Watercolor kingdom

What a better way to examine animals and their coloring than through a watercolor project.  And even better than that we were studying impressionism and how they looked at color and watercolor is the perfect medium for that too.

We started by looking at impressionist artists and comparing their different styles. There are a couple of great Youtube videos that have slideshows set to music montages and they show basically all of the works that that artist has created.  I am attaching the video link for the Claude Monet video.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8mct7uJyRs  The rest of the videos are under the name of ArtsHeaven.com if you are interested in checking them out.    After we watched the videos (we did it over the course of several days) we then compared the styles and then had a quiz where I put random artwork on the board and they had to figure out which artist had created it.

After studying the impressionists when then dive into watercolor painting.  We start by doing a couple of small samples at the same time.  The reason being that watercolor needs some time to dry and we can work on two things at once so we don't have to sit and watch it dry,

The first one is using the colors of the color wheel in shades of dark, medium and light to create a color pallet that they can use as reference when they do their final watercolor painting.  This hopefully shows them what colors will mix well and what they will look like when they mix.

This is our other small sample, the city scene.  We start by painting the background with a wet on wet technique.  This picture will be done in monochromatic and so they need to think of that when they pick a paint color.  We then slowly build the city and get it darker as we work our way down to the bottom of the paper.  They also have to add details as we work down, like windows, streets or towers on buildings.

Our next group practice project is this water color boat.  I have tried in the past some other examples, but I always come back to my boat because it uses the most techniques.  We do wet on wet, wet on dry, watercolor pencil and crayon, salt, and resist.

Finally I give them an opportunity to pick an animal, insect, fish or bird and have them draw it on a 9 x 12 piece of watercolor paper.  After they draw the animal and their surroundings I have them draw a box 2" in from the outside.  This gives a box in the middle of the paper where they will paint a watercolor background, but if the animal goes outside of the box it trumps the box line.   So in other words they have to paint all of their animal and then whatever is left on the inside of the box.  On the outside of the box I have them use ultra fine marker to outline the surroundings.  This gives them a mixed media, a border and a chance to really evaluate their project from a different perspective.

This is the second year I have done this project this way.  I don't know if I am sold on it and I am thinking next year I would like to try to teach them how to fade out the edges of the project for a more dramatic treatment.

Jaikob D. 

Drea B.

Paige S.

Nikole K. - sorry I couldn't get it to rotate back.

Proof is in the picture

I know I am a little bit behind, just a few weeks, but here are some of the best examples from last quarters photography assignments.

Demi H. - Eyes

KaSandra K. - Eyes

Kelsey C. - Foreshortening

Maggie H. - Foreshortening

Sydney Hau. - Landscape

Logan O. - Landscape

Brooke K. - Unique Self Portrait

Marcelle W. - Unique Self Portrait

Karly N. -Silhoutte

Keeping it simple

So our first week back from Christmas break was kind of crazy.  We had an early dismissal, a late start, no school, an early dismissal and a late start.  That was our first week.

So I decided to do a project that was simple but could be complicated depending on what the students put into it.  I wanted something that had tons of options with very little instruction.  So we started doing tape and paint abstracts on canvas.

I had each student bring in a canvas size of their choosing.  We then started by making samples on small scraps of watercolor paper so that they could get a few ideas before just diving into their canvas.  We played with applying tape designs first versus painting first.  We experimented with what happens if you paint then tape then add more tape and paint again.  It was a lot of experimenting going on.  I think they each found their design and technique in this process.  Some still decided to just wing it.

Once they were ready for the final I gave them the good blue painters tape to create their designs.  Some painted first, some taped first, some cut the tape some made symmetrical designs, some just let go with their designs.  But in all it was good for them to have no restrictions and to just have fun with mediums.

Demi H.

Dustin M.

Erin S.

Kamber L.

Logan O.

Malary M.

Marcelle W.

Sammy K.

100 days 100 ways

I don't know what every school does, but I do know that our elementary makes a very big deal out of the 100th day of school.  So I decided to have my Art 2 class also help with the 100th day celebration by having them create works of art using 100 pieces of inspiration.

I started this second semester with a very fun, very mysterious first lesson.  I took a large table in the back of my room and covered it with a cloth.  I then laid 26 different items on that table.  Some of my items were a rubber band, a CD, a balloon, a spoon, a fork, a small tile, a packing peanut, etc.  As the class came in I just stood in the back of the room and said nothing to them.  I then preceded to start drawing each student's name out of a hat and asked them to pick one item of inspiration off of the table.  As each student came up they kept trying to get me to give them a clue as to what they were going to do with that one strange item.  All I would say is "Pick your inspiration."  After everyone had drawn an item, I then told them to come back and grab the 99 friends to their one inpirational item.

Okay, I had fun, but their first looks probably could have killed me.  Of course the first question was "Do we have to use all 100?"    AHH, YES.  But as they started then the phrase became, "Can we use more than 100?"  UMM, NO.  That is the challenge with this project, you have to use 100 and can only use 100.

In the end I think they did really good with this challenge assignment.  They were given 10 days to complete the project.  Most only needed about 6 days, but there were a couple that had to push it to get it done in 10.   We then had a class critique and they all talked about their works of art and each others.  Mostly they were really impressed with what each other had created.

Brooke B - pop tabs

Emily H. - balloons

Kamber L. - feathers

Mikayla R. - popsicle sticks

Sierra A.  - packing peanuts

My display case showing off our best 100 day works.

A cartoon skeleton?

Have you ever wondered what cartoon skeletons would look like?  I never had until I saw this lesson from Art at the Apex a couple of years ago.  It has now become one of my favorite lessons mostly because it covers so many mediums/genres/subjects in one lesson.

In one lesson you talk about gesture drawing, skeletal structure, colored pencil shading to make a cartoon character look 3D, pencil shading on bones, creativity, and imagination.  It takes thought and creativity to come up where bones will be on some of these cartoon character.  I mean it is hard to think what type of bone structure Olaf the snowman would actually have.  And yes, he has to have a skeleton.

 I always get that one kid that picks Casper the ghost and says he wouldn't have one, so they don't have to draw one.  My answer is always that they have to have a skeleton to be used for this assignment.  I do step back a little and say that they have to have a skull and a rib cage, but not necessarily limbs.  Some of those pokemon character are just a ball and so when I give that criteria and they think they are smart picking this round object they are usually the ones that struggle the most because it is hard to get a skull and a rib cage inside of a ball.

Here are a few of my favorites from this year's class.

Jaikob D.

Drea B.

Remington L.

Jacob K.

Colored pencil creations

Wow it has been awhile since I have posted any art.  Maybe my New Years resolution should have been to do more with this blog.

Art 1 has been working on our colored pencil techniques.  We started by working on several in class examples together and then this was their final project.  It is a 6x6 piece of paper and they used old magazines and calendar images to recreate their drawings.

Nathan W.

Abby K.

Heidi S.

Jaikob D.

Nikole K.

New year, new room

It is always fun to come back after the summer break and see your room and put away the new supplies, but I got the same experience after our Christmas break.  Over break they remodeled my room and added a second sink.  I had only been asking for a second sink for 14 years.  So I have been telling the students to use it as a life lesson, never give up on your dreams, it might take 14 years but eventually they come true.

This is the room right before christmas.  I had to pack up all of the supplies on the other side of the room.  It is amazing how much stuff you have until you have to pack it all.  

This was what the room was looking like the last day of the semester.  I still had to teach in the mess for one more day.

These are the old cabinets that were moved to the back of the room.  I am loving all of the new storage.

These are my new sinks and new countertop.  So much storage, I don't know what to do.  I'm sure I will figure it out.