A Trip to the Jungle

After viewing the jungle paintings by self taught artist Henri Rousseau, the first grade students were inspired to create their own jungle scenes with oil pastels and watercolor paint.

Russian Architecture

After viewing photographs of St. Basil's Cathedral and identifying the shapes, colors, and patterns in the building, the students created oil pastel drawings of buildings in a similar style.

Watercolor Landscapes

The sixth grade students have been practicing six different watercolor techniques:

1. Graded Wash (Oftentimes used in large areas that vary in tone; skies)
2. Variegated Wash (Used in areas where one color transitions into another color)
3. Dry Brush (Used to show texture/detail; Similar to "drawing" with a brush)
4. Salt Resist (The salt soaks up the water, and the pigment, leaving an interesting texture)
5. Splatter (Used to create texture)
6. Layering (The transparent quality of watercolor allows the painter to layer colors in order to achieve different hues).

The students applied these watercolor techniques to a watercolor landscape!

One Point Perspective!

The fifth Grade students have been studying one point perspective. The students began by locating a vanishing point and by identifying 3 types of lines that occur in their drawings: vertical lines (parallel to the side of the page), horizontal lines (parallel to the side of the page), and lines angling toward the vanishing point. A great website to use for learning one point perspective is http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/

Aboriginal Art

The Fourth Grade students studied the Aboriginal sand paintings of Australia, and they were able to identify the symbolism and the dot pattern in the paintings. Inspired by these paintings, the students chose an animal that symbolized their personality, and they painted the animal in the Aboriginal style.

Jazz!

I borrowed this idea from another blogger http://linesdotsanddoodles.blogspot.com/The second grade students listened to jazz musician Duke Ellington, and they identified the instruments, movement, and rhythm of the music. After listening to the music, the students were inspired to create jazz collages that show the instruments, movement, and rhythm of jazz!

Go Fish!

The Second Grade students recently put on the musical production "Go Fish!" The students created the following fish collages to illustrate the production: