Pastels

Pastels are VERY MESSY! I seem to have chalk pastels from head to toe when I get done working with them. In this lesson we were to practice our shading skills by drawing an object and shading it to make it look 3-D. We were then given a landscape and we used pastels to draw it. We were able to add and change things to make it how we wanted. As an extension I would have the students write about where they were when they saw a landscape like the one the drew. The students would be able to write an imaginative story based on the landscape.

Scrapbooking

This was a fun lesson learning how to preserve images and have fun while doing it. We were able to bring any picture or pictures we wanted to scrapbook to create one scrapbooking page. This is a very good way to let the student be creative. Scrapbooking helps tell a story about the picture. It sets the mood and can portray a desired feeling. It is important to place everything out before you glue. This will help prevent any disasters that go along with scrapbooking. As an extension, this could be incorporated with English. Writing about the pictures on the pages would help writing skills.

Perspective Drawing

In this project we learned about linear perspective and vanishing points. We drew our horizon and picked a spot on the horizon to be out vanishing point. We used a straight edge or a ruler to get all of the lines lined up exactly where they needed to be. Once you have all of the lines drawn and building created you can make them as detailed as you want. It was a fun project! As an extension I would maybe incorporate this with geometry, learning how to create different angles and the measures of the angle. This would be way more fun that learning the angles straight out of the text book.

Book Binding

We created our own sketch books! The first step in this process was to paint a sheet of paper however we wanted to. I love blending colors to create a rainbow effect so that's how I created mine. After the paintings dried, we took two pieces of hard, cardboard like paper and pasted it to the back side of our painting. We cut the paper in half and glued the edges inside to cover the whole thing. Then, we cut them apart. We took about 25 plain white sheets of paper and placed them between the two covers and clipped them together so they didn't move. We measured out 4 or 5 different spots along the edge of the paper to drill hole for binding the book together. Once the holes have been drilled the book is ready to be bound with tough string or dental floss. I found it very challenging trying to clip my book together without all my paper moving! I also ended up having wrinkles on my cover which drove me crazy! As an extension of the book binding I would have this sketch book be used as somewhat of a journal. This would allow the students to doodle and draw any sort of images they wanted at any time. This is a great way to get the students to express themselves. I would assign specific sketches as well.

4 Season Window

This is a Kindergarten lesson where we learned about the different season and how an apple tree changes with the seasons. First of all, we went through all the seasons and thought of words that came to mind. Then we described what happens to an apple tree durning those seasons and how they change. We were then given 4 different parts of a tree to represent the 4 seasons and we painted the background with watercolors. After they were painted them to fit the seasons we broke into two groups. One group worked on creating the Summer and Fall parts of the tree, while the other group created Winter and Spring. As we worked on the pieces a book about the seasons was read to us to incorporate some Literature. I thought this was very age appropriate. I found it difficult to blend the watercolors together to get a desired look. An extension of this project would be to write a story as a class about the apple tree. The students are to young to write a story by themselves but could come up with something as a class.

Stepping Stone

This was a first grade lesson that was taught by two of my classmates. We were assigned to bring picture or anything that we wanted to decorate a stepping stone with. I decided to bring a picture from home that I wanted on my stepping stone. The first thing that we went over was what a stepping stone was and then we were to draw out the pattern or design that we wanted on our stepping stone. This was a good lesson for following direction and letting the students be creative. I thought this was somewhat challenging because I'm a perfectionist and it was hard for me to get the bead placed just how I wanted them. If I were to have an extension on this project I would incorporate it with a math lesson. We would discuss what a pattern is and how they are made. They would have to create some other patterns with beads before the students were able to put them in the cement.

Print Making

During this lesson we learned about print making and what it is used for. The assignment was to make a Holiday card. First of all, we took a piece of styrofoam and drew the image we wanted on our card and then took a wooden tool to push the design into the styrofoam. It was as if we were making a large stamp. After we got the design pushed in to the styrofoam we took a piece of construction paper and rolled the design onto it. I really enjoyed doing this project, the only thing I had difficult time with was that the some of the ink we used was very sticky making it hard to roll it out. My design had a lot of detail which took a long time to get all pushed in but it was worth it. I think it turned out really well! As an extension I would have the students write inside of the card as if they were sending out a Christmas card to someone special. It would be a fun, creative, festive project.

