Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Fourth Grade Cityscape Prints
Printmaking is a technique that I truly love...That being said, it can be a challenge at times to make it work when doing art on a cart.
To begin this project, Fourth Graders painted a background using liquid watercolors on a large sheet of paper that had been folded in half. One side was painted blue for the water and the other half was painted using warm colors to create a skyline.
While their backgrounds dried, students then drew a city skyline on a piece of 9 x 6 paper. This drawing was then transferred to a printmaking foam sheet of the same size. The tracing embossed the underlying foam plate and then students deepened the grooves of all their lines to ensure a nice, clean print.
Black printmaking ink was applied to their plates, and the students made a print on their skyline and a ghost print on their water. They then repeated this process one more time to fill their page from left to right. Once dry, highlights (e.g. city lights and their reflections in the water) were added using white oil pastel.
The results are stunning and the prints will soon be on display in the school library.
Fourth Grade Missions
Fourth Grade has been studying the missions of California during their Quest for California thematic unit. Using the Art Projects for Kids California Mission Drawing Guide and Coloring Book as a reference, students were able to select a mission of their choosing (it did not have to be the one they did their for their final project).
First, students drew their design using black oil pastel on black sulphite paper. Then, Fourth Graders applied vibrant color using chalk pastels. Finally, they re-drew their contour lines with black oil pastel to strengthen their drawings and to make the colors really pop!
Monday, March 2, 2015
Sixth Grade Silk Painting
Sixth Graders recently finished studying ancient China and the Silk Road.
Getting ready for silk dyeing...
A HUGE THANK YOU to Joanna G. for assembling the frames using my roughly-drawn plans!!!
Using Seta-silk dyes, students selected 3-4 colors that would work well together. Color mixing was explored, and salt and water effects were demonstrated. The students elected whether or not to incorporate these techniques. So far, two thirds of the class has completed the project (the silks have to remain on the frames until dry) and the dyes need to be set before the scarves can be sent home.
It has been amazing watching the kids dive into this project...it has immediate, juicy results and the students have been enjoying the experience immensely!
Sixth Grade Mandalas
Sixth Graders were introduced to the art of mandala-making to coincide with their studies on ancient India and the Buddhist and Hindu religions.
We approached the construction of mandalas in a very structured way. Students followed step-by-step instructions in the creation of the core mandala shape (three concentric circles, three squares of diminishing size, and three diamonds also of diminishing size). Once they had their seed frame for the mandala, students were able to then individualize their work. Working with one single element at a time, students repeated this element in each quadrant (radial symmetry) before crafting a new element.
Sixth and Seventh Grade Still Life Drawings - Square 1 Art
For their Square 1 Art project this year, our Sixth and Seventh Graders completed beautiful still life drawings inspired by the work of Cezanne.
They began the process by drawing their still life in pencil and then painting the contour lines with black acrylic paint. The following week, they added color using tempera paints. The third week, they added shading and highlights using chalk pastels.
They did a wonderful job...I am eager to see their personalized catalogues when they arrive next week!