Self-Portraits with Personal Symbols – by 3rd Grade artists

This lesson was inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo, who is well known for her self-portrait paintings and often incorporating symbols into her artwork.

This lesson took about 4 (40 minute) art classes to complete.

DAY 1:

Students were introduced to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and learned about her interesting life and beautiful artwork!

We looked at a variety of images of her paintings as well as photos of her creating her art. We looked at photos and self-portraits of her and her many unique pets as well! (Students loved seeing her with her pet spider monkey, 4 parrots, a deer, a hawk and other interesting creatures! She loved animals and had a lot of unique pets throughout her life!

Students also learned how she originally wanted to be a doctor and studied medicine, but then was in a terrible trolley accident which left her bedridden in the hospital for a very long time. Her mother gave her paints and drawing supplies to help her pass the time in the hospital and set up a mirror above her bed, which led her to her love of painting, becoming an artist and creating her many self-portraits!

After discussing her use of symbolism in some of her self-portraits, and discussing what a SYMBOL was, students looked at a variety of student examples as well as my teacher examples.

For the lesson, I explained they needed to draw themselves large on the paper vertically, only including their head, neck and shoulders, (like in their school photos!) then to draw 6 or 7 symbols around them that reflect their interests and personality. The symbols should be drawn large and at least as big as their closed fist (making sure the objects are clearly identifiable and easy to outline and color in later on).

I reminded them to make sure the symbols should only be images, no text! They could connect to things that they enjoy doing, things that are important to them, a favorite memory, favorite foods, hobbies, seasons etc. They could however, add words in their shirt if they wanted.

Then, I reviewed with students how to draw the shape of the head and facial details as well as facial detail placement on the head, under the doc camera on 12 x18″ 80# paper. I had facial detail handouts to use and refer to as they drew with a variety of eyes, noses, and mouth images if they wanted to use them, but didn’t have to.

Students then started drawing soon after with pencil, drawing lightly in case they needed to erase.

DAYS 2-4:

Students continued drawing and once all details were added and 6-7 symbols were drawn around them, they outlined all lines with a black sharpie.

Students used crayons (pressing firmly! so the colors would be vibrant! ) to color in. I explained to find a crayon –(or two, overlapping and blending the two colors if needed) that best matched their unique skin color, hair color and eye color. (In previous years, kids used oil pastels to color in, but I wanted to switch it up and try good ol’ crayons for a change (and lets face it….less mess!)

As a final step, students chose one color to color in the background, to make their self-portrait and symbols stand out,  filling in the entire paper so no white paper was showing.

Once finished, students filled out a self-assessment on their knowledge of Frida Kahlo and on their own artwork! This sheet will be taped to the back of their drawings before going home.

To my 3rd graders in school, can you tell who’s WHO in these self-portraits by looking at their drawings and symbols?? : ) Take a look below! (obviously, the first two are very evident!) 🙂

Photos of students creating their beautiful masterpieces below student artwork too! (I guess that would kinda give it away now wouldn’t it, haha)

YES, YES….. I know…… I take a TON of photos!!….. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! Check out below for my recent post on 1st graders “Dream Houses”!

Next up for 3rd grade…….Painted Organic Shapes Collage inspired by artist Henri Matisse!

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1st Grade “Dream Houses”

This fun 3 day art lesson—- (3) 40 minute art classes—-is inspired by the book “The Big Orange Splot” by Daniel Pinkwater.

I absolutely LOVE this book!

It’s about a man, Mr. Plumbean, who lives on a street with his neighbors who all have the same exact house on “a neat street” as they say in the story.

Then one day, a big splot of bright orange paint falls on his roof. The neighbors all get annoyed by the random splot and ask him to get rid of it so they all “have a neat street” again.

Instead of getting rid of it, he adds to the splot, and paints his home with a ton of bright, vivid colors, and pictures of fun, random things ALL over.  His neighbors get really upset at him and ask him why he won’t change it back to the way it was before. He declares to all his angry neighbors “my house is me, and I am it…..my house looks like all my dreams” and doesn’t change a thing.

