Painting with Kinderarten

    I start the year teaching Kindergarten all about lines. We name them and draw them (curly, wavy, zigzag, broken, spiral...) On the next couple of days we draw caterpillars and decorate with all their new lines. Then we draw and cut out butterflies and decorate these with lines too.  The fun comes when we paint over all of these lines with watercolor. (One whole class period to paint)  I used liquid watercolor this year which is so vibrant.  They love to see the clouds in the caterpillar drawing appear like magic. We also got to talk about the science behind wax resist. 

                                         

First Day of School, The Dot

     It's hard to believe that we've already been in school for almost 6 weeks already!  We had a great start to school and now we've had a little time to run through the schedule and get used to the new 4th and 5th grade rotation, with the introduction of the STEAM Experience!
     This is my 12th year teaching art at CFES and I knew that I wanted to jump in an let the kids begin creating art! I used a Prezi to introduce our Rules to be Motivated, Respectful, and Safe in the art room. Then we read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.  It's a great story about how scary it is to get started but once you do it can open up a world of ideas.  I've referenced this story a few times already to remind students that they just need to "make a mark and see where it takes them". 
 

                                               

  In 2nd and 3rd grade they did collaborative paintings where the goal was to paint dots and circles and let them grow. (Without scribbling over someone else's art!)

4th and 5th graders decorated designs on circles (thank you frozen pizza) and 1st graders painted in their designs.  I got the idea of hanging them as mobiles from Cassie Stephens blog.  

                                             

                                             

Robots

Last year I was inspired by our school's interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, mathematics). I got the idea for these robots from another teacher in my county, Laura Toney at MBES. I took the idea and also introduced the students to Bioengineering (use of concepts and methods of biology). Throughout the project we watched videos of robots and robotic arms.  One of the most innovative is a robotic arm inspired by the mechanics of an elephant's trunk and a gripper made like a fish tail. Then the students  drew their robots using 3D forms and had to have a feature or ability that was inspired by nature.   The painting was quite simple, with a solid gray for the metal with a shade of this for one side and a highlight in white for the other side.  I used Versatemp Pearl colors by Sax that have a metallic sheen.  The colors are also in the pearl paints.  The final step was outlining in Sharpie and learning how to draw the metal plates and bolts.  It was important to add lines and gears to the places that moved or bent.  

My Nanny Bot for my robot twins

                           

Haring inspired school murals

      I started the year with a wonderful student teacher from UGA, Rachel Blair.  She did a gesture drawing Keith Haring style painting project with the 4th and 5th graders. While introducing Keith Haring, Rachel found a video from the 80's of Haring working on a mural with high school students. (It's quite amusing to see a professional artist try to instruct teenagers). We were so inspired by the process that we know we had to make some murals for the school.  Rachel drew these with black paint and then all of us painted patterns inside the shapes without the same color shapes touching. It was simple and really fun.  We painted quite a few shapes ourselves!  They are hanging outside the art and music room, the front entrance, and the cafeteria.

                           

                                   

Abstract Face Sculptures

    4th and 5th grade students studied the contemporary Georgia artist Kimmy Cantrell, who creates asymmetrical face sculptures with clay and found objects.  Many of the faces are based on memories and the titles help tell the story behind them.  In preparation for the big renovation over the summer I started collecting scraps and small objects that I didn't want to pack; these recycled objects made great inspiration.  Students started the project discussing asymmetry then they created a sketch of an asymmetrical face that was based on a theme or word. Can guess what these themes are? Then we used lots of glue to build the faces that were sketched, making sure to create dimension and visual texture.  We used SAX Versa Temp Pearl colors to paint.  These paints have a beautiful sheen and cover so well.

                                   

                                        

                                     

                                        

                                    

Kindergarten Self-Portraits

    Kindergarten self-portraits from the end of the year .  They have come so far!  They drew their bodies then backgrounds and had to use their imagination to create an exciting location.  It took quite a few days to finish painting and then the details were brought back with Sharpie outlines.

Action Self-Portraits

More art from the end of last year!  These are action portraits by very active 1st graders (now 2nd grade).  We started by reading and acting out Eric Carle's book From Head to Toe. This got everybody on their feet and moving their body! Then I demonstrated drawing a figure in motion by drawing bent elbows and knees.  When students began I encouraged them to stand and make the pose so they could see where their arms and legs bent.  Then they drew backgrounds, painted and outlined. 

Hearts: inspired by Jim Dine

      These hearts weren't created for Valentines Day but for Jump Rope for Heart (a PE program about healthy hearts).  After discussing symbols and meanings of hearts we viewed and discussed the art of American artist Jim Dine, who created many sculptures, paintings, and prints of hearts.  Students painted hearts, covered them with vibrant patterns, and then wrote sentences to go with them.

Atmospheric Perspective

   Finally a chance to update my blog!  I have a student teacher hard at work and I thought I would use this time to post work we did at the end of last school year then I can focus on this year.
  At the end of the year 4th graders did these landscape paintings with tints and shades.  After looking at real life examples of this natural occurrence students drew layers of a landscape, then mixed value from lighter to darker. You can find more scientific information including how Leonardo DaVinci used atmospheric perspective at http://legacy.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/InvestigatingAerialP.html.

1st grade Color Fish

 We packed many skills and techniques into these fish paintings!  We read a book about fish and learned how to draw different styles of fish.  The first day students drew six fish (3 large and 3 medium). Then they added a treasure chest and other ocean life.  The next day we played primary and secondary color games to review, then using only primary colors students painted the 3 largest fish with primary color and on the 3 medium fish they mixed the colors right on the paper to make secondary colors.

Then the next couple of classes we reviewed pattern got full paint trays to paint the other sea life, background and patterns.  On the last day students used oil pastels to create more patterns and details and they also used glitter to create their coins and jewels in their treasure chest. 

Fall is in the air...

                      

        I don't usually do seasonal projects but I felt inspired by the fall colors this year.  We did a monoprint of fall trees "reflected" onto water.  It only took one day and was a great introduction to our next printmaking lesson and reinforcing warm and cool colors.