Turtles Galore

        For some reason there was quite a run on sea turtles in my printmaking classes, and five students made seven rubber block prints of these most excellent creatures.  I can’t resist sharing them with you today.
        It isn’t really remarkable that when groups of kids work together, common themes emerge.  One person comes up with a good idea, and others are inspired by it.  It’s perhaps a little more surprising that sea turtles were so popular with both my morning and afternoon groups, but still perfectly understandable that they should have seen each other’s work.  What really tickles me about this, though, is that, as usual, the young artists who made these block prints (ranging in age from fourth grade to eighth grade) each made something unique and distinctive.



        We have two fairly similar realistic turtles, one large and one small, that were designed with no background so that they could be combined with other blocks.  We have one designed with a border, and three with full backgrounds.  We have several different approaches to the 
patterns of the shells, and at least three unique interpretations of the texture of the flippers.  We have different color choices, as well, and even variations among the greens.  Some of these designs were pretty ambitious, others were quick and easy.
          Seeing these six rubber block prints should be enough to impress you with the high quality of artistic work the next generation of printmakers can achieve!

[Pictures: Sea turtles by TPN, SE, HM, MS;

Sea turtle by WY;

Sea turtle by SE.]