Soon after…. one by one… the neighbors try to have a talk with him to change it back. BUT…. after talking to Mr. Plumbean, each neighbor gets INSPIRED! and ends up changing all THEIR houses to look like their own dreams!

After reading the story, we talked about how it’s important to be yourself and to not be afraid to stand out, and talked about how boring it would be if everything looked the same. Then I showed students examples of previous 1st graders artwork, as well as a few of my own, then kids got started!

I had no rules for this art lesson except to add a pattern somewhere within their work! I wanted to let them be as creative as possible with very little instruction. Kids could draw whatever kind of house they wanted! It didn’t have to be rectangular or square like most houses—it could be any shape! It could be a diamond shaped house, a slice of cake, a puppy, a cookie, a robot, a spaceship, a boat, a unicorn, slides coming from the roof to a pool in the yard….you get the idea!

Check them out below- They came out fantastic!

(Photos of students creating them below their artwork too!)

Students drew on 12×18″ drawing paper with pencil, then outlined all lines with a black sharpie, then colored in their houses with crayons. The final step was painting the background with blue (for sky or underwater scene) or black (for space or nighttime scene) using liquid watercolors.

NEXT UP FOR FIRST GRADERS……….. “WATERMELON WEAVINGS”! STAY TUNED FOR THAT POST SOON 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! I will be posting 3rd grade self-portrait artwork inspired by artist Frida Kahlo NEXT, and 2nd grade “3D Water Lilies” inspired by Claude Monet VERY VERY SOON!

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Radial Symmetry Printmaking – NEW YouTube Tutorial!

Hi everyone! It’s been a LOOOOoonng time since I’ve posted any new YouTube tutorials ( 5 months or so I think?) and wanted to share here that I just finished uploading this one!

4th graders are currently creating their prints for this lesson and a few students have finished printing! I will be posting the entire lesson here with photos of student artwork as well as photos of students creating their prints later this week!! I can’t wait to share!

Stay tuned for that and in the meantime, you can view my latest video tutorial below! If you didn’t know I had a YouTube channel, you can click HERE to get there to view all my art tutorials…. Slowly, but surely adding more and more… *******UPDATE******* I wanted to edit this video tutorial after watching in class with my students a few times. I wasn’t too happy with the sound quality or edits here and there…..Still learning how to create/edit in iMovie. They always take me longer than I think, and I’m always terrified to record my voice!

So, here’s the new version….I adjusted the volume, (I have more of a quiet voice and noticed it’s hard to hear in my videos sometimes), switched out some of the music I used, and sped up the ending demonstration parts. This one is *hopefully* better than the first one I posted.

I would love and appreciate your feedback! Feel free to email me or comment below this post. Thank you!

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for watching! 

 

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Mondrian Inspired Printing- 1st Grade

Read below student artwork to learn how students created these, what they learned about throughout the process, and see photos of students creating!

When students came into the art room and sat down, without showing them my teacher examples, I asked them, “who can remember and tell me what the primary colors are?” (They all learned about primary colors from the previous lesson when creating secondary colors from mixing primary colors)

I was happy to see everyone’s hands shooting up in the air!

***I feel like I should explain here that Kindergarteners don’t have art class in our district, that’s why I’m teaching them about primary/secondary colors, line, shapes, overlapping etc. etc. to my first grade classes***

Then I showed them my teacher examples and explained we’d be creating artwork inspired by the artist Piet Mondrian.

From there I showed them a brief PowerPoint about his life and artwork.

Students learned he was an artist from the Netherlands, who lived from 1872 to 1944 who was and still is today, a very influential and famous abstract painter. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th century abstract art.

One fact about his life was that he was an elementary school teacher before creating art full time. They also learned how he painted more realistically in the beginning, then developed a strong interest in creating more abstracted images, and eventually reduced his artwork to simple geometric elements, focusing on horizontal and vertical lines. He also paired down his color palette using mainly primary colors.

