Self Portraits

Grade 1 students drew these charming self-portraits. I did a very basic demonstration on the whiteboard about facial proportion. First, I asked the kids what basic shape is a head, and, happily, the majority answered 'an oval!'  So I drew a big oval. Then I showed them how many people tend to draw the eyes on a head waaaay to far up, on the forehead. I drew them there and asked them if this was right. "NOOOOO!" they all happily shouted :)  So I had them look at each other carefully and tell me where the eyes should be. Many of them were able to guess the middle of the face. 

Then I showed the kids how to draw a very light line vertically down the centre of the face and then horizontally across the middle of the face. This horizontal line would be the rough guideline for the eyes. I felt as long as they had the eyes fairly well placed, that was a good start. Then the kids first practised their self portrait on scrap paper. For a reminder, I wrote on the board the features they needed to include:  eyes, eyelashes (optional), eyebrows (so many kids forget eyebrows!!), nose, mouth, ears, neck and finally hair. They could add any accessories (glasses, jewellery, etc.) they wanted. Once they finished, they brought it to me and I helped make suggestions if areas needed improvement.

Here are some practice sketches:

Very good placement on this one.

I helped this guy 'lessen' the size of his ears (though they are so adorable large!)

I love this one above because I could see right away that the student had erased his eyes 

that were too high ('forehead eyes') and lowered them. Great job!

Once they were happy with their rough copies, they drew them again on larger paper, then coloured them in- we used multicultural crayons for both the skin and hair.

For the last step, I had the kids pass over all their pencil lines (which had faded quite a bit

after the colouring) with a black coloured pencil.

Ta da!

Folk Art Oil Pastel Landscapes

This is a folk art landscape project using oil pastels and black ink. I have a soft spot for folk art landscapes; I find they are so charming and sweet and full of happiness and joy. Many 'folk' or 'naïve' artists were/are untrained and completely free in how they paint. Having gone to art school for four years, I was trained to do extensive rough sketches, thumbnails, practice, practice- get the perspective right, mix colours, blend, etc, etc, etc. So may rules and techniques- so now when I go to do my own art, I have all that 'information' in the back of my mind and it feels like I can't be completely free and uninhibited....

Anyway.... before this project, show students images from any folk artist you like- I chose the Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis. She's one of my favourite artists and I only chanced upon her work when I visited the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, in Halifax. I was in love. The gallery houses not only some of her paintings, but her famous tiny (one room) little painted house she lived in. Maud was crippled by childhood arthritis and lived in poverty most of her life, selling her paintings, at most, for between $5 - $15. Like many folk artists, she had never taken an art class and was self-taught.

"A View of Sandy Cove" by Maud Lewis (mid-1950's)           Source

Maud Lewis

Here's a short video from 1976, about Maud Lewis, from the National Film Board of Canada:

                  Maud Lewis: A World Without Shadows by Diane Beaudry, National Film Board of Canada

                          Here's another video, from 1964, showing Maud working
and discussing her art. Watch as a woman buys her famous 3 black cats painting for $5!!!!

 So for this project, students first drew a simple landscape onto white construction paper (9 x 12"). 

They were encouraged to include a background, middle ground and foreground. 

The landscapes could be fanciful and imaginative- stylized tree, plants, buildings, etc. or more 'realistic'. Whatever worked for the students. I had on hand lots of illustrated children's books with landscape pictures and calendar landscape photos for students to refer to as well.

Then, pass over all the pencil lines with a thick line of chalk. Use a light colour, like an off-white if possible. We only had yellow, and it tended to stain some of the white colours later on...

The, colour the picture with a thick layer of oil pastels. Don't colour over the chalk lines.
I encouraged students to colour in one direction and mix shades together.

Then, using a damp sponge, wipe off all the chalk lines. 

The paper will probably warp a bit but no worries.

Finally, using black watercolours or black ink (or even tempera watered down to an ink-like consistency), pass over all the black white lines with a soft round brush. 

If the pictures curl or warp, just flatten them overnight with a stack of heavy books.

Grade 3/4 artwork- ta da!!

Teacher sample below....

Detail

Whale Watchers Watercolor Landscape

love this little beluga guy- he looks like he's planking! ha!ha!

This is a fun watercolour lesson I found here on the Crayola website.

It would be a great project to tie-in to any ocean unit students are working on with the classroom 

or Science teachers. I've done this lesson with Grade 4 up to Grade 6. 

The materials are very simple: heavy-ish white paper or watercolour paper, 

black wax crayon or marker and watercolours.

