Crayon Resist

In this lesson, we used oil pastels to create an image of a flower using bright, bold colors.  It was important to use the majority of the page, but okay to have some white spaces left.  In these remaining white spaces, we were able to see what happens when we apply watered-down black paint to the paper.  

To begin, I drew the picture of the flower and colored it in, smudging the colors with my fingers as I went.  I also added some lines in the petals by using my fingernails.  Once we had our flowers drawn, we were given a cup with watered-down black tempera paint.  Using a paint brush, we quickly applied the mixture to our image, spreading it out evenly.  To remove the excess, we used a paper towel.  

The areas that had previously been white were now a dark gray and the flower took on a more dull look.  It was interesting to see how some spots of the flower absorbed more paint than the others, causing darker spots in some sections.  

This process of crayon resisting could be done with several projects.  An example is to have students draw a family portrait of their own family.  Once complete, students would color the picture with either pastels or crayons, and then apply the watered-down black paint.  This would give the picture more of an antique quality and would be fun for younger grades who understand that pictures from a long time ago were either in black or white, or are now faded in color from age.  

Hidden Safari

In this lesson, we learned how to create a "hidden" image within a picture full of various patterns.  This is done by first drawing the image you want to be hidden softly with a sky blue colored pencil.  Once you have completed this image, fill the rest of the page with various patterns, sticking with warm colors like red, yellow, and orange.  These colors will help to hide the image.  

In order to be able to see the hidden image, special glasses are needed.  To create these Ruby Red glasses, take a 3" x 10" piece of red cellophane and glue this to the back of red construction paper, which has some sort of eye holes already cut out.  Either a piece of string or a long 1" piece of red construction paper can be attached to the glasses so they can be worn.  

For my Hidden Safari picture, I drew an elephant with the sky blue colored pencil.  To hide it, I made a pattern of yellow diamonds and triangles, followed by various circles and squares made with red and orange.  

                                   

This activity could be implemented several different ways.  Students can create various hidden images and come up with several clues to give other students as to what their picture contains.  Another way to use this activity is to allow students to create a "cheat sheet" for an upcoming test or quiz.  Students will get a good review of the material while they are creating the picture and will be able to reference the picture during the test, as long as they have their Ruby Red glasses.  

Illustrate a Story Collage

For this lesson, we first watched a video clip showing how the successful Eric Karle creates his popular children's book illustrations.  His process includes making his own paper and cutting shapes out of this paper to create a collage.  These collages feature many layers and have a very unique look to them.  

In my collage, I made a scene that shows snail named Sid climbing up a tree as the sun sets in the background.  This was done by using two main pieces of pre-painted paper (sky and grass).  Then, using various pieces, I created the snail, tree, birds, and shrubbery.  

To create the painted paper used for the sky, I first applied water to the piece of white paper using my brush.  Then, I dripped red paint somewhat evenly over most of the page.  To add some tinting, I also distributed some black paint to the paper.  I used my fingers to mix the paint and spread it among the paper.  This was a very fun and easy process that allowed us to be creative.  Once my paper was completely covered and I was satisfied with the colors, I took a plate stencil and pressed it on top of the picture.  This gave the paper a snake-skin look to it.  

This process was repeated for the other pieces that I made, using various colors and texture techniques as needed.  When the paper was dry, I sketched my collage onto another white piece of paper to use as a stencil to cut out the painted paper.  These pieces were then glued onto a second piece of paper, layering shapes on top of each other.  

A way to incorporate this activity into a future classroom of mine would be to have students work independently or in pairs to create a children's story of their own.  They would need to write the text and design their pages before starting the process of making and cutting out the paper.  Once students finish each page, they could either write the text onto each page with a marker or print out a typed copy and glue that to the collage.  

Van Gogh Collage

In this project, we focused on the style of Vincent Van Gogh, who painted the famous "Starry Night" among many other pieces during his short career.  To create our collages, we first cut out small pieces of tissue paper, using various colors.  We used minimal amounts of glue to adhere these to our construction paper background before applying a gel medium over the top when we were completed applying the tissue paper.  Once this was dry, we had a clear, glossy finish over our work.  Using oil pastels and markers, lines were made throughout our picture to represent the style of Van Gogh.  Another piece of construction paper was used on top of all of this to create a landscape of our choosing.  Lines were again made on this piece to add style.

