Landscapes | Please Don't Eat the Artwork

October 10, 2017
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Autumn Trees by Kindergarten

Kindergarteners began this lesson with the story “Sky Color.”

Sky-Color

This story is super cute, it is all about a young artist who discovers that the sky doesn’t always have to be painted blue. I always find that my blue paint/crayons/markers/ANYTHING is the first to run out because it is the most popular color for filling up a sky. I wanted my students to know that the sky can be many different colors so this book was perfect to lead us into the project. Each student got a white oil pastel and filled their paper with clouds. Then, they used water colors to paint “sky colors” which made their clouds magically appear!

The next week, we watched the BrainPop about Fall. We talked about all of the changes that happen when Fall comes especially the beautiful leaves. We reviewed color mixing too. Students drew a tree on top of their sky color background with a brown oil pastel.

They start off with a vertical line and then make it thicker. Next, they draw two diagonal lines to make the letter Y. They draw another vertical line in between and make all of those thicker. The little branches are created by creating little Y’s.

IMG_20171010_113706-ANIMATION

Now the original idea for this project comes from here and they used aluminum foil to create the leaves. With my first batch of kinders I also had them use aluminum foil and that was the only time we did it that way because they did not turn out great. Most of the foil trees just looked like a big ol’ blob of paint on the paper and the detail of the branches was lost. So I racked my brain – and my supply closet – for something else we could use to print leaves. I found a stash of pine cones and they turned out to be absolutely PERFECT for this! So all the other classes used pine cones to dip and stamp yellow and red paint.

These are just absolutely charming:

Great job kindergarteners!

❤

Mrs. K

Moana Landscapes by 2nd Grade

The idea for this project comes from the Apex Elementary Art Blog. I wanted to start off the year for 2nd graders with a step-by-step drawing project. I often get the sense that my students are confident painters but when it comes to drawing their hesitation and doubt is very apparent. Drawing is a very difficult skill. You have to use a part of your brain that does not often get exercised to look at something and try and figure out how to remake it on your paper. Most art media is much more forgiving and mistakes can be hidden or changed. Drawing can be frustrating for elementary kids because it is an art form in which imperfection becomes obvious very quickly.

That being said, I personally find that it is easiest to draw when using a drawing book or a youtube tutorial (lately I am obsessed with Draw with Jazza) so I wanted to bring that same experience to my students so they could gain some confidence. We began by drawing step-by-step together. The drawing was excellent for reviewing different kinds of lines and shapes and parts of a landscape (foreground, middle ground, background). Here is an animation of the steps:

IMG_20170929_143806-ANIMATION

The kids drew with pencil and then traced over their lines with sharpie. We talked a lot about overlapping and size placement to show depth. A lot of students were wondering why there are flowers floating around in the foreground and I really didn’t have a good answer for them so I finally just turned on the Moana soundtrack and said that it is supposed to be from Moana. This seemed a reasonable enough answer to distract the students from the obvious weirdness of the foreground flowers. We continued the Moana jam sesh as we painted.

I love all of the unique details my students added to these whimsical landscapes like dinosaurs and sheep and houses and trees and all kinds of cutie little things.

❤

Mrs. K

November 8, 2016
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Value Landscapes a.k.a. Trees in a Vortex

Have you ever picked out a project on Pinterest and thought, wow – this is gonna be AWESOME! only to have it completely and utterly flop?! That is kind of how this project went down.

dscn5468

I wanted my 5th graders to have something else to choose for the art show if they wanted to besides their Psychedelic Succulent Still Life Paintings. I saw something similar to this on Pinterest which lead me to Mrs. Landry’s Website where I got the real idea. I figured that the prescriptive nature of the project would be great for my 5th graders.

001

We began by talking about value and completing the Value Worksheet where students played with mixing tints and shades. The second week, 5th graders created a background by going from lightest to darkest in a series of circles.

002

The third week, students used fancy edging scissors to create a hilly horizon line. Then they used black paper to create tree silhouettes. They could use geometric or organic shapes. They used black colored pencil for the shadows and white colored pencil for the highlights.

I think the main issue I had with these is that they turned out super rushed. The ones pictured above are the closest to being done out of all of y groups of 5th graders. Many students did not have enough time to show depth through size and proportion, and to show highlights and shadows. If I was to teach this to something like this again, I would try and take more time and use paint instead of construction paper to make the trees. The turnaround had to be really quick though because we have our art show coming up!

save-the-date-northwood

October 24, 2016
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Monochromatic Value Scale House Weaving Texture Landscapes

I had trouble coming up with a simple title for this project because it was so involved and included so many different standards, concepts, and techniques.

Teacher Sample

On the first day, we used my Value Scale Handout to practice mixing tints and shades. Students also got to look at the “recipe” for the colors by playing the popsicle game.