Pinch Pot- Take what life has to offer...

When we made our pinch pots we did a therapeutic activity. We listened to music, were blind folded, and given directions. As I was forming it in my hand I decided that I wanted mine to be personalized. I formed the bowl in the palm of my hand and allowed the clay to form around my fingers. When we were doing the activity I was thinking about everything that happens in life. There are many different things that you can choose to do with your life but sometimes we are given things that we have no control over and have to accept what has been given to us. Therefore, I decided to name this pinch pot "Take what life has to offer..." I really enjoyed working with clay. It would be a great activity for students to express themselves and put their emotions into the clay. I found it challenging to make the clay into a sound. It really gets you thinking on a different level. As an extension I would have the students write about what they chose to make because in pieces of art work such as this you don't really know the whole meaning behind it. This would really allow the students to open up with their feelings and emotions.

Comic Strips- The Meal

This went along with the lesson I taught to the class. What we did was described how comic strip were made, went over shading, and blending two primary colors to get a secondary color. We allowed the students some time to think of a story line they wanted to use and then they were able to illustrate it through their comic strip. We discovered that some students needed a little extra time to think about their story. If I were to do this again I would incorporate it with an English lesson talking about which point of view the story was taken place, the setting, and plot. This would allow students to have the story line figured out before the illustrating began. Besides that I was really pleased with the lesson and enjoyed looking at all of the students work. They truly did a great job!

Me, Myself, and My Initials

In this lesson that was taught to us by our classmates we were asked to bring pictures or adds that represented us and what we liked. We took two different pieces of paper and on one of them we drew our initials on it anyway we wanted, cut them out, and traced them on the other piece of paper. Then we took the adds and pictures we gathered and placed them where our initials were traced. Once we had them all glued on, we then placed the paper with our initials cut out on top. This allows the pictures we glued on to show through. I found it difficult because I traced my letters all of the way to the edge of the paper and it was challenging trying to figure out how to put all of the pieces back together. It was almost like a puzzle. As an extension to this project I would incorporate it with an English lesson as well by having the students write about themselves and what makes them unique. Students enjoy lessons like this because it has their name on it and its something really personal.

Word Collages

In this lesson we created collages. We added 3-4 different kinds of media to our work. First of all, we chose 4 different words and had to give them a definition. In the top picture the word was journey- I said it was an adventure, something new and exciting. The first thing that came to mind was nature and going on a journey. I did all of the steps of that picture. The second picture down the word was Lonely-Being alone, sad, by yourself. The first thing that came to mind was the colors of blue and purple. I then added one white circle on the page representing being lonely. The other students added to it by using some pastels and putting a monkey on it. The third one down the word was clarity. When I think of something being clear I think of it as in simple terms, things should be black and white with no confusion. The next person added some different shapes and lines and the words "still married" was added to it. The fourth one down represents the word wretched-I thought of this word meaning a mess, evil, misery. I started the painting wit dark colors. I had the background black and splashed some red paint on it. Added to this someone used yellow paint and pastels to give it a little more "edge." In the final step someone added different objects giving it even more of an edge and evil appearance. I was really impressed with how it turned out. The one thing that I didn't like in this project was that we started a piece and had to keep trading and switching. I understand the reasoning for this but I am a very particular person and I envisioned each word in a certain way and some of the finished products did not turn out how I envisioned them at all. An extension to this product may include something along the lines of using these words in writing by using the pictures to portray a meaning. I think it would be very interesting to see how the students would use the words based off of how the pictures turned out.

Native American Sand Art

This was a lesson that was taught to us by one of our classmates. At the beginning of the lesson different types of Native American art was described. Then we had a chance to try one of the methods which was called sand art. We took a piece of sand paper and colored a Native American design on the sand paper with crayons. We had to make sure that we pressed hard enough with the crayons so it would transfer onto the paper. When were were finished with the design we took our white piece of paper and our sand paper over to the iron. We put the two pieces of paper between some newspaper and then ironed it allowing the crayons to melt and transfer onto the white paper. They turned out really neat and were a lot of fun. We were able to use our creativity to create a pattern we liked. The one thing that was a little bit of a challenge was determining if the crayon had transfered yet. If you lift up the paper to check you must be very careful that the sandpaper and the white paper don't move because it's nearly impossible to get them in the exact same place. As an extension for this project I would have the students do some research on the Native American cultures and really get an understanding of what these different art forms were used for.

