Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarteners are working on symmetrical flower vases.  After coloring their vases and tabletops with markers, flower blobs (abstract flower head shapes) were painted using only primary and secondary colors pan watercolor. Symmetry and color mixing were the main two ideas stressed in this project.  The details (flower centers, petals, stems) were added with markers.

First Grade Art

1^st Graders drew close-ups of scarecrows in an environment. The scarecrows were positioned in the foreground as the lowest thing on the page, making it close to the viewer. To make their scarecrows look inanimate they were positioned with their arms straight out to the sides and their mouths were “stitched.”  But, besides that, anything goes…hat/no hat, boy/girl, pants/dress etc. Environments included farm buildings, crops, and animals.  All objects in the picture were colored hard and solid with crayon.  The sky will be painted with watercolors.

Third Grade Art

Looking at the ocean through a porthole creates a whole new perspective on the third grade underwater scenes. Having at least one large fish and different varieties of very detailed plant life makes these pictures appear up close and personal.  Water-soluble oil pastels in analogous colors were used to blend the colors of the fish and plants. Liquid watercolors fill the background.

Second Grade Art

The Second Graders have recently finished a Days of the Dead skeleton picture. The Days of the Dead is a Hispanic holiday celebrated on the 1^st and 2^nddays of November. It is a celebration of the life of deceased loved ones. Students  cut out skeletons, put them in an action pose, created clothing if needed, and placed them in an environment that shows some of the things that the deceased person loved (not a scary Halloween type of picture). The addition of glitter always makes this artwork very festive! We didn't finish these in time to display on the bulletin boards, but be looking forward to seeing these at the April Art Fair.

After discussing the difference between actual texture and visual texture we started oil pastel drawings of owls. We'll soon have a flock of feathery owls. Feather patterns were created mixing only three colors plus black and white. Radial feather patterns “radiate” from an eye center, long feathers hang in  repeated patterns down the wings, and small feather tufts dot the breast. These should be finished and displayed soon after Thanksgiving break.

Kindergarten Art

There’s really something fishy about this! The Kindergarten has started an overlapping underwater scene. After a short fish anatomy lesson they drew a fish (or two, or three), and  added a habitat by drawing objects such as overlapping seaweed, air bubbles, starfish, mermaids, sand dollars, seahorses, sunken ships, coral, and a sandy ocean floor.  After coloring these objects with very waxy crayons they painted over their entire pictures with liquid watercolor. Everyone thought it magical as the crayons resisted the paint. Large rock salt crystals were sprinkled on the wet picture to create a bubbly effect (almost as fun as glitter!). 

2nd Grade Art

An analogous color scheme helps give unity to the Second Graders’ complex fish drawings. After drawing an underwater scene that must include at least three fish and/or underwater animals, three different types of plants, and the use of overlapping for perspective, students choose an analogous color scheme to complete the project. After choosing a primary color as their starting point, students can use that color and all other colors up to, but not including, the other two primaries. Observing the color wheel assists students when choosing which colors are available for use in their chosen color scheme. Although an analogous color scheme usually only includes three or four colors (analogous colors have at least one color in common, e.g. students could use the colors of blue, green because it is made with blue and yellow, and purple because it is made with blue and red, the common color being blue) we use all marker colors available that have a common color. 

3rd Grade Art

The Third Grade just finished creating portraits of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. After looking at self-portraits by Frida we compared them to the decorative Frida portraits by Heather Galler. Upon completion of their portraits, students added backgrounds in the style of either Kahlo or Galler. Color was added with water soluble oil pastels. Absolutely fantastic!!!  

1st Grade Art

The 1^st Grade observed the wonderful landscapes of Heather Galler before beginning their own paintings. Galler uses simple shapes, bright colors and patterns, patterns, patterns. We tried our own versions of these pictures using a new art supply, PlayColor paint sticks. Like its name, the product is paint in stick form similar to a large tube of lipstick. Students drew a farm landscape, cityscape, or ocean view picture with sharpie and added color with the paint sticks. They absolutely loved the ease of the paint sticks—no brush, no wash, no fuss… The paints worked wonderfully. We filled in our patterns with colored permanent markers. The color of the first layer of paint had to be chosen carefully so that the patterns would stand out. They turned out beautifully! 

1st Grade Art

First Graders created a simple black and white design on a two-inch square piece of paper by repeating the art elements f line and shape. By arranging nine copies of these designs they created a more complex design. What a surprise when new shapes are formed when the corners meet! Students choose two or three of their shapes/lines found in their designed square to create a border to frame their picture.

