This year the Seventh graders worked on acrylic paintings of desserts inspired by the luscious artwork of Wayne Theibaud. They started the lesson drawing in oil pastels on paper while looking at a real donuts or cupcakes (which can last a long time in the fridge for these purposes.) Next they completed the paintings on canvas board with acrylic paint, closely observing the object and the shadows it created.
In the art room we painted huge sheets of paper with
lots of colors and used combs and rollers to add texture. Then for the next few
weeks we collaged shapes from the painted paper to create animals. Finally we
made a foam cover and added more pages on which we could color or write.
We read the book Color Zoo
by Lois Ehlert and were inspired by the bright shapes and colors. The first graders chose
from many paper shapes and colors to create animal collages of their own.
The students looked at various
sky and sea paintings ranging from the 19th Century European JMW
Turner and John Constable to Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. The children drew
a horizon line to separate the sea from sky, added land and then painted in
tempera. They chose the weather and time of day for their scenes. Afterward we studied
lighthouses, taking note of their shape and construction. The children each
drew a lighthouse to add to their scene along with boats and other exciting objects.
The First Graders' classroom rainforest study is enhanced in the Art Studio with rainforest art projects. The students each build a giant tree frog and then paint it with vibrant colors and add eyes. The frogs are displayed for their Rainforest Animal Book Publishing Party.
The
Fourth graders drew close-up versions of the flowers they observed in wax
crayon. Their papers were then crumpled up and washed with a blue paint. To
achieve a special Batik-like effect, the papers were then ironed.
