Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Illusion of Depth Landscape

*Art One*

Students used overlapping, space, converging lines, placement, detail, and color to create the illusion  of depth in a surreal landscape. Materials? Tempera, collage, charcoal, colored pencil...on brown paper bag!

City Drawing in Perspective

*Art One*

Students used their knowledge of one-point perspective to draw a city from a bird's vantage point.

Student Checklist:
Created a full composition of buildings
connected all building edges to the vanishing point using converging lines
erased converging lines and vanishing point
added details to city (including rooftop details, roads, cars, people, parks, etc)
outlined buildings and details with pen/Sharpie
added gradients of colored pencil
used a limited palette to color city
close attention to details and craftsmanship

Preparation:
Model and guide students through five one-point perspective drawings (cubes, organic shapes, letters, railroad, houses). Notes on vocabulary. Image examples in a PowerPoint. Several usage packets at students' tables.

Figures in Motion

*Studio Drawing and Painting*

Students created 4 or 5 proportional human figures in motion; the figures were simplified into shapes, collaged using colored tissue paper, and the background was painted using neutral tints and shades of acrylic paint.

Preparation: Practice drawing 'eight head adult' in sketchbook, child, take notes on gestures, thumbnails, human proportion. Spend 1 day giving extra credit for student models and quick gesture drawings in sketchbook. Show gesture drawing techniques so students can choose their own style. Provide figure drawing packets--people in various dance, video game-like action poses, etc.

Student Checklist:
4-5 figures sketched in motion
figures follow the average rules of human proportion
collage is used on figure shapes
background is painted using neutral tints and shades
neatness: did you need to sharpen the figure's edges after paint was applied? (pencil, pen, paint)

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Group Painting (Non-Representational Art Using a Viewfinder)

*Art One*

Each table of students used a small viewfinder to find a small non -representational portion of a newspaper photograph to inspire a large scale tempera cake painting.

REFLECTION: I was not concerned with color-mixing. Most groups did not mix. I kept circulating the room to remind students that their painting should not look like something recognizeable! They were to simplify. I did discuss balance with some groups; paint red in one area then use it somewhere else in the composition as well. This was a great project for collaboration practice. Next year I will spend time showing Color Field artwork examples. I taped these large paintings up high on the classroom walls around the room and they add energy to the room. Great 2 day project.

Two Day Still Life India Ink Drawings

*Studio Drawing and Painting*

Students warmed up to drawing from life after setting up their own table still life displays. They used brushes, India Ink and neutral colored chalk.

REFLECTION: Each table had a piece of fabric to serve as a base to their still life displays. No erasing was possible because they drew with brushes and ink; great line variation in the contours. Students were proud of their work!

Appropriation Sketchbook Exercise

*Studio Drawing and Painting*

Students followed a series of steps to transfer a magazine image in their sketchbook, incorporate text, and use 3 materials to make their own work.

REFLECTION: This worked really well for a performance exam. It was messy; I had a bunch of different materials in baskets at each table. However, the results were fabulous.

Brown Bag Figurative Portrait in an Interior Space.

*Studio Drawing and Painting*

Students drew seated classmates and glued them into an imagined interior space using oil pastel contours, tempera, and colored pencil patterns.
Artists to show: Alice Neel, Henri Matisse

Student Checklist:
PowerPoint on Alice Neel and Henri Matisse
Interior Space contours drawn in pencil and oil pastel on large brown grocery bag
drew 2 long seated poses of classmates on brown lunchbags
cut out figure(s) and glued into interior
painted with Tempera. Showed value gradients and mix with like/analogous colors
chose one pattern from fabric swatches and used colored pencils. Pattern must be apparent in at least 2 different areas to create movement and balance.
Both figure and background should have pattern.
Facial expression practice in sketchbook--figure(s) should show an emotion in final work.
Before tempera and colored pencils were applied...
STUDENT WORK
STUDENT WORK

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Four Color Schemes Painting

*Art One*

Students created non-representational watercolor paintings showing 4 color schemes, oil pastel contour lines, and color gradients.

Steps/Student Checklist:
Found a 1''x2'' magazine image that is non-representational. "If you find an magazine image of a person or a place, make sure you cannot tell what the subject is in your selected rectangular detail."
Selected a patterned swatch of fabric.
Drew simplified image detail using pencil and colored oil pastel.
Incorporated fabric pattern into two areas within the drawing.
Used ruler to divide composition into 4 equal sections.
Completed 4 color wheel plan worksheet to plan the 4 color schemes.
Notes/practice in sketchbook using watercolor techniques.
Painted each of the four areas of painting while referencing 4 color wheel plan worksheet--use more and less water for more or less opacity/saturation of paint.
Glued on two neutral colored strips for borders.
Added emphasis and boldness to select areas using colored pencil gradients atop some dried watercolor areas.