Fall 2018 has been a busy year at Paint Cakes. This year I am running 4 different art classes. That is the easy part. Keeping up with social media has proven to be very time consuming. I now know why people hire out for that. Here it is November already and I am only now catching up with updating my website. Wow!
This session I have a Junior High/ High School Group as well as 2 elementary age groups. Projects from this years Meet the Masters class have been included with previous class work.
Charcoal Leaf Rubbings
We started off the year by introducing charcoal. Many students have not had the opportunity to explore this media so I am always glad to give them a go at it here. My younger students explored fall leaves and used the charcoal to create very rustic style leaf rubbings.
This session I have a Junior High/ High School Group as well as 2 elementary age groups. Projects from this years Meet the Masters class have been included with previous class work.
Charcoal Leaf Rubbings
We started off the year by introducing charcoal. Many students have not had the opportunity to explore this media so I am always glad to give them a go at it here. My younger students explored fall leaves and used the charcoal to create very rustic style leaf rubbings.
Charcoal Still Lifes
As much fun as these leaf rubbings are I thought my older students needed a bigger challenge. This was a super fun way to work on some still life projects. To start this project I took out my tables and had my students sit in a circle around a bowl of fall vegetables and fruit. Before we did a final charcoal drawing I had kids practice quick sketches of their perspective of the subject. Switching seats about every 2-3 minutes pushed them into capturing the basic layout without getting caught with the details. It was a lot of fun:)
As much fun as these leaf rubbings are I thought my older students needed a bigger challenge. This was a super fun way to work on some still life projects. To start this project I took out my tables and had my students sit in a circle around a bowl of fall vegetables and fruit. Before we did a final charcoal drawing I had kids practice quick sketches of their perspective of the subject. Switching seats about every 2-3 minutes pushed them into capturing the basic layout without getting caught with the details. It was a lot of fun:)
Primary and Secondary Scarecrows
Now aren't these guys just the cutest scarecrows! This was a great lesson in color mixing, primary to secondary, and directed line drawing, from Patty Palmer at Deep Space Sparkle. I love handing the kids a palette of primary colors and asking them how many colors I'm giving them today. So often it's a simple, "Duhhh...three." When I tell them it's actually six they looked so perplexed.
Now aren't these guys just the cutest scarecrows! This was a great lesson in color mixing, primary to secondary, and directed line drawing, from Patty Palmer at Deep Space Sparkle. I love handing the kids a palette of primary colors and asking them how many colors I'm giving them today. So often it's a simple, "Duhhh...three." When I tell them it's actually six they looked so perplexed.
White Charcoal Glass Drawings
Next up for my Junior High/High School students was white charcoal. I am always on the search for new things to experience myself and this was just the thing. In all my years of teaching kids I have never tried white charcoal. It's more dense than chalk and creamy smooth. Really nice to work with. I have also never drawn glass before and of course neither had my students. This project required us to look at light a shadow in a new way as in this case our "shine" marks and high lights were best represented with the black of the paper.
Next up for my Junior High/High School students was white charcoal. I am always on the search for new things to experience myself and this was just the thing. In all my years of teaching kids I have never tried white charcoal. It's more dense than chalk and creamy smooth. Really nice to work with. I have also never drawn glass before and of course neither had my students. This project required us to look at light a shadow in a new way as in this case our "shine" marks and high lights were best represented with the black of the paper.
Foam and Wire Sculptures
Every year I push myself to try new things. This is one of those new things. Although I don't necessarily follow the Alberta art Program of Studies verbatim I do try to follow it reasonably closely. I did so as a home schooling mom and now I do as an art teacher. Creating a sculpture is one of the criteria you will find among many others. For this project students were provided a variety of colored foam, beads, and soft wire. They used scissors to cut desired shapes that were then threaded through the wire and attached to foam bases which they then painted. This was a super fun, very open ended project! I am so happy with their work. And they were very pleased with themselves:)
Every year I push myself to try new things. This is one of those new things. Although I don't necessarily follow the Alberta art Program of Studies verbatim I do try to follow it reasonably closely. I did so as a home schooling mom and now I do as an art teacher. Creating a sculpture is one of the criteria you will find among many others. For this project students were provided a variety of colored foam, beads, and soft wire. They used scissors to cut desired shapes that were then threaded through the wire and attached to foam bases which they then painted. This was a super fun, very open ended project! I am so happy with their work. And they were very pleased with themselves:)
Low Relief Tree Sculptures
It's quite hard to tell from the photos but these beautiful tree sculptures are actually 3 dimensional. Using knives my junior/senior high students cut out the negative space around drawn fall/winter trees and layered them using foam tape in between. This technique gives a sense of depth in the deep forest. The kids love it when I pull out the exact o knives.
It's quite hard to tell from the photos but these beautiful tree sculptures are actually 3 dimensional. Using knives my junior/senior high students cut out the negative space around drawn fall/winter trees and layered them using foam tape in between. This technique gives a sense of depth in the deep forest. The kids love it when I pull out the exact o knives.
