Friday, February 26, 2016

painting portraits.

This week the 2nds and 5ths have been experimenting with paint as they create portraits. Thw 2nd graders are looking at a couple images by Cbabi Bayoc and the 5th graders are looking at some paintings by Maurice Evans. Both grade levels are still exploring 3d space and volume in art.

The 2nds have looked at the images below by Cbabi Bayoc. we've talked about how he changes the human form a bit. We have noticed that even though his portraits are different than the Coronado Bridge landscapes they did, he still uses overlapping to create 3d space. When painting, we have tried to make light and dark colors by adding more or less water to the tempera cakes in order to make the shapes seem more solid.














The 5th graders are making portraits of musicians that are based on the work of Maurice Evans. We are looking at how he uses size to create space in a short distance in his portraits. The hands of his subjects are exaggerated in size, but the largeness of them compared to the size of the heads, creates distance and drama. When painting, we are trying to use dark and light color values to create 3d forms in places.



















Again, this week, both projects have been pretty direct with choice coming in to play in the painting portion. The next time I see both grade levels for printmaking, there will be more room for choice throughout the artistic process. As with the chalk pastel lesson, I am using more control in terms of subject and process, so that they gain experience with the materials while demonstrating a beginning grasp of creating different effects with them.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

purrfect portraits at sdai

This past weekend, art stars from Zamorano participated in a pet portrait and adoption event at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park. This real world opportunity was held in conjunction with the museum's "Best in Show" exhibit in the main gallery. Students were asked to observe the animals in the museum and draw one of them- style and concept was wide open. When the students completed their drawings, they were added to the exhibit on a temporary wall in the museum.

The kids had a blast! Principal Murchison came out to support our students and gave it a go as well. To top it all off, one of the dogs available for adoption has very likely found a new home... ours:)

Special thanks to Education Director, Meegan Nolan and Museum Director, Ginger Shulick Porcella for making this art making and exhibition opportunity possible for our Zamo kids.

Also, thanks to our students' families for getting their art stars to the museum so they could participate in this special event.

 Gianna, Ailamae, Penny, and Kiki

 Gonzalo

 Victoria
 Sophia, Bella, and Alyssa


 Aurora, Isaac, and Rielyne

 Josiah and Adrian

 Brianna

Adrian

Nevaeh

 Aurora




 Logan and Wookie


Savannah, Principal Murchison, Hailey, and Sophia

Friday, February 19, 2016

chalk lung... for real;)

So. Much. Dust.

6 weeks of chalk pastels in my classroom is done! I think the kids were able to apply just a little chalk to their paper than to themselves over that time.

That said, all grade levels really rocked the chalk and their projects are bold and vibrant.

This week my 2nds and 5ths worked with chalk pastels to create landscapes inspired by our San Diego coast. Both grades identified and applied warm and cool colors to their landscapes. Both created a lot of space in their work. The 2nds did so through value, size, and overlapping. The 5ths did it by using overlapping, color value contrast, and through the amount of detail in areas.

The 2nds started off by reviewing how we created depth with overlapping and value in their Aaron Draplin inspired landscape skate decks. Then they looked at a photo of our Coronado Bridge at sunset and noticed how those space makers were present. We then looked at how dark the bridge is compared to the background and how this makes the bridge come to the front. They built their drawings up from the background to the foreground. All chalk pastels, some areas rough, some areas blended, and finished the drawing by using black oil pastels to make the bridge. (I like to switch up with oil pastel at the end because it's more controllable.)













The 5ths worked with the same concepts of color and space when they did their chalk and oil landscapes. The biggest difference was the complexity of shapes and the use of details in the foreground to make the tidepool area stand out in the foreground. When drawing those pools, we talked about perspective and point of view. Why the shape or shapes would look more like ovals and not circles.








Next week we move on to painting madness!