8th grade bones

8th graders completed these projects around Halloween. We used a combination of a fake Halloween skeleton decoration purchased from a drugstore, and a few drawing aids. We discussed using color with value. Students were given a sheet of poster board. They had to include a skull, and they could do four other bones of their choosing. They really loved doing the spine! They could draw them out on newsprint first for practice or they could start on the real thing. I talked with them about how to pick out the colors for each bone. We discussed which colors make good shadows and which colors would not make sense together. I had them select a light, medium and dark value in the same color family, and one shadow color. I did multiple shading demonstrations on multiple bones. Students cut out their bones and created a relief on black poster board. We used small strips of black foam core to make the bones pop out at varying heights.

6th grade 2 point castles

I wanted to share some 6th grade success stories from a project idea I received at conference. Teaching two point perspective to 6th graders can be a challenge. I have tried many different projects but the two point perspective castles have been the most successful by far. We begin by learning how to do a simple two point perspective box. We do not move on to anything else until we have learned to do a box. I then show them how to do windows, doors, attach boxes, and a few other castle details. I gave my students two whole class periods to plan out their castles. This was a very time consuming project but it had great results. I gave my students the choice between doing their castles in color and doing them in black and white. I also passed out a hand out with different tree shapes to help them get landscaping ideas.

Students cut their castles/ground out and glued them to construction paper. This gave the pictures a little bit of pop.

6th grade fauvist animals

The following are examples of my 6th graders first gridding project. First we practice on a grid worksheet I created to help them understand the concept. In the 6th grade we do not enlarge the photographs. Students simply trace their ruler on the photograph and the corresponding 81/2 x 11 sheet of drawing paper. For this assignment we looked at the fun bold colors of the fauvist artists. We discussed how color effects the entire mood of the piece. Students were encouraged to to choose color pallets that were outside of the box. I gave students the option between oil pastels and colored pencils. Some of the animals had such delicate features I allowed colored pencils so the students would be pleased with their final result. Some of the most successful projects used colored pencil on the animal and oil pastel on their backgrounds.

gridded watercolor pencil frogs

I wanted to post a few student examples of one of my last minute projects for the year. Throughout the year my students had practiced multiple watercolor pencil techniques. I showed them how to use watercolor paper as a pallet. I also showed them how to use the pencil when the paper was wet and how that gave a different effect than when it was dry.

My students had also already done one gridding project (photos of this project to come.) I like to start gridding with my students as early as 6th grade. This drawing technique builds so much confidence and gives students a great line drawing to practice their shading on.

These were done with Faber-Castell student grade watercolor pencils. They are more expensive but the they don't leave behind a lot of pencil lines like crayola pencils do. They blend very nicely.

Welcome to Make a mark!

I have been inspired by my dear friend across the hall (http://lesstalkmoreart.blogspot.com/) to create a blog to inspire and share ideas with fellow art teachers.  We all know how helpful it is to see examples and styles from other schools. I have very gifted, hard working students and I am so proud.

I was very pleased with the quality of each individual piece at our showcase this year. Please expect lesson plans and examples soon.