Below are some screenshots of slides taken from my powerpoint I showed students.

I asked students to show me how to draw vertical and horizontal lines with their finger in the air. Then I asked them how many vertical lines there were in his paintings, and how many horizontal lines and what shapes they created.

I asked my students “who can tell me what a shape is?” Students said rectangles, circles, squares…” I said yes those are all examples of shapes you’re right, but do you know what the definition of a shape is? What is a shape? I drew on paper a random line connected end to end that resembled a cloud, and asked “ is this a shape?” They all said yes!

I explained how any lines that connect end to end is a shape.

As I motioned my hands in the air – I asked my first grade students “what happens when 2 horizontal lines connect with 2 vertical lines?” ——they knew right away! They create rectangles and squares!

Students all loved this picture with the lady on the car!

DAY 1 (OF 2)

Students used a small rectangular piece of Styrofoam dipped into black tempera paint, to stamp one end and print horizontal and vertical lines onto 12x 18” paper.

I explained to focus mainly on making squares and rectangles (just like Mondrian) but they could create triangles and other shapes here and there too!

DAY 2

Students colored in their shapes with primary colors using markers.

Some students took more of a Kandinsky approach to stamping their lines. I love the sense of movement these have below!

They really got into it, and some students told me they couldn’t wait to go home and create more!

Check back later this weekend for a new blog post on 4th Grade Radial Printmaking!! And check below to see 4th graders beautiful Dandelion Puffs! Thanks for stopping by!

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Dandelion Puffs – 4th Grade

Additional artwork below!!

This easy and fun 2 day art lesson focused on the elements of art; Line, Shape, Color and Value. Students also learned about a new watercolor resist technique using rubber cement before painting!

Special shout out to artroombritt.blogspot.com for this lesson idea!

DAY 1

Students observed various drawings of dandelions and reviewed the meaning of composition in artwork, (composition= the way things are laid out or where things are drawn/placed on paper).

Students drew three stems spaced apart a bit coming from one side of a sheet of 9×12″ tagboard with pencil. They could be drawn coming from either side of the paper going towards the middle.

They drew a small circle at the tip of each stem for the dandelions center and then lightly drew a large circle around it to act as a guideline to where their dandelion seed heads would be drawn to, to create a full, fluffy dandelion puff.

Students drew 1 large dandelion and 2 smaller ones on either side of the large one. Then drew a variety of seed heads stemming out from the center of each dandelion. I demonstrated various seed head tips for drawing before students drew on their own papers. I also offered a handout to refer to and observe, if they wanted while drawing.

Then once all three were drawn, they added drifting seed heads blowing away from the dandelion puffs in the wind. These drifting seed heads were drawn traveling in different directions (just like in real life) and not only adds interest, but creates a nice composition with the three dandelions along the opposite side.

Then students went over their stems lines and dandelion puffs lines and drifting seed heads with a black sharpie. After using sharpie they erased any pencil lines that remained.

Once that was done, after class, (when students were no longer in my art room), I brushed on a thick layer of rubber cement where each circular dandelion puff would be, as well as on the drifting seed heads. The rubber cement was a bit stinky and isn’t healthy to breathe in, so I worked next to an open window. This is why I applied the rubber cement and not the students.

The rubber cement was left to dry until the next class. (BTW- This doesn’t take up much rubber cement at all- I used about 3 small jars for 4 classes (roughly 24 students per class).

I used an old tempera brush rather than the rubber cements brush that it comes with. I found it was much easier to spread that way.

DAY 2

Before applying paint to our drawings, we reviewed warm and cool colors.

I had ice cube trays filled with liquid watercolors (one end with warm colors (warm colors=reds, pinks, oranges and yellows) and the other end with cool colors (cool colors= blues, greens and purples).

We also reviewed the wet-on-wet watercolor technique before painting. After demonstrating, students applied water only to 1/2 their paper quickly with a watercolor brush. THEN applied dabs of either just warm colored paint OR just cool colored paint onto the wet areas using one color at a time.