Sratch Art

We were assigned to draw two different pictures in our sketch books. When we brought them to class the next day we took a pencil and shaded the back of our picture. We then chose a color of scratch paper we liked and placed it behind our drawing. We took a wooden tool and traced all of the lines that we drew. This is allowing the lead to transfer onto the scratch art paper. Once we had all of the lines traced we took the scratch paper and started scratching out our picture. It was really neat because we learned how to transfer our drawings to another type of paper. It was difficult making sure you traced all of the lines. We had to be very careful that the two pieces of paper didn't move because it would have made it challenging to get them lined up perfectly again. As an extension, I would have the students experiment with shading their drawing to make it look more 3-D and adding details to it. I really enjoyed this activity and I think students would have a lot of fun!

Eric Carle Collage Butterfly

My collage butterfly came from the story Very Hungry Caterpillar. In creating my butterfly I drew the butterfly that I wanted to create. I then chose the side of my butterfly that I liked best so the other side could be symmetrical. I then gathered the different kind of collage paper that I wanted my butterfly to be made out of. I cut one piece of the butterfly out at a time and then traced it on the collage paper and then flipped it and traced it again so each piece would be the exact same size. After I had all the pieces traced and cut out I selected the color of background paper I wanted. I carefully placed each piece on the paper and glued them down individually. I didn't necessarily find any new discoveries during this project but there would be many different ways to create each butterfly. I would have my students create whatever kind of butterfly they would like either using patterns or making the butterfly symmetric. This is a good way of letting the students be creative and use their imagination and a good art project to tie in with a math lesson learning about symmetry or pattern. Another extension of this lesson could be to have a thematic unit on insects and having each student pick a different insect and create them using the collage technique.

Hidden Sarfari

In this piece of art work we picked a "safari" like image to draw with a light blue colored pencil and then we used the warm colors to make a pattern and cover up the image. We then made ruby red glasses that allows you to see the image underneath. This is a fun activity and I think students would really enjoy this. I found it challenging trying to cover up the blue enough so you couldn't see it through the warm colors. If I were to do it again I probably wouldn't have made the blue lines so dark. An extension of this project could be to do a project like this in a larger scale to create a more realistic safari theme. It would be neat to draw the animals to scale so they could actually see how large these animals really are.

Starry Night

This is a finger painting I made of the Starry Night. Here is a description that I wrote about the painting:

As I look out my window I look down on the town. It's such a beautiful bright night with the moon lighting up the sky. The stars are popping out as if I could reach out and touch them. I see a big tree in the distance with the light of the sky in the background. Life is so beautiful on this peaceful night.

This piece of art work was finger painted using yellow, blue, red, black, and white paint. These primary colors were mixed to get the desired color that I wanted. It was kind of challenging getting just the right shade of each color that you had in mind. It was also difficult making smooth lines and having complete control without using a paintbrush. I found that you have to get in the right state of mind and really get into the painting to get the desired outcome.

An extension of this project would be to let the students create their own piece of art work painting whatever image they want using the techniques of Van Gogh.

This foot is describing who I am. The peacock feather is in the background because it represents where I come from and reminds me of home. The cross represents how important faith is in my life. I put a heart on it also because it represents the love I have for my friends and family that are important in my life. Last but definitly not least is the red, white, and blue ribbon which is for my boyfriend in the National Guard who is over in Kuwait fighting for our country!

Line Emphasis

This is a project using line emphasis. A star is created by lines and I'm emphasising the star with the ribbon and red glitter. I found that the ribbon was hard to glue down without rippling up. I don't think the paper was thick enough to keep it from curling up with the glue and all the glitter on the project. If I were to do this again I would use heavier paper or different glue. If I were to do a project like this in my classroom I would maybe focus on each element or principle and have each student create their own piece of work. This would help students understand each different element and principle.

John Copley- Elizabeth Greenleaf

In this painting I thought that the artist used many different shapes and lines to create the portrait. He also used some very contrasting colors to make the image stand out against the background. I think the principle that he used in this painting was emphasis, emphasizing the girl in the picture.
I think it was probably a portrait created of someone important to him. It could be his daughter or someone else that was important in his life. I personally liked this painting because I really like the "vintage/Victorian" works of art and I would like to have a painting like this in my house.