Valentines

Kinder to fifth grade contributed to this collection.  Students painted, printed, drew, and shaped hearts.  The final conglomeration is quite lovely and will stay up for some time along with quotes of kindness, because hearts are great all year long!

Kinder Hearts

This was a long and fun process for these Kindergarten students! First, we started with our background.  Students used a crayon to draw different types of lines.  I asked for suggestions as we drew our lines across the paper.  Once the ball was rolling, students were excited to share the different types of lines they could think of.

After our paper was filled with various lines, we switched to a white piece of paper with the template of a heart on the back.  With a small square of cardboard, students painted the paper with red, yellow, and pink.  Students liked using the cardboard as an alternative to a paintbrush, and it really gives a different approach to mixing colors on the paper.  When the paper was nearly fully painted, we switched to stamping the cardboard using white and purple.  Practicing the difference between “dragging” and “stamping” in painting, I think, will help create more knowledgeable artists as these students approach new canvases.

Printmaking with Lines

It’s always exciting to bring printmaking to a class. It’s usually a new experience for students, so they love learning the process.  With this fourth grade class, we first discussed “line” as an element of art.  Students gave examples of different types of lines and together we drew different lines on our foam printing surface.

Van Gogh Flowers

Third graders took a look at Van Gogh’s flowers as inspiration for their watercolored artwork.  Even though this was a directed draw, each composition came out very different! As suggested by another art blogging teacher- students put away pencils and only used a crayon to draw the flowers and vase.  There’s something really honest and great about unedited drawings by children.

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” – Pablo Picasso

For this project, I walked students through drawing the flowers highlighting “overlapping” as a technique artists use to show space- some students overlapped more than others. Once the outline was complete students used watercolors to paint their artwork as they chose.

This student left her chair for a more comfortable painting position 🙂 Students were so focused!

Patterned Landscape

Ohh la la, I am liking these chalk pastels! Before this school year, I had never used them before. This fifth grade class used them on black paper to create an abstract landscape.  Students drew three hills with a building and then divided the hills into smaller sections onto which they could draw patterns.  I shared with students that line, shape and color are all elements or art.  With these simple concepts all types of art can be created… including a lovely abstract landscape.  The room was silent as students were drawing and coloring their artwork and their hard work paid off with these bright beautiful creations!

It’s Okay to be Different

I saw this school wide collaborative mural by Cassie Stephens and really wanted to bring the same message to our school! Cassie is the master and I am constantly inspired by her work with students.  SO, we began with folded 12″x18″ papers and students mixed colors to paint the entire paper one section at a time.  We painted three sections with secondary colors and the fourth rectanlge was a color of the student’s choice.  I only had primary colors out, so when a student asked for green, I’d reply in confusion, “uhhh, I don’t have green, what can we mix to get green?!” This was a fun game. It’s fun to let students show you what they’ve learned.

In the next session, when the paper dried, students traced two circles and cut out pieces to create their wacky self-portrait. Lastly we outlined their faces with black paint to add a nice pop.

Georgia O’Keefe Poppies

This was my first time bringing a Georgia O’Keefe lesson to a classroom and for some reason I was a little nervous! I led students through a directed draw, using wiggly and straight lines.  I took advice from some fellow art teachery bloggers and didn’t let students use pencil first and I’m glad I did! We used oil pastels to draw the flower and then watercolors to paint the petals and background.  Students used warm colors for the flower and blue or purple for the background.  The end product was amazing.

I love this quote by O’Keefe, “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” 

Below is the image we used as inspiration.

 

 

Rangoli Designs

These 6th graders were studying ancient India, so in connection with their core curriculum, we looked at Rangoli designs which have been used in India since ancient times.  Students were asked to create their own design, keeping in mind radial symmetry and using lots of color as we see in the traditional Rangoli designs.  Students drew their designs in crayon and then outlined shapes with glue and colored sand.  Rangoli designs are usually created on the floor with colored sand, flour or rice so it was nice to be able to tie in the sand component.

Here is an example of a Rangoli design.  These works of art are temporary.

Roy Lichtenstein Onomatopoeia

My middle school students saw a sample I made for another class and begged me to do this project with them.  Who can resist the exciting pop art of good ol’ Roy!

Students chose an onomatopoeia and sketched it in block letters on paper.  I was noticing that the sketches were a little rushed or not spaced well, so before painting we drew a revision- outside. Students took chalk and drew their idea on the blacktop.  This really helped students visualize what they wanted their word to look like.  Several students were impressed with their chalk drawing.  I think they felt less pressure drawing on the ground, and they didn’t have to worry about running into the edge of the paper.

 

I also shared with students the scale of Lichtenstein’s work.