadows to rehearse for their play. Every year, the gifted students in grades 4-6 perform a play for the first graders in the parish. This program based on the history of the plantation home has been going on for 30 years. Some of my students have parents who performed in the play when they were younger. This is a great experience for my students. They all learned their lines and behaved well. We went to lunch downtown on Main Street at Victor’s cafeteria. This is an iconic place in New Iberia. They have a sign that reads “Dave Robicheaux eats here.” My students did such a good job at paying and figuring out tip that they were complimented by the cafeteria staff, so I let them have a play time in Bouligny Plaza. They played a vigorous game of hide and seek. Down by the bayou, I showed them a sculpture garden, another fun place to play and take ~~group~~ family pictures. A great day!

Girls in period costume

4. On Thursday evening, I took an art class. I learned how to use a gelli plate for printing. The instructor, Marcie Melancon, had made a mold from gelatin for me to use. You can purchase a gelli plate, but since I didn’t have one, I used the homemade one. I was very pleased with the resulting prints. The process was fun and easy. Just squirt out paint, roll it on, and print. We used a variety of found objects for printing, like toilet paper tubes, bubble wrap, leaves, string, etc. The one I liked the most was a double print rather than a mono print. So the images layered to create a beautiful mystical image. The woman figure was a magazine cut out that was laminated with packing tape.

5. On Friday, I found $50 that I had lost somewhere in my purse. I thought it was gone forever, but it surfaced miraculously when I was looking for something else.

This was a wonderful week, and I am working hard to avoid getting into a holiday frenzy. I want to continue to find blessings in every day.

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