Stained Glass Fruit

In Model Masters students explored the popular art of creating a still life.  A variety of fruit was displayed and we were inspired by the French expressionist painter Georges Rouault.  Rouault's paintings reflect his former occupation as a stained glass artist, as they have vibrant colors and thick black outlining. This lesson was inspired by the fabulous art blog, Deep Space Sparkle!  We began this art project by drawing the fruit still life with pencil on canvas boards. Here is a picture of our fruit still life set up.

 Acrylic paints were applied thickly by double loading the brush with two analogous colors (red and orange, for example).  Paint was swirled on the canvas to mimic the look of stained class.  Black paint and tiny brushes were used to outline all the fruit, the bowl, and to add a stained glass pattern to the background.  Enjoy!  *Some students were not here the first day we did this project with fruit, therefore they painted a gourd and pumpkin still life.

Jake

Gaia

Adam

Anne-Kalin

Camille

Josh

Kenna

Maggie

Megan

Nicholas

Stephan

Victoria

Miss Vanessa

Modigliani Portraits

In Dynamic Drawing we explored the life and art of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920).  Modigliani is a painter most widely known for his portraits that featured elongated forms.  Often the faces, particularly the noses and necks, of his subjects were longer than normal.  Other features like eyes and lips were stylized or exaggerated.  Below are two examples of his portraiture.





First:  students used rulers to grid off a 12"x 18" black sheet of construction paper.  It was divided into 16- 4.5"x 3" squares.  This is not as hard as it sounds, just half the paper in both directions to start and the rest is cake!

Second:  Draw the self portrait--this grid allowed students to place the face, eyes, nose, and neck in a way that would allow for an elogated portrait style. The head takes up the top half and the neck and shoulders fill the bottom.  Emphasis was placed on creating facial symmetry, and longer noses.

Third:  Portraits were colored heavily in oil pastels and black pastel was used to outline. I found that adding white under flesh toned pastel makes them glow more.  These turned out fabulous!

Hailey

Heather W.

Adam

Grace

Gaia

Kenna

Maggie

Natalie

Miss Vanessa

Aubree

Jasmine

Mary

Ryley

Tarah

Accordian Books

In Bookmaking and Illustration we have been working hard to create unique and dynamic Accordian Books.  Like the instrument, these books expand once opened to display images. 

•  We started with a basic accordian book where we folded a long strip of paper using accordian folds. 
• Next we used tube water colors to create an abstract wash on watercolor paper.  We used this "painted paper" to cover the front and back covers.
•  Paper was cut 1/2" larger on all sides so that it can be folded over to nicely to cover the edges of the mounting board.  Squares were cut from the corner so the paper lies flat.  Covers can be created using any heavy weight cardboard--the backs of used notebooks or mat board works well. We used Nori paste to keep wrinkles to a minumum, plus it is repositionable!
•  Next, ribbon was attached to the books--a long strip (or 2 strips) of ribbon was glued to the back of the accordian folded paper and both covers.  This allowed the book to open and expand and for it to be tied closed.  
• Embellishment with buttons, metallic paint markers, collage items...etc.

In addition to a basic accordian book, we also created pocket accordian books. 
 The paper is folded the same, except it is made wider so you can fold the bottom up to create a pocket in the pages.  The pockets can be used to store photos, business cards, or any other flat image.   We embellished these books with embossed metal that was antiqued with india ink.  We also strung beads and attached them to the covers.  These turned out beautiful!

Erin's Pocket Accordian Book

Erin's Accordian Book Cover--she used two ribbons

The inside of Erin's Accordian Book

The cover of Sydney's Accordian Book

Sydney's Book when opened

Hannah's Pocket Accordian Book

Sydney's Pocket Accordian Book--Flash Cards were placed inside, What a great idea!

Miss Vanessa's Pocket Accordian Book

Painted Paper Gourd Collages

In The Sights and Sounds of the Seasons we made colorful gourd collages using homemade painted papers.  Children, old and young alike LOVE making painted paper--it's their chance to experiment and explore the endless possibilities of paint application and manipulation.

This was a two day project --one for painting papers and the next for making the collage.

Supplies are minimal and most are paint texturing items:

White suphite paper 12"x18"

Tempera paint in fall colors

Large Brushes

Magic Paint texturizing tools: Paint combs or scrapers,

 sponges, toothbrushes, bubble wrap...anything that will add texture

1. Paints in warm fall colored paints (red, orange, yellow, brown, and green) were set out and children used various items to texture white suphite paper.  Goards, pumpkins, leaves and  Indian corn were displayed so students can observe the textures and colors.

2. We used toothbrushes to splatter, sponges to dab, bubble wrap to print, combs to drag, and even our fingers! Names were put on the papers before painting began. Ensure that students put names on all papers--they can also just be made for sharing with the whole class (some kids do grow attached to their papers though, but will share...some!)

3. In the next class students were inspired by a still life of various gourds, pumpkins, leaves and Indian corn to create a unique collage.  Shapes were cut from the painted papers and sharing of papers was encouraged.  Objects were arranged to overlap each other. These were glued to black paper to make the vibrant colors pop!

 Below are some results.

Adric

Beth

Chloe

Cullen

Eddie

Gaia

Jake

Karlee

Levi

Maddy

Megan

Meredith

Seth

Miss Vanessa