Color theory in action

Art 1 put our color theory lessons into action with these interesting works of art.  Most of the students love this project because I let them draw cartoon characters or anything else that they want.  Then they have to divide it into 6 areas any way that they want.  Then in each area they have to paint it with one of the 6 color schemes that we have been studying.  The schemes we covered were; warm, cool, complimentary, double complimentary, triadic, and analogous.

Hannah C.

Brock N.

Katelyn S.

Samantha F.

Concentric circle magic

So I have been really excited to create art again with Junior High students.  This was one of my projects that I was so excited to bring back. It is called concentric circles.

To start this project, I have them work on practice paper.  We start by finding the center of the paper with a dot and then they have to use a compass and make about 12 circles that come out from that center point and get bigger and bigger, hence the name concentric circles.  After, they make all of these circles they then put perpendicular lines through the center dot.  Then then add an "x" over that so that the circles have been divided into 8 equal or fairly equal parts.  I should have pointed out that this all needs to be done very lightly because you will be erasing most of it.

Once all of the circles and lines are done, you use this as a grid/measuring system.  Now you are going to start creating patterns that cut into the circles.  So you might start at the outer circle and use a ruler to make a line to the third circle where it meets the next line over.  Then you would repeat that or switch directions, basically the possibilities are endless.  It is just a matter of keeping things symmetrical and/or in patterns.

After you have created shapes in the circles, you erase the extra parts that you don't want and then you add patterns in sharpie.  

Andrew C.

Leysa S.

Sidney B.

Spin the color wheel

I am trying to redo my Art 1 curriculum this year.  I don't know why, but I was bored with the way I was teaching things, and who else has to make constant changes but an art teacher.  We are just never satisfied.  We are always reaching for perfection, which according to Dali is not possible, but we keep trying.

Well one of the things I am trying to redo is my color theory unit.  I used to do this huge project all in one, but this year I decided to simplify it and do several smaller projects.  I started with having them paint a basic color wheel and then they had to divide it up into a unique design.  I gave them two ways to do it.  The first was they could fold manila paper into a snowflake and then cut out designs, trace it on the back of their colorwheel and then cut it out with exacto knives.  The second way was to cut a design out of a triangle template, trace it 12 times on the back of their colorwheel and then cut it out.  Either way they had to mount it onto black construction paper.

Both ways had positive and negatives, but I like how most of them came out.

John S.

Taylor M.

Morgan L.

Riley R.

Splatter Drawing

I started this project by having Art 2 take photos of splatter.  They could take photos of water, paint or anything else that gave a great splatter effect.  Most did water and a few did paint.  But then to up the difficulty I asked them to draw the photos that they took.

These are just a few of my favorites.

Danica H.

Heidi S.

Lexi B.

Nikole K

A minion reasons we love art history

I am in love with the minions.  My husband has even made their giggle his ring tone for when I text him.  So when I saw an example on pinterest of someone that had done something similar I knew I wanted my art 2 class to combine minions and art history.

Each student was to find a famous work of art and put a minion into the main character spot.  I think they did a great job, and had a lot of fun with it at the same time.  I love any project where they have to do a little bit of research, especially into art history.

Austin L. - Scream

Brandon S. - Vitruvian Man

Danica H. - Venus de Milo

Drea B.

Hannah S. - Roy Lichtenstein

Holly S.

Kristian H. - Son of Man

Lexi B. - Edgar Degas

Morgan H. - Frida Kahlo

Sydney H. - Girl with a Pearl Earring

So there are a few that I wasn't sure which famous work of art they were trying to copy, but They were still cute.

Resist the urge to paint

Art 3 was given an assignment to create a watercolor resist painting.  I asked them to create an incredibly detailed painting with designs or markings in the overall image.

Brooke A.

Courtney M.

Emily H.

Hunter S.

Jena F.

Mikayla R.

Pour some paint on me!

So who doesn't love the opportunity to make a little mess.  My classroom is full of them, so why not add more.

I had seen this project on Pinterest and another teacher, Deb Plagge, talked about it at our state convention a couple of years ago.  I loved the idea, but I have never had enough old house paint, in enough fun colors, to feel like I could just waste paint.  But this year I decided to put a call out to all of my student's parents and see if I could get some paint.  And boy did they ever come through.  I actually got so much paint, I don't know what to do with all of it!!  That is not always a bad problem to have.

But I didn't want it to just be boxes of cardboard stacked on top and then paint just poured over them.  So I had my students design an object, animal or whatever they wanted out to cardboard and then had them paint it before they poured the extra paint over the top.  I love how they came out.

Bree H.

Courtney M.

Jacob K.

Riley H.

Paige S.

Terra C.