Students noticed how the paint spread outward from where they dabbed little bits of paint over the watered down paper. The water helps spread the paint and it also changes the value of the color making the color lighter and less vibrant (value= the lightness or darkness of a color).

Then once one 1/2 of their paper was painted, they dabbed the painted section with a paper towel while still wet, to help soften the color and spread the paint even more.

Then painted the other 1/2 of their paper with water only and applied paint to that wet area then dabbed off with a paper towel.

Once paintings were dry, the rubber cement was rubbed off, revealing the white dandelion puffs!

Thanks for visiting my blog!! Check back soon for new 1st grade artwork! Next week!

 

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Birch Tree Landscapes- 2nd Grade

This art lesson took about ( 3) 40 minute art classes to complete. Students learned about foreground, middle ground and background and how it creates a sense of space in artwork.

Read more below students artwork to find out how they were created!

DAY 1 – Creating the birch trees

After introducing foreground, middle ground and background to students, showing them multiple student artwork examples from previous years, and demonstrating the steps for day 1 of the lesson, students got to work creating their birch trees. We used 12 x 18″ medium weight tagboard for the paper.

Students drew 1 large tree in the foreground (area closest to the viewer- with objects drawn LARGEST along the bottom of the paper to show this) going all the way to the top of their paper.

Then drew a land line in the middle ground(area in artwork that is placed in the middle of the paper or canvas, with objects drawn a bit smaller in this area, to show it is a bit further away from the viewer.) I demonstrated to make sure that they jumped over the tree as they drew the middle ground! Then proceeded to draw 2 slightly thinner trees from the middle ground up to the top of their paper.

Then they drew another hill / land line to show grass and trees growing in the background. This line was drawn near the top of the paper to show objects that are the furthest away from the viewer. Objects along this area are drawn the smallest to show they are the furthest things away in the artwork.

Once these areas were drawn with largest to smallest birch trees, going from the bottom of their paper to the top, students used a small piece of recycled currugated cardboard dipped into black paint to create the birch tree bark.

Dipping the currugated side of the cardboard into a small amount of black tempera paint, then scraping from one edge of the tree to the other, students created the black lines within their birch trees. ***It’s important to tap off extra black paint on the paper plate, before scraping, otherwise sometimes too much black paint can create larger black blocks of sections as opposed to black “lines”.

After creating the black lines for the birch bark in each tree, we created 1-2 branches for each tree by tilting the cardboard diagonally along the edges of our trees, and dragged the cardboard downward.

DAY 2 – Creating grass, flowers and painting the landscape

Students drew grass blades within their landscape using 2 different shades of green crayons and yellow. They pressed HARD as they drew the lines– It’s important to press hard not lightly here because the crayon bits would be painted over in the next step (creating a “crayon wax resist” technique with watercolors).

I showed kids how to hold all 3 crayons in one hand, drawing vertical and diagonal lines for the grass. (Doing this makes it easier and faster!) Some students held all 3 ok, and some preferred holding 2 then drawing the rest with the 3rd crayon after.

Then they drew a variety of flowers using crayons within each grassy section.

I love the triangular shaped crayons Crayola makes! They don’t roll off the tables!

Once complete with grass and flowers, students painted the grass and sky with slightly watered down liquid watercolors! Creating a crayon wax resist.



DAY 3- ADDING THE WOODLAND ANIMALS TO THE LANDSCAPE!

Students referred to a variety of “step-by-step” how to draw animals that I had created and stapled together into packets to draw at least 1 animal to add to their landscapes.

Foxes, squirrels, owls, skunks, bunny’s, racoons, deer, and wild horses (which could OF COURSE be made into unicorns!) were in the packet.

Students chose 1-2 animals to draw, and used their observational drawing skills to draw them, color in with colored pencils, cut them out and glue onto their beautiful landscapes!

LOVE her Amelia Earhart outfit! Some 2nd graders were doing book report presentations on this day in their classrooms!

