Artistic Freedom

This is my attempt at Cézanne apples with a Matisse painted background done by my first graders. We stared with a oval tracer (helps with scale) to make the apples. I didn't care where they put the first circle, but by the third apple the students had to overlap one of the other apples already drawn. After the apples were drawn and the stems were added, we drew the horizon line in the background. The next couple classes were spent painting the background using the colors orange, blue, purple, and  yellow (they could choose where to put the colors). The students ended the painting with choosing green or red for the apple color. We added the apple and horizon line outline, and were finally finished. Great job 1st graders!!!!

Year two of the Blue Period guitars, based off of Picasso's Blue period. The project teaches collage, layers, and lots of experience gluing and cutting. Love the new guitars! For more explanation… Check out the guitars from two years ago on my archive. 

Year three of Eric Carle painted paper animals for 2nd graders. I start with paper, and have the students paint that paper and scrape parts of it off. The next class, the students traced major body parts on the back of the painted paper. The students cut out pieces, and put together the animal like a puzzle. The students used oil pastels, construction paper crayons, and color sticks to add color to the faces and grass. We glued all of this on the all famous and controversial white paper background. We did elephants and BLUE horses last year, and a seahorse the year before. All three years, the students have enjoyed and learned something every step of this project. Hope all of you enjoy.

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 ...

Kindergarten... wow!!!! I had the students start out with an oval tracer with a dent on the top and bottom. The students added a rectangle on the top and made a ground. To add the pumpkin shape curves, I had the students follow my lead as I introduced them to different kinds of line. We did a straight line, curved, zig-zag, looped, and dotted. The lines added an illusion of pumpkin curves, and I love the interest it adds.  The students added grey or black to the background, green for the stem, and brown to the ground with crayons. To add the orange, I was able to teach the students about how to hold a brush and basic cleanup procedures without the mess, with the use of tissue paper instead of paint. The students put water on their pumpkins where they wanted the orange to stick to the paper. Once the paper was wet enough, the kindergarteners placed an orange (I gave students options: light orange, dark, and regular orange) piece of paper over the top of the...