For my project, I chose to use a nighttime landscape of a lake, surrounded by trees.  To accomplish this, I used a black background with a piece of blue for the water.  To make the trees, I again used construction paper: green and brown.  Using oil pastels, I made small stars and lines in the sky.  Lines were also made on the lake, trees, and background using a silver and black marker.  

This project would be fun to do in my future classroom because it gives the students an opportunity to use tissue paper in a different way.  Also, the gel medium used to attach the tissue paper gives the project a nice shine that would stand out when hung in a hallway.  Along with this activity, students could work on finding some facts about Van Gogh, or even doing a research paper on him, depending on their age.  This research will give them more insight into his style of painting and his works of art.  Another extension of this activity is to have students write a story explaining their artwork.  This will allow students to explain what they have made while also giving them practice in creative writing.  

Art History in the Classroom:

Possibly the easiest way to incorporate art history into a normal general education classroom is to cover it in social studies.  As students learn about different cultures, societies, traditions and geographic places, art can be brought in to enhance the lesson.  For example, when studying about the Ancient Egyptians and their burial practices, art history can be taught by examining the tombs that were made to place the bodies of prominent individuals in.  

Elements and Principles of Design Scavenger Hunt

For this project, we needed to take pictures of various objects and items that demonstrated the twelve elements and principles of design that we learned about in class.  The twelve are: lines, shapes, space, texture, value, color, repetition, emphasis, contrast, balance, unity and rhythm/movement.  We then complied each of the photos using PowerPoint and included definitions on each slide.  This project was a fun way to familiarize ourselves with the basics of art by taking pictures of everyday objects that have various aspects of art in them.  It opened my eyes to view things in a different way; much like learning about music will make you listen to things differently.

The following pictures are ones that I used in my project showcasing five of the elements.

Space

•Volume that can be empty or filled with objects

•Composed of width, height, and depth

•Depth is achieved in three-dimensional works

•Objects that are farther away seem to look smaller, as with the trees across the lake

Color

•Most familiar element of art

•In order to see color, there must be light

•Three properties

•Hue (name)

•Value (light or dark)

•Intensity (purity)

•During fall, trees and shrubs turn many different colors, as shown here 

Value

•Refers to light and dark
•Describes form and defines space

•A tint is when white is added

•Black is added to make a shade

•The color is lighter as you move closer to a light source, such as a light bulb

Emphasis

•Used to create dominance or a focal point

•Emphasis can be placed on color, value or shapes

•Cloud formations can create focal points of their own, especially when the sun is shining through an opening

Contrast

•Differences in values, colors, textures, shapes, and other elements

•Makes art more exciting visually

•Some people choose to use several different colors to make walls more interesting

Welcome to my art page!

This first posting will be about the first project that we did for class, our foot autobiography.  This was a great project to do at the beginning of the semester because it allowed us as a class to get to know each other better and to feel more comfortable around each other.  As a future teacher, I think this would be a great project for the first week of school.  It will give your students the chance to be creative while telling you important things about them.  Another reason why I liked this activity was because it had a framework to guide us when we got lost, but also provided us with enough room so that everyone's footprint was different.  

To make our footprints, we first traced our foot onto construction paper and cut it out.  Then, we were told to find items that related to our life.  These could be nearly anything, and it was required that we use three different mediums, which pushed us to be more creative.  

This my final product for the foot autobiography project.  The photo on the right is of my sisters, brother, brother-in-law, parents, niece, and myself.  I included this picture because family is very important in my life and they have always been there to support me.  The photo on the left side is myself with my niece, Kira.  She was born when I was a junior in high school and lives in the same town as my parents.  After she was born, I became much closer with my sister, her mom, and have learned a lot about myself.  Now that I have moved out, I miss Kira quite a bit, which makes our time together even more special.  The drawings in the middle portray my love for the outdoors, which includes camping, bonfires, and fishing.  These are all activities that I enjoy doing during the summer and whenever it's warm enough.  The rose petals of either side of the foot represent the five summers I worked at a greenhouse/nursery throughout the last couple years of high school and the beginning of college.  While working there, I learned more about plants than I ever thought I would know and also learned the importance of hard work.

This activity would be great in nearly all ages and can be easily adapted to fit the age you are working with.  For younger students, you might want to consider limiting them to what they can include on the foot.  This way, you won't get any bugs or worms glued on that might be better represented by a drawing.  On the other hand, for older students, you could only let them draw one element and require that each element is a different medium.  

Another extension of this activity could include doing a hand biography of another student in the class.  This will allow the students to get to know each other even better and will also let the students work cooperatively.