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

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten started the year with a review of how shapes and lines combine to create objects. While carefully observing a stuffed Sesame Street Character, they created a directed draw of Oscar the Grouch. After learning about environments students created one for Oscar. Is he at a birthday party, in your backyard, camping in the woods, alone or with friends?  Other Sesame characters were available for them to draw from observation and the rest of their environment was drawn from memory. Their horizon line, or the line separating their floor from the wall, was the last thing they drew, adding great depth to their pictures. Focus is now on careful coloring

3rd Grade Art

The third graders have just finished a painting in the style of artist Laurel Burch. Laurel Burch (Dec.31, 1945 - Sept. 13, 2007) was a self-taught painter whose art conveys a sense of joy and happiness. Although suffering from a painful bone disease she tried to show the goodness of humankind through her creation of  patterned animals, using bold lines, curves and an explosion of color.She is perhaps best known for her highly stylized, cartoon-like cats. You can now find her art work adorning greeting cards, wall hangings, purses, scarves, socks, etc. Once familiar with her style, you'll be surprised how often you'll see it.

Welcome Back!!!

We've completed our first two full weeks of school and everyone is anxious to create.  Grades Kindergarten through Third Grade all started off the year with design projects. These projects serve as a review of previously learned skills and let me see how well students can listen and follow directions. So far, so good. Art work will soon be hanging on the entryway bulletin boards and on boards outside of the classrooms. There is an exciting year planned and many new projects!

1st Grade Art

The First Grade finished their Winnie the Pooh pictures right after the art show. Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, and Piglet were drawn from observation and environments were added from their memories.
After finishing these pictures, we worked on making pictures tell stories by playing a WHO, WHAT, WHERE, game. Each student chose random who, what, where paper slips and told these stories through pictures. For example, they may be drawing a gorilla, playing a guitar, on a motorcycle, or perhaps an elephant, ballet dancing, on a pirate ship. The excitement was high as they tried to illustrate some rather unusual scenarios. 
To finish off a creative year, stencils were cut from white paper, colored with chalk pastels, and brushed onto background papers. Symmetrical cutting, overlapping, and positive/negative space were emphasized. Very interesting.

3rd Grade Art

The third grade has completed three projects since the April art show. First they created trees in the style of TR Mack. Mack said he starts his paintings without a plan, letting his pictures develop as he paints. It is an unusual approach but his pictures are beautiful as are the third grade pictures.
 Their next picture was a stained glass scratch paper picture. After sketching a picture of their choice, transferring it with white transfer paper to the black scratch paper, and getting a wooden stylus, they began scraping black paint off, revealing a transparent, colorful image--perfect to display on a bedroom window.
The final picture for the year was an oil pastel lion portrait. After sketching their lion heads with black and white oil pastels, students finished them adding two or three other colors, blending the  colors to create shading and highlights.  A textured mane created the crowning touch for this king of the jungle.

Third Grade Art

Who painted pictures of soup cans, pop bottles, and Marilyn Monroe?  Know anyone who had 25 cats named Sam?  After learning a little bit about the artist, the third graders began “Pop Art” pictures of dogs in the style of Andy Warhol. Two Warhol characteristics that will be found in their pictures include multiple images (of their dog drawings) and the use of unusual and bright colors. 

2nd Grade Art

Second Graders completed a Native American pottery picture just in time for the art show. Students cut out and embellished with earth tone markers at least three symmetrically cut paper pots.  After their designs are completed they add contour shadows, glue the pots to a background paper and add cast shadows. Very messy, but the effect is magical.

 

First Grade Art

First Graders created wonderful drawings of a still life with a teapot. The teapot was drawn as the center of interest of the picture and then a background was added (inside or outside scene). Everyone is starting to understand placement of objects on their paper and how to overlap objects to show space and perspective. Using only red, yellow, and blue they mixed transparent watercolors to paint their pictures.

Kindergarten Art

The artist Piet Mondrian became famous for his geometric art created using only black horizontal and vertical lines, and, red, yellow and blue squares and rectangles.  Copying his style, the Kindergarteners created paper quilts to cover animals they cut from colored construction paper squares and rectangles. Birds, bears, tigers, dogs, cats, and elephants are all tucked in with the quilt pulled up under their chins. How cute!!!

Art Show Time!

