4th Grade Still Life Paintings

We started our lesson distinguishing between three subjects in art: portraits, landscapes, and still lives.  We discussed the differences between these subjects, and then students each got a photo of a Vincent Van Gogh painting.  Students had to decide which subject category their particular painting belonged in.   A few were tricky!

 I searched for a real pumpkin, but alas, in early September none were to be found in Central Texas.  I did find a rather realistic one from Michael's as a substitute. Students drew the pumpkin carefully, paying attention to the sections and how many they could see on one side of the pumpkin, as well as the free form shape of the stem.  Then we divided the background into different shapes with lines.

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On day three we talked about mixing white with a color to make a tint.  Each student picked one color, and then we carefully mixed the color with white to get different tints.  Students then added the tints to the lightest side of the pumpkin. Here are students mixing their tints.  The next day we also mixed colors with black to make different shades. When the paintings are finished I will post a few photos, and post the link to the Artsonia exhibit page.  Happy painting until then!

4th Grade Self Portraits a la Matisse

Fourth Grade artists are painting their self portraits.  We looked at several of Henri Matisse's portraits and talked about his use of simple stylized lines in the people's faces, as well as his extensive use of pattern in the backgrounds behind the people.  In one portrait alone we counted fourteen different patterns!  Students carefully drew their faces using proportion.  We talked about facial proportions and measured with rulers to correctly place the eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and eyebrows. Then students drew five or six patterns in the background.

Students had the most fun adding the brightly colored paints.  Last we added oil pastel for fine details in the background.

Check out the finished portraits with oil pastel details here at our online museum at Artsonia!

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=786811

Kinder Fish Sculptures

Pattern, Pattern Pattern!!  We are all about pattern in Kindergarten art class, using the elements of line, shape and color to create the principle of design: pattern.  Students started with a 12 x 18 piece of paper and folded it so that there were eight sections, and then added bright patterns with crayons.  Next, we painted watercolor on top of the patterns to create a crayon resist painting.

After the paintings dried, we cut and glued and transformed them into fish sculptures!   We added more line patterns to the fins, and stuffed the fish with paper so that they were three dimensional and not flat.  We also talked about how the patterns on the fish's bodies were a symbol for the actual scales on real fish.  Our next project concerns symbols, so this was a perfect introduction to our next big idea: Symbolism in Art!

Kinder Jasper Johns Paintings

Kinder students are studying the Pop artist Jasper Johns.  We looked at several of his paintings that included letters and numbers and talked about how you can find letters and numbers everywhere out in the world: signs, buildings, telephones, microwaves, etc.   Students then folded their papers to get a grid, and started drawing numbers or letters.

 Then the most fun part was painting!  Each student added four different colors to each letter or number, which made the works a little more abstract like Johns' style.  We talked about the science of how the water-based paint resists the oil pastel lines and sticks to the paper instead of the letters or numbers.  Check out all of the wonderful finished paintings here at Zilker's Online Museum:  http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=766073

Kinder and First Grade Circle Paintings

 Continuing our grade level projects, Kinder and First Grade classes worked together to create some amazing cooperative paintings. Wassily Kandinsky was our artist inspiration. We started with basic shapes and painted right onto the large sheets of paper.  After the shapes covered the paper, students connected the shapes with different kinds of lines.

 Students then worked together to add lots of vibrant color.  These are beautiful - please come see them in person on Thursday February 6th at Zilker Family Night!  Our school will be open to visitors from 5:30 - 8 pm....hope to see you there!

 

2nd Grade Flower Paintings.

Inspired by American artists Georgia O'Keeffe, second grade artists are creating their own version of a flower.  First, we looked at many of O'Keeffe's paintings.  Students practiced drawing flowers close up, then picked their best drawing to create into a painting. We discussed how to create intermediate colors by mixing a primary color with a secondary color, and created our own color wheels with the six intermediate colors.  Students chose one intermediate color to mix for their large petals.

Check out the finished flower paintings on our online art museum at Artsonia!

http://www.artsonia.com/museum/gallery.asp?exhibit=733690