2nd semester sketchbooks!

We began our 2nd semester in January, so I have a new crop of students for art! We started working on sketchbooks as our first project.  Last semester we made books using rafia binding.  This time I used a comb binding machine to make them.  I can't decide if this was a better way or not, since I ended up binding most of the books myself.  It's a little tricky to get the pages onto the teeth of the combs. 

We painted the covers before binding, and if students had time, they painted a back cover as well.  We practiced some abstract designs for a couple of days before they picked their favorite to transfer onto their cover.  They learned about some of the basic elements of art, like line, shape, and color.  We also discussed a few of the principles of design like repetition and emphasis to make their design more effective. 

Candy corn, black cats, and pumpkins oh my!

I'm a little behind on my blog posting, so I wanted to go ahead and include everything we've been working on recently into one post.  6th grade created these amazing larger-than-life candy corn paintings, 7th grade painted pumpkins from a little different perspective, and 8th grade created these creepy up close and personal cat faces!  I mixed them in with the abstract trees and our hallways are officially "dressed" for fall!  

5th grade pinecone progress...

We had some beautiful snow a couple of weeks ago and a few school delays, so my classes are a little behind on the projects they started at the beginning of January.  I wanted to post a few in progress pictures of the pinecones that my 4th and 5th graders are working on.  I have really enjoyed this one so far and I will definitely be adding it to my regular list of projects for winter.  The students have learned about so many of the elements of art AND principles of design with this one.  We've discussed value, shape, form, texture, and of course line.  They learned about repetition while drawing the pinecone, and are now practicing shading with black, brown, and white paint.  I can't wait to share our finished ones!

Parrot progress!

Oooo I'm loving how some of these are turning out!  They are practicing blending in color wheel order, using my handy dandy paintbrush color wheel I made at the beginning of the year.  (More on that later. :) 

We are also blending in our leaves, using dark and light green, along with some yellow.  This student is doing a fantastic job on her leaves.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I began this quick and easy lesson on form and shape with a substitute one day a few weeks ago.  Once I returned we went into more depth (no pun intended!) about how the curved lines make our hearts appear to pop out of the page.  We also talked a bit about the color spectrum so some students chose to do theirs in color spectrum order, although that wasn't a requirement.  We used one of my favorite mediums (besides paint of course!) Crayola Color sticks.  We even incorporated some fraction math by dividing the heart.  I should also mention that we drew everything in pencil first, then traced in Sharpie.  Otherwise you'll have black sharpie all over your rulers!  Instructions are posted at the bottom! :)  

Cats on the fence in 5th grade

My fifth graders are finishing up their paintings this week.  They practiced blending in a circle for the background and we also discussed many different types of lines as we drew these together. It's always a struggle to get them to fill the page with their artwork but I think they nailed it with this project!  

4th grade Spooky Halloween Houses

This is one of those projects I repeat each year in 4th grade.  They seem to get better.  The colors were especially vibrant this year! 

We discuss unity and line, as well as artistic styles with this project.  I think they enjoy the fact that they don't have to make their lines straight. 

They are still finishing up some coloring but I couldn't wait to post them! 

What's the VALUE of a winter sky?

4th grade began their winter sky value study this week.  Value is the lightness and darkness of an object.  After seeing a similar painting on Pinterest, I decide to teach value and color mixing to 4th grade using this beautiful night time sky scene.  It's perfect for a winter's night, don't you think?  We first drew a circle for the moon, then starting with white, we gradually began mixing varying shades of blue then purple and lastly, black.  More pictures to come as they are completed!

Shiny and Bright

As fifth grade finishes up their whimsical trees, we began a second project in our discussion of abstract art that goes along with our trees.  We discussed line, shape, and shading to create these beautiful shiny ornaments.

 First they traced an assortment of circles, overlapping them and stacking them from the bottom up.  We added hooks and a highlight to each one...

 Then we discussed hatching and crosshatching as a method of shading with pen and ink, or permanent marker in our case...

Once they've finished tracing all the lines in permanent marker, they will use watercolor to bring them to life!  Choosing two analogous colors, they will paint the darker color on the side that's furthest away from the highlight.

This student stacked hers from the center going out, which creates a different view for the stack of ornaments.  Either way you stack them, these are just beautiful!