Fall Projects (Sorry it's so late)

I had all the photos taken of the fall projects that students were working on and then I found out I was pregnant. I was feeling under the weather for awhile and then the holidays happened. Needless to say things got pretty busy. So here's the fall projects update, better late then never.

The 2nd graders drew and painted a still life of pumpkins and gourds from direct observation. First they drew the objects with oil pastels and then used watercolors to paint the still life. The oil pastels created a resist, which allowed their marks to still be seen, even after painting the still life. First picture is of the set up still life.  Then some in progress photos and finally some finished examples.

The 3rd graders created Spooky Houses inspired by Victorian Architecture and the painting "House by the Railroad" by Edward Hopper. We looked at the painting and had a group discussion about the mood or feeling we got from the painting. Then each table looked a pictures of Victorian Architecture and as a group looked for common features in each photo. After the table discussion, each group shared what they came up with to the whole class. Students drew their houses in white oil pastel on black paper. We used cool colors to paint our backgrounds. Lastly, students cut their houses out and glued them to their background. Here's some in progress photos and some finished examples.

Color Projects (A lot of pictures again)

A little late, but here's the update on the color projects that my students at East Meadow School were working on.

The 4th graders created Personalized Color Wheels. We discussed primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and how the primary colors can be mixed to create the secondary and tertiary colors. The students then picked a personal symbol to turn into their color wheel. Once they picked and drew their symbols, we divided the symbol into 12 sections. Each group was only given the primary colors and the students had to mix the secondary and tertiary colors.

The 5th graders created Blue Dog Inspired Animals. We looked at and discussed the work of George Rodrigue especially his Blue Dog series of paintings. Here's a link to his website. We also discussed what complementary colors are. Students could then pick any animal they wanted. We painted the animals using only tints and shades of one pair of complementary colors, either blue and orange, yellow and purple, or red and green. Here's a picture of some paintings in progress and it's followed by some completed student examples.

And finally, the 6th graders created value silhouettes. We discussed value, tints and shades, monochromatic and what a silhouette is. The students painted along with me to get the background started and then completed the background at their own pace.

After the backgrounds were completed the students added in their silhouettes in black paint. When coming up with their ideas for the silhouette, I told students to think about looking up at the moon and what would they would actually see in real life to create their silhouette.

 

Big Update - Lots of Photos

Last time I posted I talked about the first day of school, one day hand project at West Street. Here's what the completed bulletin board looked like.

I also mentioned that all grades at West Street were working on projects that had to do with line. The third graders completed a project where they did contour line drawings of leaves using oil pastels and then exaggerated the outlines to fill up the whole 12"x18" paper. Here's some student examples. Sorry for the glare, they were already hanging up behind the plexiglass.

The 2nd graders looked at the work of Joan Miro and as a group discussed his process of doodling on the canvas before painting. We also looked for what could be in the lines and shapes. Next they scribbled on paper and looked to see what was in their scribbles. After figuring out what was in the scribbles, the students used watercolor paints to paint what they saw in their own scribble. Here's some student in progress photos and some completed ones.

The students at East Meadow have just finished their color projects, so I will be posting those soon.

The Start

The year has started off great! It has been super crazy getting used to my new schedule, but I just have to keep reminding myself to breathe and take it one day at a time.

My students at West Street all decorated a hand with things they like or represent themselves. It was a good first day, one day project. I hung all the hand prints up on the bulletin board outside the art room for Parents Night. I will take a picture of all the hands when I'm there next. However, here's the hand I made.

Students in all grades are working on their first projects. The students at West Street are all working on projects that have to do with line and The students at East Meadow are all working on projects that have to do with color. I will post photos as they finish and hopefully some in progress ones as well. My 7th and 8th graders are working on an abstract project using shading to create movement.

Before I go here's some pictures of two of my classrooms before the kids showed up.