Tuesday, May 31, 2011

In the Art Room - Zentangles

I've seen my fifth graders so few times the last couple of months I'm not sure we'll ever finish these!!!  Here are a few that did finish.  Next year I hope to use this exercise as a free draw activity in their sketchbooks.






Monday, May 30, 2011

In the Art Room - Planes

Third graders leaned how to draw a plane from two different points of view; looking at it straight on and looking down on it from above.  After sketching both, they chose what they liked best for their final piece. We used colored pencils and watercolor pencils to complete.

  
  


Thursday, May 26, 2011

In the Art Room - Tigers

The first graders learned how to draw a simple tiger.  We looked at how easy it would be to turn our tiger into a number of different animals just by changing small details.  We added green and pink tissue paper to make our tigers look like they were hiding in the jungle!







Wednesday, May 25, 2011

In the Art Room - Tiki Statues

Thank you Artolazzi for this great idea!  My 6th graders loved creating these and I was surprised by how much they knew about Tiki statues.  The requirements were to make exaggerated eyes, noses, and mouths and to make everything symmetrical.  They drew half of their face design, outlined with a black oil pastel, folded the paper and rubbed to create the mirror image on the other half.  Then they used more oil pastels to brightly color them in.








Tuesday, May 24, 2011

DIY Inspiration and In the Art Room - Silhouettes

I've wanted to make silhouettes as gifts for a long time.  I did an art lesson on them with our 4th graders for their Virginia Studies unit several years ago just using my projector and black paper.   For a friend's birthday, I took profile pictures of her two sons, printed them out on my printer, traced on to canvas, and painted.  Voila!

This is the printed photo, just flipped so the face won't show.




Here are the silhouettes I did in class with my 4th graders:
     
The project itself was very easy and low key.  Once we were done, we looked at how silhouettes were made during Colonial times. 

Monday, May 23, 2011

In the Art Room - Cowboys

The second graders had a portrait lesson where they focused on drawing facial features in proportion.  Some of them got it, some of them didn't, but they all had fun drawing their old west cowboys! These cowboys are adorable!





Wednesday, May 18, 2011

In the Art Room - Symmetry

The Kinders have been working on their butterfly unit in class, so in art we focused on how a butterfly is symmetrical.  We thought of other things that were symmetrical and then I taught them how to fold a paper in half, draw half of an image near the fold (but not on it), and then cut it out to create a perfectly symmetrical image.  Then we made symmetrical tulips in symmetrical flower pots with a symmetrical butterfly flying by!





Monday, May 16, 2011

In the Art Room - Parrots

 I love this project and I do a variation of it every year.  I teach all the kids how to draw a parrot.  Their parrot must sit on a tree branch, but they can add the background of their choice.  Most choose a jungle scene even though I urge them to think of other scenarios for their birds!  We finish with oil pastels.









Saturday, May 14, 2011

In the Art Room - Monkeys

Another super easy directed drawing for my kinders.  Just like the birds in a nest, we started this by tracing a small paper plate for the head.  They followed me to add other geometric shapes and directional lines to complete their swinging monkeys!