Artistic Freedom

Pear Cherries Pear Orange (top view)  Banana   Green Pepper Lime Mosaic Fruits and Veggies! After finishing the toothbrushes I went right into another observation drawing hoping that we can continue to draw things LARGE! The students looked at a plastic fruit or veggie at their tables. The requirements were that the object had to have two sides / parts go off the edge of the paper, and it had to take up most of the paper space. I was worried, but soon blown away. The students drew outline drawings of the objects and outlined them with a wide black sharpie. The next class we looked at multiple examples of mosaic artwork from all around the world. The students  got the point quickly (NO PIECE OF PAPER CAN TOUCH ANOTHER PIECE). We looked at the highlights and shades (student had to use at least two or three different colors). By the way, great project if you have a large box of scrap paper. Students picked the colors and...

I saw an artist that worked with drawing objects (bikes) in a quad format on Pinterest. I loved the idea and the 5th grade group possibilities. The students get excited when they hear that they get to work with friends on a project, but the frustration sets in when they find out that they all have to agree on every possible decision. It is not easy, but the project is coming along nicely. We are just starting color and outlining now. I will explain the steps and give images of the finished products soon. Each piece is a 8 1/2 x 11 in piece of paper. More photos to come soon!

I try not to toot my own horn, but I was asked by the music teacher to make a prop for the Christmas concert at our smaller K-2 school. The Christmas musical is called Flakes and involves / needs a snow plow. With a large refrigerator box and ten dollars worth of wood, I created this interesting work of art. The students loved it, and the musical might have been the best Christmas K-2 performance I have ever seen. Very cute! 

Tracers again…. But with that said, my main objective for this lesson was an introduction to tempera paint, cutting with scissors while turning the paper and not the scissors, and listening to directions and steps. After all is said and done, my objectives were met and the final product is very pleasing.  We started out by painting three different sized pieces of paper. The large one was colored with reds and orange crayons and the painted over the top with red paint and scratched. The medium sized paper was colored purple with crayons and then painted black and scratched. The smallest piece of paper was colored yellow with crayon and colored orange with paint and scratched. Students got tracers the next class and cut out the shapes for each piece.  The next class I handed each student a small piece of cardboard, and long narrow piece of white paper, and a paper plate with black paint. The students looked at some examples of birch trees and we ...