Origami Geometric Painting

Requires 2 sessions (2 hours)
Age: 8- 13-year-old
Fun for adults too!
Project Prototypes by Sinthia Cousineau
"Unfolded Origami Crane" by Sinthia Cousineau
"Unfolded Origami Fortune Teller" by Sinthia Cousineau
"Unfolded Origami Ladybug" by Sinthia Cousineau

Required Materials

  • Origami Paper 
  • Acrylic Paint (Primary Colours and white)
  • Square Canvas Board
  • Paintbrush
  • Black Sharpie
  • Pencil and eraser
  • Ruler
  • Origami instruction sheets
  • Jar of water
Origami Paper

Inspiring Artist: Sarah Morris

  • She is an American and British abstract artist.
  • She unfolded origami and found inspiration from the unfolded lines to create large abstract paintings.

Project Steps

Step 1: Make an Origami Creation (30 minutes)

  • Explore the art of paper folding and try to create a few origamis.
  • Using books about origami or printed out instructions, start with simple origami before trying the more complex ones.
  • I chose to create a crane for my first one and a fortune teller for my 2nd one.

Step 2: Unfold your Origami and draw the folded lines.

  • With a pencil or thin black sharpie marker, draw over the folded lines so they are easier to see.
  • Redraw the folded lines onto a square board canvas with a pencil and ruler.
  • Older students can measure the proportions required for the angles with a ruler, younger students can try to copy by eye. 

Step 3: Trace the lines with a back sharpie

  • Use a ruler if necessary, and try to keep the lines straight.
Unfolded Origami Crane
Unfolded Origami Heart 
Unfolded Origami Ladybug
Unfolded Origami Fox

Step 4: Using only primary colours paint a colour wheel on your drawing.

  • Primary colours are yellow, blue and red. 
  • Mix the primary colours to create the secondary colours (orange, green and violet)
  • If your origami has a lot of lines from folds, you can change the value of the colours by adding white. 
  • The colours should be spread evenly across the canvas to form a nice colour wheel, that respects the order of the colours.

Step 5: Retrace the lines with a black sharpie to make the image stand out. 

Step 6: With a small black sharpie, draw symbols of origami on the painting.

Students working on their Origami Inspired Painting

Student Artworks

Student Age 8 
Student Age 12
Student Age 10
Student Age 10
Student Age 10
Student Age 10

Some of my Origami Videos