   Please join us for the

 K-8 Art Show

Wednesday, April 22

3:30-7-30

First Grade Art

The First Grade is currently making relief prints of fish. A relief print is made by inking a raised design with color and stamping it onto another surface. After drawing a fish on a piece of paper they transferred the image to a piece of Styrofoam. The Styrofoam fish was then cut out and adhered to a cardboard backing. Each student will make at least three prints of their fish on a variety of background papers. Brayers are used to roll printing ink onto their Styrofoam printing plates and the print will be transferred to papers by placing the painted surface of the fish onto the printing paper and rubbed with barrens. This is always great, messy, fun. 

Second Grade Art

The Second Grade created watercolors of Pandas to complement their Asian studies. Whether walking through the bamboo forest or in a mountainous environment, these bears are charming. The Panda pictures were drawn with water-based markers and then painted with watercolors. Students learned to control the amount of liquid watercolors used so that moistened marker lines would self shade and not be washed away. 

2nd Grade Art

The second graders have recently finished Chinese Dragon drawings to complement their Asian Unit.  After drawing an Eastern Dragon (western dragons are the fire breathing, scary type) the pictures were colored with an analogous color scheme. Swirled designs filled the background and the addition of glitter to these creations helped keep the focus on dragons used in celebrations.

Third Grade Art

3^rd Grade peacocks emphasize feathery textures and repeated color patterns.  These oil pastel pictures were created in less than two hours time. Colors were blended on the peacocks’ chests, highlighting the curved forms of the bodies. Before drawing the tail feathers, a variety of colors of chalk pastels were added to the backgrounds adding unity to the tail shape.  

First Grade Art

First graders learned that many clowns make their faces white to create a stronger contrast to their other make-up. This allows them to be seen better from a greater distance. It surprised them that even though clowns might exaggerate their features, their eyes, nose, and mouth placement always remain in the same exact place as when they wear no make-up. The white paper faces were glued to a bright background, and colored with a combination of permanent markers, oil pastels, and construction paper crayons. With the addition of sparkly glitter and “Dab a Dots” in the backgrounds, you can almost hear the calliope.

Kindergarten Art

The Kindergarten painted deer walking in the snow. Using white paint, they established their horizon lines and painted all the ground beneath these lines. Horizons could be flat, be covered with hills, or even form a valley.  After the ground was completed students added one or more deer or deer families, trees, footprints, and anything else they felt would make the scene complete. We learned that things placed on the horizon line would appear smaller and things placed near the bottom of the page are closer to the viewer and so would be larger.

Sooooo cute!!!

Kindergarten Art

Right before Thanksgiving, the Kindergarten began observational drawings of Raggedy Ann and Andy in an environment.  Each child had a doll to look at while they drew with permanent markers and then created a background from their imaginations.  The drawings are then colored with the primary colored red, yellow, and blue payons (paint/crayons). All secondary colors (green, orange, and purple) must be mixed by combining two of the primaries. Brown is created by using all three of the primaries. After the coloring is completed the picture will be painted with water allowing the colors to mix and it takes on a watercolored appearance. The drawings are fantastic. Now the emphasis is on coloring our best.

3rd Grade Art

George Rodrigue, a contemporary artist from the United States, is perhaps best known for his Blue Dog pictures.  In 1984 George was asked to illustrate a book of Cajun ghost stories. One of the stories was called Watch Dog, a story about a Loup Garou, the Cajun name for a Werewolf. He used a photo of his little white dog Tiffany as a model for the Loup Garou and painted her fur a bluish color (the color he thought the night time sky would make her fur appear) Soon people started asking about his blue dog pictures so the blue dog was born. He used bold solid colors and expressed the feelings of mankind through the Blue Dog—why am I here, what am I doing, and where am I going. The Blue Dog began appearing in different colors depending on what he was thinking about. For example, if he was thinking about hot dogs, he might be yellow for mustard. These very creative pictures were made from cut paper.

2nd Grade Art

The second graders created close-up flower designs inspired by the artwork of Georgia O’Keeffe. Students began by cutting a 12x12 inch paper into a large flower shape and then cut progressively smaller stencils which they used to create the flower petal shapes by brushing pastel from the stencils onto their flower. One of America’s most famous artists, O’Keeffe loved to paint large close-ups of flowers, mountains, seashells, and even cow skulls that she discovered in the desert. 

1st Grade Art

These dogs may not be anatomically correct but they sure bring a smile to your face.

Using only trapezoids, the 1^st Graders created Dalmatians in motion. Each student started with enough trapezoids for two heads, 2 bodies and eight legs.  After cutting out the shapes, students moved the pieces around to create dogs in motion. They positioned their dogs, added ears, tails, spots, eyes, and collars. Then, they added a tad of environment with construction paper crayons.  These are some happy pups!