Friday, December 19, 2014

Snowmen at Night

We looked at the beautiful illustrations from the book Snowmen at Night and talked about value, tint and shade. Next, students drew a snowman showing an understanding of what they learned!

One Point Perspective Names

My home school group learned about one point perspective while creating these! Aren't they awesome!

Van Gogh Shrinks

Abstract Picasso Portraits

We studied the art and life of Pablo Picasso and then my home schoolers were given the assignment of drawing an abstract Picasso style portrait. They used a wet paint brush over washable markers to give it a watercolor look.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Grant Wood Farm landscapes

Here are my home school group's second art project! We learned about the life and art of Grant Wood before they were given the assignment of drawing a realistic farm landscape, showing depth. We talked about the parts of a landscape: foreground, middle ground, background and horizon line. The kids blew me away with their attention to detail and the amount of effort they put into their drawings! I love these!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Home school art, Warm/Cool Suns

I am taking the school year off to be home with my 3 young kids. Our church has many families that home school and the opportunity was given to me to teach art to them! Once a week, we meet in the basement of church, I teach two groups of kids art while my own children are being taught catechism. It has been a lot of fun! Most of these students have never had an art class before and are so eager to be creative! Here is their first project. We learned about the art elements line and color. I am amazed by the talent!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

New baby, new stay at home mom!

Sorry for not posting in months! We had our third child, Mila, born on St. Patricks Day! With three young kids at home, I decided to take the year off of teaching and stay at home with my kids! I am blessed to work in a school district that allows us to do this! I will return next Fall to my same position. I am enjoying staying home more than I could imagine, but of course miss my students and colleagues! My days now consist of gymnastics and swim classes, play dates, story times, lots of runs to Target and the grocery store and of course lots of time just hanging out with my kids! I do teach art to about 20 homeschoolers from church once a week, which has been awesome! I'll be sure to post some of their art, they are talented!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Koi Fish Collage

In Art class, fourth graders have been studying Asian art. At the beginning of this project, the students learned about the significance of koi fish in Asian cultures (koi can represent friendship, love and strength). The students learned how to draw koi fish and created their own original koi artwork. They enhanced their artworks with other fish, lily pads and flowers, waves, and calligraphy stamps. The students then learned how to create their own chop, which is like the artists own personal stamp. Nice work!

Japanese Cherry Trees

In Art class, second graders studied Asian art and learned all about Japanese cherry trees. Japanese people have a great respect for nature, and nature has been inspiring Japanese art since the first paintings were produced there. The cherry blossom is an important part of Japanese culture and has always been a popular subject matter for artists. During the spring people come and picnic under cherry trees and enjoy the beauty of the blossoms. In 1912 Japan gave Washington DC 3,000 cherry trees as a gift to show its friendship to the United States. Second graders created these lovely mini cherry trees by blowing paint around with a straw! They then created their own signature stamp called a chop, just like Japanese artists do. Beautiful work second graders!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Koi Fish Drawings

Koi Fish In Art class, fourth and fifth graders have been studying Asian art. At the beginning of this project, the students learned about the significance of koi fish in Asian cultures (koi can represent friendship, love and strength). The students learned how to draw koi fish and created their own original koi artwork. They enhanced their artworks with other fish, lily pads and flowers, waves, and calligraphy stamps. The students then learned how to create their own chop, which is like the artists own personal stamp. Nice work!

Chinese Calligraphy Banners

Chinese Calligraphy Banners created by 3rd graders