Have student research different types of whales and then practice sketching them. For the good copy, have them lightly sketch, in pencil, a seascape with their chosen whale. Include a background, middle ground and foreground. Once they're happy with the drawing, pass over all the pencil lines with a black wax crayon.

   

Students could also use black permanent markers as well.

Then paint away with watercolours! I encourage students to keep a thin white line between the black lines. This way the paint colours definitely won't 'bleed' together. I also encourage them to mix colours within each section in order to get varying shades and tones.

teacher sample- it was so fun to make

Surrealism Magazine Collage

 

 

This is a classic Surrealism collage art lesson- I give it a slight twist by using

a circular composition. This is a perfect project for Grades 6-8 because I find they are so imaginative and funny at that age :)

 

You need alot of magazines for this project; a variety of different types of magazines helps too- some nature ones, fashion, travel, current events, cooking, etc. This way, students will be able to find a wide assortment of images to mix together. I try to send out a letter at the beginning of each school year asking parents to donate any old magazines; I usually get quite a few this way.

 

I start this lesson off by showing students a slideshow of famous Surrealism paintings- mainly examples from Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte. Have the students point out the things they notice.Talk about the fantasty, dream-like effect of the paintings, the sense of depth, as well as the high realism.

 

Salvador Dali, "The Persistence of Memory", 1931  Source

 

 

Rene Magritte, "The Son of Man", 1964      Source

 

There is a fantastic scene in one of my favourite movies, "Midnight in Paris", where the main character (Owen Wilson) meets Salvador Dali, along with Man Ray and Luis Buñuel, in a Paris cafe. It really showcases Dali's famous wacky public persona:

Anyway, back to the project... using magazines, students are going to look for strange and interesting images to juxtapoze and put together. Unrelated objects and images.

Think weird and dream-like.

 

They should look for a large background first- something simple and uncluttered, like a big sky, landscape, seascape, etc. I tell students to cut out a whole bunch of images and then spend time placing them and re-arranging them on the background to see what

really works the best.

 

So here's an example of a good background: simple, uncluttered.

 

 

Use a lid to trace a circle onto the magazine page, then cut it out.

 

 

I used to do this project collaged onto a CD. Some of you might remember back in the 90's when AOL used to send tons of free CD's in the mail?  Seriously, how much money did that cost them?! Well, I used to save those, and that's what we used as a base for our collages. Then we strung them with yarn and beads so they could be hung as seen below:

 

 

I emphasize that everything needs to be cut out really precisely so it looks polished and very realistic. Make sure your scissors are clean and sharp for this project, in particular. Once all the images are chosen and arranged how they want, they are glued on using a glue stick. Students can add embellishments, if they wish, such as glitter, for extra 'dazzle'.

 

Ta da!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese New Year Inspired Spiral Swirly Snake

This is a somewhat late posting of a Chinese New Year art project I did with Grade 1 students. 

2013 is the Year of the Snake so I immediately thought of the classic spiral snake craft and thought it would be manageable for Gr.1 kids.

Start off by showing the kids some images from Chinese New Year celebrations: the dragon and lion dances, the red lanterns, fireworks, etc. I also told them about the traditional colours used- most notably RED, which is considered a lucky and prosperous colour. 

Other colours commonly seen during this time are yellow and orange.

To start the project, each kid was given a blank spiral snake template which was double sided with the snake pattern on both sides. There are loads of different templates on the internet; I tried out a bunch beforehand and really liked this one from from The Lunchbox Season website.

Next time I would photocopy these onto cardstock as they would just end up being sturdier. Nonetheless, basic copy paper does work. Students coloured theirs using markers, but you could also paint them, or whatever you want, really. We talked about patterns and different ways we could colour the snakes to make them look interesting.

Once one side is coloured, flip over the paper and colour the back side as well, as both sides will be visible once the snakes are hung up. Allow about two classes for this whole colouring process. Then students simply cut them out following the black line. Add googly eyes or draw them on with a marker.

Here are some finished ones:

For hanging, I started off by poking a hole in the tail, then threaded yarn through it and after about 5 minutes of tediousness (and realizing I had to do 25 of these) I figured I needed an easier and faster way!! lol

So I cut pipe cleaners in half and found they were much easier and faster to thread through a hole in the tail, twist and voila, you have a hanging hook/loop thingy.

Here's one hung up. If there's a slight breeze in the room, they twirl around really slowly 

and are quite relaxing to look at!