And there you have it!! Beautiful work everybody!!

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1st Grade- Bubblegum Blowing Self-portraits (before the bubble!)

I couldn’t resist posting these adorable and amazing drawings my first graders did before adding the balloon for their bubble gum! (I will be adding the balloons to them next week to display in the hallways!)

This was a really fun lesson where first-graders learned the difference between a self-portrait and a portrait! This lesson took (3) 40 minute art classes to finish.

Students not only learn how to draw the face and facial details, but we also talk about color matching and trying to best match our own unique skin colors, eye colors and hair colors using crayons. We focus on the Elements of Art (Line, Shape, Color, and Form), as well as use (Principle of Art) Pattern in the background!

DAY 1

First, students viewed a variety of self-portraits from first graders from previous years in my Powerpoint, as well as my own example drawings hanging on the board.

Students then watched while I demonstrated under the document camera how to draw the head by drawing an upside down egg shape. Then how to draw two curving lines for the neck and shoulders with the arms going off the page at the bottom.

I discussed how the drawing would be close up and not show the entire body, (like in their school photo that gets taken in the beginning of the year which I think helped them understand better).

They learned how to draw facial features in correct proportion and learned that eyes are drawn like the shape of almonds/footballs or lemons. I talked about how everyone’s eyes are different, but in general, that’s the basic shape of the eye. I also discussed how we have the iris (colored part, and the pupil, the black circle that allows us to see). And that the pupil is ALWAYS in the center of the iris, no matter what direction we are looking in! As I demonstrated how to draw eyelashes I talked about how we ALL have them, to help keep dust and dirt out of our eyes and to help protect them from direct sunlight, and showed them how they are more of a slight curving line rather than straight lines.

I demonstrated a few different ways to draw the nose, which students could choose what they felt they liked best for their drawing (as long as they tried drawing the more “realistic” looking nose (explaining as I demonstrated to to draw “a c shape, curving line up, a “u” shape, then a backwards c shape, as one continuous line), as well as how to draw a more realistic looking mouth, simple “c” shapes for the ears and curving lines for the eyebrows through a demonstration under the document camera.

Kids had a tricky time drawing the nose and lips the most, but they did a fantastic job!!

Once they finished their self-portrait in pencil, students added a pattern of circles in the background, by tracing a circular jar lid, then traced over all their lines with a thick black sharpie to make their lines stand out more.

DAYS 2-3

On the second day of the lesson students began coloring in with crayons.

I explained to look for a crayon or two that would best match their own unique skin color. We discussed how people’s skin have a variety of colors in the world, and that they are ALL beautiful!!

I talked to them about how it’s important to appreciate each others differences and how boring the world would be if we were all the same skin color! Students agreed it would definitely be a boring world if we all looked the same!

Students then found a crayon that best matched their own unique skin color, eye color and hair color and colored in their self-portraits. I demonstrated that they could combine and layer colors to create the colors they needed if need be. I encouraged students to press hard when coloring and to try to color in completely so no white paper showed through.

For a final step, I will poke holes in their papers using a pencil and a pre-tied balloon will be attached to their self-portrait using masking tape on the back! Like in these photos below from last year!

Students did a fantastic job creating their self-portraits!  Balloons will be added soon and displayed in the school’s hallways!

Another blog post tomorrow! Check back sometime then to see! Thanks for stopping by!

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VICTORIAN HOUSES- 4TH GRADE!

CHECK OUT THESE AMAAAAAZING VICTORIAN HOMES!!!!

SO PROUD OF THEIR HARD WORK AND CREATIVITY!!!

I loove how all these houses are all so unique and students really put their effort into creating them with lots of detail!!

MORE AMAZING HOUSES —STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION!……. 🙂

4th graders did such a wonderful job creating these Victorian houses! They worked so hard coming up with their own individual, unique style Victorian house!

