O'Keefe flowers!

Hello there!!

This post features a lesson I taught last year in the spring time, and will definitely try again this year with my third grade artists! We first talk about a few of Georgia O'Keefe's artworks - I show a progression where her flowers become closer and cropped to the point where they become abstract. (We are lucky enough to have a school garden at one of the schools where I teach, and it is so wonderful that students can go out and really see flowers and leaves close up and hands-on after our artist talk.) We talk about learning to "crop" and create an aesthetically pleasing composition on our 12"x 12"paper (avoiding placing our flowers in the exact middle of the page). 

 We also talk about all the colors O'Keefe used in her paintings - for example, its not simply a red flower, there are pinks, yellows, oranges and browns all wrapped up to create one image. They name all of the colors they see in their chosen flower before they begin drawing with oil pastel.

This lesson is also great in the fact that they learn how to work with and control oil pastels - messy and fun! We then use watercolor on the background - keeping in mind complementary colors!

The results are bright and beautiful!

Thank you for stopping by! Please come by again!

Snowman Compositions!

Hello there!

This is yet another lesson that I have never done before! Lots of experimenting going on, and learning from mistakes! I decided to try out teaching basic composition to first grade artists. It was a little tough at first, simplifying terminology. I had my first class create two different compositions of snowmen after discussing what two different compositions would look like (subject of your drawing is hopping around the page)! Much to my surprise, almost everyone understood, and even wanted a challenge! So the next class I bumped it up to three different compositions!

Some are unfinished here, but I am very impressed with the kids' enthusiasm and understanding! (It did help that we promptly had a snow day a few days later!)

Woohoo! Thank you for visiting!

Picasso Blue Period Guitars

Hello there!

So this is the first time I have ever tried this lesson, and the kids really seemed to like it!

We discussed a few of Picasso's artworks from his Blue Period - why do you think he used those colors, how do the paintings make you feel, etc. It lead to some really nice discussions!  We then drew our guitars, and used different shades of blue to paint them.

I decided to do the collage portion in stations, where each table in the classroom would have a different collage element on it. We practiced transitioning to each table (which seemed to help a lot - I didn't practice with the first class! eek! Learn by doing!) We also discussed what mixed-media means, and the different textures we could put on our guitars (corrugated cardboard, felt, construction paper, bubble wrap prints, etc.)

A problem I encountered was we could not get to all the stations in one class period. I tried to time it out correctly, but there are always a few who need a bit more time to cut or glue, and rushing is a huge no-no in the Art room! The last work day for this project sort of turned into a free-for-all, where students just went to the collage element they were missing to finish it up.  I think I need to manage my time a little better next time around!

Some of these are not quite finished, but I couldn't resist posting!