Chalk Pumpkins
I can never get enough chalk drawing. With fall upon us and Halloween fast approaching these beautiful pumpkins were an obvious choice. Every now and then I run into a student who simply can't stand the feeling of chalk on their fingers but overall I have found kids to love the experience of blending chalk. For this project we focused on form. Creating dimension using shade. We also discovered the technique of spreading and blending chalk and colors. I just love these:)
I can never get enough chalk drawing. With fall upon us and Halloween fast approaching these beautiful pumpkins were an obvious choice. Every now and then I run into a student who simply can't stand the feeling of chalk on their fingers but overall I have found kids to love the experience of blending chalk. For this project we focused on form. Creating dimension using shade. We also discovered the technique of spreading and blending chalk and colors. I just love these:)
Autumn Birch Trees
There must be at least a hundred renditions of birch tree projects for kids to do. I love the colorful leaves on this one. For this projects my younger students learned about shading, positive and negative space, and creating objects in the distance. It was very interesting to see all the different ways students added leaves.
These were simply delightful when finished.
There must be at least a hundred renditions of birch tree projects for kids to do. I love the colorful leaves on this one. For this projects my younger students learned about shading, positive and negative space, and creating objects in the distance. It was very interesting to see all the different ways students added leaves.
These were simply delightful when finished.
India Ink Portraits
These ink portraits have been on my "to do" list for a long time. I must admit I was a little nervous that they may not work out well. Wow! Was I wrong. Even my least "artsy" students enjoyed success. For these projects I had my older students used carbon paper, (which of course they'd never heard of:), to trace out key features of their faces. Including some shadowed areas. This process required them to look carefully at their own features to determine which ones were important to recreating their own likeness. I was fascinated by one student's work which ended up looking exactly like her older sister. I did one of my own daughter too. It was a striking resemblance to what my niece looked like at her age. So weird! The kids really enjoyed this process especially working with the ink.. One girl described it as, "Very satisfying." What a great choice of words. I'm excited to try it again!
These ink portraits have been on my "to do" list for a long time. I must admit I was a little nervous that they may not work out well. Wow! Was I wrong. Even my least "artsy" students enjoyed success. For these projects I had my older students used carbon paper, (which of course they'd never heard of:), to trace out key features of their faces. Including some shadowed areas. This process required them to look carefully at their own features to determine which ones were important to recreating their own likeness. I was fascinated by one student's work which ended up looking exactly like her older sister. I did one of my own daughter too. It was a striking resemblance to what my niece looked like at her age. So weird! The kids really enjoyed this process especially working with the ink.. One girl described it as, "Very satisfying." What a great choice of words. I'm excited to try it again!
Acrylic Poppies
Oh my GOODNESS!!! I just simply can't get enough of these! They are all so gorgeous!! I has such a hard time seeing them all go out the door. I wanted to keep every one. In all my 8 years of teaching art I always forget Remembrance day. Ironic I know! Not this year:)
Using chalk students drew their flowers on canvases that they first painted black. With acrylic paint they began double/triple loading blues and greens and white paint and applied it to the background however they liked. I encouraged them not to over mix. They they did the same on the poppies using red and orange and mixing in black to create deeper red for shading. All along being careful NOT to paint on the chalk. When everything was completely dry we used damps cloths to wipe off all the chalk, leaving beautifully contrasting black lines. This is the first project I've done that I have actually hung in my living room:)
Oh my GOODNESS!!! I just simply can't get enough of these! They are all so gorgeous!! I has such a hard time seeing them all go out the door. I wanted to keep every one. In all my 8 years of teaching art I always forget Remembrance day. Ironic I know! Not this year:)
Using chalk students drew their flowers on canvases that they first painted black. With acrylic paint they began double/triple loading blues and greens and white paint and applied it to the background however they liked. I encouraged them not to over mix. They they did the same on the poppies using red and orange and mixing in black to create deeper red for shading. All along being careful NOT to paint on the chalk. When everything was completely dry we used damps cloths to wipe off all the chalk, leaving beautifully contrasting black lines. This is the first project I've done that I have actually hung in my living room:)
Weaving
Fiber arts is another one of those criteria you will find on the Alberta Program of Studies. I was lucky to have had a lovely class of all girls between the ages of 7 and 10 this session. They just ate this project up. And as I'm looking back at all the projects we have worked on this fall I realize that, exept of the chalk pumpkins, all of them are new to my repertoire. These beautiful little weavings were no exception. They were made on home made cardboard looms and included all kinds of fun and interesting things I found around my classroom. I'm just thrilled that the girls loved this process so much and I'm so pleased at how they all turned out.
Fiber arts is another one of those criteria you will find on the Alberta Program of Studies. I was lucky to have had a lovely class of all girls between the ages of 7 and 10 this session. They just ate this project up. And as I'm looking back at all the projects we have worked on this fall I realize that, exept of the chalk pumpkins, all of them are new to my repertoire. These beautiful little weavings were no exception. They were made on home made cardboard looms and included all kinds of fun and interesting things I found around my classroom. I'm just thrilled that the girls loved this process so much and I'm so pleased at how they all turned out.
Plasticine Sculptures
Author/Illustrator Barbara Reid was the inspiration for these adorable sculptures. I first did this project with my younger, elementary aged, students. When my older kids saw them they begged to have go at it too.
The hardest part of this project is creating the background. Once that was finished off they went building and mixing. A variety of simple tools were used to create texture.
Author/Illustrator Barbara Reid was the inspiration for these adorable sculptures. I first did this project with my younger, elementary aged, students. When my older kids saw them they begged to have go at it too.
The hardest part of this project is creating the background. Once that was finished off they went building and mixing. A variety of simple tools were used to create texture.
