Forest Fairies

My first genius hour project is completed and I am so happy with it!

After getting the supplies from the woods and compost bins I began the process of assembling the fairies dresses. This was so much fun and I'm honestly wondering if I should change my major to fashion design?? Just kidding! But the dresses turned out lovely! For the summer fairy I layered the leaves with small flowers sprouting out and used a rose petal as the top half. I used grass and leaves for the rest of her dress! For the winter fairy I used a lot of dead leaves, weeds, and tree bark to make her dress and the platform she was standing on. There were a few struggles along the way though! The hardest part was figuring out a way to represent them and what colours to use in the background. How they are placed on the paper is probably the most important part of the picture because it is when nature and art really merge! Originally I was going to have them be in the same frame to contrast each other, but I felt I could not properly highlight their colours in this way. I had to ask many opinions and look at many pieces online with contrasting colours ad ultimately I decided to have them side by side because I felt it really that the differences complimented each other and helped them both to stand out more. This was the best decision because like winter and summer, both contrast each other drastically but both are beautiful and unique in their own way. Hopefully the next one will take a little less time, this one took me over 5 hours to put together!! I would love to implement an activity like this in my future classroom. Firstly, it was easy to find all the materials and the only money I spent on this project was five dollars for a small water colour set that can be used again and again. Students can be creative with their designs and they can create any kind of background to have their fairies stand in! I loved this activity because it gives students the opportunity to transform nature (especially disregarded pieces such as dead leaves, grass, and bark) into something new and beautiful! For my next piece I am looking at a way to represent nature without actually using pieces from nature. I will be looking at photography, painting, and drawing for my next piece because I like to contrast the styles I am using. Stay tuned!! Vanessa