Sketch book love

The year is coming to a close and while I was preparing for our exhibition I came across some interesting  sketchbook entries from my primary students. I'm never sure exactly what influences their drawings but I know the video games and cartoons play a role. 

Sketch books

A couple of weeks ago I went on a school tour with my second graders (and their sketchbooks) looking for different types of lines. We visited the music teacher and she had the most fun homemade curtains!

One of the students took a sketch of the lines she observed while looking at the curtains. 

I usually get bent out of shape over sun rays, don't ask why, but not these sun rays, they are inspired by the curtains! how can you not love this interpretation?

Rousseau

A few weeks ago my students and I began studying Henri Rousseau, specifically his jungle paintings, and paintings by other artists bearing similarity. We tackled this complex landscape painting by breaking it into two parts: figures and background. First though we sat and talked about what we were looking at and why we were seeing what we saw. 

Puppet Show

The second graders made mostly puppets during after school art. This project is part of that fun. They chose a character from their sketchbook and created the different parts. After fastening the different parts together they had a chance to create a script for the puppets.

Time to Reflect

Here are some of the reflection cityscapes, or would they be seascapes? Anyway, here they are, each unique and full of character. The two below were listed earlier in the blog. Wow they came out beautifully. Impressive free-hand rendering of the reflections!

I'm interested in the city below that seems stark but has a really colorful and detailed reflection. Is this a magical body of water that it is reflecting into? Where can I find this place?

Let It Snow!

Have I ever mentioned on this blog how much I love when it snows? Well I do and it is supposed to snow tonight. Yay! To celebrate I bring you the oh so charming snowmen created by my first graders in December.

These guys are ready to play, right?



Oh and when one student discovered that you could mix all of the paint together and let it drip onto the paper to create the image below, how could I stop him? It's delicious!

Ravinia!

This spring we were invited to Ravinia for a performance by high school musicians. It was amazing! The kindergarteners and I played a fun game where we tried to guess what picture the music was painting. One of my third grade students chimed in saying he saw a skull and when the song was over we were told this: Cum mortuis in lingua morta (With the dead in the language of the dead) was the name! You can imagine how he swelled with pride. As did I.

Sailing Crew

The kindergartners used this fun paper that I got from Creative Pitch to draw and cut out the three shapes needed for a simple sailboat. The trick was that they had to use just one of the three shapes they cut out and trade the other two with the kids at their table. Fun! and aren't these the cutest?!

Kindergarten Matisse

This year the Art Institute of Chicago had a major Henri Matisse exhibit and the kindergarten class celebrated by cutting up some paper.

Things are Pretty Wild in Art

First and second grade were really excited about the release of the movie that came from their favorite book, Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. The watercolor paintings that resulted scared up a lot of attention in the hallway!

From the beginning...

Last year was such a wonderful year for art making. I can think of no better way to share this experience with you than through pictures. Please enjoy.



In the opening month first through third grade learned about symmetry while creating aliens and flower vases. Did I mention that I love painting with sponges? Kindergarten learned how to use the shapes we know to draw things like owls, and color them with oil pastels. Beautiful! Third grade also utilized familiar shapes to immortalize their homes like the folk artists we had been studying.
Kindergartners worked with shapes and layout while learning their "P's & Q's" in the art room.