Painting the birds, fish and others

For art 1's final watercolor project I decided I wanted to do something different.  So where else do you go for ideas but Pinterest.  It was on that lovely site that I ran into an image from this website http://createartwithme.com/2013/04/08/border-art-lesson/ .  I liked how Michelle East had incorporated both watercolor and then an india ink border.

  I did have to make a change and use sharpie instead of india ink because I think my ink has gone bad.  I didn't know that could happen, but mine stinks so bad that I even refuse to have the bottles open.  I guess I will be pitching all of that this year and buying new.

Anyways, we had worked with several different watercolor practice projects.  I am actually really happy with how those worked this year and how I feel like the students got a better idea of how to paint with watercolors.  I then told them that for this project they would need to pick an animal, insect or fish from a real photo (so no cartoons or photoshop creatures).   I told them to look for bright and colorful, especially since I would not allow them to use black in their piece.  If they needed black or a dark color they needed to mix colors until they got what they needed.  Some struggle and complain about this, but I think it teaches them to think outside of the box and to be resourceful for themselves.  Also black watercolor can spread like a wildfire if it is not controlled and ruin a piece so fast that I consider avoiding it as a safety precaution.

After they drew the animal, they had to draw in some habitat.  Not a lot, but just enough to add something to the outside edge of the paper.  I then had them draw a border that came into the paper 2" from the edge.  I then told them that the entire animal had to be painted even if it came outside of the box (and I told them it should come out somewhere) and they had to paint whatever background was inside of the box.  After they painted I had them use sharpie to add to the outside with outlines and texture to their overlapping background pieces.  I can see how india ink would get darker and probably a little bit more effective.  I will try that step next year.

Sam S.

Bella J.

Yeva S.

Madisyn V.

Morgan B.

Madison S.

Brooke A.

Alex G.

Mikayla R.

Paige Q.

Morgan H.

Mykah W.

I put Paige's in there because she did a beautiful job, but yes she used black which was against the rules.

Window photo

For last week's photo challenge I asked my students to use the light from a window to highlight a person.  I told them that they didn't have to show the window, which some had some trouble with that step.  But I did show them some examples so that they had an idea of what I was looking for.  These are a few of my favorites.

Danica H.

Kelsey C.

Maggie H.

Marcelle W.

Ryan S.

Not repeating repetition

So I am trying this more open based learning process with my advanced classes.  But I hit a project that I am not liking and probably won't repeat, at least not without major tweaks.

I assigned them the theme of repetition, and to add a little bit more focus on it I asked them to use the additional theme of music or emotion.  Well that backfired in my face.  I have a few to show you, but not many.  I think if I do this one in the future I will definitely just ask them to repeat a shape, object or overlay a medium some how.

Jozlynn

Karly

Kelsey

Maggie

So far these have been some of the better ones.

Sorry for so many posts

I know that this will add another post, but I thought I should send a short apology for not keeping this up, but our weather here has been horrible.  We have had so many late starts and early dismissals over the last few weeks that it is not only taking me forever to get things done, but also my students.  Hopefully we will have some improved weather so we can get some project going.

I am excited about what we have going on right now.  Art 1 is doing a new watercolor project that I found on Pinterest.  Art 2 is working with sticky or messy subjects and Art 3 is learning to deal with new perspectives.  So we are keeping really busy and I hope to show you more artwork soon.

Here are some of the practice watercolor projects that Art 1 has been doing.

Mrs. DeWitt's sample

Brooke K.

Yeva S.

Dylan B.

Carter H.

Mikayla R.

Find the curves and lines

For this week's photography assignment, I challenged my students to find curves and/or lines in the world around them.  I was very surprised by what some of them turned in.

Alli H.

Sydney Hau.

Karly N.

Kelsey C.

Lexi B.

Maggie H.

Kenzie R.

Sammy K.

Moving through art

So the first assignment after Christmas for my Art 3 class was the theme of movement.  Either their project had to have movement in it or they needed to use movement to create it.  I was really surprised by all of the different ways my students interpreted the theme.  I have even more that I would love to show you, but they have not posted yet.

Brandon S. - Axe hitting a target

Brooke O. - Windmill

Jon C. - Charcoal sketch

Kamber L. - Gears out of Clay

Kenzie S. - Finger paint

Sabrina L. - Marker

Mariah B. - Angel falling in pencil/charcoal

Sammy K. - Captain America in paint splatter

An unconventional image

For Art 2's first assignment after Christmas I challenged them to create a self portrait out of an unconventional medium.  Some took the challenge and brought in tons of supplies and others went pretty simple with the task.  But either way they needed to do something different.

Alli H. - Tissue paper

Courtney M. - Melted crayon that has been scratched away

Danica H. - Nail polish

Demi H. - Thumbtacks  

Derek E. - Red pen

KaSandra K. - Embossing on foil

Kelsey C. - Toothpicks

I am very proud of the few kids that finished their projects even though they had some serious issues in the beginning.  I am also really proud of the ones who learned new techniques.