Perspective Snowmen: 3/4 View

For this week's project we talked about perspective. Our first step was to look at three different portraits by van Gogh -- one a frontal view, one a profile and the third a 3/4 view -- and talk about what makes them different.

Then we talked about snowmen. I drew your typical front view of three circles on the board and asked if we could make it more interesting. We decided to try to draw our snowmen in 3/4 view.

We started by sketching in pencil. I reinterated that it was okay to make mistakes and not to worry to much about erasing, that we would be painting on top. We also talked about how the snowman should be huge, filling up the paper, and coming off the page. Once the they were happy with their form, they traced their lines in black pastel.

Then we got out the paint as the final step in our 3/4 view snowmen.

Artist Study and Unit Study: Recyclable Starry Night

We started our Reuse, Reduce, Recycle unit this month and what better way to celebrate than to recreate one of the most famous paintings in the world out of recycled materials!

Here are the many steps of this project:

1. Divide the class into 6 small groups.

2. Assign each group a section of the painting. (I bought a large poster of Starry Night and gave each group the section of the painting they would be working on.)

3. Head to SCRAP in San Francisco for a field trip! http://www.scrap-sf.org/
(SCRAP is a non-profit reuse center with everything from papers, textiles, office supplies and everything from buttons to bows to beads to old National Geographics.)

4. Each group went around "shopping" for what they would need to create their section of the painting.

5. Back at school the groups worked with me (one group at a time) to plan their section.

6. Lastly, we glued the recyclables onto a large piece of foam core.

It was quite labor intensive, but the kids were very proud of their final result: van Gogh's Starry Night made of ribbon, feathers, various papers, fabrics, glitter, buttons, old game pieces, yarn, string, coffee stirrers, yogurt lids, toothpicks and burlap!

Here is a great slideshow I showed the class of other artists who use recycled materials in their art:
10 Amazing Artists Using Recycled Materials for Their Art.

Artist Study: van Gogh's Sunflowers

We looked at van Gogh's paintings of sunflowers today. First we examined a vase full of sunflowers and talked about perspective. Although it can be challenging to draw, not all flowers sit in the vase in perfect view from the front. Some are from the side, 3/4 view or the back of a flower. We looked at the vase of flowers and then grabbed our pencils and started to sketch.

 Then it was time to paint.

The finished products are as unique as the students themselves!

Autumn: Sunset Silhouettes

We continued our study of color with this Autumn Silhouette project. First we reviewed warm and cool colors. Then we created sunset skies using only warm colored paint. While the skies dried, we cut black construction paper to create autumnal scenes. Having just visited a pumpkin patch, many learners chose to set their scenes there.

Elements of Art: Shapes

With this project our focus was on shapes. First we read the story Iggy Peck Architect and talked about architectural blueprints and what they do. Then we made our own versions, stamping various everyday objects such as corks, berry baskets, toilet paper tubes, pieces of cardboard, and plastic lids dipped in white paint. Afterwards we had a gallery walk where we talked about the shapes that showed up in our art: rectangles, circles, squares, triangles...even ovals and trapezoids.

Elements of Art: Lines

Lines by Philip Yenawine

Lines that Wiggle by Candace Whitman

For this project we focused on different types of lines. We started with two great readalouds about lines Lines that Wiggle and Lines.

We talked about all the different types of lines and brainstormed a list (straight, wavy, diagonal, criss-cross, dashed, dotted, parallel and zig-zag). 

Then we set to work creating line compositions. First we reviewed what we had learned about color mixing. Then, using only the three primary colors and some white paint, we made various abstract backgrounds in pastel colors (not only a nice review in color theory but also color value).

Once those were dry, we created various lines in black paint. I challenged the students to create balanced compositions with their black lines.