Surealism Self Portraits!!!!

I have waited SOOOOO long to post this project! My fifth graders have worked SO hard and learned so much! I am pretty sure this is the most successful, difficult, and rewarding project I have ever taught! 

First students brought baby pictures, or current photos and a photo or book of an animal that represented them in some way!

We looked at paintings by various artists and this video 

https://vimeo.com/72874423

students spent several weeks creating a composition with them and their animal in a surreal situation.

 then I projected the images on my active board for them to sketch out. The ones who didn't bring pictures were taken with itouch and emailed to my computer. Some kids used images from library books for their animal and also took a photo with the itouch and emailed it.

after the sketch was finished, students spent the next two classes outlining with extra fine tip sharpies and adding texture to their hair and the fur/feathers/scales of their animals

the next two classes were spent learning how to mix skin tones. We used the disposable cafeteria trays with brown, pink, yellow, and red with a reservoir of water to lighten the color. They used testing paper to test until they got it just right. They had to continue to refer to the image to see where to shade their faces

next we did eyes and lips. I gave a demonstration with each step first. They had to shade the pupil black but be very careful to leave a reflection of light in the eye. We call it the "tiny shiny" Everything in this painting had to have value. Nothing could be flat. Whenever they used any color I had to be able to see light and dark values of that color. For instance if the hair was brown I wanted to see at least 3-6 different shades and variations of brown. 

remember the eyelids! When doing the lips, first paint with the skin tone and then add a tiny bit of red or pink to the color

The animals had to be painted with value according to the image. students learned to achieve lighter tones by adding water and blotting with tissue and darker tones by adding layers of color. 

 We used large poster size watercolor paper! These paintings are BIG and beautiful

 students had to choose a focal point. They could use neutral colors for their animal and their clothing and a very colorful background or colorful animal and clothes with very neutral background. That is why you see lots of black/brown/grey shirts or black/grey backgrounds

many students did a wet on wet technique for the background and incorporated any drips that happened along the way. I wanted them to work very loosely and not worry about messing up. Towards the end of the project I saw little artists emerging from their shells! They were trying new things, they were keeping their mistakes, and they were truly in love with their art! we dripped water just to see the spots it created, and and used straws to make drip explosions!  They were lifting paint where they didn't want it, adding paint and taking giant leaps of courage jumping into their backgrounds with huge brushes and bright colors!! 

 I'm so proud of these kiddos for all their hard work they put into this project. I think they have all grown from the process and learned so much. These artworks are magical to me. They are so expressive and individual!

Big Art Day and other happenings

 Thursday was Big Art Day in Texas.

Big Art Day is an art happening to raise awareness of art education and art as a creative force in our communities on a BIG statewide scale. It is an attempt by the Texas Art Education Association (TAEA) to engage all art educators, their students and communities in a single day art event.

In our classroom we used Skype to connect with another art room! 
We shared our class pets who had been "decorated" for Big Art Day!
Bunbun got some rainbow chalk highlights!

In other classes, we finished our clay hearts,

this one says," I'll love you till Earth is Venus." The artist who made it LOVES science! I asked him what his Valentine meant and he said,  " If the atmospheric conditions continued to add more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere the conditions of Earth would become like Venus...but it will never happen." 

We added ribbon and students took them home

Kinder is using watercolor pencils to draw the Van Gogh sunflowers and design a frame with gold paint pens on black paper!

3rd grade made camouflage 3D chameleons using oil pastels! They did so good, that you can hardly see them!!

Winter Rain Watercolor Resist

Am I the only one who is ready for this Winter to be over? Spring Break is right around the corner and we still have freezing temperatures here!! This week we have been looking at the ugly, freezing, dark skies and rain. We wanted to turn it into something beautiful!

Begin with a white crayon and draw the horizon line.

there should be a big emphasis on drawing OVALS instead of circles. Students figured out that you can see the white crayon BETTER when the paper in on their stool UNDER the table! 

So I let them draw on their stools! Can you see the white crayon in the picture?

 Some students added a rainbow, lightning bolt or other details

Then I swiped the ENTIRE paper with a wet rag to begin the wet on wet watercolor

I used Sargent Liquid Watercolor Magic for this. I use it ALOT because of the vibrant colors. We used turquoise, Blue, and black

Ovals should be very small at the top of the horizon, but gradually get larger as they go down the page. Use a straight edge for the rain drops. The must TOUCH each puddle

First, paint some large blue "blobs" on your paper. 

Then paint around the blue with black and watch it blend with the blue and the wet paper!!

I have some siblings at my school working on a special project and they painted the background with the rain idea and it turned out great!

Here is a link to the kind of watercolors I use for EVERYTHING! There are different sizes if you want a smaller set. You can put them in muffin tins or ice cube trays on the tables. You can see the link " liquid watercolors" on the sidebar to see many other projects I have used these with