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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Art Fest 2012

This weekend was Art Fest at the High Hand Gallery.  Lots of artists demonstrating what they do best.  I demoed mixed media jewelry on Saturday.  It was a fun day in the fruit shed.










Final Student Project Posting For This School Year

The fifth graders worked on patterned animals inspired by the illustrations in the book "Calabash Cat".  The author/illustrator, James Rumford, was inspired by a calabash gourd cat decorated with African inspired patterns.   The book follows the adventures of calabash cat as he seeks to find where the world ends.  Along the way he encounters animals from different lands.

This project took 4 one hour class periods. On the first day we practiced creating patterns with sharpies.  The next class we drew a variety of animals and then each student picked their favorite to use for a final project.  During the remaining two classes the students used sharpies to add decorative patterning and then used colored pencils to enhance the patterning.  They finished their project by cutting and pasting their animal to a brown or black paper background.  Some students used sharpies to add patterns to the background.

First week: practice patterning


Second week: draw animals














Third/Fourth week: choose animal, add patterns, cut out, paste to colored paper, add final details











      







Friday, June 22, 2012

Elementary Students Pastel and Watercolor Musical Instruments

School ended a few weeks ago so I'm late posting this but I figure better late than never.  

I make an effort to connect my art lessons to the learning objectives of each grade level.  The sixth graders theme was music.  After some thought I decided to use musical instruments as my tie in. We began the first session of the unit with a review of the elements and principles of art and then looked at artwork that included musical instruments.   We discussed the elements of art and the art media used in each example.  

The second week the students practiced drawing instruments from photographs and then created a final design focusing on one or two of the art elements.  By the third week most were ready to start their final project. After a necessarily brief demonstration on how to use pastels and watercolors the students were allowed to choose the media that best suited their design. 

The entire project took 4 one hour sessions.  The end result was a fabulous mix of colorful, abstract designs.  I was very impressed with the variety and creativity of the final projects.


























Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Slideshow Overview of My Earl Warren Elementary Student's Artwork 2012

Here's a slideshow overview of the projects my Earl Warren Elementary School students just finished.  Each classroom received 4 lessons.  The classes ranged from Kindergarten to Sixth grade.  Take a few minutes and check it out.  They did some awesome work.  I am so proud of them!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Kindergarten: Colorful Watercolor Fish

The Kindergarteners were learning about the sea so I decided to do a lesson on fish.  We spent two lessons learning about color and line before working on our fish project.

On the first day of the fish project we looked at pictures of different kinds of fish then had a discussion. What does a fish look like?  How are they the same? How are they different? What shapes and colors can they be?  I modeled how to draw a basic fish to help them understand the parts and placement of the fins, tail etc...but encouraged each student to create their own fish by changing the shape and size of the parts.  I also encouraged them to make their fish LARGE.  Next we talked about what they could add to create an environment for their fish.

After they finished their practice drawings I passed out watercolor paper and they either redrew their fish or created a new one on the watercolor paper.  When they finished their drawings they went to a "gluing station"  to trace their pencil lines with black glue.  The project was left to dry until the following week.

The  students used watercolor pencils activated with water to add color to everything but the blue background which was a tempera paint wash applied at the very end of class.