1st Grade Art

The First Graders are working on outstanding yarn weavings. After becoming familiar with tabby weaving (basic over/under repetition), and, basic weaving terminology, students have the option of trying more advanced patterns. Many will choose to add fringe to their weaving creating a little more interest and variety.

2nd Grade Art

Second grade have finished their snowman portraits, always one of their favorites. They created a close-up of a snowman, creating texture by using a dabbing motion with the brush. Pastel shades of paint (tints) were made by mixing secondary and primary colors with white. Water thinned paint and large glittery flakes were used in the backgrounds to create a wintry atmosphere (not unlike our current weather here)!

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.

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

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.

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.

 

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

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

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

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.