The next week, each table chose a primary or secondary color to use to create a value scale. Students used forks to scratch texture into their paper. For the third week, students chose a piece of construction paper that matched their value scale to create a monochromatic artwork. They used crayons and texture mats to create more visual texture.

015

The first step of building the landscape was to fold the value scale like a brochure an cut it into thirds.

016

One of those rectangles was cut as a wavy line to create the “hills” that the house is tucked into.

017

The other two rectangles were cut in half. I showed students how to create a warp and a weft and they chose papers that had a lot of contrast to weave. I showed the kids how to draw “lollipops” and told them to cut on the line and stop at the pop. This ensured that they had a decent warp that they could weave the weft pieces into. I also advised the kids to weave from the back since the lines were easier to see.

That was about as far as we got in one day. The next time we met, students cut out a roof, a chimney, and details for the sky.

Third graders will get to choose between these and their O’keeffe flowers to present in the art show in December. 🙂

September 26, 2016
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Landscape Paintings

Second Graders completed lovely landscape paintings this week. We began by talking about the parts of a landscape (foreground, middleground, and background) and how to show depth by overlapping. Students sketched their landscape idea from memory, imagination, or a real place they have been.

Next, they created a final draft on 9×12 paper and traced their lines with sharpie. They used watercolor paints to add vibrant colors making their artwork come alive!

The last step was to fill out the Art Reflection Neighborhood. The first house says, “What do you like best about your artwork?” The second house reads, “What did you learn from making your art?” And the last house says, “What would you change to make it better?” This is a great way for young artists to reflect on their design and process. It is also a great literacy connection that reinforces key concepts and vocabulary.

Great job second graders! 🙂

January 4, 2016
by artwithmsk 2 Comments

Winter Collagraph Cards

The inspiration for this project comes from Mrs. Knight’s Smartest Artists! I loved the idea of using materials to create a wintery landscape for 3rd grade collagraphs.

We started off by brainstorming different animals/objects/scenes we could show for a winter wonderland. Students used a variety of textured materials to create their printing plate. They drew their design in pencil first then cut and glued shapes.

Each student was responsible for creating a printing plate, at least one card, and at least on flat print.

So while some kiddos printed at the back table, others wrote cards.

Students could choose anybody to write their greeting card to. they had to include a greeting, 5 sentences, and a closing. I have written before about how much I adore children’s writing especially when it is open ended and this project was no exception to the absolute cuteness kids can create.

I have also written before about how much I despise printmaking. Not because of the mess but because it just never turns out that great. Also it is 2016 and there are 3d printers so why in the world are we teaching something as archaic as handmade 2d printing? Anyway. . . this project changed my mind a little bit because the prints came out beautiful.

One particular class was super into the idea of penguins so there were many penguin themed prints!

I really love how these turned out but hope that the weather continues to be in the 50s-70s. NO THANK YOU SNOW (stay up north where you belong).

January 4, 2016
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Finished Graffiti Cityscapes

A couple of months ago I posted the first part of this project. Here they are, finally complete! Great job 5th graders! Check out this post for the full step-by-step process.

October 14, 2015
by artwithmsk 2 Comments

1st Grade Dinos (PBL Connection)

I have done many versions of this project over the past few years and the one things that remains the same is how amazing these always turn out. First graders created awesome cool/warm dinosaur landscapes once again this year!

I changed it up a bit again this year to incorporate weather. First grade students are currently participating in a Project Based Learning unit all about weather. I figured the dino landscapes would be a great place to tie in their classroom learning. They brainstormed many different forms of weather and created a cool dinosaur in a hot place or a hot dinosaur in a cool place. Some students need some more practice with sorting warm and cool colors but this is a great start!

Snowy dinosaurs:

Stormy dinosaurs:

Sunny dinosaurs:

Tornado dinosaur:

October 14, 2015
by artwithmsk 2 Comments

Analogous Cityscapes

5th graders are well into this project and I decided to change things up a bit from last year. Instead of using tissue paper to add color to the cityscapes, students were allowed to use a variety of art media. I wanted to make it a little more open ended/constructivist and let them choose their method of creation so they could pick from colored pencils, crayons, water colors, and markers. They mixed colors and media to create an analogous colored city. I am so impressed with their creativity and hard work! The best part about this project is that it is only half way done because it is so involved and inclusive of themes, techniques, and media. However the city scape portion could be a finished product on its own.

The next step will be the graffiti word and a printed brick wall to stay tuned 🙂

October 5, 2015
by artwithmsk Leave a comment

Warm and Cool Landscapes

This project was a great kick-off to the school year for 2nd graders.

We began by reading this book:

The illustrations are pretty psychedelic and a great visual of landscapes and color schemes. Students used oil pastels to draw a landscape with warm or cool colors.