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Saturday, January 23, 2010

How to Draw a Waterfall / Lesson on Foreground and Background

(Also see: How to Paint a Waterfall)

This is another great project with a nice balance of freedom and structure. This is also great because it is easily taught with just pencil and paper.

The first part we will draw is the foreground. If you were walking along, and discovered this pond, the first things you would reach would be the plants and stones along the bank. You can draw anything you want here at the bottom of the page.

If you had a boat or raft, you could sail into the middle ground. This whole area is the surface of the water. We can add logs or boats or water lilies latter. It's important that the line that indicates the end of the water is higher than the islands. Otherwise the islands would be hovering over the water!

We will draw another line across the paper for the top of the waterfall. From this angle we can't really see the rest of the stream above the waterfall, just as you can't see the water in a cup if you hold it higher than your head. Sketchy lines are all we need to draw the waterfall.

The best way to make the pond really look like water, is to add all the ripples. However, it's very important to get the perspective right. Which one of these waterfalls looks better for our picture? You can refer to my lesson on foreshortened circles.
If your boat took you all the way across the pond, and you were able to climb up the cliff, you could keep going on your adventure. What would you see?

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Amazing Photographs of Real Snowflakes


Awhile back I posted a lesson on snowflake patterns. Since then I've discovered the present day equivalent to Snowflake Bently. His name is Kenneth Libbrecht and you can find his photos at www.snowcrystals.com His books are classier than the site however. I ordered this one, used, from Amazon. I've been completely enchanted by the full page photographs. I can't wait to use it with a lesson!

Monday, January 18, 2010

Rene Magritte Lesson Plan






These past two weeks we've been studying Rene Magritte (I can't figure out how to put the accent on that last e). Last week we drew surreal pictures based on the idea generators from two blogs back. This week I read Now You See It - Now You Don't, and Adventures in Art book about Rene Magritte. It's a fun children's book with some great examples of his work. I brought in lots of pictures and here are some of the collages inspired by his style.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cube Books!


I've spent the afternoon trying to organize some of my reference materials. I try to collect all the images I can. Calendars are GREAT! I also use old magazines and even catalogs. I've found some great books for under a dollar at local thrift stores. Often these are the gift or coffee table books that are full of beautiful photos. Some of the books are in poor enough condition that I don't feel bad cutting them up for collage.

One day I was in Bookmans and I found a "Cube Book" entitled FLOWERS. I was thrilled! Every page has a beautiful photograph! I started to wonder if there were more Cube Books so I decided to check on Amazon. These are amazing! I have all the pictures I could possibly want. I can't wait to get them all! A few of them aren't quite what I expected, for example, the HORSE book has mostly working horses rather than as many of the idyllic images children like to draw.

The pictures I used for the Georgia O'Keeffe lesson came from a Flowers Cube Book.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Idea Generator






I'm absurdly proud of this spinner I've designed for my lesson on surrealism. The top two circles will make a spinner with the ideas already included. Bottom two will make a spinner for the students to fill out themselves.
1) Cut out the circles.
2)Place the smaller circle on top of the larger circle and push a brad or fastener through the very center of each.
3)Look at the pair of words in each section and brainstorm ways combine them in a surreal drawing or painting.
4)Rotate the top circle and read the new combinations!

The students will end up drawing things like a train through outer space, an underwater bedroom, or a rock concert in the jungle!

There are many ways to use this spinner to synthesize concepts and spark creativity. I would love to hear how you incorporate it!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Color Mixing Lesson

Today I taught the Georgia O'Keeffe lesson again, but this group is with me for almost two hours, so I was able to fit in some color mixing! First I asked them what creative color names they've heard of. Next time I'll bring in a catalog. From clothes to paint to furniture and carpet, catalogs list some very creative color names. One of my students chimed in right away, "last night I was looking at a catalog and they called the brown color 'chocolate'. I was thinking they probably did that because 'chocolate' sounds much nicer than 'brown'". Yep, she knew exactly what I was getting at!

I started by giving them a plate with the primary colors and white. I don't use black in color mixing activities. I let them mix any color they wanted. Then I asked them to paint a small sample of that color on the paper. It was a lot of fun because it was their own color, and there were no right or wrong answers. I would much rather have students discover for themselves that blue and yellow make green. I can't believe I actually used to tell my students this without letting them find out on their own! When all the colors are mixed together, they turn out brown or gray. That result is great for this project.

After the students had a few samples on their paper, we tried to think of creative names for the colors. I encouraged them to used emotions, concepts, or time of day to name their colors. We spent a lot of time sharing a talking about the colors we made.

I was surprised by how much the students liked this project and by how much time they spent on it. I've been thinking of other ways to use this. Each kid could pull a color name out of a bag (like peaceful night, icy breeze, melancholy, fire, laughter) and find any color they want to match that name.

Another thing I'd like to do is to make a game out of it. I would have each student mix one color. Then they would trade colors and each student would try to re-create the color his or her classmate had made. I would probably limit the palette to two colors until the students seemed comfortable, and would increase the number in later games.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Art on Parade!






I'm so excited! I'm already implementing some great new ways to foster creativity. I brought plain white flags and "trumpets" to class today for the students to design. I made the flags by taping wooden dowels to strong white paper. I made the "trumpets" by rolling up large white construction paper. Right from the start, I let the students come up with ideas as to what the trumpets were for. They thought of hats and all sorts of costume ideas, telescopes, and funnels to name a few. I gave the students only white and red paint so they could experiment with the way the paint mixed together and they could focus on the design. It was very important that they had the freedom to explore. While we were making the flags, a student glued some of the shapes together to create a snake. If you look closely you'll see a red circle on top of the red square. Samuel told me the circle was an egg that the snake had swallowed. I was amazed at how many creative ideas they came up with when I wasn't looking for a specific outcome. At the end of class we took our flags on parade and displayed them on the fort, or the castle, or the clubhouse, whichever the students decided to call the play structure outside.

Georgia O'Keeffe Lesson Plan






When I was young, Georgia O'Keeffe was one of may favorite artists. Today we looked at pictures in a book full of O'Keeffe's paintings. It was fun to hear all the different ideas about what the paintings might be about. Then I gave each student a view finder that I had cut out of card stock. The students looked through a stack of pictures of flowers and desert landscapes. I had each student choose a picture and use their view finder to frame the section that they wanted to paint. We used Dick Blick student canvas panels (less than $1 each!) and acrylic paint. Next time I would do a few demonstration sketches. I would show students how to match the image in the view finder to the dimensions of the canvas. Still, I think they did a great job. It would also be fun to do a few giant sketches with poster board.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Teaching Art in the New Year

It's time to take a fresh look at the way I teach. My students and I have some very special memories of creating beautiful things together, and I think most of what I've taught has been valuable and helpful. Still, I can't help this nagging feeling that I don't always get it right. To be honest, I hate having the students copy my work. I DO believe structure is important. The type of structure needed will vary with the project and stage of development.

The other day I picked up Young at Art by Susan Striker. I started reading it right away. It was both inspiring and convicting.

Of course, it all depends on what my program is about. Are my classes meant to build technical skills, art understanding, or problem solving/creativity? Are my classes academic, recreational, therapeutic? I teach in such different contexts that I end up doing all of the above!

It's important to me that the projects I present encourage risk-taking, creativity, expression, confidence and problem solving. It's also very important that the projects are developmentally appropriate. I need to focus on the process, not the product. This is hard for me because I'm afraid the parents won't like the classes if they don't like their student's work. I also want the students to be proud of their work. It's time for me to be brave. There should be no fear in art. Neither creating nor teaching it!