3rd Grade Art

3rd Graders have recently completed Fauve portraits. Fauve artists used bright, unrealistic colors. Because of this wild use of color they were called Fauves, meaning wild beasts, by traditional artists. After learning about face mapping, students drew portraits from memory, with pencil. The pencil lines were then outlined with black glue and when dry the pictures were colored with oil pastels. These 3^rd Grade portraits look fantastic colored in the style of Matisse.

2nd Grade Art

The Second Graders finished their oil pastel pumpkins barely in time to hang before Thanksgiving. Pumpkins and gourds were drawn with chalk and outlined with glue. After drying, pictures were colored with thick, blended oil pastels. Overlapping, analogous colors, and contour shading of forms were the focus points of this lesson.

Kindergarten Art

                                 

 Kindergarteners have just finished a paper weaving using purple and blue weft strips. They turned their weavings into an underwater environment filled with cut paper fish and seaweed. Torn paper sand was layered across the ocean bottom and real sand added texture to the picture.

3rd Grade Art

Inspired by an online project by Annie Rodgers, Color Wheel Zebra, I had the third grade create color wheel zebras and giraffes. After a directed drawing (a draw with me technique that creates complex drawings by combining the art elements of straight and curved line, circles and dots) the students added color to their marker drawings using only the primary colors red, yellow, and blue liquid watercolor. After choosing their favorite of the two pictures, the zebra or the giraffe, they colored the spots or stripes with sharpie. The background of this picture was painted (colors were to blend creating secondary colors) to add contrast with the black and white animal.  Their second picture was finished in reverse with the animal in blended colors and the background in black and white patterns for contrast.  

2nd Grade Art

Second Grade created a black and white pattern design. After completing their black and white designs, they added a four color border that provides a large contrast for their internal patterns. Upon completion of the border, they chose or cut a geometric or organic shape and colored it with the same colors as the border. Gluing the shape to the center of their designs provides unity for their pattern pictures.

1st Grade Art

The 1st Grade started the year with a crayon resist drawing of a teddy bear. Using permanent markers, they drew their bear, added simple clothing, and added an overlapped shelf (or wallpaper) filled with a variety of toys and shapes.  After coloring the bear's clothing and the background objects with crayons, the bears fur, floor, and wall were painted with liquid watercolors.  The students always think it is magic when the waxy crayons resist the paint!

Kindergarten Art

On the first day of art class Kindergartners learned they could draw everything in the whole world by just combining lines and shapes. On our second meeting they began a directed line drawing of a lion in an environment. Directed line drawings help the children with their listening and direction following skills. We discussed the parts of the lion’s body in terms of shapes and line types. They chose a position for their lion (sitting, lying down, or standing) then added an environment to make their picture tell a story. Their vocabulary is enriched as they create an overlapping environment for their lion(s) and add the horizon line last adding more depth. 

Happy Summer!

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Remember, drawing just a little each day helps keep your skills sharp (and it's fun too!!!). See you in August...

First Grade Art

The first grade finished their Koala pictures the week after their Australian Unit was completed. Those snow days really throw our schedule off. They created multimedia pictures with permanent markers, water soluble markers, and, felt and construction papers. Their pictures are delightful and will be on display next month at the K-8 Art Fair. Currently they are working on clown portraits. We mapped the clown faces drawing the eyes, nose, and mouth in the correct size and place before adding the "make up".  

Third Grade Art

The third grade just completed Teddy Bears in a seasonal environment. Each student had their own teddy bear to pose and draw from observation. Before drawing everyone must decide where their bear will be, what it is doing, what clothes or accessories it might need, and what season it will show. Pictures were drawn with water soluble markers and then were painted with watercolors. Students had to use the utmost care and control with their water colors so as to not wash away their drawings.

Second Grade Art

Second Grade flowers, inspired by the art work of Georgia O'Keeffe, are currently displayed in the common area outside of their room. O'Keeffe became famous for painting magnified close ups of flowers.  Students cut large flower shapes from white drawing paper and used self cut stencils and pastels to create their own versions of this art form.

Kindergarten Art

After finishing an African art unit featuring King Tut and Masks, the kindergarten started a paper strip landscape. Skills involved in this project include cutting lines to represent different types of terrain for foreground, middle ground and background, gluing strips down starting at the top of the paper and overlapping to the bottom, and creating a scene from cut papers tucked into the layers of background. Cities, forests, oceans, and even some inside environments have been created by these really talented students.

Second Grade Art

After discussing Eastern vs Western dragons, Second Graders discovered that dragons are a symbol for good luck, prosperity, and rain in the Chinese culture.  Eastern dragons have reptilian heads with teeth and fangs, flame like manes, tendril mustaches and snake like bodies. Using this information, students created beautiful drawings of Chinese dragon kites.  Adding collage materials to the dragon and fireworks in the background they created atmospheres of celebration.

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten learned about types and purposes of masks.  Each student decided what their mask would represent, e.g. an animal, person, be purely decorative…and for what purpose it would be worn, e.g. hunting, medicine man, celebration… Feathers, jewels, glitter, raffia, sticky dots, and paper streamers were used to enhance these symmetrical creations.

Third Grade Art

Third Graders finished their rainforest projects just in time to display during the “Wine in the Vine” celebration. Instructions included drawing an animal of their choice as the center of interest and placing it in its proper rainforest environment. Artificial flowers, paper vines and ferns, wiggle eyes, and dimensional paint could be added to their marker and painted pictures. This multi-media project is always a favorite for both the students and me.

1st Grade Art

After looking at some artwork by Cezanne the 1st Graders created a still life of apples.   In order to keep their fruit similar in size, they drew one apple, cut it out, and used it as a stencil for the others. They learned to overlap their fruit by drawing the closest (lowest on the page) pieces of fruit first. A table line was drawn after the fruit was completed. Color changing markers were used to create the pattern on the table and wall.