A student completed her first finished project- and she MADE MONEY!
Okay, she didn't sell her first masterpiece...she created paper money.
The front side of Spain's new paper money (currency), held by the artist, Jamie. |
After weeks of learning how to see as an artist does and then getting what she sees down on paper, we launched our first project of the year. (It was a nice break from working from a still life, shading exercises and contour line art.)
The first "REAL" project of the year was designing and then creating new paper money for a country of her choice. To find out where she might want to create money for we asked her, "Where do you want to live in the world? Pick a place that you want to visit some day."
SPAIN! Jamie answered breathlessly.
We then researched Spain separately and together.
Jamie loves animals, and is very concerned about animal rights, endangered animals, and human impact on their habitats. She discovered that Iberian Wolves are endangered. Right away she KNEW Iberian wolves would be featured on her money.
Close up of Iberian Wolf** on project. Iberian Wolf image courtesy of Wikipedia. Photographer unknown.
Spain's coast all of the white area is greenhouses
Image courtesy of UNEP.
The icing on the cake, so to speak, was the colors of Spain's flag.
Three, brilliant primary colors in horizontal bands. Viola!
Red= Tomatoes Yellow= Bananas Blue= Fun!
Back of the new currency, featuring a juggling Iberian Wolf. |
Discovering that money goes by other names in other countries was an added bonus- before the EU Spain's currency was called Peseta.
A special thanks to Matt G. who gave us Mexican paper currency to see up close and personal. Mexican currency (Peso) is colorful compared to older U.S. paper money. We also looked at money from pre-European Union (EU) days so we could appreciate all the variety that traveling in Europe once entailed. (We did not get into currency exchanges and rates, because that is just a migraine waiting to happen, LOL)
**If you look closely at the wolf, you can see where Jamie pays tribute to Pablo Picasso! The head is seen both head-on and sideways at the same time.
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