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Category Archives: Landscapes


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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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. 🙂


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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! 🙂

 


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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.

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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.

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

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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).

 


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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!

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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:

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Stormy dinosaurs:

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Sunny dinosaurs:

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Tornado dinosaur:

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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.

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

 


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Warm and Cool Landscapes

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

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We began by reading this book:

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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.

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The next week, they used the opposite color scheme to paint with water colors.

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The bright, bold colors really make a big impact in the hallway display!

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Ladybug Picnic

This lesson was inspired by this post from Art With Ms Gram!

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On the first day we watched this little tune:

Kinders drew a wavy line and used a texture mat and crayons to make “dirt” They painted over it with brown liquid water-color. Then, they used white oil pastels to draw clouds in the sky and painted over those with blue liquid water-color. This landscape composition became the background.

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The next day, we used yellow, blue, and green tempera paint and forks to create textured green paper for the stems and leaves.

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Next we cut out and glued the stems and leaves. Red construction paper and sharpies were used to make the ladybugs. We also read this book:

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This was a great project to end the year with 🙂

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Graffiti Cityscapes

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The inspiration for this project came from Mrs. Kim at Art in the Big Green Room! We began by looking at pictures of cityscapes and skylines on iPads.

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Students sketched their designs and transferred them to the top half of a 12×18 paper. They could use inspiration from real cities or make up their own.

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They traced their design with sharpie and used tissue paper and water to add colors. I love this method of “painting!” Originally they were going to paint with tints and shades of tempera but they were so intent on detailed cityscapes that a Plan B needed to be devised so their lovely details did not become muddled messes.

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Whilst digging through my Mary-Poppin’s-Bag-Like supply cabinets, I found some practically never before used metallic colored pencils. And who doesn’t like a bit o’ sparkle?! Students who finished their tissue paper early could use the colored pencils for more details.

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Next, we talked about graffiti. I have done a graffiti project with 5th graders for the past couple of years and this was a great update to that project! Students wrote their name or a school appropriate word in graffiti style typography. They traced it with sharpie and used liquid water colors to add color. They cut out their words to be glued to the “wall”

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The brick wall was created by printmaking**. Students carved a brick pattern into styrofoam and used brayers and paint to print the wall. They rolled brick colored tempera paint and printed their bricks 4 times onto the big paper.

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Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

I think these turned out phenomenally, I am really proud of the stamina and perseverance 5th graders showed during this project. (Jeez, I make it sound like they went through some harrowing event, its only elementary art!) But this was actually pretty challenging and rigorous what with all of the different concepts and mediums. I think next year I might step it up even more and throw in some color scheme restrictions to hit a few more standards. As one of my very vocal kindergarteners said the other day, Check this out, dude! 

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**Now, I really, really, really, REALLY hate printmaking (maybe even more than weaving!) I think it is irrelevant in an age where you can press a button and literally print infinite amounts of images (at least until the CMYK runs out.) I think that the dazzling magic of creating multiple images is lost on younger generations. I believe that there are better artforms that will engage and inspire my students. Also, I just don’t really like it that much, it takes waaaay too much time.

This year I am challenging myself to get out of the box of “multiple prints of whatever blah blah” projects and come up with more interesting ideas for printmaking that do not necessarily just showcase printmaking but rather incorporate it into a mixed media type of project. So this is the first solution I came up with on How To Not Take 8 Weeks To Complete A Printmaking Project. The next one is an amazing 4th grade project that is currently in the works! So stay tuned 🙂