This lesson took  (6 ) 40 minute art classes to complete. I think absolutely worth every class though! Students took their time carefully crafting their beloved houses and I wanted to give them the time!

I love incorporating a unit on Architecture!

Some of my students share that their parents work in the architecture field and I hope many of my students are inspired from this lesson and discuss their knowledge on architecture when they get home.

I wouldn’t doubt that I have a bunch of students that will someday be an architect themselves, designing amazing buildings in their future!!

 

DAY 1:

Students learned about Victorian Architecture and learned about some of the common characteristics found within the Victorian architectural style, (i.e., gables, turrets, towers, bay windows, fish-scale shingles, brick and stone details, decorative wood carved “gingerbread” details etc.) and were challenged to envision and create a drawing of their own Victorian style house that included some of these elements.

I showed students a powerpoint of various Victorian homes which pointed out these particular elements. I also showed students a variety of Victorian house drawings students created from previous years, as well as my own examples, to view for inspiration.

Students then were asked to share what similarities they noticed in a side by side viewing of two different Victorian homes on the whiteboard. These images did not include the arrows with descriptions on each house as previous slides depicted.

I wanted to see how much they remembered from viewing the previous slides and through discussion. Students always impress me when they raise their hands to share what they saw, noticed and recalled!! There’s a ton of slides (about 15??) that I go through and discuss before this point. It makes me so happy to see students so engaged!!

Students then practiced drawing these various Victorian elements on a worksheet after doing a demonstration on each.

We also reviewed the Elements of Art and how students would be utilizing 6 out of the 7 elements of art to draw their homes. Line, Shape, Color, Space, Texture, and Value!

Each student received a “step-by-step” how to draw packet (that I created) to look at, if they needed to refer to while drawing.

DAYS 2-3:

I demonstrated to students under the document camera how to begin drawing their homes. FROM THE ROOF DOWN– Starting with the rooflines for the gables. I also demonstrated again how to draw details step-by-step like the bay window, 3D stairs, fish scale shingles, bricks, stone work, gables, and turrets and towers.

I explained (as well as posted on the whiteboard) what Victorian elements/details were needed to be included in their home, but besides that, they had free rein to create their homes any way they wanted!

Students began drawing their Victorian homes on a sheet of 9×12″ 80# drawing paper.

As mentioned above, I had handouts to refer to with photos of various victorian style homes (not to copy exactly!! but to use as reference and be creative!! ), as well as step-by-step drawing packets to use as reference while they drew.

These handouts are print outs from my powerpoint I previously showed them in the last class. ****TEACHERS— I HAVE A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THIS FURTHER DOWN IN THIS BLOG POST!!! BOTH MY STEP-BY-STEP DRAWING HANDOUTS, AS WELL AS THE POWERPOINT, (WHICH ALSO CAN BE PRINTED AND STAPLED TO MAKE PACKETS)*****

Students were instructed to use a ruler to draw any straight lines (just like an architect!) within their work.

DAYS 4-6

Once finished drawing their houses, students carefully colored in their unique Victorian homes using colored pencils.

I demonstrated how to color in the chimney’s bricks (or other brick details within the house) using a variety of reds, browns, tans, and pinks and suggested to stagger the same color. Just like in real chimneys!

I also reviewed/ demonstrated that they could alter the value of the color by pressing lighter or harder (students did this in a previous lesson in the beginning of the year).

Students were also shown how to color in areas showing any stone detail. Neutral colors like: Greys, tans, dark browns, black, white, cream colors were staggered within those areas.

Students could color in the rest of their houses any way they wanted! In previous years I asked them to use a Monochromatic color scheme. BUT—since we already learned about that with their “mini- monochromatic self-portraits” (you can find that one through search section of my blog) they had the freedom to color them they way they pleased! Students were quite happy with that!!!

Students did such an incredible job creating these drawings! They worked very hard and I’m very impressed!

Teachers / educators and anyone really! CLICK Here to a link to download my own drawn FREE step-by-step Victorian detail drawing handouts on my Teachers Pay Teachers page as well as my own Victorian Architecture Powerpoint (which can be printed out to use as a packet for reference!) YAY!

