1st Grade - Mondrian paintings

We studied Piet Mondrian to learn about horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines.

The 1st grade students glued black paper lines onto their white paper.

The following class, they used red, yellow and blue to paint in white spaces or even on the black lines.

1st Grade - Foamie Printmaking

First graders were introduced to printmaking this past fall.  They each got a half sheet of foamie paper and were instructed to cut it into various shapes.  They glued the shapes onto a piece of oak tag to create any kind of image.  They had to make sure they didn't overlap any shapes, just glued them side by side.  The next art day, after the glue was dry, they each picked one color of tempera paint to paint onto their printing plate.  They printed the image onto white paper.  Then, they painted the plate again with white paint, mixing it with the color that was already there, and printed it a 2nd time onto black paper. 

1st Grade - Leaf Color Wheels

First graders began this lesson by painting a pre-folded piece of paper with the primary and secondary colors.  Many times I'll have the older students mix colors on a foam plate, but for this, I had them mix the secondary colors directly on the paper.  I was pleased with how well that worked.  Also, since we were working with tempera paint, I had them use magenta for red and turquoise for blue.  They mix much better than regular red and blue.

Next, they used one of the many beautiful fall leaves from outside and traced it on each of the 6 colors.  They also had to draw on the veins of the leaf after tracing.

They cut out the 6 leaves.

The final step was to glue the leaves in the correct color wheel order on the black circular piece of paper.

Art Portfolios

I must say, it's great to be back at school!

I started all my classes out with a portfolio design lesson.  Each grade had a separate design, but all included their name or initials.  Here's an example from each grade:

1st Grade; Made a patterned "frame" around their painted first initial

2nd Grade; They first wrote their initials, then filled in the spaces the letters created with various patterns, using marker and/or colorsticks (and using only warm or cool colors).  When finished, they painted over their initials.

3rd Grade; Students started by writing their name in block or bubble letters.  They filled in each letter with a different pattern or design.  The backgrounds were colored with colorsticks.

4th Grade; Students learned about the "layering" style of Jasper Johns by looking at the painting "0 through 9."  They layered their initials, outlined in oil pastel, colored some of the spaces in with crayon and watercolor painted the rest. 

5th Grade; They created radial designs around their names using sharpie and watercolor painted it in.

 6th Grade; They had their first lesson in one point perspective drawing to write their names.  They used white colored pencils to outline and metallic crayons to color them in.

Kindergartners will be making their portfolios in the next couple weeks.  Stay tuned!  :)

1st Grade - Clay Fish Sculptures

These colorful clay fish were created by first graders.  (They took them out of the room so fast this is the only picture I got!)  They practiced wedging their clay, flattening into a slab, drawing the fish with the needle tool, cutting it out and adding details.  They also added a fish texture by pressing seashells into the clay.  Once fired, they painted with watercolors and finished them off with a layer of acrylic glaze.

1st Grade - Fall Leaf Prints

First graders enjoyed using the leaves they collected from outside the art room and painting them with warm colors (plus white) to print them.  They used gold to paint the veins of the leaves.  Their backgrounds were completed by dabbing on cool colors with a cotton swab.

1st Grade - Impressionist Landscapes

Students learned about landscapes and the use of a horizon line in this lesson.  They brainstormed as a class a list of things that could go in a landscape before drawing theirs on a piece of black paper.  Next, they traced over all their pencil lines with just the right amount of white glue.  Once dry, we discussed impressionism while looking at several paintings.  They applied the impressionist technique with chalk pastels to finish off their landscapes.

1st Grade - Emotion Portrait Paintings

Students drew 3 portraits portraying the same emotion. The first portrait showed the emotion a little bit, the next a little bit more and the last one showed it the most. They painted colors for their background that also represented the emotion. What a fabulous job they did!