I hope you find them useful and enjoy using them!!! If you choose to download and use them….. I’d love to hear from you and learn how it worked for you in your classroom!

Thank you for stopping by!! Check back VERY soon for a new blog post on…….

…..sorry…….. YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE!!! : )

 

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PRINTMAKING –VASE OF FLOWERS!

Today in both my special needs classes we printed flowers using markers!

I drew the flowers in vases on styrofoam plates for each student ahead of time with a black sharpie.

Students then traced over the black lines with a dull colored pencil, pressing into the styrofoam. This creates an indentation in the surface of the styrofoam where ever it has been pressed in. With my help and the help of Para’s in each class, we assisted each student hand over hand. This is a great muscle strengthener and fine motor control building art activity for people of all ages and levels!

Once the black lines are traced entirely, students then colored in the flowers, leaves, and vase with washable markers. They could use any colors they wanted.

Once colored, I sprayed water, using a recycled spray cleaner bottle, 6 times on a sheet of 9×12″ 80# white drawing paper. Two sprays at the top, two in the middle, and two at the bottom. Then students helped wipe the paper with a pre-dampened sponge, to help spread the water over the paper evenly.

Then the styrofoam was placed color side down, over the damp paper, and students pressed using their hands to transfer the image from the styrofoam to their papers.

(Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a photo of these few steps)– then after pressing all over the back of the styrofoam, students used a brayer to roll over the back of the styrofoam to help further transfer their marker image.

Then the styrofoam was lifted off the dampened paper, revealing their wonderful flower print! I LOVE how they all turned out!!

It’s always so fun to show students a new art making process, and students loved it!!

To check out a more detailed description with additional photos on printmaking with markers, click on my 3rd grade art lessons page HERE and scroll down! My 3rd graders are all currently learning about printmaking with markers as well, and will be posting their “Complementary Creature Prints” soon!!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR STOPPING BY!!!

PLEASE CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE AMAZING STUDENT ARTWORK!!!

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OP ART BY 5TH GRADE!

 

5th Graders did such a fantastic job creating these op art paper cone drawings!!! I’m super proud of their hard work!!!

Students LOVED it too and couldn’t believe it could be created using just sharpies, and colored pencils!

This lesson took about 5 (40 minute) art classes to complete. 

 

ON DAYS  1 and 2: Students were introduced to various OP Art by artists Victor Vasarely and Bridget Riley, and learned what Op art was (Optical Illusion Art) with a quick slideshow of work.  

Six straight lines that intersect at the same spot, were drawn ahead of time on 80# 10×10″ paper for each student with a ruler; Creating 12 “slices” in total. 

Students followed along with me while I demonstrated under the document camera how to draw alternating curving lines within each pie slice, starting in the center.

Then they labeled every other slice with a “B” lightly in pencil, to mark that space as black.

Students then started tracing over the smallest slices labeled “B” in the center, using an extra fine point Sharpie, then filled in. 

As areas got larger, kids switched to a Fine Point Sharpie, (since it has a thicker tip), and filled in the rest.  

ON DAY 3, I reviewed the element of art VALUE with students and showed them how to create subtle value changes within each pie slice with colored pencils.

Students used a white colored pencil in the black areas first to create highlights, pressing hard with the white colored pencil down the middle, creating a bright white strip. Then as they drew from the middle outward, to each side, they pressed lighter and lighter, leaving the sides black.

Then, using a black colored pencil in just the white areas, they drew darkest along the sides and gradually pressed lighter and lighter towards the center—leaving the center strip white.

This lesson ties in nicely (and is a great precursor) to the grid drawing lesson that occurs later on in the year!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out the page “STUDENTS CREATING ART” —NEW PICS HAVE BEEN ADDED : )

AND BE SURE TO CHECK BACK THIS WEEKEND FOR 4TH GRADERS VICTORIAN HOUSES!!!

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